ritual aspects of the balkan visual cult
TRANSCRIPT
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VISUAL CULTURE OF THE BALKANS
VISUAL CULTURE OF THE BALKANS
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VISUAL CULTURE OF THE BALKANS:
STATE OF RESEARCH AND FURTHER
DIRECTIONS
CENTER FORVISUAL CULTURE OF THE BALKANS
FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF BELGRADE
ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS
BELGRADE 3-4JULY 2014
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VISUAL CULTURE OF THE BALKANS:STATE OF RESEARCH AND FURTHER
DIRECTIONS
ABSTRACTS of PAPERS
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EDITED BY
Nenad Makuljevi
ORGANIZING COMMITEE:
Prof. dr Karl Kaser (Karl-Franzens- Universitt Graz), Prof. dr
Nataa Mikovi(Universitt Basel), Prof. dr Barbara Murovec
(Franc-Stele Institute, Ljubljana University of Maribor), Prof. dr
Nenad Makuljevi(University of Belgrade)
FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF BELGRADE
(3-4 July 2014)
Cover image: Felix Kanitz, Belgrader Gesellschaft, in: Serbien. Historisch-ethnographische Reisestudien. (Serbia - Ethnographic and Historical TravelStudies) Fries, Leipzig 1868, p. 450.
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CONTENT
FOREWORD 7
ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS 10
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 41
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FOREWORD
VISUAL CULTURE OF THE BALKANS: STATE OF RESEARCHAND FURTHER DIRECTIONS
In recent decades there has been a significant change in
observing art and culture of the Balkans. One of the current issues is
the study of visual culture of the Balkans. While in the Balkancountries the national historiographies still dominate, it is becoming
quite obvious that the common social, political, artistic and cultural
frameworks influence the creation of all forms of cultural life in
entire Balkans. The Ottoman Empire, in which had lived majority of
Balkan nations; formation of a Yugoslav state, as well as the similarity
of political systems in Southeastern Europe all together have resulted
in establishing a common Balkan culture. In these processes, visual
culture has had a prominent place because it contributed to the
creation of private and collective identity, and represents one of the
most powerful communication tools between different ethnic,
religious and social communities.
Nenad Makuljevi
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of Philosophy
Belgrade University
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ABSTRACT of PAPERS
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SAA BRAJOVI
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
BETWEEN EAST AND WEST: VISUAL CULTURE OF THEMEDITERRANEAN MONTE NEGRO
The aim of this paper is to present fundamental postulates of culture
and visual culture of the Adriatic coast of Montenegro, recognized as
an integral part of that state at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 and
following World War I in 1918.
The littoral part of Montenegro must be observed as part of thebroader panoramic picture of the Mediterranean. However, as the
entire Mediterranean in general, so too is Mediterranean Montenegro
a sum of geographic fragments, microregions, individual localities of
changeable structure and with a strong tradition of simultaneous
interdependence and communication.
Visual culture played a formative role in the creation of regionsof Mediterranean Montenegro. This paper will examine its role in two
regions: in the Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska, a specific geographic
entity made up of several microregions), and in the city of Stari Bar
(Old Bar), in the period between the 15th and the 19th century.
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A complex matrix of factors influenced the creation of visual
art in Mediterranean Montenegro, and in particular the varyinghistorical conditions within certain geographic environments.
Artifacts, artists, patronage, production, distribution, perception and
functions of art, as well as styles, techniques, materials in
Mediterranean Montenegro must be considered as part of examining
this phenomenon from the standpoint of geography of art.
Visual culture of these regions must be observed as part of thebroader geographic and historical horizon. It was created after
models conceived in the great centers of the Mediterranean,
Constantinople, Venice and Istanbul. Adapted to a given geographic
structure, historical conditions and the different roles of presentation,
visual culture demonstrates the spirit of malleability, a simultaneous
attraction and repellence between East and West in the Balkan
Mediterranean.
