Off Guide Savamala
- Title: Off Guide Savamala
- Author: Relja Bobić, Isidora Nikolić / Goethe Guerilla, DIS-PATCH
- Date: .
- Tags: community, design, visual arts, workshop, youth
OFF Guide Savamala is a project of the Goethe Institute Belgrade and Goethe-Guerilla, in cooperation with the Dis-patch collective. The central point of the Belgrade edition is a focused exploration of the Savamala area through an “off guide” model, under the auspices of the GI project “Urban Incubator: Belgrade-Savamala - A city quarter reinvents itself”.
The Dis-patch collective, which established the “Off Guide” model by its project in Majdanpek in 2011, within the Sound & Visions festival, in 2012 continues to develop this work-in-progress project dedicated to multidisciplinary processes of creative education, and the affirmation of site-specific approaches and DIY methodologies. On the other hand, the Goethe Guerilla project is in 2012 particularly focused on the Savamala neighborhood in the centre of Belgrade, which is currently, by the holding of the Mixer festival, undergoing a powerful urban transformation and regeneration.
The changes that will inevitably ensue will be fast and visible, so that a growing interest in this urban unit on Belgrade’s riverfront is not unusual – a number of workshops, student competitions, visits, events, and the first signs of commercialization through the opening of new premises, cafes and other catering facilities. The Goethe Institute Beograd and Dis-patch met at the logical point of treating this specific urban milieu through an off-guide model, and a very specific location such as the so-called “Spanish House” in Braće Krsmanović Street. The exploration of Savamala undertaken by GI is thus enriched by an artistic interpretation of the process that can be seen in this part of the city, while the off-guide model, now in a much more coherent form, is simultaneously developing and facing new situations where its specific methodology can be tested, this time with the participation of young creative individuals gathered around the Belgrade branch of the regional Goethe Guerilla project.
Each OFF GUIDE is an interpretation of the experience of a group of authors, which they have undergone together at a specific site. It is a collection of personal experiences gathered and processed through a collective expression, which is always a physically printed and limited publication, fully created and produced at the workshop site – from the conceptualization and production of content to the technical production of printing and binding. As a part of the guide through Savamala, there is a video segment dedicated to trick-animation and the production of engaged film miniatures in a short period of time, while the visiting lectures will offer additional insights into the processes that are the subject of the workshop and that are part of the treatment of Savamala.
OFF GUIDE is an artistic interpretation of a specific geographical or meta-notion. The work process and methodology are crucial for the project, and its central element is a provisional working space which is usually set up at an outdoor location that offers an unusual context for education and artistic production. One of the important features is also the “offline” nature of the project, since its format also wants to explore the shifting of the focus in the process of artistic production and creative work in general. The intention is to even slightly explore the deep implications accompanying these processes, which is why there is no Internet connection at the workshop site.
The OFF GUIDE SAVAMALA workshop is held from April 30 to May 3, 2012 at the site of the Spanish House in Braće Krsmanović street. The Mixer festival, in cooperation with the Goethe Institute and the Dis-patch collective, presents a special exhibition that documents the results and the experiences acquired during the existence of this provisional working space.