To the south, to the south! Let's go south!”

The postulates on which the 60-year-old organization of the Memorial is based - to respect the memorial memory based on the original, ethical and aesthetic principles of the life work of Nadežda Petrović, the originator of modern art and the first forms of the art scene in our region, a patriot and supporter of the idea of ​​South Slavic cultural unity, are the basis of the concept and this selection approach. The thirtieth exhibition in a row is based on the post-Yugoslav art space, which since the time of Nadežda Petrović, despite the state's disunity and numerous historical and political turbulences, has homogeneous artistic connections and unbroken lines of cooperation, the closeness of artistic conceptions and individual trajectories, visible in new practices and artistic phenomena.

The name of the exhibition alludes to a popular exclamation that reflects the industrial and modernization progress of Serbia at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, which tended to the south, when the railway passed through the Sićevačka Gorge, carrying the participants of the First Yugoslav Colony in 1905. On the other hand, the prefix "southern" imbued in the name Yugoslavia and numerous connotations that speak of the needs of migration and movement, caused by the natural laws of the ecosystem or other cataclysms of war, economic or some other kind of trauma. The natural need for the south has today been replaced by a rush to the west in all segments of human needs - security, economic, educational, intellectual, cultural and artistic, which tell us every day about the state of society in which we currently live. As it is about the thirtieth exhibition of the Nadežda Petrović Memorial, it is extremely important to make certain comparisons with Nadežda's work, actually with her progressive ideas - for this reason, in a specific artistic relationship, as the starting point of the entire exhibition, a parallel was drawn with the artists participating in the First Yugoslav Colony in 1905, which opens an interesting historical dialogue with the work of the great early modernists in our region.

The exhibition focuses on the vision of chronological retrospection as a multitude of ideas connected by a new and irresistible will to create, which speaks of a multitude of temporalities, transforming nostalgia into a positive experience of disorientation, translated into an art form that explores all dimensions of the present, following lines in all directions of time and space.

The concept is based on the number of 30 artists (30 exhibitions) viewed through media and generational diversity that follows the post-Yugoslav context with an emphasis on specific dialogues, artistic connections and closeness through the prism of this time full of global disorder and conflict, in such a way that art is seen as the most beloved realm of dreams and utopias. Looking at artistic practices through a variety of media and phenomena, we present artists of different generations, i.e. the post-Yugoslav scene in the context of depicting the complexity of the society in which we live. In this geographical space, artists follow the example of Nadezhda's efforts, organizing the first Yugoslav colony in 1905 and its first exhibition in 1907 with artists from Bulgaria. By including in the exhibition certain female artists, their peculiarities, appearances, permanence and strength, characteristic of Nadežda Petrović's temperament, we highlight the artistic practice of these women, as well as women in art in general, in a special way.

The media-visually different, receptive and attractive display includes a variety of works - from the neo-avant-garde, a new approach to drawing, painting, sculpture, installations and works in the gallery space, through videos, photographs, performances, animation and works in the public space, in certain ways it will include local artistic scene (young creatives and other aspects of the local community).

By connecting several exhibition locations, other cultural institutions in the city are included, which, along with some other locations in the public space, gives a special visual appearance and primarily emphasizes the importance of the 30th Memorial in terms of interdepartmental cooperation, not only recognizing the importance of the manifestation for the local environment and the regional environment, already emphasizing the far-reaching idea of 60 years ago and the constant dedication of the founder - the City of Čačak to the importance of monitoring and promoting the current art scene, all in the best tradition of Nadežda Petrović's artwork.

Special attention is paid to the approach to the audience to whom the exhibition is offered as an open place for active involvement in a direct dialogue with artists and works, which implies a diverse accompanying program and a more active approach to platforms for creating an audience towards modern museological concepts, providing the opportunity to get acquainted not only with the current exhibition and display , but with the importance and long-term duration of the Nadežda Petrović Memorial.

(Sarita Vujković, excerpt from the concept of the 30th Nadežda Petrović Memorial exhibition)

Prof. Dr. Sarita Vujković - deals with criticism and theory of contemporary visual art. She completed her art history studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. Master's degree in theory of art and media at the University of Arts in Belgrade, PhD at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. Since 1998, he has been working at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska. He is the selector and creator of numerous exhibitions in the field of contemporary artistic practice. At the Academy of Arts of the University of Banja Luka, as an associate professor, she is engaged in the Department of History and Theory of Art. She has been the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republika Srpska since 2014, constantly improving the exhibition offer of the museum, cooperating with a number of institutions and establishing cooperation at the state, regional and international level. She is involved in regional events in the field of contemporary art through work in numerous professional bodies and organizations. Author and co-author of scientific texts, books, monographs in the field of museology, gender theory and contemporary art. She was the commissioner of the BiH Pavilion at the Venice Biennale twice (2013, 2017). She was the president of the ICOM National Committee for Bosnia and Herzegovina and vice president of the International Museum Council for Southeast Europe.