/ 1968
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ARMY AND URBAN CITYSCAPE OF BELGRADE DURING 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURY

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Role of the army in the development of Belgrade was not directly but rather indirectly linked to the development of urban and regulatory planning. Namely, the cartographic work of army-hired officers and experts represents an important legacy in the urban planning history. In addition to this role, military skills were greatly appreciated in the first institutions that regulated the construction and architectural projects in Serbia. Military barracks in Belgrade from the time of Prince Miloš served as inspiration for the construction of other public buildings. Military facilities, which were not separated from buildings for civilian use, had been built in the vicinity of the Great Barrack. There was no plan for creating a separate military district but the idea was to have military facilities located close to each other, so as to ensure efficient functioning of the army. Therefore, the locations chosen for certain military facilities had not always been optimal solutions when it came to their function and meaning. Many of them were built as representative buildings in order to emphasize the important role of the Serbian army in the realization of the objectives of national policy. After gaining independence in 1878, military facilities progressively occupied the surroundings of Belgrade in addition to the central parts of the city. On the one hand, this came as a result of the development of Belgrade and the new needs of its residents, and also due to the growing army and its subsequently increased demands for modern training which needed to be conducted in a free and uninhabited area. These challenges were resolved spontaneously, leading to solutions that failed to fulfil all military requirements and needs which were also at the expense of the needs of the municipality of Belgrade.

/ 1968
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RETHINKING BASIC CATEGORICAL CONCEPTS CONNECTED WITH REVISION OF THE ARCHITECTURAL-URBANISTIC MATRIX OF BELGRADE

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Reviewing any historical topic, when urban architecture is concerned, invariably imposes questioning of the categorical instruments we use. By implicating that we know the subject and the instruments by which we define it, and by staying within the set boundaries of consideration, we may easily slip into misunderstanding. It is therefore necessary to precisely determine the concepts of architectural history, architectural critique and the theory of architecture. They all comprehend different timelines differently while the history of architecture and architectural critique do not provide the same kind of feedback to the concept of Architecture or the City. In this sense, a desired concept of “critical history” must be additionally profiled. Differentiating history from historiography, as well as a history of events from a history of existence of trans-temporal physical structures, are the first steps towards a more flexible, more precisely determined and a more socially useful differentiation of domains. Taking one of many possible examples, a space called Terazijska terasa in Belgrade, we can find a mishmash of logics and actions which has, due to lack of public critical dialogue about the proposed urbanistic decisions, destroyed a very rare opportunity to create outstanding topographic interventions and urban growth ideas.

/ 1968
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ТHE TYPOLOGY OF ARCHITECTURAL AND URBANISTIC TRANSFORMATIONS OF BELGRADE (19TH – 21ST CENTURY)

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So far, the historiographic thought has not paid enough attention to the processes of transforming urban patterns of Belgrade, caused by changing socio-economic interests. Evasive in real time and comprehensible only from a time distance, the cultural identity of the Serbian capital has often changed over the last two centuries, in parallel with its spatial growth, dense development and demographic boom. Its transformations, sometimes radical and sometimes more moderate, were primarily dictated by war destructions, discontinued social developments, overturning of political systems and with it ruling and architectural ideologies, which resulted in too many different styles and non-harmonized height lines of the constructed edifices. The alternations were usually initiated by decisions of state urban planners or spontaneous, mainly unjustified manifestations of “silent” building evolution. These transformations of the Serbian capital which first occurred in a vassal and then in an independent Serbian and later Yugoslav state, had different impacts on the existing system of the city structures and the city life. According to critical thought so far, these transformations can be differentiated by the scope of their completion, civilizational appropriateness (or inappropriateness), degree of justifiability, urbanistic-architectural methodology and ideological-economic platforms that inspired them.