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IRENA IROVIThe Institute of History, Belgrade
ENVISIONING ARMED FEMININITY: REPRESENTATIONS
OF THE BALKAN WOMEN WARRIORS IN THE 19TH
CENTURY
During the 19th century in the Balkans, marked by the struggles for
independence, numerous images thematized battles and an idea of
wartime heroism. Viewed from the gender perspective, pictures of
war and warriors are created within framework of strong masculinity,
as the main characteristic of militancy. In this war imagery of the
Balkans, attention is raised by simultaneous occurrence of the images
of armed women. As a kind of intrusion into the exclusive masculine
war zone, those representations call for examination of the ideas they
valorized. The aim of the paper is to analyze visualization of a
woman warrior, in relation to the dominant notions of femininity.
The intention is to highlight the ideals image of an armed woman
embodied, intertwined with a particular cultural and political ideas.
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VUK DAUTOVI
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
RITUAL ASPECTS OF BALKAN VISUAL CULTURE
Important aspects of the visual culture in the Balkans in XIX centuryare the religious rituals that constructed the identity of different
religious and ethnical groups in the Ottoman Empire and also in the
national states that followed it. Practicing the main religions in the
Balkan area: Christian, Jewish and Muslim, was denominated through
the world of their physical ritual objects. These ritual objects, seen as
the instruments that transfer the holiness and bring theological and
religious beliefs of these religions into being are shaped and
decorated in accordance with their function and symbolic
significance. Different ritual objects that exist in the Balkans, such as
church utensils and holly liturgical vessels, religious objects belonging
to the Synagogue, but also certain types of objects used in mosquesand the ones used for the purposes of private devotion, are not
similar in their form or function. Instead, certain similarities in the
visual aspect of rituals in the Balkans can be specified trough the
same way of visualizing magnificence, the same choice of suitable
materials and styles of decoration, in order to visualize their unique
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importance through the same cultural model as the frame of their
representation.Some mutual influences and connections are also present
through the craftsmen who produced these objects and also through
the demands of popular piety that also affected their manufacturing.
Hence, the rituals and their objects as the aspects of visual culture
point out to the mutual exchange and influence between these
powerful religious entities, thus participating in the constitution ofthe unique cultural model of the Balkans.
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JELENA ERDELJAN
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
VISUAL CULUTURE OF MEDIEVAL BALKAN
This paper will present a possible methodological framework for a
(re)assessment of visual culture of the medieval Balkans. It will argue,
from the point of view of border theory, that this space on the
crossroads should be observed as interface of multiple discourses of
production, formation and transformation of visual culture as one of
the key elements of identity. The perpetual act of self-definition had
its specificities in the Balkans and in each of its medieval polities or
states individually but it was always done in communication with
universal principles of the broader Mediterranean world and the
Byzantine Commonwealth. This paper will consider the
heteroglossial nature of visual culture of the medieval Balkans within
the context of the processes of social construction of (sacred) space
and (chosen) identity in the broader region of the Balkans and theMediterranean world. Issues which will be discussed include cultural
exchanges and stereotypes of otherness, processes of appropriation
and (re)interpretation of defining models in visual culture, dialogue
between official and popular (visual) culture and official cults and
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private devotion, social networks, topographies of entanglement, and
role of women ktetors.The case study selected for this discussion is that of visual culture
created in medieval Serbia (XII-XV centuries), from Komnenian
times, through the Nemanide, Lazareviand Brankoviperiod to the
establishing of Ottoman administration. It will feature the most
prominent, landmark monuments of visual culture in medieval Serbia
such as Studenica, Deani, Manasija, the endowments of Jelena Balion Lake Skadar and Serbian endowments and donations to holy
places further afield, in Jerusalem, the Vatican, Bari.
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OLGA GRATZIOU
Department of History and ArchaeologyUniversity of Crete
THE BALKANS BETWEEN THE MIDDLE AGES ANDMODERNITY: PICTORIAL TRADITIONS AND VISUAL
CULTURE
The survival of medieval pictorial forms in religious painting into the
eighteenth century in the Balkans is in itself an intriguing
phenomenon, which deserves to be studied from an art historical as
well as an anthropological point of view. In Greek historiography the
practice of describing this long-lasting tradition as post-Byzantine
is well established; it implies the continuity of Byzantine culture forcenturies after the fall of Byzantium, reflecting national and religious
aspirations. In my paper I reconsider the term post-Byzantine and
discuss some of its implications. Furthermore, by examining visual
material dating from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, I shall
attempt to trace transformations of the old visual codes as well as the
emergence of a new pictorial language that corresponds to the
political situation and ideological orientation of the Orthodox
population[s] in the Ottoman Empire.
