Committed Art in BiH today – a creator or a follower of changes?

Committed art today is the follower of the general social tendencies. Although artists communicate directly through their works, striving to change the social context and interact with the audience, t...

Committed art today is the follower of the general social tendencies. Although artists communicate directly through their works, striving to change the social context and interact with the audience, they need a positive recognition of their audience. Artists Igor Tešić, Aleksandar Pejaković and Renato Rakić, guests of the first cultural EU Info centre’s evening held in Banja Luka on 27 October under the title “Committed Art in BiH today – a creator or a follower of changes?“, believe that art cannot be viewed by itself, as a separate element of the society and outside the time in which artists create their work.

“Painting as an art gives most space for manipulation in every way. As artists, we have never had any support from the state or from the people who were politically elected to lead the art institutions. An artist can be both, a product and a strong critic of the society, just look the most important artists from the Western Europe. That`s not possible here, because if you criticise politics you will not be supported by the state“, said Renato Rakić, a painter.

The EU Info Centre in BiH organizes a series of cultural and thematic events on committed art and, through discussions with artists, tries to answer the question of whether their engagement in the present society can trigger changes. The EUIC will talk with directors, musicians, actors, designers and writers throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. The audience will be young people from all over BiH.  The discussion will seek answers to questions about how much art is strong today and how much it can help young people to generate their activism.

The EU Info Centre (EUIC) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), is a project financed by the European Union. It provides information on the European Union, its institutions and policies, relations between BiH and the EU, and BiH’s integration process.