Sava Sajko, producer © Goethe-Institut English transcript of the video: Seven years of co-operation is a clear indicator of the good cooperation between the European Institutes of Culture in Belgrade, which have presented their work this year the 58th Book Fair at a joint EUNIC stand. "City and Creativity" was their main motto, through which the British Council, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the French Institute, the Institute Cervantes, Goethe-Institut, and for the first time this year the Embassy of Sweden and Portugal as well as the Institute Kamiš adressed visitors of the Fair with their actions. Beside that, Director of the Goethe-Institute participated in a panel debate titled "Serbian-German Literary Dialogue" organized by the media houses of Deutsche Welle and Serbian television PRVA. How creativity affects the city and how the city transforms under the impact of creative ideas, Goethe-Institute has demonstrated through the project Urban incubator: Belgrade. Revitalization often means patience, too. From March until October, the NextSavamala team, through a variety of workshops, have collected numerous ideas about the future appearance of Savamala. After that, these ideas are grouped by the experts from Hamburg, authors of the project NextHamburg, into eight entities, which differ in content. Therefore, one of the questions raised was how to implement these ideas? Ilija Lazarević, Nextsavamala: „Throught the questions directed to visitors during the Fair, we want to gain answer to that question too. Hence, this is not just about gaining the answers but also finding out how people think how their idea, which might be still abstract, can further be executed in action." Nina Trifunovic: „I think that urban gardens can be a very fine and enriching element of the Savamala's future, that they are very easy to be organised, and I think these are needed to be around everywhere; from rooftops to the individual garden. Even that would be interesting, for example, to arrange appropriate plants for the buildings looking at the river, where the residents of these buildings could contribute through their own windows." Ivana Todorovic: „Public green areas, intended for everyone's usage - yes, but the focus should be on 7 to 14 years old children." Parks and public spaces for children enriching Savamala was the topic of one of the workshops at the EUNIC stand which aimed at presenting new solutions for playground design. Mila Marinkovic-Brocic: "We tried, together with professor Marko Crnobrnja and students from the Techno Art school, to respond to a given topic. Specifically, how much, and how can children playgrounds look different by using different approaches, different materials, and different forms." New ideas and their creative development - the Goethe Guerillas keeps watching out. "Goethe Guerilla has its innovative approaches responding to this year's Fair and our joint EUNIC booth topic; "City and Creativity" has been their umbrella topic for I think 4 years now because there are young people gathered in the group who are interested in many cultural topics and interventions." Marija Jelic: "I liked the idea that in fact Belgrade becomes new Berlin or Amsterdam in the cultural sense; ideas which might introduce to the alternative cultural scene where some new fashion shops or some souvenir shops might open up where young artists could present their work." The young StreetArt artist "The Kraljica Vila"contributed to the Book Fair activities at the EUNIC stand. In a very practical way, in their workshop they demonstrated their specific graffiti art including their graphic symbols for specific urban districts which might initiate a new trend. The Kraljica Vila: "Savamala and all the projects happening within Savamala are perhaps a good starting point and initiative for other city areas' development." Katarina Antanaskovic, Next Savamala: "We will continue collecting citizens ideas about how all these projects could be executed. Beginning of November, during one week, all these ideas will be presented together with photos and other materials in one extended format." The Book Fair exhibition is just another step, further workshops with local residents will follow. In the meantime at the Book Fair, the second issue of the international architecture magazine "Kamenzind" has been launched, which is an integral part of the project Urban incubator:Belgrade. The role of the journal is to create a research platform for the exchange of knowledge about Savamala's architecture. Individuals of different educational backgrounds have participated in this magazine's creation. These various views and visions are creating a great basis for the re-development of one of the City's beauties:Savamala.

• published: 30 Oct 2013
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