Since the opening of our main public space in downtown Belgrade, in September 2018, more than 500 different events have taken place, including: 

120+ literary events  

100+ socio-political events  

50+ arts and theater programs

40+ exhibitions  

10+ international student visits  

120+academic gatherings, roundtables and panel discussions 

In September 2018, after a decade of Association KROKODIL’s various and very intense activities, the KROKODIL Center for Contemporary Literature finally opened. The Center is a physical space belonging to  Association KROKODIL, a meeting point for all interested in culture, and more specifically, literature, where many of our activities take place. Ever since the opening, various programs have been organized there on almost a daily basis. At the beginning of each month, we publish KROKODIL News, a bulletin in which, along with the program of the Center, one can also find news from our kitchen and other information related to different KROKODIL activities. As the KROKODIL acronym says, KROKODIL engages in Literary (Regional) Gathering, among other things – promoting both regional and European authors. In our literary program, besides the traditional KROKODIL Festival which is organized once a year, we have participated in  the Book Fair and welcomed the Festival of Literature of European Mediterranean., We  also have organized panel discussions where writers and translators can discuss  topics such as literary genres, awards, remembering authors, how to write, among others. Events for promoting books are the most frequent ones. Within the KROKODIL Writer in residence program, we have welcomed 90 authors so far), and introduced them to Belgrade – while at the same time introducing them to the guests of KROKODIL Center. The Center has welcomed authors from 21 countries, including Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia, as well as  from Germany, Cyprus, Ukraine, Sweden, and many more. Our guests have had the opportunity to hear verses, short stories, excerpts from novels, and screenplays – the genre selection, as well as the topic selection, is diverse and varies from country to country, from author to author, and from book to book. Among  our socio-political programs, we have organized debates as well as lectures on various topics from Cultural heritage, anti-fascism, women’s rights, LGBT rights, to The Declaration on the Common Language. KROKODIL Center also organizes fundraisers, such as the fundraising dinner for prematurely born babies. Parenting is also a topic of interest at  KROKODIL  Center, as we organize lectures about specific parental experiences. We also organize musical evenings, cooking classes, lectures about creativity, comic books, and design –our topics and interests are broad. We support diversity and our Center is open to all, no matter the age (we are baby-friendly and kid-friendly, with a special wall your child can draw on), how many paws you have (we are pet-friendly), or who your favorite author or artist is. Welcome!

CAFE & DELI

The KROKODIL Center is also equipped with a bar as well as a cafe and deli with an educated and experienced chef and staff. We also deliver through Wolt and Donesi – look for “Krokodil Cafe & Deli” in the apps and order our specialties.With every online delivery, you get a special gift – a booklet from our Common Library series.

EXHIBITION SPACE

The KROKODIL Center is also an exhibition space. Exhibitions are on display for a month or two months and artwork can be purchased on the spot. So far our walls have welcomed 14 artists, including: Ana Petrović (“Toni Zec”), Miroslav Vujović Graforidža (“Provokart”), Aleksandar Zograf and Gorana Basta (“Snovi i tkanine”), Aleksa Gajić (“Krokiriki”), Nikola Puzigaća (“Kosmos, PUN K. & Love”), Jelena Jelača (“Paralelna realnost”), Dobrosav Bob Živković (“(Naučno-fantastični Bob”), Igor Čoko (“Svojom stranom ulice”), Political Poster Collective (“I tvoja sloboda se brani u Rožavi”), Biljana Đurđević (“Oruđe delanja”) and Jelena Milićević (“Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes”).

HATE POETRY BELGRADE

Hate Poetry is a type of public performance that was first organized in 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The first event was informally set up by a German-Turkish journalist Ebru Taşdemir and moderated by a German-Croatian journalist and editor Doris Akrap. Mostly left wing journalists of foreign origin gathered in the Taz Cafe and read racist comments, threats and other offensive content they received through social media or email. Since then, this type of performance has become very popular around Germany. The first Hate Poetry event in Serbia was organized at the KROKODIL Center. We organize these events  monthly with different guests. The program’s moderator is Dragan Ilić. The participants so far have included Borka Pavićević, Nedim Sejdinović, Dragan Bursać, Anita Mitić, Brankica Stanković, Idro Seferi, Zoran Kesić, Branislav Trifunović, Gorica Nešović, Antonela Riha, Jovana Gligorijević, Aleksandra Nikšić etc.

GIGANTOMACHIA

Gigantomachia or KROKODIL’s Duel in Three Rounds consists of heated debates in three 15-minute rounds where experienced debaters and well known public figures discuss hot-button socio-political topics. Within the seven duels we hosted so far, the participants have included Svetislav Basara, Marko Vidojković, Zlatko Petrović, dr Đorđe Pavićević, Dubravka Stojanović, Biljana Srbljanović, Željko Hubač, Andrej Nosov, Teofil Pančić, Goran Marković etc.

LIK I DELO

Through the program Lik i delo, we host various regional authors, both young and established,  including Vladimir Tabašević, Mirjana Đurđević, Slobodan Šnajder, Ivan Ivanji, Vladislav Bajac, Dubravka Ugrešić, Dragan Velikić, Filip David, Goran Marković, Svetislav Basara, Branko Rosić, Jelena Lengold and Jasminka Petrović.

COMMON LIBRARY

After the Languages ​​and Nationalisms project, which dealt with the complex issue of the reality of the existence of four political languages ​​in the region and its grand finale, the Declaration on the Common Language, the KROKODIL Association started a new project called Common Library. This project also deals with the topic of language, but from the literary and essayistic aspect. As a part of the Common Library project, we regularly organize events at the KROKODIL Center, and some of the participants so far have included Boris Buden, Dubravka Ugrešić, Lana Bastašić and Semezdin Mehmedinović.

les crocodiles

Les Crocodiles are here and they speak loud and clear. Through this program, we present a series of public conversations and debates about women in public space (with special emphasis on culture and literature), their (in)visibility and ways to increase their prominence, feminism, discrimination and equality and their position in the regional scene. So far two editions of this program have been  held. In the first edition, titled “Feminism and Ferranteism”, Nađa Bobičić, Irena Jovanović and Marija Ratković talked about “Ferrante fever”, female experiences, anger, male violence, female protagonists, very thoroughly dissected female-female relationships and the political background behind all of this.  In the second conversation, Dragoslava Barzut, Ljubica Pupezin and Jelena Lalatović talked about visibility, invisibility and the recognition of female authors in the region and the practice of rarely awarding women for their literary works. Both of the conversations were moderated by Iva Parađanin. 

KROKODIL’S CINEMA

KROKODIL Center also serves as a film-theater for 20th-century European cinema. In cooperation with Goethe Institute, we’ve organized screenings of German films such as Menschen am Sonntag (1930) and Lili Marleen (1981). In  cooperation with Institut Français, we’ve organized screenings of French new wave films such as Jules et Jim (1962) and Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1958). We’ve also organized a screening of Final Adventure of Kaktus Kid, followed by a Q&A with the director Đorđe Marković and the comic author Aleksandar Zograf.