Greetings from Serbia.

After a deadly infrastructure collapse in Novi Sad in 2024, Serbia saw a wave of student-led protests. In February 2025, students occupied the Student Cultural Centre (SKC) in Belgrade, transforming an old cultural institution it into a self-organised cultural and political space.

The two days program titled Greetings from Serbia connects stories of civic struggle, creativity, and resistance that emerged in Serbia since the 2024 student-led anti/regime movements. The program consists of a public talk, a podcast and a film evening. Together we’ll explore how how art can become a tool for collective resistance and democratic experimentation. We’ll reflect collectively on what other European student movements and art workers can learn from the experiences of SKC.

Public discussion “Institutional Resilience: Liberated SKC and the Subversive Potential of Art in Serbia”

This public discussion explores how art and cultural institutions operate in moments of social and political rupture, focusing on the Liberated Student Cultural Centre (SKC) in Belgrade. SKC’s activities were ultimately halted by a police raid in July 2025, a moment that raised urgent questions about the limits of institutional autonomy, cultural resistance, and political dissent, as well as broader questions about the potential art can have in enacting resistance instead of representing it.

The discussion brings together Milica Pekić (art historian and curator, Belgrade), Ana Stojković and Ivanja Todorović (participants in the Liberated SKC initiative) and Wouter Hillaert (journalist, Belgium), moderated by Tijana Petrović. Together, they reflect on the legacy of SKC and the broader role of culture in rehearsing alternative democratic futures, in Serbia and across Europe.

Podcast "Cultural Resistance from Serbia to Diaspora: Structures of Support and Cultural Solidarity"

In a one hour podcast the organisors of Greetings from Serbia will speak with guests from Serbia. The conversation is moderated by Sanja Mitrović and will be divided in three sections:

• Part 1: The Novi Sad Tragedy and the Awakening of a Generation Part
• Part 2: No Leaders: The Occupation of SKC and the Return of the Plenum.
• Part 3: From Belgrade to Brussels: Cultural Solidarity and the Diaspora.
  
  The podcast will be hosted by RITCS XL AIR and will be aired end of March. The specific date will be revealed shortly.

Film evening

The film evening presents documentation and artistic works connected to the Liberated SKC. Curated by Ana Stojković and Ivanja Todorović, the programme offers insight into how art functioned during the occupation as collective action. Followed by discussion..

This event is part of the research project Resistant Bodies, Resonant Words by Sanja Mitrović.

Supported by:

Forum on Central and Eastern Europe KULeuven, Kunsthal Gent, RITCS Research Department, and Palac Gore, an informal Serbian diaspora group based in Brussels.

Organisational committee:

• Sanja Mitrović, theatre director, performance artist and researcher at RITCS School of Arts
• Tijana Petrović, artist and cultural worker based in Belgium
• Dragana Radanović, visual storyteller and researcher at Luca School of Arts
• Jana Vasiljević, multidisciplinary artist and artistic coordinator platform at Kunsthal Gent.