Serbia: student protests

FACTS - 16h00 - 00h00
INTERPRETATION OF THE FACTS - 20h00
THE EMOTION - 21h00 - 22h00

On the 1st of November 2024 a concrete canopy of the newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad (Serbia) collapsed killing 16 people. It was obvious that it wasn’t just an accident, but that those deaths were caused by human factors. Even before that the people of Serbia had a lot of serious issues with the current government and protested for over a decade, but this tragedy was a tipping point that mobilised a mass movement.

Large protests were held all across the country, led by students who blocked the faculties and published their demands. Those demands are mostly related to the investigation of causes of the tragedy itself (public release of the information and evidence,individual and institutional accountability, etc), but if fulfilled they would inevitably lead to the fall of the governing party and their leaders.

Since then students and citizens have been organizing in various forms of direct democracy in order to bring about the fulfilment of all the demands.

It is a complex and complicated story with a lot of events and interpretations that is going on for more than six months. At this event we want to present it to an international audience. We decided to present it in three ways, in three layers of truth.

1. FACTS (informative banner)

A detailed chronology of the events will be presented in multimedial form of a visual timeline/infographic panel. The panel will be filled with photos, articles, QR codes that lead to relevant videos documenting all the major events during this crisis.

2. INTERPRETATION OF THE FACTS (speaking panel)

After presenting the dry facts we want to connect them in some meaningful way. Since there are different voices in the movement itself, we thought that it would be best to invite people with different perspectives to speak about their first-hand experience, interpretations, ideas about the meaning of the movement and possible resolutions of the crisis.

Participants:
Danilo Šainović (host/moderator)
Milian Milojković (University professor)
Lazar Petković (Student)
Borislav Prodanović (Activist)

3. THE EMOTION (artistic representation of the struggle)

1. “In Dialogue with Revolution” - exhibition of silkscreen prints combined with stitching by Jana Mladenović

2. “Kliconoša” or The Carrier is a contemporary vocal piece by Milica Hadžić
   The event is curated and organized by Het Bos in collaboration with Danilo Šainović and Milica Hadžić (who work together to make events as the informal art collective “Homo Ludens”)

More information about the program and participants:

Panel speakers:

• Milan Milojković (Zaječar, 1986) finished musical high school “Josip Slavenski” in Belgrade, studied musicology at the Department of Musicology, Faculty of Music in Belgrade, where he obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees, and defended his PhD thesis titled “Digital technology in Serbian artistic musical output 1972-2010”. He is regularly publishing papers in domestic and international professional publications, dedicated to contemporary, especially electroacoustic music, improvisation and writings about music. He published a study about Max Reger’s music titled “Sempre con tutta forza”, the book “Analysis of the Language of Writings About Music (Serbia in Yugoslavia 1946-1975)”, and the book „Digital technology in Serbian artistic music“. He is working as associate professor at the Department for Musicology and Ethnomusicology of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad as well as one of the music editors at Third Program Radio Belgrade. He designs and makes digital and analogue musical instruments and regularly performs with various ensembles.

• Lazar Petković (1994) is currently obtaining a master's degree in philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy (University of Novi Sad, Serbia). His fields of interest include social theory, contemporary philosophy and psychoanalysis as well as translation and book editing. He is a member of the theoretical collective Gerusija.

• Borislav Prodanović (1976) activist, artist, member of CK13 collective, a theologian, that works on feminist theology.

Artists/Performers:

• Jana Mladenović is a young professional artist born in 2000 in Belgrade, Serbia. She graduated in Applied Painting from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, where she received the "Rajko Nikolić" award as the best graduating student in her department. Prior to that, she completed her secondary education at the Philological High School in Belgrade, specializing in Japanese language. She also studied Fashion Design at the Academy of Design in Marbella, Spain.
  She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Visual Arts in a Socio-Political Context at Sint Lucas School of Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. So far, she has held two solo exhibitions and participated in over 15 group exhibitions, both in Serbia and abroad.

“In Dialogue with Revolution” reflects my evolving relationship with the ongoing student-led protests in Serbia, my home country. Observing from afar,through screens and social media, I navigate a sense of distance, helplessness, and emotional intensity that changes from day to day. Some days, the revolution feels vivid and powerful; on others, it feels distant, almost forgotten.
These textile works combine silkscreen prints with stitching, using repeated screenshots from a day of mass protest. The act of sewing becomes a way to process, to archive, and to attend to reality through tactile engagement. Thread serves as both a veil and a tool of repair, obscuring, revealing, and connecting. Though physically removed, I remain emotionally entangled. These pieces are a personal attempt to understand my positionality, somewhere between witness and participant, and to reflect on the fragile possibilities of direct democracy.

• Milica Hadžić is a singer and pianist from Novi Sad, Serbia, currently based in Antwerp, Belgium. She primarily focuses on original compositions, free improvisation and performance art, either as a solo artist or as part of a group. Her sound often takes motives from Serbian folk music, as well as experimental pop.

“Kliconoša” or The Carrier is a contemporary vocal piece telling the story of the train station canopy collapse in Novi Sad, Serbia in 2024.
This occasion took people to the streets, demanding the paperwork about the renovations of the train station. Because of the lack of transparency from the government and the corrupt media that continued to ignore the public, the gatherings on the streets became aggressive from the state’s side.
The people started to express anger and dissatisfaction.
This happening led to the complete blockade of the universities and a full stop of the education system in the country.
People started to unite more than ever before, wishing for the justice for the lost ones and equality for every citizen.
Kliconoša focuses on the state of the people before the collapse and the feelings that woke up during the protests. It talks about the unity and the readiness for what’s next.