Product Description

In this account, Anthony Howell, a frequent visitor to Serbia, describes the intellectual life which continued to flourish in Belgrade before the conflict began. An afterword charts the author's reaction to the Kosovo conflict of 1999.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3067209 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 125 pages

From the Back Cover
In the seventies the Yugoslav avant-garde contributed key players to the international arena of art. The work of Marina Abramovic and Ulay, Bratso Dimitrevic and and many important figures such as Joseph Beuys, Joseph Kossuth and Simone Forti made contact with the art scene in Belgrade or performed at its progressive Student Cultural Centre.
Since those heady days Belgrade has become an isolated city and Serbs are ostracised by the international community. What has happened to the art scene in Serbia? How do artists survive in an economy ruined by war and by sanctions?
In this free-wheeling journal, Anthony Howell, a frequent visitor to Serbia, describes the intellectual life which continued to flourish in Belgrade (at least until his last visit in the Spring of 1997), lectures by Victor Burgin and by the British Ambassador, exhibitions, theatre festivals and events by Serb artists, his own performances and how they were received, his excursions to historical sites and his intimate relationship with a young woman in Belgrade which revitalised his existence after the death of his mother.
Yugoslavia had fallen apart by the time of his visit and worse followed, as Serbia tore itself to pieces. In a manner which recalls the experiences of Christopher Isherwood in pre-war Berlin, Howell conveys his feeling of pre-Kosovo Belgrade, sensing the impending crisis. This is no objective account. Instead it is avowedly subjective, but at the same time it utilises aesthetics and psychoanalysis to interpret political attitudes, social grievances, and the state of the urban and agrarian landscape. The journal is thus a contemporary 'sentimental journey' and concerned with describing the self as well as the environment. An afterword charts the author's reaction to the Kosovo conflict of 1999.