The most significant art gathering in this part of Europe, the sixth Kaleidoscope of Culture in Novi Sad, from 7 September to 15 October, will present the world’s greatest artistic names, giants of Serbian culture and young artists on the rise, in the most important spatial legacies of the European Capital of Culture – the District and the network of cultural stations. During five weeks and through five types of art, more than 1,000 artists will celebrate more than a month of culture of togetherness and respond to the artistic concept of ‘Unbreakable Ties’.
‘From the multitude of events to the European-recognizable programme concept, this year with the artistic message of ‘unbreakable ties’, Kaleidoscope is in many ways the first, unique and different in the culture of Serbia and the region. If anyone thinks that it is pretentious, he or she can thank the artists and the audience who developed it that way through regular evaluations. If we believed them, you can believe to facts or visit it again.’ – said Nemanja Milenković, CEO of the ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation.
The four days of the opening of the Kaleidoscope of Culture will present the Guinness record holder and one of the most popular pianists in the world, Peter Bence with the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra at the Korzo on 7 September and the premiere of the multimedia event ‘Unbreakable Ties’ in the District on 8 September, with two more performances on 9 and 10 September, which through five types of art, brings together more than 300 artists, looking back on one hundred years of the District, tracing the most significant historical events of the 20th and 21st centuries.
‘I am here on behalf of the ‘Laza Kostić’ Grammar School as a performing arts teacher. We teach students how to write projects because the European Capital of Culture taught us how to do it, so now we teach them. In addition, I keep saying that if Sterijino Pozorje is the closing of the theatre season, then somehow, in my opinion, the Kaleidoscope of Culture is something that starts to be the opening of the theatre season. It is very important to us.’ – said Sonja Leštar, director of the ‘Nekršteni Dani’ play.
Grammy Award winner and one of the most popular jazz musicians, Jason Miles, world virtuoso Stefan Milenković, the most important local and regional names in literature Matija Bećković, Muharem Bazdulj, Milica Vučković, Jasminka Petrović, Danica Vukićević; the winner of the Pritzker Prize, Nobel counterpart in architecture, Alejandro Aravena, renowned designers Goran Edi Tadić and Slavimir Stojanović Futro, one of the most important young painters, Aleksandar Bajunović, are just some of the names that will be part of the Kaleidoscope of Culture this year.
Along with the most significant names, the audience will have the opportunity to see previously unseen art installations, such as the first multimedia exhibition on industrial heritage called ‘Duh Mesta’, followed by an exhibition that will present for the first time in one place, works by the greats of Serbian art, including – Petar Lubarda, Milena Pavlović Barili, Sava Šumanović, Milan Konjević, Olja Ivanjicki, Vladimir Veličković, Marina Abramović and others, an exhibition of world naive, unusual art installations and more.
‘The Kaleidoscope of Culture is something that is inevitable in the most beautiful way for anyone living in Novi Sad. You simply enter culture and regardless of whether you sometimes have no interest in the content, or even sometimes you don’t have time, it is inevitable that you come into contact with the atmosphere that the Kaleidoscope of Culture creates. It can be said that it is a world festival.’ – said Stefan Milenković, violinist.
Kaleidoscope of Culture is the most recognizable and most attended event of the European Capital of Culture, with the highest ratings from the audience, which more than 90 percent of visitors would visit again, and the quality of the programme is cited as the main reason for the visit, as shown by independent research from the University of Novi Sad.
‘Created as part of the preparations for the European Capital of Culture title year and continuing to exist as a legacy even after 2022, the project is slowly growing into a traditional gathering of citizens, artists, and institutions around content that they jointly create and which ultimately contribute not only to enrichment of cultural matrix of our city, but also to the refinement of community life. The city of Novi Sad continues to open new spaces for culture, strengthens the infrastructure in the field of culture and contributes to decentralization, so we have opened nine cultural stations so far, and today I can announce that the network of cultural stations will be expanded to two new addresses – in Stepanovićevo, where it officially opens on 12 September with a concert by Stefan Milenkovic and CS ‘Petefi Sandor’ on Telep.’ – said Dalibor Rožić, member of the City Council in charge of culture.
Admission to all programmes of the Kaleidoscope of Culture is free of charge.
Partner of the Kaleidoscope of culture is Erste Bank. Partner of the multimedia event ‘Unbreakable Bonds’ is Neoplanta.
Photo: Marko Pudić, Vladimir Veličković
