At the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Forum of Slavic Cultures, the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska took part in the XX International Festival “Intermuseum 2018”, the biggest event in Russia showcasing the work of museums.
As recipient of the special recognition for creativity and work with the public under the ŽIVA Award for the Best Museum in Southeast Europe 2014 scheme, the MSURS received an invitation to present its exhibition Space, Shape, Touch in the exhibition section of the festival programme under the aegis of the Forum of Slavic Cultures, initiator of this prestigious award and one of the partners of this year’s festival.
The participation of the MSURS in this major international festival in Moscow was made possible thanks to the support of the Office of the President of the Republic of Srpska, the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska, and the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe.
Space, Shape, Touch is a specialised exhibition of artworks adapted for the blind and visually impaired, the first of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina, dedicated to the work of the art group Space-Shape, established in 1975, who introduced abstraction to Bosnian-Herzegovinian art. Presenting artworks inclusively required special adaptation of the artworks, made explicitly for this exhibition, which included making scaled-down touchable replicas and using sounds and smells. In order to present the exhibition to the Russian public in the best possible way, all the materials used, including the artist information and exhibition labels in Braille, were translated to Russian, as were the recordings used in the exhibition, for which Jelena Trepetova, a Banja Luka actress originally from Russia, lent her voice.
Screened during the exhibition was a news bulletin by journalist Dragan Kričković, made by the Radio Television of the Republic of Srpska, the media sponsor of the exhibition Space, Shape, Touch while on show in Banja Luka. The exhibition project was conceptualised by Sarita Vujković, PhD, and Žana Vukičević, and implemented with the assistance of the MSURS team of curators.
Except for participating in the exhibition part of the festival programme, the MSURS also presented its activities in the business programme of the festival, with a film specially made by its creative team, which combined the history of the museum, its major exhibition projects carried out in the last few years, educational and accompanying programmes, regional and international cooperation, as well as its mission and vision. On this occasion, the MSURS also screened a short art film about its participation in the 57 Venice Biennale in 2017, included in this year’s lineup of the competition for the Museums in Short international contest for museums’ best short videos.