• 13/11/2023

Signed agreements on international institutional cooperation with the Academy of Art and Culture from Osijek and the Polis University from Tirana

Osijek 8.11.2023. ; Tirana 10.11.2023.

The past week for the Center for Fine and Applied Arts Terra (hereinafter referred to as CLPU Terra) was a continuation of the process of building international institutional and intersectoral cooperation with academies, faculties and universities from the region.

On Wednesday 8.11. 2023. In the ceremonial hall of the Dean’s Office of the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, the director of the Terra Center, Aleksandar Lipovan, and the dean, prof. Ph.D. sc. Helena Sablić Tomić signed an agreement on cooperation between these two institutions.

Two days later, 10.11. 2023 in the premises of Polis University in Tirana, the director of CLPU Terra and deputy rector of the university Elona Karafili, Ph.D. they signed the same agreement in which, from the Albanian side, the art and design department of the aforementioned university participates.

In addition to the Terra Center, professors and associates of these institutions also have great merit in terms of the initiative for this type of cooperation. Ph.D. art. Margareta Lekić and alumni Josipa Stojanović (AU Osijek) and Ledia Kostandini (University of Polis), with whom the Terra Center has had various forms of cooperation in the fields of contemporary sculptural practice or education.

As stated in the agreements, the institutions agreed to work together to strengthen future cooperation and develop cultural, artistic, scientific and teaching experiences in order to promote these activities and common interests. In order to promote and realize the activities, the students of these institutions will, as part of their teaching activities and curriculum, hold practical classes in the field of sculpture in the Terra studio in Kikinda as part of Tera’s long-standing student program, the Terra Student Camp.

Since working and staying in the old brick and tile building, i.e. today Atelier Terra, which has the status of a cultural monument of importance for industrial heritage, offers all the available technical and technological conditions for the transfer of knowledge, during the program the students are simultaneously transferred forty years of integrated experience in working with clay. In addition to sculpting practice, students also have the opportunity to learn about the basics of the ReOrg method, an internationally recognized innovative way of reorganizing and optimizing museum depots, which was implemented in 2021 in the depot of the Terra Center. The transfer of knowledge from the field of museological practice is extremely important for the very management, documentation and adequate preservation of art objects is an example of good practice that partners could adapt to their needs and implement in the future within their institutions.

In addition to regular activities as part of this program, professors from these institutions will hold public masterclasses, lectures, presentations of research or projects to the interested public in Kikinda as part of the International Masterclass Terra activity.

It is important to note that the agreement on cooperation with the Albanian partner relies entirely on the Memorandum of Understanding on Cultural Cooperation in the Western Balkans, which regulates the types of cooperation in the field of culture between the institutions of the three parties (the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia) through joint calls for project financing, regulates easier mobility of artists within the Open Balkans program

All institutions are interested in jointly participating with this program in the Creative Europe competition, which would facilitate the implementation, long-term and enable greater dissemination of the results of this cooperation in the context of Europe.

Since the very foundation of the Terra symposium, one of the main priorities, in addition to the presentation of contemporary creativity, has been active participation in the field of multiculturalism and interculturalism. International institutional cooperation with academic institutions from the region confirms the general idea of the Terra Center to contribute through such projects to the bilateral cooperation of the participating countries on networking, strengthening intercultural dialogue and preserving collective memory and cultural understanding as a mirror of the past, present and future of this cultural space. Mutual cultural understanding, intercultural dialogue and successful practices in the field of culture and art significantly contribute to the development of cultural diplomacy by developing the method of “soft power” as a successful instrument of bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

In this way, the position of the Terra and Kikinda Center as a regional and European recognized center for students of art academies, which was founded and promoted by Professor Slobodan Kojić from the beginning, is clearly visible, which continues, expands and deepens.