Institutions Have to Provide Proper Conditions for the Cancelled Exhibition to be Held

12 February 2008

The Kontekst Gallery and the Stari Grad Cultural Centre call on Serbian Ministry of Culture and Belgrade�s Cultural Secretariat to take urgent action to condemn the repeated attacks on the Gallery after its attempt to organize the Exception/Contemporary Art Scene in Prishtina exhibition and to secure the conditions for the exhibition to take place, at this time of great need for democracy, tolerance and openness in Belgrade and Serbia.

The Exhibition that was to be open at the Kontekst Gallery, February 7-15, was cancelled after the Police estimated there are risks for the security of the visitors and organizers. However, even after the cancellation, attacks didn�t stop. The initial attack took place at the opening, when an organized group violently stopped the ceremony and destroyed the Face to Face work by Dren Maliqi.

The Exhibition is a part of a wider project that has already presented the works in Novi Sad, at the Vojvodina Museum of Contemporary Arts, without a single incident. The project is organized by Kontekst NGO from Belgrade and the Napon Institute for Flexible Culture and Technology from Novi Sad.