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< Back Infrastructuring the Region: Fieldnotes of an Ongoing Research 26 Nov 2020 Jelica Jovanović Infrastructure is often described in terms of the (non)presence and physicality of pipes and routes – those grand linear structures of spatial and resource connectivity: highways, railways, sewage, heating, aqueducts. These structures often go either below or along the very surface of the ground. But to look beyond the narrow, technical definition of infrastructural thought in engineering classes, infrastructure can also be a network of buildings such as health centers, schools, green markets, and similar amenities which make everyday life possible, and are often the embodiment of (what should be) the social policy and/or safety net. However, the relational and temporal aspects of the infrastructure are much more interesting, especially in case of Serbia, whose economy is going through its third decade of restructuring and shrinking, rooted in a transition from a socialist to capitalist economy. It goes hand in hand with privatization of most of the industry, public property, and services. Infrastructure(s) are the latest large-size serving on the privatization plate of Serbia, with many concessions given and many foreign loans taken, for the reconstruction of existing [infrastructure], and the construction of the new ones. Furthermore, most of the viable state-owned companies have been sold, leaving the [country’s] resources as the next major stop for privatization – there are many foreign companies currently taking over the mines and quarries, or undertaking explorations of potential mines all over the country. The next step of the research will further expand why these resources and companies are important for the economy of Serbia, and their historical role in the 20th and 21st century. But for now, let’s focus on the recent concessions and privatizations in Serbia that involve the partners from PR China. Within the last three years, as the Belt and Road initiative was announced (and is already beginning to materialise), Chinese companies have appeared to be quite interested in the country’s greatest pieces of industry and traffic infrastructure, which – due to their size – have also accumulated significant debt, and lags behind contemporary practices [1] . However, it is interesting to compare the present-day strategy of Chinese companies with the historical strategies and goals of the post-war renewal and reorganization of the Yugoslav economy, since the same companies are at the centre of both of those processes. In December 2019, the exhibition Serbia 2019 – the year of infrastructure: Nothing is far away anymore was opened in the Palace of Serbia by the highest state and government officials. The exhibition is praising many of the ongoing and planned traffic infrastructural investments in Serbia, the most substantial and expensive ones being financed with loans from the government of the People’s Republic of China. Half an hour for a journey between Novi Sad and Belgrade is allegedly expected to already happen by September 2021 – this would be a step up from the usual hour and a half (or more) the journey currently takes, as malfunctions stand as the usual occurrence. The same goes for the railways towards Niš and the southern border of Serbia. The announced driving speed should be around 200km/h (which would be faster than the highway) meaning that the travel time would be around 2 hours instead of over 4. Both routes of the railway will be reconstructed by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and is scheduled to start in 2021. The appearance of Chinese companies in Serbia – and other Balkan countries for that matter – raised some brows. Serbia is a small country, classified as upper middle income by the World bank, but with quite a high public debt, reaching up to more than 50% of the nation’s GDP [2] . Serbia is therefore maintaining good relations with foreign diplomatic representatives, and seeking economic collaboration from all over the world, diversifying its sources of investments and loans. Serbia is even reviving some old alliances/friendships from the period of Non-Aligned Yugoslavia – which is often problematic from the perspective of the European Union (EU), due to the country’s proclaimed accession to the Union. Meanwhile, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is loaning money to Srbija voz to purchase new locomotives “as a part of [the] transition to [a] green economy”, while the World Bank gave a loan to finish the E75 highway. An agreement has also been signed with the Russian company, RZD International , for the reconstruction of the railway to Bar in Montenegro, with an estimated deadline for the documentation preparation of the remaining 200km somewhere vaguely in 2021. In December 2019, Serbia Cargo started transporting cargo from the Port of Bar in Montenegro to ZiJin in Bor, Serbia. ZiJin Mining is a multinational mining group situated in China, which purchased 63% of the stocks of the Mining and Smelting Basin Bor (RTB Bor) in 2019, establishing a joint-stock company, Serbia Zijin Copper Doo Bor, for a period of 30 years. Apparently, this shipment from Montenegro was the first shipment (of many to come) of copper ore imported from Spain. At the moment, it is unclear whether the Montenegrin authorities will proceed with the planned privatization of the Port Bar [3] . Maybe China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) will step into the game, as many analysts have estimated, to secure the access to another