Belgrade, October 6, 2021 – Color Media Communications and the Museum of Yugoslavia held a cocktail reception and a tour for representatives of the diplomatic corps in the Republic of Serbia on the occasion of the presentation of the Prometheus of the New Century exhibition at the Museum of Yugoslavia.
The exhibition will be open until 14th November 2021 and is part of a programme implemented under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Information, which marks the 60th anniversary of the First Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade.
The exhibition focuses on the relations between Yugoslavia and India in the segments of art and culture, as well as the works of Petar Lubarda, one of the most renowned Yugoslav painters who played an important role in presenting Yugoslavia to the Non-Aligned Movement. Thanks to the diverse museum material, the audience can get acquainted with Indian culture and cultural exchange between the two countries, while one of the exhibition’s segments is dedicated to Josip Broz Tito’s visit to India in 1955 and 1956, which is considered a turning point in defining Yugoslavia’s foreign policy strategy precisely in the direction of non-alignment.
The director of the Museum of Yugoslavia, Neda Knežević, spoke at the opening of the cocktail reception, saying that the 60th anniversary of the First Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade was a great opportunity to remind of and highlight the importance and value of the Non-Aligned Movement, one of the most important phenomena related to Yugoslavia, a country which legacy we represent.
“Since its founding during the Second World War, the Non-Aligned Movement has given hope to humanity and its renewal today is not a coincidence. The daily risk of local conflicts turning into a global war is the reason to redefine the basic principles of the Non-Aligned Movement which are peaceful coexistence, no aggression, respecting the territorial integrity of states, no interfering in the internal affairs of a state, equality and overcoming economic inequality. The abundant collections of the Museum of Yugoslavia would not have been so abundant if Tito had not been the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and in that capacity, has met with more than 50 statesmen from non-aligned countries,” Neda Knežević pointed out.
She also invited the guests to visit their permanent exhibition called “Museum Laboratory”, which comprises a collection of gifts from non-aligned countries.
Robert Čoban, President of Color Press Group, greeted all the guests and pointed out that the Non-Aligned Movement was founded in 1961, in quite interesting times:
“May you live in interesting times!” this was the motto of the 58th edition of the Art Biennale in Venice in 2019, two years ago. “May you live in interesting times!” – is it an ancient curse or contemporary blessing? Founding fathers of the Non-Alignment Movement lived in interesting times in 1961.
60 years later we also live in interesting times. Especially in our region.
What have we learned in these 6 decades? How ready are we for possibly even more interesting times in the future? The best is yet to come?
I hope that this exhibition will give us some answers to our questions. Diplomacy & Commerce magazine is here for you to make our interesting times more easy to understand and more comfortable to live with. Thank you for joining us for all our activities, thanks to the Museum of Yugoslavia for this great exhibition and cooperation we have.”
The exhibition also showcases Petar Lubarda’s paintings from the collection of the Museum of Yugoslavia, including the paintings “Awakening of Africa” (1956-1959) and “Prometheus” (1967), as well as the paintings “Man and Beasts” (1964) and “Bull and Cloud” (1963), which are on show thanks to the cooperation with the House of Legacies.
The artwork of the contemporary artist, Vladimir Nikolić, titled “Communist painting in the century of digital reproduction”, is also on show at the exhibition.
Ana Panić and Jovana Nedeljković are the authors of the exhibition are the curators at the Museum of Yugoslavia.
