SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT OF THE FDA INSTITUTE FOR THEATRE, FILM, RADIO AND TELEVISION “WORKS IN PROGRESS: TOWARDS NEW RESEARCH TOPICS”

Between March and June 2026, the Institute for Theatre, Film, Radio and Television at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDA) successfully implemented a new programme of international academic events entitled “Works in Progress: Towards New Research Topics”. Aimed at fostering networking and the exchange of knowledge with researchers from abroad, as well as from other Serbian research institutions, while encouraging dialogue on emerging research trends, the programme brought to FDA researchers, professors and lecturers from Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, the United States of America, Austria, Croatia, and Serbia. The programme featured a series of public lectures, film screenings, presentations, working meetings, and discussions attended by FDA faculty members, researchers, undergraduate, master's and doctoral students in both the arts and sciences, as well as colleagues from other academic and cultural institutions.

The programme opened in early March with the visit of Izabela Wyciszkiewicz, Head of the Film Culture Department at the Wajda Film Centre in Warsaw. Wyciszkiewicz delivered a lecture on Polish cinema and the work of Andrzej Wajda, accompanied by a screening of the documentary Wajda by Wajda.

In April, the Institute welcomed Dr Zala Dobovšek, dramaturge and Assistant Professor at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, University of Ljubljana, who gave the interactive lecture Research Paths in the Performing Arts. Her presentation introduced various approaches to artistic and scholarly research, with particular emphasis on the social objectives of research. During her stay, she also conducted several working sessions and led the masterclass From Idea to Publication, dedicated to writing and publishing academic and professional papers for doctoral candidates, researchers, and FDA associates.

As part of the programme, the Faculty also hosted Matija Bošnjak, Senior Teaching Assistant at the University of Sarajevo, who delivered the public lecture Possibilities of a Postcolonial Reading of South Slavic Literary Modernism, followed by an engaging discussion with the audience. The conversation focused on opportunities for developing joint research projects and strengthening cooperation between the University of Sarajevo and FDA, including providing FDA researchers with open access to scientific archives and literary journals in Sarajevo.

In mid-May, the Institute welcomed Dr Milica Popović, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher and Project Leader at the Institute of Cultural Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. In her lecture, Deconstructing (Post-)Yugoslavism and Yugonostalgia: The Generation of the Last Pioneers, Archives, and the Cinematic Image of Yugoslavia, Dr Popović presented films created by members of the last generation of Yugoslav pioneers, characterised by distinctive autobiographical elements. She explored the relationship between narratives of memory and film production, as well as the creative appropriation of public archives, home videos, and found footage, highlighting the role of generational positionality in shaping representations of socialist Yugoslavia. Following the lecture, a working meeting introduced FDA researchers to European postdoctoral practices, as well as funding opportunities and short-term research fellowships in Austria.

Another guest of the Works in Progress: Towards New Research Topics programme was Dr Stefan Surlić, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. His lecture examined how media, culture, and dominant narratives shape processes of reconciliation, democratisation, and trust-building in the post-conflict societies of the Balkans. Particular attention was devoted to the relationship between formal political agreements and everyday social practices, as well as to the role of media, identity politics, and collective memory in overcoming—or reinforcing—conflict.

The series of public lectures continued with the visit of Dr Vladislav Beronja, a researcher from Zagreb, who presented a lecture on contemporary photographic representations of Yugoslav modernist architecture in ruins. His presentation positioned these visual practices as a counterpoint to the exhibition Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1989, held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2019. Special emphasis was placed on Boris Kralj's photo diary My Belgrade (2011) and the photo essay There Is Nothing There! (2020) by Dubravka Ugrešić and Davor Konjikušić, both of which portray the ruins of Yugoslav socialist modernity as emotionally and politically charged sites of collective nostalgia and political mourning in the post-socialist present.

The programme concluded in June with a two-day interdisciplinary conference organised in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Management, University of the Arts Belgrade, the Centre for Theoretical Research in the Humanities of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb, Edicija Jugoslavija, the PhD in One Night Collective, and the Orangerie Residency in Belgium. The conference focused on education and and culture for children, with particular attention to literature and playwriting. Dr Julia Mickenberg (University of Texas at Austin) and Dr Philip Nel (Kansas State University) delivered the keynote lecture “In Dreams Begin Possibilities: Can Children's Literature Change the World?” to a full audience. The conference also featured the presentation of the new bilingual publication of the Edicija Jugoslavija “The Unpredictable Past of the Future: The Political Potential of Utopia” (edited by Ivana Momčilović). Short presentations were given by Minja Bogavac, playwright and Creative Director of Centre E8; Professor Irena Ristić; Assistant Professor Tijana Grumić; and Sara Sopić and Mirjana Slavković, curators at the Museum of Yugoslavia. The programme further included a screening of the experimental film “Poems from Which We Learned – Fragments of Self-Education on Politics and the Sensible”, inspired by the theories of Jacques Rancière.

This year's international programme “Works in Progress: Towards New Research Topics”, initiated and organised by the FDA research community, was largely devoted to innovative research approaches to the cultural heritage of socialist Yugoslavia. Through public lectures and discussions that critically examined key concepts and dominant interpretations of the ways in which heritage continues to shape the present—while placing these questions within broader comparative cultural perspectives—the programme generated meaningful academic exchange. Combined with a range of additional activities, the project significantly contributed to the internationalisation of the Institute, the development of future collaborative projects, and the strengthening of its research infrastructure. The successful completion of the programme reflects the Institute's strategic objectives, while particularly highlighting the commitment and active involvement of FDA's early-career researchers in its implementation.