Mediterranean port, as it is already the major stockholder of the Piraeus Port in Greece. The construction of the railroad through Serbia begun in the mid-19th century. It was the first major piece of infrastructure built in this small Balkan state. According to the Treaty signed during the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Serbia, among other countries, had agreed to build the railroad from Belgrade to the town of Vranje on the southern border as a part of the route connecting Central Europe with the Middle East. The first ceremonial train of the Belgrade-Niš line departed on September 4, 1884. Regular traffic on this route began on September 15, 1884, and Serbian Railways celebrate that day every year as Railway Day [4] . Even today, this is Serbia’s main traffic corridor, which remains the most vital transportation route of the country, enforced by the much later addition and integration into the highway E-75/Corridor 10 system, which connects the north and south of Europe. This corridor goes from Vardø in Finland’s north to the Sitia port in the south of Greece, connecting many other towns and cities along the way: Helsinki, Gdansk, Katowice, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade, Skopje, Thessaloniki, and Athens [5] . However, not everyone is as enthusiastic: “Soon, that railroad will be the only thing left in Serbia,” was one of many comments below an article reporting on the fast tracks from Belgrade to Novi Sad, testifying to a sense of disenfranchisement felt by the citizens of Serbia because – the way they see it – the “family silverware” is being sold off as the country continues to become more and more indebted. This railroad (together with the highway E75) is a part of Pan-European Corridor 10, which connects European north and south, from Finland to Greece, and is being restored by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) – some of it for the first time in 70 years. Some of the train stations are also being refreshed with new wall paint, railings, furniture, and pavement. Furthermore, there are other reasons for the concern, but mainly regarding the way local authorities are handling the situation. Impeding the implementation of the reconstruction project, all the unresolved problems that have accumulated over decades are being too hastily dealt with, causing other problems in the long run. For example, independent organizations dealing with the right to housing and challenging evictions, have recently raised the issue of the displacement of the railways’ workers who were given the accommodation in the railway guards, along the railway line from Zemun Polje to Batajnica [6] . The actors of this entire process is former Serbian Railways public company, which now has split jurisdiction with the newly founded companies, who paradoxically, are all in the same building: Serbian Railways, Infrastructure of Railways Serbia, Serbia Cargo, Museum of Railways, Traffic Institute CIP – but it seems that there is no communication between them. Furthermore, all these entities are public property, answering to the Government of Serbia. The havoc caused on the sites of railway reconstruction in Serbia testifies to the disorganization and lack of communication between these (public) entities. 11 families in 35m2, a report by the activists of ZA Krov nad glavom (FOR the Roof Above Our Heads) organization. The families living near the railway that is being reconstructed are forced to move, without the state providing a replacement housing. Source: https://youtu.be/2Yz-gZ9aU_A Main railway station in Bor 2020. Credit: Jelica Jovanović Main railway station in Bor circa 1980s. Courtesy National library Bor Road to Zaječar via Metovnica village, circa 1960. Courtesy National library Bor A look towards the east of the country further complicates the picture. In stark contrast to the images of the Corridor 10 reconstruction are the haunting images of the empty train station in Bor. The last scheduled train departed from Bor train station on December 14th 2019, according to the schedule still hanging on the station’s walls. The railroad is working just fine and is still being used, but only for cargo trains, not passengers. The industrial railroad in Bor had already been dismantled a few years ago, with only one branch still in use within the Mining and Smelting Basin Bor, today known as Serbia Zijin Copper Doo Bor. The question of railroad construction in Eastern Serbia has always been a pressing matter for all the governments of Serbia/Yugoslavia, but most especially came to the fore in the second half of 19th century, to address the issue of connecting with the rest of the country via central route between Belgrade and Niš, when the road network to this area was too ineffective to meet the needs of the country. The ore extraction was the primary motif for the railroad construction in this region. Eastern Serbia, especially the Timok region, is very rich in mineral resources, as well as in agricultural products, which were necessary to boost the country’s economy that was always struggling with various crises. These respective industries have been considered a main branch of the economy since independence from the Ottoman empire. In 1899, the government decided to sign a contract with some local entrepreneurs to build the railroad Paraćin-Zaječar. Due to the subsequent crisis regarding the parliament dismissal and a coup d’état, the beginning of the process was delayed until 1904. Although with many difficulties, especially since the terrain is very hilly and therefore difficult to build, the