Migration of Souls — Novi Sad in Books
The ‘Novi Sad through in Books’ exhibition, the central event of the ‘Migration of Souls’ programme unit, will be opened at the Novi Sad Fair on 3 March and is connected with the International Book Fair in Novi Sad. On the same day, there will be a promotion of the illustrated monograph of the same name on the history of books in Novi Sad.
The topic of migrations has occupied literature since the earliest days. It can be said that literary writing itself is a special kind of migration, emigration, relocation, nomadism.
The ‘Migration of Souls — Novi Sad through Literature’ exhibition, which visitors will be able to see until 13 March, is a contemporary literature pavilion that, in contact with other arts, focuses on the role of books in the life of Novi Sad.
The narrative base and the catalogue of the exhibition consist of the illustrated monograph ‘Novi Sad in Books’ by prof. Zorica Hadžić, PhD, and Uroš Stanković, PhD, a permanent tangible legacy and a reminder of the importance of Novi Sad in the European history of the book.
A unique event of this type in the Balkans, the exhibition celebrates the book as a civilizational and cultural object through strong visual narratives and interventions in the Hall of the Novi Sad Fair. From the moment they enter the space, visitors become part of the Migration of Souls, a kind of labyrinth of reading experience. Between the rhythmically arranged curtains with motifs from the monograph, a multimedia table containing additional educational and entertaining materials, such as old postcards of Novi Sad, manuscripts of ancient citizens, rare portraits, anecdotes, the current suspicion that the book is alive and capable of changing city life disappears.
During the exhibition, three professional guidance through exhibition will be organized on 4, 8 and 12 March from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. The employees of the City Library, who participated in the preparation of the exhibition, as well as the authors of the catalogue, will guide the visitors through the exhibition and present its content and significance from their point of view.
Part of the accompanying programme is dedicated to the performances of translated, award-winning and influential regional authors who are currently trying to cope with the complex topics of migration, putting the emphasis from the collective to personal, individual experience of intellectual and existential movement. In addition to this, the audience will have a chance to walk through the exhibition with the authors of the catalogue — monograph and the professional team of the City Library.
The most significant and biggest contemporary writers will be hosted in the Master Hall of the Novi Sad Fair:
Rumena Bužarovska, 3 March from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.,
Milica Vučković, 5 March from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.,
Miljenko Jergović, 6 March from 5 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.,
Damir Karakaš, 7 March from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.,
Kristian Novak, 9 March from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.,
Darko Cvijetić, 9 March from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
As part of the Migration of Souls programme, we will have the opportunity to hear famous local and international musicians in the Hall 1 of the Novi Sad Fair:
Miyavi, 3 March at 8 p.m.,
Barcelona Gipsy balKan Orchestra, 6 March at 8 p.m.,
Kaori Ito and Bogdana Rankovića & Ethnoforia, 8 March at 8 p.m.,
Chalaban, 9 March,
Bilju Krstić & Bistrik Orchestra, 10 March at 8 p.m.,
The Carnival of Ritual Processions, 11 March at 6 p.m.,
Gotan project — Antropoceno!, 12 March at 8 p.m.,
Original Enigma Voices and Camerata Academica, 13 March at 8 p.m.
The rich programme of the Migration of Souls project will show us this theme through other types of art. We will have the opportunity to experience migration through plays, carnivals, children’s masquerades, lectures, and performances:
The Carnival of Ritual Processions – Lecture, 4 March, Master Hall of the Novi Sad Fair,
Reading of the Essay ‘In the Promised Land’ by László Végel, 4 March at 6 p.m., Master Hall of the Novi Sad Fair,
The play ‘Fugitives’, 5 March at 8 p.m., Master Hall of the Novi Sad Fair,
Following Roma Paths – performance, 6 March at 7 p.m., Master Hall of the Novi Sad Fair,
Following Roma Paths – performance / Sremski Karlovci, 12 March in Sremski Karlovci,
Following Roma Paths – performance / Barka Cultural Station, 13 March in Barka Cultural Station,
The play ‘We All Came from Somewhere, Some a Little Earlier’, 7 March at 8 p.m., Master Hall of the Novi Sad Fair,
The staged reading of the book by Michael Martens, ‘In the Fire of Worlds: Ivo Andrić, A European Life’, authored by writer Muharem Bazdulj, 8 March at 4 p.m., Master Hall of the Novi Sad Fair,
The Carnival of Ritual Processions – Children’s Masquerade Ball, 10 March at 11 a.m., Master Hall of the Novi Sad Fair.
Much of European and world literature is dedicated to migrations, and the migrations are one of the greatest themes of the art of words, and migrant literature is one of those that always remains relevant. In a broader sense, literature is emigration to another world, to the world of words, to another place or at another time, into a fictional environment, utopia, or dystopia, into a new dimension. And the writer is a kind of emigrant, that is why one part of the Migration programme arch is dedicated to art, which is the metaphor of migration itself, through the unique literature pavilion in this part of Europe, accompanied by other arts. The goal is to put emphasis on the personal, individual experience of migration, thematization of physical departures and arrivals, wanderers, but also on less tangible, but important issues of existential and metaphysical movements.
In order to preserve their health, the organisers ask all visitors to wear face masks and keep their distance. Masks will be provided at the entrance.
Tickets for all concerts and plays within the ‘Migration of Souls’ programme arch are on sale, and all those interested can buy them at Gigstix outlets or online, via gigstix.com, as well as at the Novi Sad Fair ticket office, where tickets for all events will be sold between 5 and 8 p.m.
The partner of the Migration of Souls programme is the Novi Sad Fair, and the companies Globos osiguranje and Dijamant DOO also provided support.
Photo: Promo