One of the art history courses I attended in MA studies was led by proffessor dr Jelena Todorović and dealt mainly with the phenomenon of time and the effect of it on the space of the city. Our task was to do a theoretical, historical research on one of the streets from the narrow center of todays Belgrade city and then to do an artwork dealing with the same subject. The project, named Kako grad pamti (The city and it’s memory) resulted with an artistic exhibition shown first in the gallery of the faculty (Galerija FLU) in October 2014, and then in the National museum of Kraljevo (http://nmkv.rs/?p=9450) in February 2015.

The paper I wrote on the subject of the city history focused on Kralja Petra I Street in Belgrade and especially on changes of social relations and structure that made the street what it is today. I found myself fascinated by social dynamics of this city area, which used to be the center of city life in most historical periods. During the existence of Roman empire in the city of Singidunum there was an important street behind the military camp that matches almost entirely with the space of today’s street. Even then it was the place of the greatest societal significance, with the Forum and the Temple of Jupiter. During the Middle Ages there used to be a temple dedicated to Saint Mary and as we get closer to our time, we can find more and more information on important institutions and places of social activity that exhisted in this area. Images I used in this work represent the old hotel building from the 19th century that used to have its own theater and a tavern, the replacement of the old stone cobble, a place called Citizens messroom (Građanska kasina) that had a function similar to today’s cultural centers and many other important places.

The matter that I found most inteesting was the selectivity of collective memory in which hardly remains some place for remembering ‘small’, insignificant moments and events, such as the ordinary encounter of two acquaintances and the appearance of a cat in front of them, an everyday conversation that takes place in the outdoor area of the street. Such events almost never have any great effect on the city’s history, but they always build the social relations a little up, becoming one part of this complex network that will determine the next phase of development of the city and it’s people. I wanted to show the possibility of constant reoccurring of such situations through all the historical times, having in mind the unavoidable uniqueness of each one.