railroad was eventually finished and opened on January 1, 1911. Given the experience with Customs War/Pig War 1906-1908, Serbia was pushing for the construction of the railroads to ease itself from its dependence on the Austro-Hungarian empire. One of the results of this trade war was the development of the mining industry in Serbia – which then needed more ore, which came mostly from Eastern Serbia – and an effort to connect with the Thessaloniki port. However, this port was not entirely at the country’s disposal due to the influence of the court in Vienna, and Serbia consequently pushed for the construction of the more important Trans-Balkan railroad route along the Kladovo-Niš-Adriatic coast. As a part of this route, the railroad from Zaječar to Negotin was built, and by February 1914, it expanded further to Prahovo and the Port on Danube, as well as from Zaječar to Knjaževac by February 1915. These railroads further networked the region of Eastern Serbia, from which coal, iron, copper, and gold ore were being extracted [7] . There have been several attempts to build more railroads in the more mountainous areas of Kučaj, which is also the area richest in gold, iron, and timber. A group of local merchants applied and got an approval of concession to build the railroad between Veliko Gradište on the Danube and Majdanpek, probably expecting that as concessionaries, it would also be easier for them to trade goods and raw materials if they had direct access to the port on the Danube. However, as it often happens, they overestimated their abilities and underestimated the challenges of the terrain and local microclimate. This railroad was never built [8] . Another very ambitious route that eventually was not finished as planned was the route Bor-Crni Vrh. The route was built under very peculiar circumstances: during the occupation by Nazi Germany, when the forced labour camp was established in Bor. Besides working in the mine, the prisoners were also building the route of the railroad from Bor to Crni Vrh, with the goal of easier extraction and transport of the timber and charcoal, and eventual continuation of the route to the town of Žagubica. The railroad was used as an industrial railroad with no travellers, but the problem with it was that it was built so poorly that accidents were constantly occurring. It was damaged before the retreat of the Nazi army – hence once the occupation was over in 1944, the first task that youth brigades had was to reconstruct this railroad. Within that year, the route was already partially in use, and by the summer of 1945, was finally completed and given to the Basin in Bor as an industrial railroad. It operated until 1968, when the need for it (and many other routes) ceased to exist, as motorways were in the process of being built [9] . Today, only this route remains, with its rails removed, now used as a hiking trail. The route of the former railroad to Crni Vrh. Credit: Jelica Jovanović, October 2020. Bor was one of the most important cities of the post-WW2 period in former Yugoslavia, precisely because of its material base: the copper mine. The town achieved the status of being a city in 1947 in order to establish the city’s status within the region, the republic, and the federation, as well as to give it the proper administrative basis for its future development. The copper served as one of the bases for the industrialization and electrification of the country, as well as lifting the population out of poverty. Copper mining and the expansion of copper production (as well as the other by-products, which are then further connected with other industries as the basis/resources for their production) were connected with the development of the city of Bor, as well as the development of the entire region and many other cities all over Serbia and into Yugoslavia. Within the broader region: Majdanpek, Zaječar, Boljevac, Kladovo, Negotin, Donji Milanovac, Prokuplje, Žagubica; within the Republic of Serbia: Novi Sad, Pančevo, Sevojno (near Užice), Jagodina; within Yugoslavia: Zagreb. The city’s mono-industry had essentially been under the auspices and control of the federal government from the very beginning of the socialist economy of Yugoslavia – even excluded to a certain degree from the framework of workers’ self-management, which was the official state polity [10] . Today, it feels that Bor, together with Serbia, has yet again found itself in a position similar to where it was a century (or at least 70 years) ago: deindustrialized, and reliant on direct foreign investments and foreign concessions to reconstruct its infrastructures and major industries. At the moment, nobody knows for certain what the terms of contract are in case of the railway reconstruction – or many other contracts as a matter of fact – and the general assumption is that they are unfavourable for Serbia, or else there would be no reason for confidentiality [11] . To help facilitate the process of direct bargaining with foreign creditors/investors, the government even pushed through parliament the Law on Special Procedures for the Implementation of the Project of Construction and Reconstruction of Line Infrastructure Structures of Particular Importance to the Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette of RS, number 9 from 04 February 2020). This law is targeting the so-called projects of construction and reconstruction of line infrastructure structures of particular importance to the Republic of Serbia – railways, highways, possibly the Belgrade metro – which are all currently being built with money given by foreign