Cooperation With the Serbian Cultural Center in Paris

Duration of cooperation: 2018–

With the idea of ​​presenting the rich Serbian artistic heritage inspired by French culture and art to the French public, the Gallery of Matica Srpska started its cooperation with the Serbian Cultural Center in Paris, with the support of the French Institute in Serbia. The Exhibition Images of the Ephemer World. The Relations between French and Serbian Intimism was presented at the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. The exhibition Sava Choumanovitch and the Secrets under the Dome in the Cultural Center in Paris was set up in the middle of 2019, when the works of Sava Choumanovitch were presented.

The cooperation is financed by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the French Institute in Serbia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in France.

The Cooperation with the Institute for Conservation and Restoration in Florence

Duration of cooperation: 2017–

The Cooperation with the Institute for Conservation and Restoration in Florence – Opificio delle Pietre Dure is based on the participation of experts and the exchange of experiences in the field of conservation. In addition to participating in international courses at the renowned Italian Conservation Institute, supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture, within the International Training Projects (Methods and Materials for Cleaning Painitngs (2017) and Preventive Conservation (2019), in which GMS experts participated, the cooperation was developed through visits of Italian experts to the Gallery of Matica Srpska in 2018 and 2019, as well. On these occasions, projects related to rescuing cultural heritage in disaster situations, new methods of conservation and restoration of paintings on panel, as well as methods of cleaning of paintings presented at the international conference Cleaning. Ethics, Technics and Aesthetics in GMS were presented (2019).

The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.

Art and Modern Technology

Project duration: 2017

In accordance with modern museological practice, the Gallery of Matica Srpska introduced new technologies in the communication with museum visitors through the Art and Modern Technology project, implemented in cooperation with the Zumoko company. Through this project, a mobile application Feel the Art with elements of AR (Augmented Reality) was created, providing visitors with an innovative and interesting interpretation of artworks displayed in the Gallery’s Permanent Exhibition. Through three gallery tours – Feel the Art, Sava Tekelija tour and the Treasure Hunt – visitors of different ages have the opportunity to learn about artistic and social phenomena of the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th c., the history of the Gallery of Matica Srpska “from the angle of Sava Tekelija” and about the artists and their works on time travel with the Magical Queen Bee.

The project was supported by the UNESCO, as well as the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.

Cooperation With the Art and History Museum in Vienna

Duration of cooperation: 2016 –

The cooperation with one of the most important Austrian and European museums, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, officially began in 2016, when a Protocol on Cooperation between the two institutions was signed. During the past years, the cooperation was based on the exchange of knowledge and experiences in the field of museum education and conservation with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum (Cultural Service of the Embassy of the Republic of Austria) in Belgrade. Several Workshops and conferences took place at the Gallery of Matica Srpska with the participation of museum experts from Vienna – workshops on technical photography in conservation (2016), workshops on museum education and exhibitions (2017 and 2018), international conferences Open Museum (2017), Cleaning. Ethics, Techniques and Aesthetics (2019) and Museums, Youth, Activism (2020). Also, through meetings and study visits, museum experts from both museums had the opportunity to get to know the work and programs of the partner institution better. The collaboration was crowned with the donation of a special camera for infrared reflectography from the Art History Museum in Vienna, as well as the realization of the Creative Europe project HearMe. Bringing Youth and Museums Together.

The project is financed by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade.

Perceptions

Project duration: 2016–2018

At the invitation of the British Council, which realized several major exhibitions of British artists in Novi Sad, the Gallery of Matica Srpska took part in the Perceptions project, which provided an opportunity for museums and curators from the region to create an exhibition of works of art from the British Council collection in the dialogue with works of art from its own collection. Through the dialogue of the artistic heritage of the two countries, contemporary British art and modern and contemporary Serbian art, an exhibition entitled Women Tailored to Society? encouraged thinking and observation of the fine arts that the Gallery inherits in the context of social phenomena of previous centuries as well as the challenges of the 21^st century.

The project was funded by the British Council Serbia, the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Directorate for Culture of the City of Novi Sad and the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality.