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ALEKSANDAR JAKIR
Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesUniversity of Split
IMAGES OF HAPPENING OF THE PEOPLE AS IMAGES
OF HOPE AND DISAPPOINTMENT IN YUGOSLAVIA AND
ITS SUCCESSOR STATES DURING THE 20th ENTURY
It has been stated that disappointment virtually represents a key
experience of modernity and that the 20th century contemporary
history generally was marked by collective high-flying expectations
and great hopes, but also by heavy disappointments. During the
dramatic historical caesuras in this part of Europe which twice sawthe establishment and the downfall of Yugoslav states, collective
experiences of hope and disappointment were always also visually
depicted. The analysis of some widely distributed images of mass
rallies/demonstrations/happening of the people during the 20th
century, and how these images were used in the political and
historiographical discourse, seems helpful for a better understanding
of the process of interaction of state consolidation and mass
mobilization. The question is how these images are used politically,
communicatively and emotionally in modern mass societies. Actually,
it seems that all political breaks throughout 20th century history in
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the region were always in the first step accompanied by mobilizing
high-flying hopes and expectations of economic prosperity andpolitical self-determination towards a change to a better system,
which, however, afterwards sooner or later was followed by
individual and collective disappointments.
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ALEKSANDAR KADIJEVI
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
SERBIAN PUBLIC MONUMENTS OF MODERN TIMES (19-
20thc.) THE TYPOLOGY AND RESEARCH
During the last two centuries in the wider Balkan region a wide
variety of Serbian public monuments and memorials were raised.
Different by their form and function, they witness of the culture of
memory that induced their typological stratification. Except for the
chronology of creation, they can be classified according to the
structure, themes, style and position. Seen from a historical distance,
each monument reflects financial capabilities, cultural preferences
and ideological interests of its initiators, as well as creative potential
of deployed authors (sculptors, architects, engineers, urban planners,
sometimes even poets whose verses were imprinted on the surfaces
of the memorials).
In terms of periodization, monuments can be divided into
those from the period of the Principality (starting from the 1830),
period of the Kingdom of Serbia (18821918), the monuments from
the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (19181941), as well as
those built in the socialist Yugoslavia (19451991), the Republic of
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Yugoslavia (19922006) and the present-day Republic of Serbia.
Monumental memorials have outgrown in the signposts of a patrioticculture that encouraged unique social constructs of past events. They
were used as popular national narratives within which traditional
symbols were given contemporary ideological meaning. Nevertheless,
by linking of heavily compliant achievements of too distant epochs,
by uncritical glorification of authoritarian rulers, exaggerating of
military successes and favoring narrow political movements, often ledto a deviation from principles of historical objectivity. Therefore only
a small number of Serbian monuments promote universal and
ideologically objective meanings, perpetuating spiritual monism and
daily pragmatism. Their well-established apologetic rhetoric was
followed by politicized public promotion, with ceremonies which
served the propaganda of the ruling elite, as much as an expression of
collective piety.
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KARL KASER
Sdosteuropische Geschichte und AnthropologieUniversity of Graz
VISUAL CULTURES OF SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE ELEMENTS OF DECENTRED THEORY CONSTRUCTION
Preoccupation with visual cultures in history and in transcultural
comparison constitutes a product of Western scientific
development; likewise modern visual technologies are results of
Western technology development. No wonder that previous theory
construction in the field of visual cultures is characterized by its
Western bias, which is caused, firstly, by the almost complete
exclusion of other world regions in the international discussion onvisual studies and, secondly, by the fact that other world regions are
not yet swamped by the picture flood and have therefore not yet
the urgent need for the study of the visual. This has consequences
insofar as the history of non-Western visual cultures has been
understood in the since the middle of the 1990s emerging and since
then intensifying discussion as deficit history at the best or has beensimply ignored.
Decentred theory construction, in the sense of not being based
on Western visual cultures, seems to be more than ever essential.
Therefore, my contribution intends to address several vertexes, which
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may contribute to a historical and relevant to the present day theory
construction. With regard to this we are located only at thebeginnings of the beginnings. My remarks therefore have to be
considered explorative and palpating.