creditors, who in turn also bypass the local rules and laws on bidding, and directly negotiate for the companies from their countries of origin to come and build in Serbia. Meanwhile, the local construction companies have been ravaged by years of mismanagement and scandalously organized privatization. Hence the concern on how the debt will be repaid if the local industry is disappearing. However, very recent news show that China had started to suspend the debt for African countries, which in comparison to the usual money lenders, makes them a more desirable [business] partner, especially to the impoverished countries of the global South. [12] Although the contexts are different, maybe there is some room for renegotiating the terms of contracts in Serbia. In one of his lectures, Yanis Varoufakis reflects on his experience with the concession of the Pireaus Port, and states that there is a difference in the agendas of Western capital compared to Chinese capital entering foreign markets (being non-imperialistic/or less imperialistic), especially within the countries on the periphery of capitalism and the Global South like Ethiopia and Greece. [13] Serbia is in position very similar to these countries and it will be interesting to see how the situation will develop in the years to come. Jelica Jovanović is an architect and PhD student at the University of Technology in Vienna, working as an independent researcher. [1] Slobodna Evropa: „Kinesko čudo na Balkanu“ [A Chinese miracle in the Balkans] https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/30325861.html?utm_source=Balkan-HP-2col&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=China-vs-Balkans , accessed November 16th 2020 [2] World Bank: Economy Profile of Serbia Doing Business 2020 Indicators, p.3, https://www.doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/country/s/serbia/SRB.pdf , accessed November 16th 2020; Ministarstvo finansija RS: Javni dug Srbije, p.5, http://www.javnidug.gov.rs/upload/Stanje%20i%20struktura%20za%20mesecni%20izvestaj%20o%20stanju/31.12.2018%20final/Web%20site%20debt%20report%20%20-%20SRB%20LATINICA%20decenbar%20gotov.pdf , accessed November 17th 2020 [3] “Mihajlovićeva i Belozjorov potpisali sporazum o obnovi barske pruge do granice sa Crnom Gorom” [Mihajlovic and Belozjorov signed an agreement on recostruction of the Bar railway to the border with Montenegro],” Bilten, December 2019 – January 2020, p.3, http://www.zeleznicesrbije.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/bilten-decembar-januar-2020.pdf , accessed November 15, 2020Aila Stojkobivić, “ARTICLE TITLE (SERBIAN)/(ENGLISH),” Bilten, September 2020, PAGE NUMBER http://www.zeleznicesrbije.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/bilten-septembar-2020.pdf [4] Serbian Railways. History of Serbian Railways. http://www.zeleznicesrbije.com/istorijat/?lang=lat [5] Economic Commission for Europe. International E Road Network. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/conventn/MapAGR2007.pdf , accessed November 15, 2020 [6] The brief report says: „…for a couple of months now, they have been exposed to pressure, attempts to cut off electricity, which they regularly pay for, as well as various forms of intimidation. Other families also received eviction orders, or were informally approached with such requests. In addition, all families have been living here for decades on the basis of a legally acquired right to use the accommodation, because their family members have spent their entire working life working for the railway and investing in its housing stock, as well as in the houses in which they lived. They do not want to move out until they are provided with adequate housing replacement, as required by the law. Everyone was offered the same thing: a smaller space in Topcider.“ ZA krov nad glavom: 11 porodica u 35 kvadrata, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yz-gZ9aU_A&feature=youtu.be , accessed November 17, 2020 [7] Nikolić, Jezdimir S.: Istorija železnica Srbije, Vojvodine, Crne Gore i Kosova, p. 157-162 [8] Ibid, p.163-164 [9] Radomir Cokić, B.Sc. eng. Forty years since the construction of the first youth railway Bor-Crni Vrh. http://timockapruga.org.rs/istorija_timockih_pruga/bor_crni_vrh.php , accessed Novemner 15, 2020 [10] Jovanović, Jelica: EMERGING FROM THE ORE: BOR, A NEW CITY OF YUGOSLAVIA (manuscript for the catalog of the Pavilion of Serbia on 17th International Architecture Exhibition – Biennale in Venice) [11] Zorić, Ognjen: “Oznaka ‘Poverljivo’ – zašto tajnost prati ugovore koje sklapa Srbija?” [Label ‘Confidential’ – why does secrecy follow contracts concluded by Serbia?], https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/poverljivi-ugovori/30739667.html , accessed November 16th 2020 [12] Jevans Nyabiage: Chinese bank signs debt suspension deals with 11 African countries, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3105290/chinese-bank-signs-debt-suspension-deals-11-african-countries , accessed November 17, 2020 [13] China vs EU on debt conditions. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tJatdtv4jQ&feature=emb_logo , accessed November 15, 2020 Previous Next

