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Museum working hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
For all questions and information we are at your disposal by landline +381 11 2651654 or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The new visual identity of the Museum of African Art (MAU) is based on a simple and recognisable, reduced geometric form and pattern that is widely present in the arts of African countries, but can also be seen in the design of the first museum permanent exhibition. It is the zigzag line motif that symbolises rhythm, movement and the flow of life. At the same time, as a continuous restless pulsation, the minimalist, yet modern and dynamic zigzag line connects the past and the future and invites active participation.
By reflecting the museum's mission and continuing practises already established, the new identity is at once an invitation to play, to participate, and to stimulate dialogue through the interweaving of ideas, experiences, and knowledge. The typography of the Museum of African Art's acronym takes its cue from this motif, as does the new, distinguishable, easy-to-use, and memorable sign, composed of three letters: MAU, a name familiar to the general public and already widely accepted.
New exhibition:
Curators: Mila Turajlić, Maja Medić, Ana Knežević, Emilia EpštajnThe "Yugoslav Testimonies of the Algerian Revolution - Archival Omnibus" exhibition is based on archival material and oral testimonies by Yugoslavs who actively provided assistance to the Algerian people during their struggle for independence from French colonial rule, until the official liberation in 1962.
The memories of cameraman Stevan Labudović, Red Cross employee Maja Plavšić, the Yugoslav ambassador to Tunisia, Miloš Lalović, as testified by his wife Borislava, add a "human" touch to historical events that we often perceive through strict chronologies and exhaustive enumeration of names and events. The founders of the Museum of African Art - Zdravko Pečar, then in the role of a war correspondent, and Veda Zagorac, in the position of press attaché at the Yugoslav embassy in Tunisia, join the aforementioned oral testimonies directed by documentary filmmaker Mila Turajlić.
By recording conversations with the protagonists of this exhibition, Mila Turajlić and Maja Medić created new, valuable archival materials which, as it later turn out, was the last opportunity to record the testimonies of Maja Plavšić, Borislava Lalović and Stevan Labudović.
Newspaper articles, photographs, correspondence, dispatches, and other personal belongings, are material traces of the enthusiasm and commitment to the idea of solidarity mobilization. In the folders and notes these same people kept, diaries and reports they wrote, but also on brochures, postcards, newspaper articles and other paper formats they considered important enough to be preserved, we recognise personal classifications, shaped by their own understanding of events, which today carries a special significance for a deeper understanding of the past in the contemporary moment.
New Online Presentation
The project of digitally recording the permanent display and whole Museum of African Art (MAU) building was conducted in several stages over the course of 2015, 2021 and 2022, with the aim of creating a so-called digital imprint as form of cultural heritage preservation. In light of the announced reconstruction of the Museum, by mapping all relevant data, we wanted to create lasting documentation of the initial architecture, as well as the concept of the first permanent display of the MAU. Recording the space and exhibition setting of the Museum using the most current technology and translating the data into a digital impression will make them permanently accessible to all future researchers and other interested parties, even when they cease to exist in their current state.
We invite you to actively explore our new online presentation www.otisak.mau.rs. Enjoy panoramic virtual walks through the museum, encounter the permanent display, museum garden or murals painted onto the façade, and investigate the many contents regarding exhibited pieces and collecting trajectories. Go back to 1977 and read about some of the impressions at the time of the opening of this lasting symbol of Non-Aligned times – a museum created on the grounds of friendship and sincere support of the peoples of Africa, and admiration for the power of their artistic expression.
A tour organized by the Museum of African Art, memorial House of King Peter and Heritage HouseSince 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!
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.
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.
Browse through some of the classics offered by our exhibition catalogs, which are available on the Museum's website.
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