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ANA KOSTI
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
STATE INFLUELNCE ON THE VISUAL CULTURE OF THE
BALKANS: STATE AND RELIGIOUS ART IN 19THCENTURY
SERBIA
19th century was a time of great political changes in the Balkans.
Numerous uprisings in this region caused the weakening and eventual
decline of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of new states such as
Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro. The newly-founded states
in the Balkans strived to establish their national identities as same as
national culture. In these processes of forming its national culture the
State had a very important role and its influence on visual culture and
arts was manifold.
In the 19thcentury the influence that the State of Serbia had on
the development of visual culture and arts was manifold. Its state
reserves were among the main sources sponsoring the arts. The State
influenced the artistic development through art scholarships in anumber of European art centres as well as actively sponsoring artists
and their own works. One such founding example of visual arts
promotion was evident in the way the State used its governing laws to
control the direction in which all arts developed. Through state-
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appointed institutions and art commissions the State was able to
oversee and streamline the direction in which art prospered.Among the core aspects in which the State of Serbia influenced
the 19thcentury art development was in the domain of religious art.
The roots it took in influencing religious architecture and painting
were evident in the close relationship between the State and the
Church, which could be traced back as far as the times of Serbian
uprisings against the Ottoman Empire in the period 1804-1815 andestablishing Orthodox Church as national institution. One of the
ways that the State streamlined religious art was by introducing
certain arts-related legal regulations. This paper will deal with
introducing certain arts-related legal regulations and their influence
on religious architecture and painting in 19thcentury Serbia.
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NENAD MAKULJEVI
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
BALKAN PARADIGM IN THE VISUAL CULTURE OF THE
BALKANS
The study of Balkan visual culture raises several methodological and
theoretical questions, which should confirm past studies and guide
future research. One of the fundamental questions deals with the
basic characteristics-presumptions of Balkan visual culture, or the
Balkan paradigm.
The visual culture of the Balkans is perceived as a specificmulticultural visual practice, comprising and connecting in itself
different religious, ethnic, national and political features. It is based
on a unique cultural space, determined by its geographical position,
cultural and political chronology and common aesthetic and artistic
ideals.
The Balkan region is a specific area in Europe, as it was under
the rule of the Ottoman Empire in modern times, which had a
profound impact on all aspects of cultural life from visual culture in
private life to religious forms. The life of the Balkan peoples in 19 th
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and 20th centuries was marked by creation of national states and
national identity in all aspects of cultural life.The needs of Balkan patrons were satisfied by common artists-
masters. The clearest example may be found in the Damjanov group
of builders (tajfa), who constructed buildings for the needs of both
Ottoman authorities and the Christians in a large area including
Skopje, Veles, Ni, Smederevo, Sarajevo and Mostar. Similarly,
woodcarving workshops worked for patrons from different ethnicand religious communities.
The examples of building and woodcarving workshops clearly
point to the main features of Balkan visual culture. They reflect not
only a common cultural space, but also the sameness of aesthetic and
artistic ideals in this area.
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NATAA MIKOVI
Seminar fr NahoststudienUniversity of Basel
SIBA A VISUAL APPROACH TO EXPLORE EVERYDAY
LIFE IN YUGOSLAV AND TURKISH CITIES IN THE 1920s
and 1930s
Sarajevo Istanbul Belgrade and Ankara: Four cities in the Kingdom
of Yugoslavia and the Turkish Republic once belonging to the
Ottoman Empire, which had ceased to exist after a long period of
decay in 1922. Belgrade and Sarajevo both retained their oriental
character against the large-scale modernizing goals of their authoritieswell into the interwar period. Sarajevo, occupied by the Austrians
from 1878 onwards and incorporated into the new Yugoslav
kingdom in 1918, featured a population which resisted Viennas
ambitious development plans with unwavering conservatism.
Belgrade, as the new capital city of Serbia and, from 1918, of the
Yugoslav kingdom, rejected the Ottoman legacy so passionately in
favor of an orientation towards Central Europe, that parallels to
Turkish cities even in the way of modernization long went unnoticed.
As Sarajevo and Belgrade, Ankara underwent a dramatic building
program after becoming the capital of the new Turkish Republic in
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1923. Istanbul on the other hand, the ancient metropolis around
which the Ottoman world once had rotated, lost much of its politicalsignificance, but remained important.
