This year’s Four Waters Summer School of socially engaged mural carried the theme How Do We Discuss our Living Environments?. Our collaborator and workshop mentor for this year was the artist Jana Danilović. The open call was focused on students of all departments and grades of the Art High School Užice. Inviting contemporary artists and activists to engage with high school students comes from the necessity of exposing them to various forms of expression and socially engaged practices that can encourage young people to think about society and the contexts they are part of creatively and proactively.
The program emphasized the significance of interdisciplinarity and feminist principles within collective work, providing an alternative/resistance to principles of domination and competition.
The Summer School was held during June and July. The program included:
* three Online Workshops (June 29, July 6/13)
* a four-day stay/fieldwork at the Meeting Point (July 25-28)
* a Guest Lecture held by visiting artist and activist Marija Marković
* an Art Workshop for children from the neighborhood
* The Opening of the mural (July 28).
During the online workshops, the participants collectively developed a sketch for the wall and discussed their worries and hopes about environmental issues in their immediate surroundings. The time spent at the meeting point included discussions about the socio-political, ecological, and emotional challenges young people face today, gatherings around the fire, walks through the village, chatting with the locals, and enjoying homemade cuisine. Marija Marković’s artist talk made participants familiar with her artistic path, which encompasses the intertwining of art, feminism, activism, and entrepreneurship. The video works I want you to panic and Dokolica initiated a discussion and reflections on the relationship between humans and nature, feelings of guilt, discomfort, concerns that we struggle with in our everyday lives in the age of extractivism and the necessity of for the collective as a way to survive and feel safe.
During the Opening, we gathered with friends, family, and neighbors to celebrate the work of everyone who contributed to the realization of the Summer School.
The action is implemented within the project of the EU Resource Center in Serbia, which is implemented by BOŠ (Belgrade Open School) and supported by the European Union.
Jana Danilović is a muralist and theoretician of street art and contemporary painting in public space, with an emphasis on the connection between the image and the socio-political context in which the image is created. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Applied Arts, where she focused on the research project City and Image – the importance and function of artistic interventions in public space. Her murals can be seen in Serbia, Croatia, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, France, and Belgium.
Marija Marković is an interdisciplinary artist whose work includes video, painting, drawing, installation, and sculpture. She holds a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade (2011) and a Master’s degree from the Parsons School of Design – The New School in New York (2017). Her recent work explores the mental, physical, and social implications of climate change. Co-founder, activist in the informal and non-profit organization Zeleni talas, and co-founder and art director at Fragment Inc, a company that produces recycled glass panels. She gained work and exhibition experience in Serbia, the USA, China, South Korea, Lithuania, Colombia, Austria, Spain, etc.