CULTURE OF SARAJEVO, TODAY: VICTORY OF THE MIND

The period of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (herein after B&H) and the siege of Sarajevo have demonstrated the significance of culture and art, which can realistically be attributed with extraordinary credit in defense of the country. The fact is that the cultural scene, especially in Sarajevo, was very positive in its impact on the media image of the war in B&H. Such strong cultural identity confirmed the most positive values of art, while absorbing esthetic and ethical criteria. Furthermore, it caused that World's attention be focused at people, who during genocide that was committed against them, appealed for justice and celebrated the beauty of the Planet and humanity, all while being shot at by snipers and shells. Despite the insufficient study of art in period of the siege, it certainly is a special phenomenon that deserves more detailed researching.

The evidence of this claim can be indeed seen in the period after the war, or after the Dayton Peace agreement, when general conditions in our country are falling apart in every segment but the field of culture and arts, where Bosnia and Sarajevo record great success. Today this the only bright point in unfortunately pretty grim reality that Bosnians live in.

With very modest financial support that post-war country dedicates to culture and art, Sarajevo is today amongst the most significant cultural centers of Europe. Sarajevo could be called a city of Festivals. During a year, there is hardly a period without a large festival that brings together international and local artists.

Since its first festivals organized during the period of the siege, Sarajevo Film Festival has in a short period of time developed into the most significant regional film festival, which has had an especially positive reflection on the domestic production. Even though modest production in comparison to its neighbors (i.e. B&H in the post-war period produces 1-2 feature films per year); Bosnian production has truly achieved a global success. Almost all films have been awarded by at least one of the major international awards. The director of the film ‘No Man's Land’ Danis Tanovic has been awarded by over 40 film awards, including the Golden Palm, Golden Globe and the Oscar for the best foreign film. Such success surely has a positive impact on the development of film production, bringing the production average in past few years up to 3 films per year in B&H.

Beside the Sarajevo Film Festival, very significant is the existence of the International Theatre Festival MESS. In the period that is marked by the general crisis in theatre art, MESS manages to organize on of the largest East European festivals, presenting each year most significant plays and directors from Europe and the world. It should be noted that Sarajevo is a city where only 5 theatres function at this time. This makes the success of the theatre festival even bigger. The existence of the Festival MESS is actually an excellent indicator of the effort to maintain a continuity under difficult conditions, as the festival in question has marked its 45th birthday last year. The fact that the oldest South-East European Festival still exists in Sarajevo is a proof of the effort of keeping the fire of cultural identity of B&H.  Despite having guests such as Susan Sontag, Giorgio Strehler, Jan Fabre, Bob Wilson or Peter Brook, the management of MESS considers that its greatest success is restoration of theatre audience that was disappearing.  Hence, full theatres and film theatres with mostly young audience is the greatest achievement accomplished by mentioned Festivals.

Last year's theatrical scene was marked by the performance of Hamlet that was declared a theatrical event of the year. The play in question is by a Bosnian director Haris Pasovic, who has staged his version of the Hamlet at the Ottoman court and in this way opened up many questions- not just artistic and cultural, but also political.

In addition to the Film and Theatre Festivals in Sarajevo,  there is the Sarajevo Winter Festival that is about to start in following days and will last till spring, followed by the summer festival Bascarsija Nights, Jazz Festival, Festival of Oriental music… Interesting is that co-operation between Turkish and Bosnian artists is far from what it might be expected. Turkish film production is less present here then for example Iranian, Finish or Chinese one. At the International Theatre Festival MESS only one Turkish play was performed in the post-war period and that was Gilghamesh directed by Ragip Yavuza, while this year we expect the performance of OEDIPUS IN EXILE by Sahika Tekand.

One of the greatest successes that artists in this region have realized is definitely the collaboration around the construction of one of the largest galleries of Contemporary Art in Europe. The project named ARS AEVI was also initiated during the period of the siege and has gathered a collection of most significant artists of our time, such as Jannis Kounellis, Anish Kapoor or Michelangelo Pistoletto. The gallery itself is being constructed by one of the greatest contemporary architects Renzo Pianno and should be located in the centre of the city. However, this situation is characterized by divisions between artists and politicians who are often incapable of realizing the significance of such activities. Even after so many years, this project has not been implemented to this date mainly due to inability of politicians to place the interests of the country above their own interests.  There are many similar problems, often caused by the generally inefficient system, which is a consequence of the war and nationalistic-political divisions that keep eroding the society. Another example of this is evident in one of the largest European museums, the National Museum in Sarajevo, without which it would be impossible to research many aspects of European history, that is still fighting for its status in the society.  The National Museum currently isn't on a budget of any of the numerous institutions or governments who spend 60% of the state budget on own administration. While the salaries of the politicians keep increasing, the employees of the Museum that is a home of one the most valuable monuments of culture – Sarajevo Haggadah- are freezing at work as they are unable to pay for even heating of their office space.

Fortunately all of those who remember the period of the siege and work conditions at that time are aware that optimism and positive energy is the main wheel of art and are not giving up. As in war, they are ready to fight to the end and for the victory – the victory of THE MIND.

Nihad M. Kreševljaković

documentary
pored seada i nihada o meni se brinu još Stariša, alias Bob Guchone, Luka Perović, Stariša, MELINA KAMERIĆ, DMAJA (dopisnica iz Austro-ugarske monarhije),Žaklina E. KENEDY (ekspertica za Italiju i dopisnik iz Australije na privremenom radu u Sarajevu, povremeno Šoba nešto sroči svima, a mi objavimo, Blecker-Decker, nešto se jednostavno prepiše, a nešto objavi uz odobrenje eminentnih autora rasprostranjenih širom planete...

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