Workshops for high school and college students

In an effort to make the space accessible and attractive to young people and enable them to connect with works of art and the Gallery itself, we develop and organize various programs for school groups and students. Works of art as a starting point, we re-examine various social occurrences through interactive workshops, active involvement of young people and through the awareness of open, stimulating dialogue. Keeping in mind that a museum object does not carry an objective truth and meaning, in an atmosphere in which learning is intertwined with fun, we encourage young people to seek and give their own meaning to works of art and express views and opinions on the topics we cover.

Between the Painting and History

The workshop is based on Paja Jovanović’s painting Migration of The Serbs, more specifically, on two different versions of this painting that depict the same event, giving it a different meaning. Comparing the two versions of Migration of The Serbs with students, we discuss the power of visual media and the way in which the media was prone to manipulation in the past, and the way that is done today. In addition, by looking at the paintings and the different people depicted on them, we think about how they must have felt leaving their homes and going into the unknown.

Should I stay, or should I go

The workshop is based on paintings by Bogdan Šuput A Bar in Paris, City Court in Paris and Carinska Street in Novi Sad, which is designed to encourage discussions about what home means for young people, and what it means for them to leave it all behind to a place somewhere foreign. Through paintings, biography and personal letters of Bogdan Šuput, students can perceive various positive and negative experiences of leaving the country and studying abroad. Following this discussion, students make Lego® models, which exemplify their personal stance on these issues and they talk about hopes, fears and expectations of their future life in Serbia or abroad.

Streets and Faces of Novi Sad

This workshop aims to encourage young people, in an interesting and innovative way – using Lego® blocks, to answer the question, “Who and what makes up the culture of our city?” By observing the works of art from the collection of the Gallery of Matica Srpska where Novi Sad is presented, young people do not only have the opportunity to have a dialogue about Novi Sad “then and now”, but to also find the answer to the question of what makes their city unique on the map of Europe.

Workshops during the Month of Francophonie

During the Month of Francophonie (March), in cooperation with the French Institute in Serbia, we developed a special program for high school students whose goal is to merge and get to know two cultures – Serbian and French. In these educational and creative workshops, young people become acquainted with Serbian and French artists and their works, with the intention of re-examining the relations and connections between these two cultures and identifying common grounds between them.

Drama workshops in the Gallery®

Since 2014, drama educators Armin Joha Hadžimusic and Hristina Moratidu, from the Center for Theater Research, have started creative drama workshops in cooperation with the Gallery. Drama plays and improvisations of scenes from works of art are used as methods of learning about the artists, subjects and the social circumstances in which those works were created. Workshop participants reflect on human and cultural values, entering into the roles of the personalities represented in the paintings.

Workshops can be arranged in agreement with the GMS museum educators and drama educators.