47th Children's October Salon - Belgrade, City of Culture

Exhibition curators: Angelina Folgić Korjak, Museum Advisor, and Jelena Knežević, Curator

Belgrade, City of Culture – Children’s Artistic Attraction is the general topic of this year’s exhibition of the 47th Children’s October Salon. It is the intention of the Museum of Applied Art to encourage children and the young to better understand the rich history of their city including the monuments of art sheltering great historical cultural heritage, to learn more about the unforgettable experience shared by the previous generations, to draw on the map their own visions of Belgrade and finally to detect and discover traits which make their city so unique among other metropolises of the world.

 

In the recent times Belgrade underwent many changes and restored its image of a capital whose rich history had been often described by pens of travel writers and poets, by colours and strokes of painters and graphic artists. Museum employees would like that the young people – while searching for the images and stories of Belgrade – should also discover the well-known places and parts of the capital whose meaning is symbolical, which pulsate energy and rhythm enriching our contemporary life with many cultural manifestations, festivals, sports competitions, music events taking place every season. It is of particular importance that in the process of creating their works for the exhibition, children and the young raise their awareness of that particular cultural identity known as the friendly and cultural atmosphere of Belgrade and to search for and identify their own experience with certain natural, geographic, cultural and artistic attractions in their city.

 

Young people appreciate art since it offers opportunities to express their own feelings and preferences. This refers not only to the fact they learned from their teachers or from books. Taking into consideration spontaneity and joy brought by children’s artistic achievements it is evident that art does not offer only one definite answer. Unique artistic messages, the way they are formulated, creativity used -they are often ways to develop new preoccupations and particular sensitivity for the visual medium.

Topics offered by the competition of the 47th Children’s October Salon under the general title Belgrade, City of Culture – Children’s Artistic Attraction provided a possibility for younger generations to disclose their own approaches in order to complete the insight with a new Belgrade postcard. Numerous works sent to the competition helped the selectors to decide on the most successful solutions.