About project


In addition to its regular activities, REX strives to develop and carry out a new complex project every two years which, by the choice of its topic and the way that topic is approached and presented to the public, clearly illustrates the fundamental principles REX is based on (promoting an active role of culture and art in dealing with current social issues). After the projects Jews in Dorcol between the Two World Wars (1997) and Romany in Belgrade from the Beginning of the 20 th Century to the Present (2001), on 17 September 2004 , the public was introduced to the latest project VlasTITO iskustvo / Past Present.
A letter written in a village in Serbia , dated December 30 th 1963 and addressed to Josip Broz begins like this:

Dear Master Comrade Tito ,

A short official document from the Josip Broz Tito Memorial Centre, dating back to the mid-1980s, describes the collection in which the letter is kept as "being documentary in nature. It documents not so much history as the attitude of Yugoslav citizens to what was presented to them as history". It also explains that "the collection is a document about faith and the need for faith to be expressed, materialized and take on the form of a monument" and that "collection holdings will reveal their true value and role one day, when the time has come for a subtle, historical, interdisciplinary analysis of the phenomenon referred to as the socialist period of Yugoslavia."
In 2001 it seemed that the time had finally come to perform that "subtle historical analysis" and we started working on the project VlasTITO iskustvo / Past Present.
It is aimed at dealing with the phenomenon that could be named "Titoism". This is the phenomenon which, over a period of time that is relatively long (in terms of human life) but, at the same time, short (compared to the course of history), marked joint history of all Balkan peoples that participated in the project known colloquially as "The Second Yugoslavia". The phenomenon should be examined "from below" - at the level of the individual (citizen). In the light of all that, the motto of the exhibition could be "How did Imake Titoism possible?"
We also wanted to raise the question as to what posed the most problems, as far as creativity is concerned. Where did mass exaltation disappear "after Tito"? How much of it survived transformed into the euphoria surrounding national leaders? Is it finally exhausted - has it drowned in blood? Is it still lurking just round the next corner?
Naturally, the project that seeks to examine a particular topic and focus on the issues it raises must remain at the level of asking questions. We believe that opening a public discussion on the topic of the VlasTITO iskustvo / Past Present project will facilitate the process of facing the suppressed truth about the recent past. Reviewing the phenomenon to which we gave the working name of "Titoism" could also encourage a public discussion about the tragic phenomena that followed, or simply, replaced it and about the issue of responsibility for their appearance.
The project consisted of an exhibition and a book. At the initiative of Marina Dokmanović, the project was carried out (organized and produced) by B92 - REX in collaboration with the Samizdat publishing house and radio and television B92.
We would like to show this project to the audience in the former Yugoslav republics. We are convinced that it can encourage an important debate on the current political circumstances and situation. We are aware of the fact that the debate will be different in each of the countries, as much as their history differed from the time of Tito's death onwards. The material we collected will, hopefully, stimulate people to work "at the local level" which should enable to mount a new, more comprehensive and, in a way parallel, exhibition featuring additional material obtained in each host country. The new exhibition should be held in Belgrade after this one has toured the ex Yugoslav countries.
5 video screens, 10 TV sets and video cassette players, 10 CD players, 6 computers and 4 slide projectors were used to stage the exhibition in Belgrade . 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).
Carried out with the support of Fund for an Open Society, Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Swiss Embassy in Belgrade , the Belgrade City Secretariat for Culture, and the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Serbia, the National Bank of Serbia and the Institute for Manufacturing Banknotes and Coins.