Five new mural models will be installed during May at several locations in the city center and represent different artists and styles of street art.
When choosing the works, the availability and proximity of the works to the City Organization of the Blind in Belgrade was taken into account, so that the members could, through a short walk, feel what it looks like to discover art on the street. The works for which the model was made are the works of leading and recognized street artists from Serbia and the world: TKV, Piros, Junk, Rage, Lunar and Flying Fortress.
The models were made with the support of the Atlantic Stark company, and as part of the celebration of 50 years of the favorite flips – Smoky. The Atlantic Stark company wants to enable everyone to enjoy street art, which is the hallmark of this year’s celebratory Smoky campaign.
Mural models are an innovative approach to presenting street art and graffiti, because by creating works of street art in 3D technology, blind and partially sighted people are able to get to know the works of art on the streets of Belgrade through touch. The works are accompanied by descriptions in Braille.
“At the beginning of this project, I didn’t believe that it was possible to adapt the murals to the blind and visually impaired, but in less than a year we have a total of eight works available to us. Our community is small and art is still insufficiently accessible to blind and partially sighted people, the very fact that artists will now consider adapting their work to everyone means a lot to us. The models on the streets motivate our members to feel part of the city, to move and walk more, which is very valuable,” said Nikola Đorđević, president of the Belgrade City Organization of the Blind.
At the event in Dorćol Platz, where five new models were presented, the artist TKV held a workshop with the members of the City Organization of the Blind in Belgrade on the use of spray and brought the process of creating street art even closer.
“I am glad that the artists were given the opportunity to participate in the project of bringing the mural closer to the blind and visually impaired. We got a new position through which we have an additional motive to think in the work process about how to convey something that is visual to someone who cannot see. This is very important, especially since street art is considered to be the freest type of art. This is a step forward towards an inclusive society, and I’m glad that people within the street art community started an initiative that makes this possible and creates a space to think about how to bring art closer to everyone.” – said artist Aleksandra Petković TKV
The project was supported by the Atlantic Grupa company, as part of the campaign to mark Smoky’s 50th birthday. The company’s desire is to awaken the creative spirit and support art, as well as to bring art closer to all members of the community.
“As a brand that connects the entire region and all generations, which is a universal language in a large area and which, as art, knows no borders, the logical step was to create a collaboration between Smokey and famous graffiti artists from the region and to create a campaign that we extremely proud. The way Smokey celebrated its great anniversary, 50 years of existence, and the crown of the entire campaign for which we gathered today – the presentation of tactile 3D boards of our most famous street art visuals, which makes this art accessible to blind and partially sighted fellow citizens, is just one from the way in which the Atlantic Stark company takes care of social responsibility. I would like to take the opportunity to express my gratitude to the City Organization of the Blind in Belgrade and the Street Art Belgrade Association for their help and support in presenting this campaign in the right way, but also in providing the opportunity for everyone to enjoy street art. We will try to continue in the future with projects that are of great importance for the community in which we operate,” said Vladimir Latinović, marketing manager of Atlantic Stark.
With these new models, Belgrade becomes the city with the most 3D models of street art for the blind and partially sighted in the region and Europe, a total of eight models are located in different locations – two models in Vračar, three models in the area of Cetinjska, two models on the corner of Višnjićeva and Gospodar Jovanova and one model in the area of Dorćol Platz.
The author of the project is the “Street Art Belgrade” organization, and support was provided by the Belgrade City Organization of the Blind and the Atlantic Grupa company.
The City Organization of the Blind in Belgrade gathers around 2,000 blind and visually impaired people from the territory of all Belgrade municipalities, while in Serbia there are around 12,000 blind and partially sighted people who need support in exercising their rights as well as integration into all social flows and daily activities, and cultural life and art are an integral and important part of it.
Photo © Alex Dmitrović