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< Back Corena* Musings Addis Ababa 15 Apr 2020 Sarah Bushra I am writing this text safely tucked in a studio apartment in Basha Wolde Condominium , Arat Kilo, Addis Ababa. Although the city is not in total lockdown, I barely leave my home, except for sporadic coffee breaks at a café downstairs. At least once a day, I make my way down from the fourth floor – pausing at the balcony of each story to look out at the city and check if it is still there and indeed intact between my climbs down each staircase. The pauses get longer with the passing days, and my gazes more unsure and less futile. Balcony Series – Addis Ababa, Sarah Bushra. There seems to be so much time stretching between the sips one cup packs, to embody all the possibilities the coffee’s dreamy color alludes to. Yet, sitting on a low stool and staring down the road, the day suddenly dusks and I realize there’s no time at all. It’s been 4 weeks since the first confirmed case was announced in Ethiopia, 3 weeks since the government banned all public gatherings, 3 weeks since schools and universities shut down, 5 days since the first reported COVID-19 death. There are new languid movements my limbs have adopted as they move through the day – in stark contrast to the lilting anxiety that sits at the opening of my throat. I think of my eyes and imagine how this lethargy translates into my vision. I see a wave, a certain dissolution and emergence of communities – as the physical spaces fade and the virtual appears. Among the many articles, listicles, memes, and mantras I encountered online that urge us to reflect on the changing times brought about by the global pandemic, one stood out to me, captivating in its subtlety. Tamrat Gezahegne shares on his Facebook account pictures of his stone carving installation. These images are less of a call to action as they are a solace, inviting us to the tranquility the artwork offers. My mind wanders to the meditative act of carving a stone, remembering Louise Bourgeois as she says: “….the thing that had to be said was so difficult and so painful that you have to hack it out of yourself and so you hack it out of the material, a very, very hard material.” Selected stone Carvings, Tamrat Gezahegne. Images shared with permission of the artist. Thinking about the physicality of the rock, despite what it refuses to do, Gezahegne has carved it to fit his imagination. Empathy is my entry point to his work. Reflecting on his perseverance and the repetitive force he used to hack, I ask what the thing was that has to be said that was so painful, maybe in this case, so alien and unprecedented. When the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia announced the first case of Corona in the country, I saw huddles of people, mostly mothers living in my apartment complex talking in hushed tones. I imagined at one point every conversation in the world dominated by Corona. All of us connected with this invisible string of whispers scuttling through our ears. Art makes this link apparent and visceral, as if we all are components of one physical body connected through the veins under our skin. Selected paintings, Selome Muleta. Images shared with permission of the artist. Scrolling down artist Selome Muleta’s feed is like peering through a hole into her private unraveling, performed beautifully and with care. We see the figure in her paintings shuffle in her bed from one side to the other, dressing and undressing through the day, cross-legged and ideally sitting facing the wall, before she melts into her surrounding, no different from the rigid and inanimate room she occupies. I imagine us, Addis dwellers engaged in a collective struggle to swallow the concept of physical distancing and self-isolation and I wonder what small things are letting them linger at the back of our throat floating in a thick fluid of uncertainty. We are now constantly attentive to where our hands might fall, as if they had not once freely landed on the brackets of our neighbor’s folded arm, or cupped a stranger child’s cheek, or hoisted the trailing corner of netela and flung it across the back of a woman rushing out from the neighborhood suk . These acts of intimacies that threaded people into communities are now replaced with static jerks as we remember that it’s no longer okay to hug, kiss or shake hands. As the government tallies the positive cases from a meager pool of tests, the real fear of most Addis Abebes come from imagining the impending fate, when the virus surges into our community in full force as it has done into other metropolises across the globe. On April 8, the Ethiopian government issued a State of Emergency, the fourth one in three years, urging citizens to take the necessary precautions, abide by the sanctioned laws, support one another, and nurture a spiritual relationship with God. Thus far Ethiopians’ strongest grounding against the unsettling nature of the virus has been a spiritual armor. On April 6, the Ethiopian Religious Council officiated the beginning of a one-month long prayer period among all religions represented in the country. The pandemic escalating in the middle of Lent, priests have been burning incense on the streets of Addis, to protect the city from COVID-19. The smoke in the air is reminiscent of the trash burning tradition on Hidar 12 (St. Michael’s day), of each year to commemorate the Spanish flu that took the lives of many Ethiopians in 1918. Alula Pankhurst draws our attention to this correlation in his post that includes his picture of a hazy Addis as the city celebrates the pandemic’s centennial by burning trash. He cautions those that criticize this traditional and historical practice and asks if we remember COVID-19 in 100 years, how will we commemorate it? I noticed my mind wouldn’t trail to memory-scape pressed by the immediate curiosity of how all this is going to end. But I imagine the post-COVID world will be defined by the company we keep now amidst the storm. This pandemic challenges