ARTE gallery continues with the project Collector as Curator and Selector, the main goal of which is to bridge the gap between private and public collections, and to provide the public with access to works that, although privately owned, can easily be found in museum collections. The exhibition that we realized in the first half of 2022, Collector as Curator and Selector (IV) – Large format, marked the beginning of the stage that observes the “large format” case study, whereby the basic three spatial dimensions are overcome, and the “size” of the work of art observes through the prism of the historical, that is, the temporal context.

Collector as curator and selector (V) – IDENTITIES is a continuation of this stage, where the creativity and sensibility of the next generation of artists will be presented through “large format” works. We have segmented the generations of artists born after World War II into two groups, and the turning point that separates them is the stormy nineties. For older artists, that decade represented a transitional period, while for younger artists it defined the social milieu in which they developed. As the museum practice was inactive during this period, artists communicated with the public mainly through gallery exhibition practice. Private galleries have given a new sensibility to the art scene with their projects and work in this millennium. Through direct collaboration with artists, exhibitions were organized to present the creators in their infancy to the public. It was the contemporary authors who were recommended by the new galleries that found their way to a wider audience, and over time found their place in art collections.

The contemporary scene is extremely colorful and turbulent. Although the Museum of Contemporary Art is still an umbrella institution, galleries and events are gaining more and more importance in defining social taste and creating an art market. The Belgrade scene is starting to look more and more like the Berlin of two decades ago, while art is completely leaving its traditional dimensions. “Large format” is a specific feature of the contemporary art world. A work of art is approached differently, it is no longer a beautiful painting or a sculpture that decorates an interior, it is now a strong statement of an individual who stands in front of his own society. A work is an attitude that can be expressed by an installation that occupies the entire room or by a performance that requires the width of the outdoor space. In the past two decades, new galleries with a large exhibition capacity have been opened, adapted to new artistic media and tendencies, and collectors have also adapted to the new situation, wishing to acquire for themselves a work by a contemporary author that suits their taste.

Collecting contemporary artists has a certain charm and advantage over traditional collecting the works of old masters. The collector has the opportunity to research the market, has the desire to meet the artist behind the displayed canvas, enter his studio and discover the art at its source. On the other hand, in addition to the problem of storing more and more atypical and larger works of art, investing in contemporary works brings with it the question of the justification of such an investment. Because of their taste and commitment to an artist or a group of authors, collectors put their collections at risk, because they will share the fate of the artist’s future career, of which only time will be the judge. By deciding to include a certain work in their collections, collectors give encouragement and affirmation to young authors, and a certain work of art acquires wider social significance.

By cutting from these art collections, ARTE gallery has made a selection of works by contemporary authors. Bora Iljovski, Dušan Otašević, Mrđan Bajić, Ivan Grubanov and Đorđe Ožbolt represented our country at the Venice Biennale, where the exhibition-competition concept implies a strong presence of the artwork, which was often realized through “large format”. During the duration of the exhibition in the ARTE gallery, some of the authors such as Uroš Đurić, Nikola Marković, Mica Stajčić, Dragomir Ugren, Veljko Vujačić will present themselves to the European audience at the Art Market art fair in Budapest, and at the same time, a retrospective exhibition of the Belgrade professor is being held in the Museum of Contemporary Art. sculptor Mrđan Bajić.

In addition to the mentioned authors, the ARTE gallery shows the works of other contemporary artists who have attracted the attention of both experts and the general public, as well as the collectors themselves. These are the works of Marina Ambramović, Era Milivojević, Dušan Otašević, Čedomir Vasić, Saša Pančić, Zdravko Joksimović, Radoš Antonijević, Mileta Prodanović, Džoni Racković, Vuk Vidor, Ivona Pleskonja, Petar Mirković, Ivan Šuletić, Žolt Kovač, Mihael Milunović, Petar Mošić, Kristina Pirković, Veljko Valjarević, Jelena Bulajić, Marko Crnobrnjea, Marina Marković and others.