In September 2017, an exhibition of street art from Belgrade was presented in the Serbian cultural center in Paris. The works were selected from the book on street art – “Street Art Belgrade”, which was translated into French on this occasion.
As part of the manifestation “Week of Foreign Arts”, which is organized every year at the end of September in Paris, an exhibition dedicated to the street art of Belgrade was opened in the Serbian cultural center and the book “Street Art Belgrade” by Aleksandar Đorđević, published by Komsha, was presented. On the occasion of the opening of the exhibition, well-known Serbian artists ARTEZ and TKV painted panels live in front of the cultural center, which attracted a lot of attention from passers-by at this central location in Paris, where the cultural center is located. The exhibition “Face au mur” lasted from September 23 to October 21, and visitors had the opportunity to see over 50 photographs of street art. The book has been translated into French, and the French edition is available in Serbia as well as in several well-known bookstores in Paris.
The exhibition “Face au mur” and the book “Street Art Belgrade” deal with the street art of Belgrade. This art is exposed to views, time and emotions. The desire of the author Aleksandar Đorđević and the Komsha publishing house is to preserve, document and popularize, above all, street art as a specific form of art because it is an unavoidable part of the urban environment. The book “Street Art Belgrade” and the exhibition “Face au mur” present an overview of Belgrade’s street art, both stylistically and backwards through time.
The first graffiti in Europe appeared precisely in Paris, and Paris had a great influence on the Belgrade graffiti scene. One of the examples is the street artist Jens, who after his stay in Paris, brought a new style from the streets of Paris to Belgrade, thus reviving and starting street art in the 90s, which completely died out due to the political and economic difficulties the country was going through. . Famous Parisian artists visited Belgrade and left their works of art on the walls (Black le Rat, REMED), and many Serbian artists spent time in Paris, where they gained new knowledge and inspiration for their street art.
The exhibition was realized within the competition of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia and with the support and cooperation of the Cultural Center of Serbia in Paris, the French Institute in Serbia and the Forum of Foreign Cultural Centers in Paris.