and disrupts our understanding of community. It confronts us with our loneliness, unveiling the true nature of our ties, not only as we exist confined alone or with a select few, but also by unveiling the true nature of our ties to people, places, and ideologies. * Corona virus as it’s commonly pronounced by Ethiopians. It echoes sentiments of breaking/disrupting language as a form of resistance, reminiscent of Maaza Mengiste’s words in her war novel, The Shadow King, “the deliberate mispronunciation has spread across the country, started by those who did not know better and continued by those who do. It is another sign of [Ethiopians’] rebellion, another sign that they are trying to fight in every way that they can.” (Mengiste, Maaza. The Shadow King. W W Norton, 2019.) Sarah Bushra is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, working primarily with a hybrid of text and images. Previous Next

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Madina Gasimi < Back Untitled Madina Gasimi When I finish my essay, I will become obsolete for the world. This is a joke that becomes the truth and concerns literally everyone. I am not able objectively to discuss self-isolation and the global consequences of a pandemic. I am not a politician, I’m a curator and most of the time I work at home. It’s kind of an isolation, but it’s a freewill. In this essay I try my best to describe my thoughts on the situation after the pandemic of COVID-19. There is an epidemic storm in Europe and the USA, and it is growing in Russia. Many people, among them my friends, believe that COVID-19 is harmless and there are different conspiracy theories that say it is built to destroy the economic system of the whole world. But the majority is still afraid to get sick and die. Then I have a question. What is the main problem revealed with the start of the pandemic? Is it a fear of death? But it’s not a problem, it is a primal feeling we always have, and it escalates in individual cases. I think that the main problem concerns the changes in relationships between people, and these changes are affected by fear. Fear to die, fear to get sick, fear to lose a job, fear to become vain. Different kinds of fear between people have become a driving force. The virus has changed our relationships and is changing the planet. In the face of a disease whose origin still causes controversy, globalization has proven powerless. Coronavirus gives a chance to individual nation-states and is a catalyst for the birth of dictatorship. For example, the state of emergency introduced in one of the European countries provided the current Prime Minister with almost unlimited power, which could lead to restrictions on freedoms and human rights. Let’s see what has already happened with freedom and human rights. I could never imagine such a thing, but the people of Europe instantly and voluntarily gave up their rights and freedoms in the face of an unknown disease and obvious danger. Museums, theatres, restaurants, cinemas, parks are closed, people are self-isolated and are waiting for the vaccine. In Moscow people only can go outside on passes and no further than 100 meters from the house, and they pay fines if they break their self-isolation. There is a new reality in which there is a coronavirus. People of the whole entire world are not used to living in a new reality. This is the reality where familiar and favourite places (bars, restaurants, cinemas, museums) have turned into places that can cause COVID 19 and therefore kill people. The urban environment is collapsing, and our usual way of life has crushed. It’s amazing how people reacted to this. What is happening now looks like a dystopia. It seems like people have thrown away several centuries of cultural development, locked themselves in their houses, have given all their rights, and are waiting good times. This is a manifestation of animal fear of an unknown infection, the symptoms and parameters of which change in the media every day. I am happy being alive and healthy. I appreciate free time that has appeared, I spend it with my family and, surprisingly, to work more. I am happy to see all the people who support the doctors, who are the true heroes of our time. If people still can help each other, then nothing is lost. But I think we should not forget the one thing. If we want to remain human beings and save mankind, one day we will have to open the borders, go to theaters again, shake hands and make friends. The one who first removes the mask after the quarantine is finished, and open the doors to other people, will be a hero. We just have to survive! It’s hard for me to imagine what activities will be void or unnecessary. We observe that digital support has appeared in every realm. It turns out that you don’t need to go to the office 5 days per week in order to work well, you have an ability to work directly from home, and it turns out that if you are a responsible one your efficiency is bigger. Utility and optimization are becoming the main characteristics of the work, regardless who you are – a programmer or a methodologist in a museum. We are fully transitioning to online life. Digital is possible everywhere, but should it be everywhere? Where, for example, will the Tretyakov Gallery collection go after it is digitized? Will offline museum occupations become online, and will other museum offline ones be excluded? That is the question. Perhaps after the pandemic people who create content will be included in the system, competing for the attention because the attention will finally turn into a new currency in the world. People will sit at home and watch Netflix, and screenwriters will tirelessly come up with new stories. People will be able to visit the museums not leaving their homes. There are online exhibitions curated online by online curators. And you absolutely do not need to make physical contact with anyone. