Benetton co-founder brings artists together from across former Yugoslavia

Co-founder of the Benetton Group, Luciano Benetton, has brought work by over 900 artists from Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo together for Face to Face. Opening today, this extensive Sarajevo exhibition aims to reconnect artists from across former Yugoslavia.

According to Face to Face curator Claudio Scorretti, Yugoslavia produced the best artists in eastern Europe of its time. In an interview with Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Mr Scorretti affirmed that Yugoslavia’s relatively mild model of communism had been fairly open to outside influence and allowed artists to remain in touch with contemporary art trends. After years of mobility, which saw artists able to study in cities across the region, the Yugoslav wars brought about a severe rupture in connections between artists who had formerly been compatriots.

“Our most important goal was to do something in the direction of reconnecting people and ideas in the region,” he explained.

With this in mind, Face to Face will also include round table and discussion events, which will bring curators, artists and art professionals together. In addition, Mr Scorretti hopes that the exhibition will reinvigorate regional art galleries and fairs, providing vital support to artists contending with a chronic lack of funding in their respective countries.

Face to Face forms part of Benetton’s global non-profit contemporary art project, Imago Mundi. The project sees a chosen curator for a given country or region identify a selection of representative artists from that area, both emerging and established.

Face to Face will be on show at the Bosnian Cultural Centre in Sarajevo until 28 May. Find out more about Imago Mundi here.

Source: Balkan Insight