This project explores everyday life in these four cities, focusing
on visual evidence as a source, and on the contrast between imperial
heritage and the dynamic construction of national modernity. The
four cities provide excellent photographic collections from the
decades between 1920 and 1940: We focus on photo collections bylocal photo reporters and illustrated newspaper reports to reconstruct
representations of everyday life and to extract the subjects which
excited the most of attention at the period, in all four places. In a
further step, a small selection of topics will be analyzed and
compared in in-depth life-world case studies for all the four cities.
This project unites specialists from Southeastern European and
Middle Eastern Studies. It is financed by the Swiss National Science
Foundation for the years 2013 to 2017. Apart from the usual written
and oral channels, we plan to present our results as a travelling
exhibition in the cities and institutions included in the survey, and in
the web portal Visual Archive of Southeast Europe. The project alsoaims at contributing to the theoretical and methodological discussion
of visual culture in the region.
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BARBARA MUROVEC
Franc Stele Institute of Art HistoryResearch Centre of the Slovenian Academy
Ljubljana
VISUAL CULTURE OF SLOVENIA BETWEEN CENTRAL
EUROPE AND THE BALKANS
In Slovenia research of visual arts started in the time when there was
neither university (established in 1919) nor art academy (established
in 1945). In the beginning of the 20th century Slovenian art history
students followed lectures on philology, history and art history of
Balkans at Vienna university, with Josef Konstantin Jireek and Josef
Strzygowski. They above all contributed to the field of monument
protection. The fall of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the new
political map of Europe after both world wars determined education
and work of art historians and artists with new spatial context and
interpretation. A case study on Stane Kregar and his artworks enable
analysis of reception of abstract painting, relation between ideologicaland artistic, and position of Ljubljana in the context of Yugoslav
visual culture. Moreover, it shed light on the position of Slovenia in
the Balkans twenty years after the fall of Yugoslavia, and the state of
research in this field.
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IVANA PRIJATELJ-PAVII
Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesUniversity of Split
HISTORY AND IDEOLOGY IN THE WORKS OF SIBENIKGOLDSMITH AND ENGRAVER HORATIO FORTEZZA
The paper will deal with the phenomenon of Humanist Mannerist
intercultural (Illyrism and Henetism) and intermedia (text engraving
models) transfer of images of celebrated people from ancient history
(emperors, heroes, historians) that are reflected in the iconography of
richly decorated brass washbasins and ewers made by ibenik famous
goldsmith and engraver Horatio Fortezza (ibenik, around 1530 -
1596), which are now kept in the Museo Bargello in Florence, Museo
Correr in Venice, the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert
Museum in London and the Museum of the City of ibenik.
The Fortezza's commissioners were members of prominent
Venetian patrician families such as Grimani, Dolfin, Cicogna,
Trevisan and Querini. It is assumed that they held high military andadministrative functions in Venetian Dalmatia (then perceived as part
of an ancient Roman province of Illyricum) between the 1555 and
1575 year.
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Since the Fortezza's period in context of Henetism ideology
and Venetian imperialism Venetian Republic insisted on the redesignof the Serenissima as "Altera Roma", in the contemporary military-
maritime treatises Venetian "Capitani del mar", who participated in
the wars between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, were compared
with the famous ancient Greek, Carthage and Roman captains and
heroes.
The paper detects the strong influence on the iconography ofthe Fortezza's basins and ewers of one of the most famous of such
treatises, "Della milizia Marittima" written by Cristoforo Canal,
dating from 1553 to 1554.
The Fortezza's vessels testify to the imperial constructions of
its clients in that time, their self-perceptions as well as their
perceptions of ancient identity of Illyrian (Slavic) nation.
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MILAN RISTOVI
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
FREEZINGTHE BALKAN IMAGE: CASE OF GERMANY AND
AUSTRO-HUNGARY
(1903-1918)
Rounding of the negative stereotypes about the Balkans in the public
opinion of Germany Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy took place
within a period from 1903 to the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It was a product of a long process, especially in the case of the Austro-
Hungary and significantly shorter when the German public opinion was
concerned. In many examples it is possible to point out the influence of
the Austro-Hungarian to German approach to this subject as a result of a
long historical presence and activities of the Habsburg Empire on the
European Southeast and its interests, which in the early 20th century
came into conflict with the young nation-states (in the first place withSerbia) .