HearMe. Bringing Youth and Museums Together

Project duration: 2016–2017

The project was jointly created and realized by the Gallery of Matica Srpska, the National Gallery of Slovenia, the Art and History Museum in Vienna and the organization “Social Innovation – Social Entrepreneurship” from Spain. The project was designed as an educational program for young people aged 15 to 19, which established and deepened the connection between the museum and young people. The project was based on workshops aimed at answering questions about how museums and galleries can attract young audiences and encourage them to think about global issues and problems of the society. Through works of art that talk about migrations, movements of both the population and cultural heritage, the central theme of the project was opened – how the key issues of the present day could be seen through the fine arts of the past. The project resulted in a new methodological approach to working with young people, an international conference and publication of a handbook for museum experts in English, German, Slovenian and Serbian.

www.projecthearme.org

The project is funded through the Creative Europe program, and with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Culture of Slovenia.

Albrecht Dürer and His Contemporaries

Project duration: 2015–2016

The international exhibition of prints by the famous artist Albrecht Dürer and his contemporaries from the collection of the East Slovak Museum in Košice was presented at the Gallery of Matica Srpska from November 2015 to January 2016. Thanks to the cooperation of three museum institutions: the East Slovak Museum in Košice, the City Museum of Belgrade and the Gallery of Matica Srpska, the local public had a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the graphic works of one of the greatest creators of the Renaissance, German artist Albrecht Dürer, as well as his students and contemporaries, famous names of German and Italian prints (Heinrich Aldegrefer, Albrecht Aldorfer, Luka Kranach the Elder, Markantonio Raimondi and others).

The realization of the exhibition was made possible by the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade, the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Secretariat for Culture and Public Information of AP Vojvodina, the City Council for Culture of Novi Sad and the Dunav a. d. insurance company.

Cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska

Duration of cooperation: 2014–

Long-term cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka is based on mutual support for the protection and presentation of artistic heritage and cooperation on the realization of individual and joint programs. Over the past years, through conferences, workshops and joint projects in the field of museum education, experts from both institutions had the opportunity to exchange experiences and knowledge. In addition to professional training, fruitful cooperation resulted in the exchange of numerous exhibitions: Dobrović, Šumanović, Konjović, Šuput – European Contexts in MSURS (2014), DATES 1 in GMS (2015), Themes and Ideas of Modernity. Serbian painting 1900–1941 in MSURS (2017), Space, Shape, Touch in GMS (2017/2018), European Phenomena in the Collection of the Gallery of Matica Srpska in MSURS (2019), Highlights. Collection of Foreign Art MSURS in GMS (2019/2020).

The cooperation between the two institutions is financed by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska.

Parallels / Paralleli

Project duration: 2012–2015

The project brought together numerous partners within the Protocol on Cooperation in Local Development in the Field of Cultural Heritage Protection for the period 2012-2015. The cooperation between Italian and Serbian institutions was based on research, protection, presentation and promotion of cultural heritage in the context of sustainable development. The activities were related to the presentation of crucial periods in art in two countries – the Renaissance in Italy and the Baroque in Serbia. The results of this joint project were two exhibitions: one took place in the Gallery of Matica Srpska – Humanism and the Renaissance in the Central Apennines. Parallels (2013) and the other Zografi. Serbian icons between tradition and modernity. Parallels (2015) in the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia. Through exhibitions and accompanying catalogs, the characteristics and parallels of these two apparently distant cultural-historical periods were researched. Moreover, special attention was paid to the implementation of educational programs in museums, science in conservation and restoration, and integral heritage protection and its presentation. All these activities realized through multidisciplinary cooperation of numerous institutions with the inclusion of topics from the field of economy, science, tourism, old crafts and others, and through them other types of protection and promotion of territories with great cultural potential were considered. The results of the collaboration are summarized in the publication Parallels in Serbian and Italian.

The project was financed by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism of the Republic of Italy, the Provincial Government – Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities and the Territorial Interregional Pact of the Apennines.