/ 1968
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THE PRINCELY PALACE IN SAVAMALA – FOUNDING SERBIAN BELGRADE OUTSIDE THE TRENCH

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The princely court in Savamala has had an active and powerful role in constitution and promotion of the dynastic propaganda. With reference to the dual nature of monarchic government, a princely court does not exclusively refer to the residence of a ruler, but also stands for the institution of government that is a carefully chosen and structured space with the developed mechanism and manifesto of power. Planning, functioning as well as visual identity of any princely palace were always direct reflections of the royal image and the very nature of the actual regime. The palaces of the Serbian rulers changed abruptly in the 19th century, both in their positions and visual contexts, court ceremonies and the level of openness to the specific public. Those changes that have taken place at princely courts reflected the overall image of historical and social transformation of the Serbian state. In the early stages of his government, Prince Miloš understood and valued the power of political propaganda and already in the early 19th century he started and exerted an expensive public manifesto of power as his palaces had a crucial role in this important part of political programme. The choice of Serbian capital represented a key political issue. Prior to the official recognition of the autonomy and hereditary royal status, princely palaces were located in safely hidden landscapes in mainland Serbia. Now, when newly liberated principality was yet to catch up with the rest of the modern European states, Prince Miloš wanted Belgrade for its capital. The process of making the state/court complex in the district of Savamala revealed all the specific features of Belgrade and its urban development during the first half of the 19th century. Thus, raising the princely palace in Savamala will prove to be a crucial step in transformation of Belgrade into a modern European city

/ 1968
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WESTERN CULTURE AND THE DIGITAL: FROM POLIS TO VIRTUAL COMMUNITY

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This analysis covers certain aspects of the development of Western culture from its beginnings in Ancient Greece to the contemporary tendencies expressed through digital technologies. The authors point out the possibilities, which are arising from ubiquitous use of modern digital technologies, for modification of contemporary Western culture framework and its adaptation to the now suppressed traditions inherited from the ancient times. The important aspects of development that had crucially defined the phenomenon of the Greek polis and set up permanent foundations of the Western culture are identified. Also, similarities and differences are discussed, along with the social innovations brought about by the widespread use of Web 2.0 technologies at the beginning of the 21st century. We have specifically analysed the processes of creation and functioning of a community and compared values based on which the Greek polis functioned with the values of today’s virtual communities. The phenomena of the feelings of belonging, mass participation, influence of the community on an individual and the importance of amateurism are explained as they originally appeared in the framework of polis. Finally, the potentials of revival of these phenomena are analysed in the context of the widespread use of digital technologies today.

/ 1968
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF SURVEY CONDUCTED AMONG VISITORS TO THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VALJEVO IN AUGUST 2016

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The initial aim of this paper is to present an analysis of the survey conducted among visitors to the central permanent exhibition of the National Museum Valjevo. The analysis relates to the visitors’ origin, reasons for coming to Valjevo and the Museum, their prior knowledge of the Museum, their experience and satisfaction. The survey was conducted in the period from 27 July to 26 August 2016, during which the Museum was visited by 417 people, 96 of which were from Valjevo, 6 from its surroundings (Kolubara County), 204 from other cities in Serbia and 111 from abroad. The analyses were supported by a kind of historical review based on archival documents from the records of visits to older exhibitions, so that the paper also presented a comparative cross-section of the total year-round visits in 1961 and 2016, with emphasis on the visits in August. The comparative results show that the total number of visits in 2016 was significantly higher than in 1961 (23,495 to 13,020) but lower when looking at the percentage of visitors compared to the number of city residents (39.8% to 45.7%). The increase of overall visits in 2016 was created by school trips, since at present, during the four months of the school trips, 19,690 visitors to the Valjevo Museum were registered in 2016 comprising for 83.8% of total annual visits, while in 1961 there were 7,401 (56.8%). The data obtained in comparative analyses suggest that today local population visit their Museum in much smaller numbers and percentages than they did a little over half a century ago, so that an absolute majority of visits are made by visitors from other places, especially those who came organized in groups, to whom a visit to the Museum was one of the points of their pre-planned itinerary, as well as individual visitors who in most cases have already had some previous knowledge of the Museum and intended to visit it during their visit to Valjevo. In order to increase the interest of the local population in their Museum, it is of the utmost importance to have varied, short-lasting programmes, primarily thematic exhibitions but also other types of programme activities: workshops, lectures, presentations, chamber theatre, music and film festivals and the like, while, when it comes to permanent exhibitions, various occasional animation programmes are crucial, as they breathe new life into the unchanging content. While such activities include the Long Night of Museums, it is also necessary to consider the need to organise similar events not only in May, when the Museum witnesses the largest attendance as a result of the school season excursions, but also in the months when the interest in the Museum offer fades.

