THE 55^TH MAY EXHIBITION

On 3 June 2023, there will be a prize-giving ceremony on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition and a concert by the band Auf Wiedersehen.

The topic of this year’s May Exhibition, “The Bright Future” aims to reconsider the authors’ perceptions and present the diversity of viewing reality and its aestheticization through different media of artistic expression. Although sonically optimistic, this topic imposes no exclusive position regarding the future but rather, leads the authors to define their own positions on contemporary society and the factions that are occurring globally. Undoubtedly, the topic can be labeled as ironic or naïve, depending on individual reactions to everyday life. On the other hand, we can understand that reality is prone to internal deconstruction and the pursuit of escapism by creating artistic objects.

“The Bright Future” is both anticipation, imagination, and a projection which disguises reality with optimism, but also the spirit of undoubted joy that was present in times of revolutionary changes, when people sincerely believed in a bright future, and which had given birth to a series of avant-garde solutions in art. Relying on factography, we can sense that re-creations of the ‘new times’ are possible, and that within art there is room for innovative views of the culture and the times to which we belong.

In a time of alienation and a total collapse of values and the world we know, “The Bright Future” can be interpreted as a solemnity precisely through the deconstruction of the elements of appearances in order to perceive the (un)bright (un)future. With such an approach, perhaps the codes and the keys to the currents and patterns of the modern world and art can be perceived, as they, it seems, are one of the few human disciplines that have remained consistent with themselves and their Being, along with music.

This year, in addition to the main program, four accompanying group exhibitions will be presented to the audience: “Three Corners of Architecture” by architects Vasilije Milunović, Jelena Ivanović Vojvodić and Verica Krstić (winners of the 54^th May Exhibition Grand Prize), “The World as Will and Performance” by Dragana Palavestra and Vesna Pavićević, “The Innovative Eco Methods in the Works of Visual Artists and Designers of Montenegro” by Mirjana Bajić and “The Bright Future?” by Tanja Orbović. For the first time, this year’s May exhibition will also host 10 artists from UPIDIV, which contributes to strengthening the bond between art associations.