In celebration of 50 years since its foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska (MSURS) is holding an exhibition called “From Gallery to Museum”, which opened on Thursday 11 February 2021 at 6:00 PM.

The exhibition is a multimedia documentary event showcasing an assortment of objects from the rich and diverse MSURS holdings (photographs, newspaper articles, posters, videos and publications) collected over the last 50 years, as well as a selection of works from its art collection. The exhibition, divided into several thematic segments, presents the history and work of the museum since its foundation half a century ago.

This is the first in a series of events to be hosted by the MSURS in celebration of fifty years of its work. This year, the MSURS will also mark 130 years since the construction of the old Austro-Hungarian railway station in Banja Luka, where it is currently accommodated.

The story of the MSURS begins with rare photographs of the solidarity campaign of Yugoslav and international fine artists launched after Banja Luka was hit by a massive earthquake in 1969, which laid the foundation for establishing the Art Gallery in 1971. There are also photographs showing the ceremony held on the occasion of relocating the Art Gallery to the building of the old Banja Luka railway station and opening the first permanent exhibition on 22 April 1981.

There is a special focus on presenting the Autumn Salon, the biennial art exhibit organised by the Art Gallery and the Banja Luka Cultural Centre between 1962 and 1992, which grew to become a major art event and was recognised as such across the former Yugoslavia.

The work of the MSURS after it was renamed in 2004 is shown through its greatest projects that supported and boosted the development of contemporary art practices in the region, leading to the emergence of a vivid and dynamic contemporary art scene. The most important project of the MSURS so far has been the organisation, production and presentation of the Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Venice Biennale in 2013 and 2017, as well as exhibition of its foreign collection in its 2018 “Highlights” show, staged to mark the European Year of Cultural Heritage, supported by the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe.

More recently, the MSURS has actively collaborated with some of the key international organisations in the field of culture and art, staging exhibits such as “New Religion” by the British artist Damien Hirst, “The Vanity of Small Differences” by the British artist Grayson Perry, and “Perceptions: The Beauty of the Flower is in the Picking”, organised in association with the British Council, and “Mona Lisa and Superman: John F. Kennedy and the New Frontier of Culture”, hosted in partnership with the American Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There is a special segment of the exhibition dedicated to events targeted at audience development, part of which is also an interactive children’s room designed to resemble the illustrations in the book The Secret Life of the Museum, a 2020 publication of the MSURS, which will be used for creative workshops with the youngest during the exhibition.

Also on show in “From Gallery to Museum” are projects geared to persons with disabilities, specifically, “Space, Shape, Touch”, a specialised exhibition for the blind and visually impaired. This exhibition was organised and held in 2015 with the aim of creating special events in the spirit of present-day museological presentation practices that would help to integrate blind and visually impaired persons in the cultural life of the local community.

“From Gallery to Museum” is the fruit of several months of extensive joint efforts of all MSURS departments to digitise its materials. The exhibition seeks to showcase the history of the MSURS, which has turned from a city art gallery to a republic museum of contemporary art, with a clear vision for the future.