A VOICE AGAINST THE CURRENT SELECTION FOR THE REPRESENTATIVE OF SERBIA AT THE VENICE BIENNALE

We, the undersigned artists, cultural workers, art historians, and other creators from the contemporary art scene in Serbia and elsewhere, strongly oppose the Ministry of Culture's controversial decision to select painter Predrag Đaković as the representative of the Republic of Serbia at The 61st Venice Biennale in 2026. We believe that his selection is the result of an unprofessional and non-transparent process by the Commission, which abused its authority rather than evaluating the quality of contemporary artistic production in Serbia.

We challenge the work of the Commission, whose members are closely linked to the ruling party, which also qualified them for a series of public functions they perform without professional integrity and basic professional ethics. It is clear that the Commission abused its authority, ignored the elementary postulates of professional responsibility and ethics, and acted in the interest of the ruling party rather than in the interest of the profession, the contemporary art scene, professional standards, and the basic prescribed criteria for selecting a representative of the Republic of Serbia at an international event such as the Venice Biennale.

The non-transparent procedure, poor professional integrity of the commission members and the lack of comprehensive documentation on all submitted projects have resulted in the current selection and represent yet another manifestation of the collapse of culture in Serbia.

This year, our colleagues have been exposed to aggressive pressure and repressive measures from the ruling structure, which threatens the autonomy of their work, as well as their working and living conditions. Artists have been publicly targeted by the highest officials, basic funding has been cut, public resources and institutions are being treated as the private property of the ruling party rather than the public good of all citizens, and all universities in the country have stopped working, because the youth and the future of this country demand change. Yet the Ministry of Culture, through its party loyalists, continues its strategy of undermining the cultural potential of the Republic of Serbia.

We demand the immediate cancellation of their decision. We call upon all our colleagues artists, theorists, curators and citizens to join us in protesting against the exclusion of cultural professionals and the manipulation of the competition, in order to defend the autonomy of artistic professions, prevent the further degradation of contemporary artistic production and stop the manipulation and instrumentalisation of art.

Community of Arts and Culture    Contact the author of the petition