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Honestly I am not worried what should I do as a curator when it’s over. A curator is a person who creates ideas and meanings, a curator can form an agenda for today. I’m sure the curator can do anything and work in existing circumstances. I am concerned more about the issue of how homeless people, people with disabilities stay alive against the virus, how the environment will develop for such people, what will happen with palliative care? So many questions, and so few answers. We live in interesting times, and only those people who are able to change and adapt will survive. We are now united in the struggle for life, but we have forgotten that dying and disappearing is normal. I would like to recall the concept of Timothy Morton: the world changes regardless of how a person wants to see it. We should not fear such uncertainty, but it should be perceived as something positive. No one knows what is going to happen next, but arts and culture always rise up after every major epidemic. Madina Gasimi is a curator and cultural project manager based in Moscow, Russia. Previous Next

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Events Lecture Series Participant Activities Lecture by Ivet Ćurlin / WHW / My Sweet Little Lamb, (everything we see can also be otherwise) Saša Tkačenko, Flags from WCSCD series, 2018 THE CURATORIAL COURSE WHAT COULD/SHOULD CURATING DO? IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE A PUBLIC TALK BY: IVET ĆURLIN (WHW) My Sweet Little Lamb, (everything we see can also be otherwise) MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART BELGRADE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8 2018 AT 6 PM In collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, the lecture within the series of public programs organized by WCSCD will be presented by Ivet Ćurlin — member of curatorial collective, What, How & for Whom/WHW. The series is designed to offer new and different perspectives on the theories and practices of exhibition-making. Lecture by Ivet Ćurlin entitled “My Sweet Little Lamb, (everything we see can also be otherwise)” will present the work of curatorial collective WHW through several curatorial projects concerned with continuous reconfiguration of the relationships between artistic and cultural production, authorship, collecting, history, display and politics, as well as the discuss the need for starting the new long-term educational program for young artists, called WHW Akademija. The focus will be the project My Sweet Little Lamb, (everything we see can also be otherwise) WHW co-curated in collaboration with Kathrin Rhomberg. After six exhibition episodes, taking place from November 2016 to May 2017 in independent art spaces, artists’ studios and private apartments in Zagreb, the project’s epilogue has been staged at The Showroom, London, in collaboration with Emily Pethick. Based on the Kontakt Art Collection, which includes seminal works by artists from Central, Eastern and South-East Europe from 1960s to the present, the project juxtaposed the collection’s canonical works with a number of historical and contemporary works in order to address and reframe some of the recurring themes that stem from the collection, such as radical utopianism, figure of dissident artist, questions of gendered bodies, political subjectivities and engagement, and the status of public space. Titled after a work by Croatian artist Mladen Stilinović (1947-2016), the project is inspired by his life-long anti-systematic artistic approach that searched for more autonomous ways of artistic production. His artistic practice that humorously engages with complex themes of ideology, work, money, pain and poverty, inspired many of WHW’s projects. ABOUT THE LECTURER: Ivet Ćurlin is member of curatorial collective, What, How & for Whom/WHW, formed in 1999 and based in Zagreb and Berlin. Besides Ivet, WHW’s members are curators Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić and Sabina Sabolović, and designer and publicist Dejan Kršić. WHW organizes a range of production, exhibitions and publishing projects and directs Gallery Nova in Zagreb. Since its first exhibition titled What, How & for Whom, on the occasion of 152nd anniversary of the Communist Manifesto, that took place in Zagreb in 2000, WHW curated numerous international projects, among which are Collective Creativity, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, 2005; 11th Istanbul Biennial What Keeps Mankind Alive?, Istanbul, 2009; One Needs to Live Self-Confidently…Watching, Croatian pavilion at 54th Venice Biennial, 2011. Recent projects by WHW include exhibition Really Useful Knowledge, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2014, My Sweet Little Lamb, (everything we see can also be otherwise), (co-curated with Kathrin Rhomberg), various locations in Zagreb, 2016/2017; Shadow Citizens, retrospective of Želimir Žilnik at Edith-Russ-Hausfür Medienkunst, Oldenburg, 2018, and On the Shoulders of Fallen Giants, The 2nd Industrial Art Biennial that took place this summer in Labin, Raša, Rijeka, Pula, Vodnjan. In fall 2018, WHW has started non-formal international educational program for young artists in Zagreb, called WHW Akademija. The WCSCD curatorial course and