These processes are influenced primarily by external political
circumstances, as it was the outbreak of the crisis in Macedonia in 1903,
the assassination of Serbian royal couple in the same year, the change of
direction of Serbian foreign policy from dependence to Vienna and
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Budapest and turning to Russia and France, then confrontation over
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, the surfacing of a negative image of theBalkans and Balkan nations-with a striking predominance "Serbian issue"
was also influenced by the presence of anti-Slavic discourse in the
German propaganda and the confrontation with Russia, which is
considered to be the main sponsor of pan-Slavic nationalism that threaten
the internal stability of the two Central forces due to the significant
presence the Slovene population (Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Czechs,Yugoslavs).
When constructing this stereotype in his most radical visual forms can be
observed effects of a racist discourse as well as indirect impact "of the
methodology" close to anti-Semitism. In addition, by the anti-Balkan
"interpretation, developed in detail and visually seductive, there was also
a fusion with the elements taken from anti-orientalist approach. Thus,
during the process of "freezing" a negative image of the Balkans had
become more complex, as a borderland, the peripheral area, maybe
European geographically, but not culturally and racially enough
European.
The interpretation of the "nature of the Balkans" in German andAustrian magazines come to the conclusion about non-European nature
of the "Balkan man" usually embodied in the figure of the "Balkan-
komitaji bandit" or local rulers who came to power by assassinations and
do not differ in their nature and cunningness from their peasant backward
people. These processes can be traced through a number of illustrations
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in the German and Austrian magazines, such as: Simplicissimus, Ulk,
Kladerradatsch, der Wahre Jakob, Lustige Blaeter, die Muskete, dieBombe, Kikeriki, and others the who have been devoted to
"visualization" of the Balkans from 1903. till the end of the First World
War. Regardless of the number of their differences in editorial policy, and
political affiliation, tinting a negative image of the Balkans was almost
negligible. This approach is important in the propaganda stigmatization of
certain Balkan nations (as in the case of Serbia in 1903, 1908, 1914, or allof "The Balkan" 1912/13). Such an approach up to the start of the First
World War was part of the propaganda "preparing the ground" and part
"justification" for its war policy.
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BRANKA VRANEEVI
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
IDEA OF PARADISE AND VISUAL CULTURE OF THE
BALKANS
Idealized or demonized, the area of the Balkans has always been a
field of susceptible to mythologization. From the earliest times visual
culture testifies of the presence and significance of visualisation of
key signifiers of civilization among which the idea of Paradise plays a
prominent role, whether in the pagan of in the monotheistic religious
discourse. In the Late Antique and Early Christian period, visual
culture of the Balkans offers a number of exceptional examples of
different formulas of visualization of this percept. This paper aims to
present the different visual modes of articulation of the dogma of
salvation in the Balkans in the period between early 4 th and the
beginning of the 7th century, of which the idea of Paradise is the
cornerstone, as demonstrated by representations of the image of
Paradise in the sacred space of churches and in particular on the floor
mosaics preserved therein.
The formation of visually and materially recognizable image of
paradise on floor mosaics in the Balkans in the Early Christian period
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is grounded on the complex abstract, mental image of Paradise
developed from Jewish and Greco-Roman antiquity and furtherspecified in the teachings of the doctors of the Church. In terms of
iconography and iconology, it relies on a number of schemes of
Graeco-Roman and Hellenistic tradition, mostly allegorical in nature,
which are based on textual templates of biblical and non-biblical
narratives on salvation.
An analysis of prominent examples of floor mosaics in thesacred spaces of large centers in the Balkans such as Herakleia
Lynkestis, Cariin Grad, Ulpiana, Butrint, Stobi, Ohrid, Philippi,
Amphipolis, Philippopolis, as well as comparison with material found
in other centers of the Roman Empire, offers insight in the specificity
and diversity of iconographical solutions and high artistic merits in
presenting the idea/image of Paradise in the corpus of Early
Christian floor mosaics in the Balkans.
