Completed murals in Obrenovac and Čačak within the Free the Streets/Free the People initiative

28 Sep Completed murals in Obrenovac and Čačak within the Free the Streets/Free the People initiative

Painting of the seventh mural within KROKODIL’s initiative Free the Streets/Free the People was recently completed in Čačak. This work by the artist Vuk Đurić was realized in one of the neighborhoods in Čačak (corner of Mila Ivkovića and Veselina Mikića streets), and was created in cooperation with the DUK (Days of Urban Kulture) festival. As part of the Free the Streets/Free the People initiative, a total of ten murals will be created in the cities of Serbia, with the idea of reminding fellow citizens that public space belongs to everyone and that everybody should feel welcome in it.

The work titled Sit for a while, calm down, which was painted on the façade of a building on the edge of the City Park, according to the author, invites the observer to stop, think, give himself some time, and also invites to a conversation.

“There are so many chairs in the world, and people are fighting over one. For this reason, I am giving my fellow citizens a chair that they cannot win and sit on. I give them the third chair. I leave them an empty place and a free space”, explains the artist and adds:

“The background is a product of long research of the relationship between numbers and surfaces. After many years of wandering, I came across a path that could be good. The symbolism of numbers has completely disappeared and turned into forms that try to provide peace, balance and harmony. As the wall is located next to a park, I wanted to convey an abstract landscape of urban greenery. In terms of color, I took all the tones from the very location where the mural is located.”

We remind you that the Free the Streets/Free the People civic initiative was created as a reaction to the overwhelming amount of aggressive messages found on walls in cities across Serbia. In Belgrade, their number is particularly disturbing. Therefore, we continue to support local artists to paint murals that send messages of togetherness and community, and make the public space pleasant for all citizens, but in addition also remind them that the public space is precisely the space that belongs to us all and that we all have the right to use, regardless of personal beliefs – for spending free time, socializing and gathering.

Vuk Djurić was born in 1992 in Istok. He received his undergraduate degree in Graphic design at the Faculty of Arts, University of Priština, with temporary seat in Kosovska Mitrovica. He completed his Master studies at the same university in 2018. He is the Art Director of the Days of Urban Kulture (DUK) Festival in Čačak, founded in 2015. He has been involved in the organization of over 10 projects and has participated in two artist residencies. He has painted numerous murals throughout Serbia and internationally.

And just ten days earlier, the sixth mural within the Free the Streets/Free the People initiative was painted in Obrenovac. We would like to thank our fellow citizens who came to the building at Radenka Rankovića Street, next to the Obrenovac promenade, and followed the painting process of the artist Dejan Ivanović Wuper. The work itself is inspired by childhood, and this is one of a series of artistic interventions initiated by KROKODIL through the aforementioned initiative, with the idea of pointing out, through positive and emancipatory practices, that public space belongs to everyone and that everybody should feel welcome in it.