In the 21st century, theatre occupies a brand-new place in the public dialogue. New technologies take over various functions from other media, even the artistic ones, while those other media must acknowledge the specific features of the contemporary means of communication which bring along a completely new experience of time, space and the world in general. Now when information is widely accessible, art and culture, as living segments of spiritual identity on both national and international level, are obliged to understand the world in a new and specific way in correspondence with the altered parameters, values and language. Moreover, it is necessary to support, promote and realize innovative artistic contents and contemporary communication within theatre.

Bitef Theatre aims to create a unique point of access to the digitized cultural material which concerns the Festival through various projects. This time, it will present, in the form of a modern retrospective online BITEF catalogue, insight into systematized artistic trends and offer a competent comment on the past period of the changing world.

University Library “Svetozar Marković” is Bitef’s strategic partner in the fields of digitization of the material about the previous festivals, the presentation of the digitized material to the wide audience, and its permanent conservation. The library has successfully carried out a dozen other projects about digitization and digital technology of national importance, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, and has partnered two important CIP ICT-PSP projects of digitization by the European committee. It is currently a partner in H2020 READ project.

Since September 2018, digitized material which concerns past Bitef festivals is available for public use at the website digitalniarhivbitefa.unilib.rs, which consists of four large sections: catalogues, posters, photographs, and filmed segments of performances. Apart from the usual browsing options, catalogues can also be browsed by keywords, and the pages containing them can be downloaded and printed.

BITEF DIGITIZATION is an online edition, at the same time a unique catalogue, a Festival monography, a testimony and a contribution to the cultural politics and the cultural life of the city and the country, a lexicon of the contemporary theatre art in Serbia, Europe and the world, an introduction to contemporary theatre art practice, a database for research and creation of new contents, and a part of Serbian digital cultural heritage. It also contributes to the promotion of the multicultural art space.

MA Vesna Bogunović and dr. Adam Sofronijević, project initiators and co-authors

Besides the co-authors, the project participants are: Prof. Aleksandar Jerkov, PhD, Nikola Smolenski, Matea Milošević, Nikola Krsmanović, Nemanja Žikić, Vukosav Sredojević, Dragana Popović, Bojan Nikolić, Sandra Spasić, Aleksandra Tica from the University Library “Svetozar Marković”, as well as Jelena Stojanović and Nenad Šugić, Bitef Theatre associates.

BITEF digitization was realized in 2018 within the project “Browsable Cultural Heritage of Serbia: Enriching the Digital Collection with the Pearls of Periodical Publications”, which is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.

 

This digital exhibition will be officially presented to the public on 10th of September, 19:00, at Gallery Novembar, 22, Kursulina Street, Belgrade.

Gallery Novembar is contemporary art gallery who bases its offer and program on innovative, high‐quality art produced by both established, emerging and newly discovered artists coming from Serbia and the Balkan Region