It was said at the debate “Let’s get Culture!” that for years, culture and art have been a reason for the two communities to talk and connect.
A debate with famous directors and actors was held on Friday, October 28th, in Pristina, organized by the NGO Aktiv as part of the Manifesta 14 Project for the Western Balkans. Andrej Nosov, theater director and founder of Heartefact Fund, Enver Petrovci, actor, director and writer, and Aleksandar Djindjic, actor, spoke at during discussion on cultural challenges.
Well-known names from the world of theater and film from Serbia and Kosovo spoke about cultural activism, art, local and regional cooperation, as well as challenges, and perspectives in the field of culture. Nosov, Petrovci and Djindjic pointed out that cooperation in art exists, but that more needs to be done to bring the two societies closer together.
Andrej Nosov said that the theater is a space where the truth lives and that people from the field of culture do can have shared activities.
“There will always be people who are against the connection. I think culture and art play a big role in shaping critical thinking. The fact that the Albanians will have a critical opinion and the Serbs will not, I don’t think it will bring anything good. We keep having the same problem. We spend our lives convincing each other that life is not a flat plate”, says Nosov.
Nosov pointed out that people in Belgrade would like to know what is happening in Pristina.
“There is always some tension about what will happen. I think that we are all invisible in the public space”, he added.
The famous film figure Enver Petrovci pointed out that politics and culture should not mix.
“An artist should not be a member of a political party. They take you out of that mud to use you and throw you away. From 2000 until today, I have not worked on a single project with a political party. In culture, we take two steps forward and three steps back. Culture must come first”, said Petrovci.
Actor Aleksandar Djindjic points out that the path of culture and art has no dilemma.
“We had no dilemma where we were going. An audience is an audience, we like to explore different spaces”, he says.
Theater and film makers from Serbia and Kosovo pointed out that art offers opportunities for connection, predicting that a big boom is ahead in the film industry between Kosovo and Serbia, as well as the entire region.
Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, seeks to promote contemporary culture as a force for social and economic change. The European Nomadic Biennale, which took place in Pristina from July 22 to October 30, 2022, aimed to support the citizens of Kosovo in their ambition to reclaim public space and turn around the future of their city as an open metropolis in the heart of the Balkans.
This activity is realized within the project Manifesta 14 Western Balkans and is co-financed by the European Union.
