56^th Children’s October Salon

Play, Play, Play the Game is the slogan of the 56^th Children’s October Salon organised by the Museum of Applied Art, which is to be held from 2^nd through 30^th October, 2021.

Contemporary science defines play as the child’s essential need and psychology considers play extremely important for the growth of every boy and girl, because it is connected with their physical, intellectual and emotional development, as well as the development of their personality. In addition, play is an outstanding educational and therapeutic tool.

Through play, children develop various skills and work ethics. Victories in games prepare children for their later successes in school and life, and defeats also teach them to more easily accept a few disappointments awaiting them in the future. Furthermore, they learn to obey the rules, take the attitude towards justice and injustice; they learn basic moral principles of good and bad, what is fair and what is unfair. Therefore, the given theme of this year’s 56^th Children’s October Salon is – PLAY.

The total of 60 institutions, including preschools, primary schools, studios and art workshops, applied for this year’s 56^th Children’s October Salon. According to the competition conditions, only children aged 4 to 14 were eligible to participate. The Selection Jury composed of: Prof. Marina Kostić, graduate textile designer, and Marija Labudović, graduate textile designer and conservator, selected 450 works to be exhibited.

Majority of the works received this year belong to applied art, and fewer of them are the works on paper. The dominant motifs are playgrounds in outdoor parks depicting games such as elastics, marbles, hopscotch, and children playing with their pets. The most popular games among this year’s participants are Ludo and chess. There are also irresistible, colourful clay figurines called Little Owl, Don’t Get Angry made by the children gathered around the Cultural Centre of Grocka. The figurines are made in the ceramic, papier mâché, and soap techniques. The biggest work in the exhibition is the chess made by the children gathered around the art workshop of the Children’s Cultural Centre Belgrade.

Majority of the selected works are dolls made of paper, textile, and plastic. These are mostly girls, fish, a whale, rabbits, cats, an elephant, but also a mermaid, and small robots.

The works created in the Art and Education Centre Genal Art Space in Belgrade have come to the fore this year as well. The labyrinths with balls displaying the motifs of prehistoric Lepenski Vir figurines, Studenica plastics, and Pirot kilims, captivate the audience with not only their unique idea, but also their exceptional craftsmanship, especially considering the fact that they were made by younger children.

A large number of board games that children designed in response to this year’s theme can been perceived as a kind of path from Rorschach’s field to the desired goal, where they did not adhere to the ready-made solutions, but were encouraged to use their own imagination on the road to victory.

Wishing for the best, we are preparing to hold several autumn workshops as part of the Salon’s accompanying programme. For these workshops we have hired competent experts and friends of children to reflect on the phenomenon of play in interactive communication with children and, of course, to play a little on their own.

The workshop on creative potential of play is created by the writer Jasminka Petrović. Milan Zarić, MSc in Sports, sports and physical education teacher, will explain how children’s sports activities grow into active sports. Dragana Divjak, a teacher at the Primary School Kralj Petar Prvi from Belgrade, will shed light on the games she used to play in her childhood. Jasmina Obradović, an art pedagogue at the Preschool Dečji dani from Belgrade, will present play in the form of a witty show, in which children are interactively involved, while the artist Jelena Prijić is preparing a special workshop with disabled children.