Novi Sad officially entered the title year of the European Capital of Culture with the programme inspired by Nikola Tesla, the first honorary citizen of the city, and the Serbian Athens will be the centre of European cultural life in the following 365 days.

As the Zenith is the highest point that can be reached, so is the Zeniteum :: 2022 play, celebration and culmination of the double opening of the European Capital of Culture in Novi Sad and the culmination of the ‘Doček’ programme in which time and energy intersect to free up space of accumulated potential, a space of long anticipation, in which the power of diversity will spark Arc Voltage, creative lightning, which will illuminate the entire 2022 and all the programmes of the European Capital of Culture under the 4 New Bridges motto.

On 13 January, Novi Sad will officially open the title year of the European Capital of Culture with the Opening Ceremony play Zeniteum :: 2022. The opening ceremony will take place outside Banovina Palace. The programme starts at 8:22 p.m. (20:22).

Zeniteum :: 2022, the most complex production art project that has been implemented in Serbia in recent years, will be presented as a secular ceremony with selected content of the highest spiritual value of the Republic of Serbia. It will represent all its citizens with a special focus on the citizens of Novi Sad.

The title of the opening ceremony comes from the transnational art movement Zenitism, which was established by Ljubomir Micić (1895 – 1971), the artist and editor of the ‘Zenit’ magazine. He shaped modernist art between the two world wars in this international magazine, and the echoes of his work were felt in Belgrade, Zagreb, Paris, Berlin, Milan and Moscow.

Zeniteum :: 2022, whose author is one of the most significant figures of the Slovenian and regional art scene, renowned European director and post-gravity artist Dragan Živadinov, chose mathematicians Mileva Marić Einstein (1875 – 1948) and  Milutin Milanković as protagonists of the optimal projection (1879 – 1958). Mathematics is the central theme of the Zeniteum :: 2022 scenario, mathematics as a tool and language that allows a person to describe their spiritual achievement. At the ceremony, they will sing the glory of science and art in the name of culture.

The third, aesthetic protagonist will be Ljubomir Micić with his idea of ​​modernizing the Balkans, with 43 issues of the ‘Zenith’ magazine (László Moholy-Nagy, Tatlin, Gropius, Kandinsky, and Malevich) with special emphasis on the double Russian edition. The scenography (aesthetics) will be based on a post-gravitational reinterpretation of Constructivism and Suprematism.

The building is 180 meters long and 44 meters wide, in the shape of a two-story high elongated horseshoe, with a semicircular facade on the west and a high tower with a square crosssection on the east side. Banovina Palace, with its form as well as its position – being located along the boulevard that leads to the Danube bank – resembles a luxurious white boat that sails the Danube. At the
same time, its western tower resembles the towers of baroque churches, typical to Vojvodina regione. Dragiša Brašovan created Banovina Palace as an embodiment of mature modernism in the period from 1936-1939.

Two rare international awards speak volumes about the importance of Dragiša Brašovan’s opus. While he was elected an honorary member in of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1953, Phaidon, the premier global publisher in the field of art and architecture, ranked Banovina Palace
among the most important buildings of the twentieth century.

Next days program
 
 
31 DEC – 16 JAN 2022
EVROVIZION.CROSSING STORIES AND SPACES
Exhibition / 26. 11. 2021 – 27. 02. 2022 / Museum of Contemporary Art
Organiser: Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina
Partners: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Stuttgart, Germany) and Goethe-Institut of Serbia (Belgrade, Serbia)

Festival in Public Spaces – Warm Up

Concerts / 12. 01. 2022 /  Local band performances across the city
Organiser: ‘Inbox’ Art Association

Time and the Cosmos

Exhibition / 13. 01. 2022 / Studio M
Organiser: ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation
Partner: Autonomous Province of Vojvodina

An Exciting Chronology of Novi Sad 

Exhibition / 13. 01. 2022 / City centre, Theatre Square

Zeniteum :: 2022

Grand opening play / 13. 01. 2022 / Mihajla Pupina Boulevard, Plaza in front of Provincial Government 
Organiser: ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation

The Čardak Neither in Heaven nor on Earth

Children’s opera / 13. 01. 2022 / Cultural Centre of Novi Sad
Organiser: ‘Visoko C’ Association of Artists

Soundbeam

Concert / 13. 01. 2022 / Milan Petrović School, new building, in Novo Naselje  
Organiser: Elementary and secondary boarding school ‘Milan Petrovic’

Celebrating the Year 7530

Performing and visual arts / 13. 01. 2022 / 20+ locations across the city
Organiser: ‘Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation
Partners: ‘Svetozar Marković’ Radnički Dom, NIS Gazprom Njeft – Petroleum Industry of Serbia, Serbian National Theatre, Youth Theatre, Novi Sad Theatre – Újvidéki Színház, Cultural Centre of Novi Sad, Hungarian Cultural Centre ‘Petőfi Sándor’, City Concert Hall, Matica Srpska, Gallery of Matica Srpska, ‘Laza Kostić’ Grammar School, Synagogue (Jewish Community), Reformed Church, Church of the Name of Mary

‘Slava’

Exhibition, concerts, performance / 14 and 15. 01. 2022 / Cultural stations in Novi Sad and Zone 021 

All the program here.