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Exhibition

An Anticolonial Museum

8 September 2022 – 31 January 2023

Curated by Ana Sladojević, PhD

The exhibition was opened by Jelena Vesić, PhD, independent curator, art critic and theorist, president of AICA International Association of Art Critics Serbia.

In focus of numerous museums worldwide – and in particular those that exhibit African art – is currently decolonization of their work. The Museum of African Art – the Veda and Dr. Zdravko Pečar Collection, with its beginning tightly entwined with the ideas of anticolonialism and nonalignment, managed to open space – throughout decades of its activities – for somewhat different museum representation, especially in comparison with standard museum practice of Western collections.

Bearing this in mind, and relying of previous good practice, as well as numerous collaborations that museum had since its very founding with curators, theorists and artists, this exhibition (as just one part of a far more complex project of Museum reconceptualization), poses a challenge of anticolonial thinking and acting before one Museum in the making, concomitantly marking an end to an era of museum representation.

The concept of an Anticolonial Museum is based on the very history of the Museum of African Art, whose initiators, Veda Zagorac and Zdravko Pečar were active protagonists of the anticolonial struggle – referring here mostly to their engagement in the Algerian war for independence from the French colonial rule, that was ongoing between 1954. and 1962. year.

However, the exhibition is not just a historicization of Yugoslav anticolonialism, although it takes it as a starting point in its reflection. Relying on the MAA work over decades, as well as numerous theoretical and artistic interventions that problematised museum as such, the exhibition strives to trace a possible model of museum work that would rely on anticolonialism understood as an affective heritage of this place.

The Cultural Heritage of Topčider

A tour organized by the Museum of African Art, memorial House of King Peter and Heritage House

Since the 19th century the urban planning of Topčider (one of Belgrade's many hills) was envisioned as a city oasis, with numerous parks, picnic spots, large areas of forest and greenery. Hidden within it are numerous villas, summer houses and art studios built at the beginning of the 20th century. Through the “Cultural Heritage of Topčider” tour we will reveal different cultural institutions. During this tour, you can visit Museum of African Art, the memorial House of King Peter, Archive of Yugoslavia, Heritage House – the Legacy of Petar Lubarda, Museum Vespa Serbia, House of Olga Jančić, Monument to Isidora Sekulić, Hyde park Belgrade and Public Aquarium and Tropicarium Belgrade. To get an impression about the tour, visit this link.

Walking and talking with you, are art historians Ana Knežević, Museum of African Art curator & Ivana Zatežić, Heritage House associate.

Join our trek of discovery of the cultural Heritage of Topčider Hill!

The Museum of African Art in Belgrade and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation

Photo: Tanjug / Jadranka Ilić

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, hosted a formal reception for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Аl-Sisi at the Palace of Serbia. This visit, the first in 35 years, was characterized as a historic event for both countries, and President Al-Sisi received an honour for his exceptional services in developing friendly relations between the Republic of Serbia and the Arab Republic of Egypt.

During the formal reception, several bilateral agreements and memorandums of cooperation were signed between the Government of Serbia and the Government of Egypt.

In the field of culture, H. E. Mr. Samih Shukri, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Dr. Marija Aleksić, Director of the Museum of African Art, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo and the Museum of African Art in Belgrade.

Project on Contemporary Clothing in Africa - New Khanga and Kitenge (Ankara) Textiles in the MAA Collection

A set of colorful, vibrant fabrics have arrived to the Museum from Africa. These are materials typically used for making contemporary African clothing. While the "kitenge" or "ankara" fabrics are used on the whole continent, the so-called "khanga" fabrics are tied to the Swahili culture and are recognizable by their printed messages of a religious, political, or emotional-romantic nature, which serve as a kind of popular women’s social medium for communicating with relatives, friends, neighbors, etc.

The fabrics were procured for the museum's textile collection as part of the "Interpretation of Kang and Kitenge Fabrics" project, which is funded by the Headley Trust (UK) with the support of the Balkan Museum Network. The goal of this project, whose author is Aleksandra Prodanović Bojović, curator of the museum's textile collection, is to use the purchased fabrics to develop new museum programs on the topic of contemporary clothing in Africa.