Ten years ago, I worked with artist Jody Pinto and art consultant Charlotte Cohen to help the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Architecture, organize one-day public art festival. Over the last decade that festival has spurred an ongoing inquiry into art and public places in Belgrade, resulting in many follow-up projects.
My initial report on the project follows. To download a .pdf slide show that chronicles the day of the event, click here: PAPS.pdf.
The Belgrade Public Art Project was an experimental collaboration between artists, educators and urban planners. Its goal was to develop a language for public art that could infuse the public works and public places of Central Belgrade with a new layer of visual identity and meaning, and to establish creative links between the city’s leading art, architecture and educational institutions.
Our team — artist Jody Pinto, art consultant Charlotte Cohen, and urban designer Todd W. Bressi, guided and worked with students from the University of Belgrade’s architecture school and fine arts school. Working for just one week, we lectured on current approaches to public art and urban planning, surveyed the city and identified themes and opportunity sites for pilot projects, and helped collaborative members initiate discussions with city agencies, cultural organizations and academic institutions.
Our proposal was that the schools should create a coordinated set of art projects that reached from the city’s high street spine to the Saba River, exploring themes of connection and convergence by creating a flow of space and visual interventions that revealed important channels and platforms — places that were largely overlooked, but when strung together created a powerful sensory path. We recommended temporary projects, since resources for permanent work were scarce. Ultimately, the students and faculty developed a graphic system, lighting strategies, greening interventions and stages for live performances that animated a found route to the river.
So, for one Saturday, from dawn til nightime, the city center came alive with public art and performances, a procession from the central square to the river, and a party on the waterfront. Hundreds of residents, led by the city manager, celebrated this intersection of public art, public space, and civic identity.
Collaborators: Charlotte Cohen, Jody Pinto.