series of public lectures are initiated and organized by Biljana Ciric together with Supervizuelna. The lecture by Niels Van Tomme is made possible with the help of MoCAB and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the additional support of Zepter Museum and Zepter Hotel. Project partners: The Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade; GRAD—European Center for Culture and Debate; EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial, ’Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation and Zepter Museum. The project is supported by: the Goethe Institute in Belgrade; Istituto Italiano di Cultura Belgrado; the Embassy of Sweden; the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the Embassy of Ireland in Greece; the Embassy of Indonesia; the EU Info Centre; Pro Helvetia – Swiss Art Council; and galleries Eugster || Belgrade, HESTIA Art Residency & Exhibitions Bureau, and Zepter Hotel, Royal Inn Hotel and CAR:GO. Media partners: EUNIC Serbia, RTS3. < Mentors Educational Program How to Apply >

Call for applications: “WHAT COULD/SHOULD CURATING DO?” curatorial course 2019 We are pleased to announce the second edition of the curatorial program, What Could/Should Curating Do?, hosted in the city of Belgrade. August 26–November 26, 2019 Application deadline: March 18 What Could/Should Curating Do? Belgrade, Serbia WCSCD was launched in 2018 as an international curatorial course situated in a specific, local context framed by its Post-Yugoslav identity, the Balkans. After the inaugural pilot year program, we continue to contribute to the thinking and doing around the curatorial field with an intense, three-month long program that draws upon the unique local and regional context as a critical source of knowledge. Simultaneously, this program also intends to provide insights into the wider international framework related to exhibition-making practices on both a theoretical and practical level. The curriculum for the course includes weekly writing assignments, presentations, studio visits, institutional visits, lectures, and mentoring sessions with local and international practitioners. As part of the program for 2019 a research visit to a different part of the Balkan region is also being planned. During the course, participants will develop and propose a collective exhibition project that will be presented the last month of the program—or later—depending on the nature of the project. The course offers participants the opportunity to meet and learn from many leading professionals in the field of contemporary curating. The primary mentors for the course include Luca Lo Pinto (Kunshtalle Wien, Vienna); Charles Esche (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven); Zdenka Badovinac (Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana); Nikita Yingqian Cai (Times Museum, Guangzhou); Ares Shporta (Lumbardhi Foundation, Prizren); Dan Cameron (New York); Matt Packer (EVA International, Limerick); Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Castello di Rivoli, Turin); and others. Patrick D. Flores, Artistic Director of the 2019 Singapore Biennial will give a kick-off lecture in May of 2019, titled Singapore Biennial 2019: Some Political Inspirations. The presentation speaks to the method and conceptual impulse to convene a biennial in Singapore, noting the lively milieu of contemporary art in Southeast Asia and the ethical demands involved in evoking this liveliness. Application requirements: Applicants must be 35 years of age or younger No prior degrees in art or art history are required The course fee is 350 EUR. The fee does not include accommodations or travel costs. International participants will be assisted with finding accommodations in Belgrade—accommodations are approximately 180 EUR per month. The standard course fee also does not cover travel and accommodations on research trips. Successful applicants should prepare an allowance of approximately 300 EUR to cover these additional costs. How to apply: Applications should include the following items as a single Word or PDF document, sent by email to what.could.curating.do@gmail.com with the subject line: Curatorial-Course-Belgrade by March 18, 2019: CV/Portfolio Letter of Interest (500 words maximum, explaining your interest in curatorial practices) Project Description (300 words maximum, an urgent project you would like to develop) Based on the quality of the submitted documents, 15 participants will be selected to attend the course. Selected applicants should plan to arrive in Belgrade no later than August 25, 2019. The final list of participants will be announced in May 2019. The final curriculum of the program will be confirmed in June 2019 and shared with the attending curators at that time. The WCSCD curatorial course is a long term project initiated by Biljana Ćirić, with the support and collaboration of the following partner institutions: The Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade; EVA International—Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art; and Zepter Museum, among others. The project is supported by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Belgrado; the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgrade; the Austrian Cultural Forum; Heinrich Boell Stiftung; and Hestia Art Residency & Exhibitions Bureau among others. Project contacts: what.could.curating.do@gmail.com Tjaša Pogačar (tutor of WCSCD 2019): pogacartjasa.contact@gmail.com Ana Anakijev (coordinator): anaanakijev@gmail.com Visual identity by Saša Tkačenko

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