On 23 October 2020, “Čačak Contemporary Art” opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska (MSURS), showing works by 16 artists from Čačak, Serbia, from different generations and of different sensibilities and affinities.

The exhibition is the result of collaboration between the Nadežda Petrović Art Gallery in Čačak and the MSURS, organised jointly by the two through the project “Culture Territory: Veering Off Course to Come to the Right Place”, in association with the National Museum of Montenegro in Cetinje.

The exhibition “Čačak Contemporary Art” was initially designed to be shown at the Krasnodar State Historical and Archaeological Memorial Museum in Russia, and its opening scheduled for April 2020. Due to COVID-19, the show was cancelled, and the organisers decided to stage it first at the Nadežda Petrović Art Gallery (June-August), followed by the MSURS, to allow it to continue living and serving the purpose it was originally made for – institutional networking and connecting cities.

“Čačak Contemporary Art” is a cross-section of this city’s contemporary art scene. There were no predefined concepts or principles, in terms of either themes or issues, the exhibition sought to raise, which allowed the curators to take several directions in selecting the artists. In addition to the place of origin, the artists were selected based on their relevance for Serbian contemporary art, and the reason they occupy a particular place in today’s contemporary art. The curators also made sure they had equal gender representation between men and women artists, as well as those of different ages, with the selection including young, middle-aged and elderly artists.

“Čačak Contemporary Art” contains around 50 pieces that are very different thematically and in terms of ideas and the use of media. Yet, the exhibition as a whole is like a single cell, and it does not lessen the autonomy of the artworks.

Exhibition curators: Marija Radisavčević, Daniel Mikić