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TANJA ZIMMERMANN
Fachbereich Literaturwissenschaft/SlavistikUniversity of Konstanz
THE CULTURE OF MIGRANT WORKERS: BETWEEN HOME
AND HOST LAND
Although intellectual elites from Eastern and Southeastern Europe,
as Nabokov, Brodsky, Kundera, Ugrei, ect., experienced
dislocation, discontinuity, outclassing and estrangement, they
transformed the state of exile into a literary condition. As Edward
Said observes, the exile advanced not only to a literary topic, but even
to an aesthetic rule. Nomadism became a canon of postmodernwriting which transforms auto-biographical experiences into texts,
creates a plurality of identities and of phantasmatic mirror worlds.
Literature assumed a role of the third place between the home and
the host land, where the wounds of the exile were cured by narration.
Thus, the experience of the exile became a means of self-stylization
and self-celebration of authors masochistic narcissism.Whereas the exile is associated with high culture and the
sublime, non-material world, the migrant milieu is linked with low
culture and the material, corporeal world, ruled by money, absorbing
and dehumanizing human lives. Migrant workers do not populate
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imaginative third worlds, but material non lieux transitional places
on the brink of the society without tradition and identity (provisorydwellings, ect.). Although they constantly swing between two
countries, their culture is not perceived as a dynamic, moving one,
but as a sedentary one. Whereas intellectual elites belong at the same
time to the culture of home and host land, migrant workers are
excluded from both of them, being incompatible even with patriotic
concepts of the home land. The paper will try to outline the maincharacteristics and modes of representation of migrant culture on
some examples from the visual culture, as paintings and films.
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IVANA ENARJU
Institute for Serbian culture Pritina,Leposavi
VISUAL CULTURE OF THE 19thCENTURY IN KOSOVO
AND METOHIJA
Being part of the Ottoman Empire, territory of present-day
Kosovo and Metohija was influenced by Tanzimat reforms during
the 19thcentury. Ottoman reform movement led to greater freedom
for non-Muslim layers of society. This resulted in change of public
space and visibility of minorities, as well as emphasizing multi-ethnicand multi-confessional character of the Empire. It was most clearly
seen in the development of visual culture reflected in the restoration,
construction and decoration of religious buildings. Correlations
between Muslim, Christian and Jewish populations, primarily due to
trade links, led to the similar model of creation of visual identity. It
was accompanied by the traveling artists who have worked with equalsuccess for customers of different religions.
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LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Prof. Dr. Saa BrajoviDepartment of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of [email protected]
Irena irovi, MA
Research AssistantThe Institute of History, [email protected]@iib.ac.rs
Vuk Dautovi, MAResearch AssistantDepartment of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of [email protected]@f.bg.ac.rs
Prof. Dr. Jelena ErdeljanDepartment of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
Prof. Dr. Olga GratziouDepartment of History and ArchaeologyUniversity of [email protected]
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Prof. Dr Aleksandar JakirFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of [email protected]
Prof. Dr. Aleksandar KadijeviDepartment of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of [email protected]
Prof. Prof. h.c. Dr. Karl KaserSdosteuropische Geschichte und AnthropologieUniversity of [email protected]
Ana Kosti, MAResearch AssistantDepartment of Art History
Faculty of PhilosophyUniversity of [email protected]
Prof. Dr. Nenad MakuljeviDepartment of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Belgrade
[email protected]. Dr. Nataa MikoviSeminar fr NahoststudienUniversity of [email protected]
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Prof. Dr Barbara MurovecFranc Stele Institute of Art History
Research Centre of the Slovenian [email protected]
Prof. Dr Ivana Prijatelj PaviiFaculty of Humanities and Social SciencesUniversity of [email protected]
Prof. Dr Milan RistoviChair for General Modern HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of [email protected]
Dr Branka VraneeviTeaching Assistant
Department of Art HistoryFaculty of PhilosophyUniversity of [email protected]
Prof. Dr Tanja ZimmermannFachbereich Literaturwissenschaft/SlavistikUniversity of Konstanz
[email protected] Ivana enarjuResearch AssociateInstitute for Serbian culture Pristina,[email protected]
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Conference is sponsored by:
Beokran D.O.O. Belgrade
SIBA Project Swiss National Science Foundation
Faculty of Philosophy University of Belgrade
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Notes
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Notes
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Notes
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VISUAL CULTURE OF THE BALKANS
CENTER FORVISUAL CULTURE OF THE BALKANS
University of Belgrade
Faculty of Philosophy