‘The Eighties’ exhibition by the Student Cultural Centre of Novi Sad shows the influence of British music, culture and sports on the social life of the eighties in Serbia, i.e., the former Yugoslavia.
The exhibition will feature photographs of guest appearances and visits of numerous British writers, directors, artists, scientists and athletes, as well as exclusive photographs from concerts by Elton John, Dire Straits, Motörhead, Peter Green and others. The Museum of Contemporary Art at that time hosted an exhibition by sculptor Berry Flanagan, photo-reporter Billy Brant, graphics by Jim Cave, while on the stage of the eighties there were often guest appearances of the most famous British theatre plays such as ‘Cruel Garden’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Clowns’. Of course, in addition to all this, there are unavoidable photos that testify to the football matches of Serbian and English teams, as well as the national teams of Great Britain and Yugoslavia.
The ‘Eighties’ exhibition will be implemented within the British Mobile (PopUp) Embassy programme, and all interested visitors can see the works in the Svilara Cultural Station from 2 – 4 July from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibition has been available only once, in 2019, at the celebration of the Queen’s birthday at the residence of Great Britain, and now in the Svilara Cultural Sation, it is open for the general public for the first time.
‘The Eighties’ is in fact a continuation of the ‘Influences – Influences of British Music in Serbia’ project which was created in 2017. It is a CD release with 15 songs of British music that were processed, recorded and arranged by bands from Serbia and in that way showed which and what kind of music shaped the Serbian scene.
The CD included Bee Gees, PJ Harvey, the Beatles, David Bowie, Buzzcocks, Cure and others. It was published by SKCNS, and the author of the accompanying exhibition is Ivana Đukić, academic painter and graphic designer.
The ‘Influences’ project was implemented as part of the celebration of 180 years of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Serbia, and the accompanying exhibition was set up at the embassy residence in June 2018, on the Queen’s birthday.
