THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition "VlasTITO iskustvo / Past Present" is based on the documents taken from the archives of Radio Belgrade, TANJUG news agency, media group Politika, Radio and Television of Serbia, as well as the material about the collections of the Museum "May 25 th" compiled in the course of the preparations for the project and the newly prepared documentary material.

The original plan was that the items from the collections of the Museum "May 25 th", primarily the following ones: "Relay Batons", "Miscellaneous", "Technical Devices", "Ethnographic" and "Fine Arts Collection", which are most closely related to its theme, should be the pillars of the exhibition (especially with regard to the venue). We believed that gifts-exhibits, especially the objects, forming the "Miscellaneous" collection, which had never been exhibited before, had an appearance and symbolic value that were a sign of the times in which they were created. After long preparations, the Museum of Yugoslav History unilaterally reneged on the previously reached agreement and we were not allowed to use the items kept in the museum. This happened in spite of positive recommendations the project received from the Ministry of Culture and the Belgrade City Secretariat for Culture. Because of that, the exhibition features only the material about the collections of the museum compiled while preparing the project.

Photographic material shown at the exhibition was taken from photographic archives of the TANJUG news agency, daily Politika and private collections. The work of photographers Imre Sabo, Goranka Matić and others is also featured.

Video material consists of documentary footage from the archives of Television Belgrade (recorded from 1947 to 1973) and interviews with our contemporaries who, in different ways, influenced the forming and preservation of the myth of Tito. (The interviews were made in 2001 and 2002). The documentary about Eva Panić Nahir - Israeli peace activist is also part of the exhibition. Eva was born in Yugoslavia. She was a member of the Partisan movement during the Second World War. After the war, forced to make a choice between her only daughter and her husband, she decided not to betray her love and ideals and ended up in the Goli otok labour camp. Making such a choice meant leaving her daughter Tijana to grow up alone, practically on the street. In this film, many years later, Eva asks forgiveness from Tijana during a reunion organized by her granddaughter - Tijana's daughter. Three women gather together in Israel and travel to Yugoslavia, trying to lift the emotional burden of the years they have lived separated from one another.

Audio material from the archives of Radio Belgrade was chosen in such a way as to document memories of Tito's personality and work, the moments when he received gifts, when honours were conferred on him in the country and abroad, as well as the occasions on which he was awarded all kinds of prizes and certificates of merit.

Our aim is also to show, through press clipping - a random sample of local newspapers, compiled in collaboration with Ebart/Media Documentation, how often Tito is referred to today.

We would like this exhibition to tour!!
The material shown at the exhibition "VlasTITO iskustvo / Past Present" can be adapted to almost any space to suit any technical conditions.
The conditions under which the exhibition can tour are not set in advance. We are ready to negotiate with all interested parties - venue owners - separately, taking into account local conditions and scope of the entire project (our exhibition and the book can be used together as a "finished product", or can be incorporated into some wider project in the host town/country).
The exhibition was opened on 17 September 2004 in Belgrade (take a look).
5 video screens, 10 TV sets and video cassette players, 10 CD players, 6 computers and 4 slide projectors were used to stage it.

Exhibition staging: Marina Dokmanović
Design of the accompanying material: Jeroen de Vries
Collaborators preparing the material and staging the exhibition: Dušica Parezanović, Đorđe Kovačević, Radonja Leposavić, Marko Popović, Petar Savić, Darko Arsić, Ljubiša Smajić, Jelena Bajić, Katarina Živanović, Jovan Raletić, Nebojša Milikić.
Carried out with the support of the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Belgrade City Secretariat for Culture, and the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Serbia.