The History Museum of Serbia organized the Salon of Mediala in mid-December, displaying paintings, sculptures, documents and personal objects belonging to the members of the famed art group that was founded fifty years ago.
By Zlatica Ivković
Photo by Aleksandar Dragutinović |
The exhibition titled "The Present Moment - Mediala 2006", organized on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of Mediala as an art group and the opening of the Mediala Gallery-Salon, presented the works of Leonid Šejka, Olja Ivanjicki, Miro Glavurtić, Dado Đurić, Ljuba Popović, Vladimir Veličković, Uroš Tošković, Milić of Mačva, Kosta Bradić, Siniša Vuković and Svetozar Samurović. |
| This group of artists who in the 1960s were assembled under the name Mediala played a significant role in contemporary art at the time (painting, sculpture, music, literature) "always acting at the edge of antagonism", as was stated in its programme. Through their creativity and ideology they introduced a philosophy of art based on the synthesis of traditional and modern, with full respect for individual creative sensibility and an authentic viewpoint. Or, as Siniša Vuković, a member of this movement, said, "The Mediala established an absolute respect for genuine individual freedom, and difference regarding affinities and viewpoints. Everyone was on their own as an individual who had something to say in one's own way and, hence, to be authentic." |
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The art director of the Salon, painter Olja Ivanjicki, who as her own contribution to the new cultural institution donated extensive documentation connected with the famed group to which she belonged, explains her view today of the Mediala:
"From this distance, the Mediala looks like a true historical fact but in this limited gallery space - I hope that one day we shall get a larger one - and at this moment, the Mediala cannot be fully perceived. There are not many paintings, perhaps we can say that the best ones are not here. In my memory, there were those huge exhibitions of the Mediala, and by comparison there are a relatively small number of paintings here, because a lot of time has passed and the paintings have been dispersed.
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| "Though the importance of the Mediala is beyond doubt, it should be noted that from its founding in 1958, only some ten exhibitions were organized, so that the works of the members of this movement are still insufficiently known both by professionals and the broader public. Hence, the exhibition space dedicated to the Mediala is important for creating a complete picture about this still insufficiently studied and under-valued creative phenomenon. Only now, with the works collected in one place and from this distance in time, does one see the importance of the Mediala in reshaping Yugoslav and Serbian artistic paradigms. Now interested visitors finally have the opportunity to form their own picture of the Mediala on their own terms." (Dragan Kojadinović, the Serbian Minister of Culture) | |
The Salon was founded at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, which invested a significant amount of money to acquire works of art to present the Mediala group. After fifty yeas, it finally has a "roof over its head" in the most representative way: |
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"The Ministry of Culture and Minister Kojadinović have made a great step; they have shown good will and provided resources. My idea was to somehow preserve us; for years I was promoting the idea of establishing a ministry for the preservation of memory. The Mediala Salon plans one day to establish memorial rooms to keep personal items, collections… all that many of us have collected for years, things that shouldn't be lost again…"
The central space of the exhibition is called "The Present Moment", and is occupied by a painting titled "The Mediala", a painting done jointly by all members of the group. |
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Besides painting and sculpture, there is also verses by Vasko Popa who encouraged them in their youth, a drndafon (an instrument) that belonged to Peđa Ristić, a friend of the Mediala who used to open their exhibitions, and the first and original journal Mediala composed by Miro Glavurtić - the official journal of the Mediala published every ten years, with photographs, newspapers clippings and personal objects. |
| "The exhibition is conceived as comprehensive, multilayered and thorough research, as an interpretation and presentation of modern art and its presentation using contemporary, multi-disciplinary and multimedia methods. This approach to local contemporary art is meant to include all aspects of meanings that contemporary art contains in the context of historical events," says Tijana Jovanović-Češka, curator at the Museum of History and exhibition author. |
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The core of exhibition are the works that artists presented to the Museum and some of these works are for this occasion borrowed from the Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Museum. |
| "Currently it looks as though the Mediala is something that never existed. The idea has survived because it detached itself from time, like a constant, like the centre of the Universe, like the point around which everything circles. It was an eternal unchanging core that contains in itself all change. The spirit of the Mediala lives nowadays because it was a good seed and the power of the seed is amazing." (Olja Ivanjicki) | |
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