/ 1968
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AESTHETIC PHENOMENON AND ART: A MARCUSE’S CONCEIVEMENT

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Analyzing complete works author attempts to demonstrate Marcuse’s conceivement of aesthetic phenomena and art with the emphasis on the relation of art and revolution. In the article attention is firstly drawn to Marcuse’s doctoral dissertation. This text has significance in that Marcuse already here discerns a periphery subject (artist) as a subject of liberation. Author then offers a detailed examination of orphic-narcissistic civilization. That is the origin of aesthetic-sensuous revolution within framework of Freud’s theory. A status of art in capitalistic and in a version of socialistic society is then examined. While in the capitalistic society art is banalised by mass consumption in the socialist society art is instrumentally used for glorification and preservation of political order. Finally, author analyses qualitative change into society of aesthetic ethos which is rendered possible by sensitive cooperation of art and technology. Author’s intention is to offer critical, coherent and contextually situated interpretation of Marcuse’s art and aesthetic revolution.

/ 1968
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COMPETING FOR THEATRE AUDIENCE IN DIGITAL AGE

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The main objective of this paper is to point out that it is possible to draw attention of a large number of people, in spite of their daily exposure to abundant media content, by using an original approach combined with an unexpected and imaginative idea and presenting the creative result via digital media. The paper will present the most successful guerrilla marketing campaign ever realized in Serbia for theatre art, named “Taxi drama”. The campaign was created for the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade in 2014, and had over 200 000 views on YouTube in a single day. The main conclusion of the paper is that creativity is crucial for attracting art audiences. Once more it has been confirmed that the new media have become indispensable when communicating with the audience.

/ 1968
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RETHINKING THE POSSIBILITY OF CHARACTERIZING LIGHT FORMS OF VOJIN BAKIĆ AS MINIMAL ART

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This paper focuses on sculptures of Vojin Bakić and on their forms from the perspective of formal and contextual analysis. The paper will try to answer the question if his sculptures ‘Light forms’ (1963-1964) can be considered minimal art or not and why, and thus which arguments in defying and contextualizing art as minimal can be used to characterize his artworks. Also, for understanding these artworks it is necessary to take into consideration the context of their occurrence as well as the influence made by other movements and artists. I will provide arguments of other art historians but also my own reflections about this subject. The paper will try to place Bakić’s ‘Light forms’ in already given categories. The wider contextualization of his ‘Light forms’ and rethinking its characteristics as minimal art can serve as directions for further research and possible definitions of the art of the 60s in Yugoslavia.

/ 1968
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THE ASPECTS OF MINIMALISM IN THE ART OF THE NINETIES: MIRJANA ĐORĐEVIĆ AND IVAN ILIĆ

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The paper focuses on mapping out the elements of historical Minimalism on the art scene in Serbia during the nineties. Modular structures, repeated units, serial syntax, reductive, primary and/or geometric forms, were all present in the art of Serbia (and Yugoslavia) during the sixties and the seventies, although more systematic reference to historical Minimalism and its formal and conceptual aspects will be featured in some art practices during the nineties. Artistic practice of Belgrade artists Mirjana Đorđević and Ivan Ilić (who spent some time at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with the professor Klaus Rinke and Jannis Kounellis, respectively) in the late eighties and during the nineties served as study cases in this research of the nature and meaning of the aspects of Minimalism in the art of the last decade of the 20th century. Therefore the paper investigates whether the formal codes of Minimal art presented in their artworks from that period have been the outcome of some kind of critical reception as was the most common case in the worldwide art productions during this decade, or they have been related to contemporary visual culture that inclined to reductive and minimal ‘look’ and aesthetics. Ilić and Đorđević certainly were not the only artists in Serbia who, under the influence of the ‘cool’ and hi tech industrial design, adopted the essential minimalist lexicon, but they have been very consistent in pursuing and developing in different ways. Their art practices were beyond question in terms of historical Minimalism. as much as the Minimalist aesthetics fashioned the visual horizon of the nineties and as much as the new technology and the possibilities based on logical structures and algorithms produced series, difference, subjects, objects, representations and reality and by the Minimalist model became desirable and included into process of making art. In the worldwide art of the nineties the artists have adapted the forms of historical Minimalism for their own use: the cold, precise, calculated, reserved Minimalist aesthetics was replaced by relational aesthetics, i. e. by interactive human relations and social exchange de facto following the processes of establishing the postindustrial society. In the circumstances of different kind of transition or more precise double transition: from Socialism to Capitalism and from industrial to postindustrial, post-Minimalism reflects the transition desire created and modelled by commodification and ideology of choice.