MASTERS OF CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE ARS AEVI COLLECTION
under the patronage of Embassy of Italy in Sarajevo
The Ars Aevi Collection was created during the first year of the siege of Sarajevo, in the summer of 1992. The name ‘ARS AEVI’ is a partial anagram of ‘Sarajevo’, and began as a symbolic form of resistance and opposition to war through culture and artistic expression. The first step in the construction of this ‘museum of the world’s artists’ was the creation of the Collection, which was formed by applying a cooperation model together with museums, centres and foundations of contemporary art throughout the Mediterranean region and beyond. More than 150 artists donated their most representative works. Artistic directors of major museums, centres and galleries selected the founding artists of the Ars Aevi Collection and curated exhibitions throughout the Mediterranean region from 1994 to 2012.
Today, this method is acknowledged as one of the most innovative museological approaches. Currently, the City of Sarajevo and the management of Ars Aevi, with the support of UNESCO, are engaged in the process of building the physical museum.
In 2005, as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Renzo Piano prepared the first architectural plans for the new museum that will house the Ars Aevi Collection. In 2002, as a first step, Renzo Piano designed, built and donated the Ars Aevi pedestrian bridge that connects the banks of the river that runs through the city, and brings visitors to the site where the future Museum will stand. The Ars Aevi Museum will thus become a regional centre of international contemporary art, and a symbol of a new Europe in the Balkans.
to Fotografia Europea 2023, testifying to that capillary international network of friends, partners and supporters who believe in the importance and the moral, aesthetic and developmental values that contemporary art may implement. The exhibition, which has the patronage of the Italian Embassy in Sarajevo, is the upshot of close collaboration carried out over recent years between the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and the Municipality of Centar Sarajevo, which culminated in the signing of a twinning pact between the two cities on 9 May 2022 in Reggio Emilia, the date on which Europe Day is celebrated, and on 12 July 2022 in Centar Sarajevo.
Listen to the words of the the director of the Ars Aevi Museum