8 – 22 MAY
Author: Danilo Vuksanović
Recognising Letopis Matice Srpske as the first among equals—a chronicle more enduring than any of the world’s heralds—we invited graphic artists to contribute artistically to the celebration of this remarkable bicentennial.
Two hundred years mark the time during which numerous cover pages, vignettes and illustrations saw the light of the day, as well as layout designs, orthographic styles, syllabic forms, and initials. Visual diversity of the cover page, which emerged over time, reflects the many faces of Letopis Matice Srpske, and as such, it became suitable to serve as the inspiration, challenge, and foundation for the emergence of a new type of artwork – graphic design. Artists received facsimiles of graphic solutions from the past, as well as current issues of Letopis and based on them created new imprints in various graphic techniques. Each contemporary graphic artist responded to the invitation in their unique way—some through the authentic voice of their personal visual language, others by paraphrasing symbols, colours, and letterforms from the archival templates. Typographic reinterpretations and their combination in various artistic styles, symbolically recognizable iconography drawn from the pages of the journal, allegorical illustrations of Matica’s employees’ educational programs, multi-coloured narratives of ‘chronicle’ traditions, as well as linear, purely colouristic compositions, were collected in leather bound presentation folders bearing the jubilee’s dry stamp, which were masterfully crafted in the Library of Matica Srpska. One of these presentation folders was also donated to the SASA Branch in Novi Sad.
The artists who responded to the call and donated their prints in honour of the anniversary are: Goran Knežević, Snezana Petrović, Jelena Sredanović, Milan Ignjatović, Aleksandar Leka Mladenović, Vida Stefanović, Zoran Todović, Sajaka Kavamura, Sanja Žigić, Nikola Ilić, Višnja Nikolić, Vlado Njaradi, Uglješa Colić and Danilo Vuksanović.
Previous exhibitions were organised at Matica Srpska (2024) and at the ‘Svilara’ Cultural Station (2025) in Novi Sad.
Exhibition author