On Thursday morning, the Kolašin municipal police removed the proletarian photos of the exhibition “What is Progress?” from Ulica IV.

This exhibition was organized by the Zeleni Kolašin initiative together with the Korifej Theater as part of the International Festival of Alternative Theater of the same name, which runs until August 20. The exhibition, which opened on Tuesday, August 16, is scheduled to last until the end of the festival and, as the organizers say, consists of “41 photographs, the authors of which are 17 citizens, of different ages, different professions and occupations, different life experiences.” They say the organizer was informed by the municipal police that the photographs had been removed following a complaint from a citizen. They claim that in preparation for the opening of the exhibition, they did everything possible to obtain the necessary permits to place the photographs in public space on the main street of Kolašinska.

“We thank the Secretariat for Urban Planning for the correct relationship and the attempt to meet us. We emphasize that the posters announcing the program of the “Korifej” festival were placed for days on the main street in the same way as the photos of our exhibition and that no one wanted to remove them or reported them as problematic. We would also like to point out that we have many municipal problems in the city that cannot be solved in any way and against which the competent inspections cannot do anything, but that they are very effective in removing publicly displayed testimonies about the way in which we are destroying or allowing our city to be destroyed,” the organizers shared.

The announcement of the exhibition previously stated: “Kolašin has suddenly and drastically changed and continues to change: new high-rise buildings at every turn, narrower sidewalks or those absorbed into new buildings, traffic jams, privatized green and public spaces.” “Green Kolašin” warned of the consequences that these processes can have, of problems in the functioning of the city that already exist or will arise.

“Nevertheless, decision-makers at various levels of state and local government see progress where we see a problem. We often hear that the way Kolašin is changing should not be questioned or criticized, because building is progress, progress. ‘Just let it build.’ That is why we decided to ask the citizens of Kolašin what exactly the progress is,” says the justification for organizing the exhibition.

The municipal police told Vijesta yesterday that the exhibition was removed because the photos were “hanging on the trees in the row of trees on IV Proleterske Street”. They explain that “there is no legal relationship to present the exhibition in this way or to hang anything on the trees”.

“The organizers have requested this from the relevant secretariat, but there is no legal basis that allows them to do so. For this reason, the photos have been removed. The organizers have been informed that the photos are kept undamaged in the municipal police premises and that they can download them. They can use one of the five billboards in the city center to set up the exhibition,” the service said.

The Zeleni Kolašin and Koryfej Teatra initiative say they are even grateful to those who reportedly filed a complaint with the city police. They explain that this complaint made it clearer that the problem lies in “a stubborn and persistent refusal to deal with what we are doing to the city”. They claim that the photos published at the exhibition show “that what is happening in Kolašin is not progress”.

“The fact that this exhibition has made this clear means that it has already been successful. So once again, thank you to everyone who took part in it, who made its publication possible, who reacted to it and who ultimately removed it less than 48 hours after its opening. We will publish the entire content of the exhibition on social networks, so the exhibition will be permanently available there. Maybe we won’t all be exposed to these disturbing photos when we go for coffee in Siberia, but we certainly won’t lose sight of the reality of Kolašin,” say the organizers.

( Dragana Szepanovic )