The Belgrade Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCAB) was opened on October 20th 1965. However, Museum activities began as early as 1958, when an act brought by the Cultural Council of the Peoples’ Committee of Belgrade established the Modern Gallery, an institution the purpose of which was to supervise the development of contemporary art in Yugoslavia. The Executive Council of the Socialist Republic of Serbia decided to construct a building which would live up to the standards of modern museological principles, and alloted a location for it in New Belgrade, at the Sava-Danube junction, opposite the Belgrade Fortress.
An open competition for the project of designing the new building was announced in 1960. Architects Ivan Antić and Ivanka Raspopović won the competition and subsequently at the opening ceremony of the Museum, they were awarded the October Prize of the City of Belgrade for Architecture.
The museum’s founder and its first director was Miodrag B. Protić, a painter and the author of many significant exhibitions, books and texts concerning the history of modern Yugoslav and Serbian art. The other directors of the Museum were: Marija Pušić (1980-1984), Kosta Bogdanović (acting director, 1984-1986), Zoran Gavrić (1986-1993), Radisav Trkulja (1993-2001), Branislava Andjelković Dimitrijević (2001–2013),Vladislav Šćepanović (acting director, 2013-2014), Jovan Despotović (acting director, 2014-2015) and Slobodan nakarada (acting director, 2015-).
When it opened to the public in 1965, MoCAB became one of the first museums of its kind in Europe, itself a testimony to advanced cultural policy of socialist Yugoslavia. It had at the same time become one of the distinctive architectural landmarks in New Belgrade. As an institution that since its beginnings aligned its identity with the idea of international modernism and the belief in progress for a better society, the Museum expanded its activities throughout the years and houses a major collection of Yugoslav Modern Art of the twentieth century. Following the disintegration of socialist Yugoslavia, MoCAB suffered a decline during the Serbia of the 1990s: it was mismanaged, improperly maintained, and finally severely damaged by a missile that hit the neighboring office block during the NATO bombing campaign in 1999. This damage and a poor repair of the glass façade compounded the existing problems of maintaining the basic exhibition conditions. It was no longer possible to control the temperature nor the humidity in the galleries. MoCAB was in desperate need of repair and renovation.
Along with end of Milošević era, MoCAB was revitalized, and in the following years became a platform for emerging contemporary art practices both locally and internationally, and was recognized for its exhibition and public programs. However, the condition of the building, worsened by occasional flooding in the storage area. A reconstruction and renovation plan was devised and the building was closed when the Serbian government provided the first financial installment for what was to be an 8m Euro project. By 2009 nearly a third of the planned works were completed. The roof was fixed, the basement facilities were renovated, and the transformer was separated from the building. However, the global economic crisis had far-reaching effects in Serbia and the renovation came to a full stop. The interiors, the Museum’s façade, and the new facilities remain incomplete.
The building has been in various states of renovation and dilapidation now for the better part of ten years. A timer was installed above the main entrance counting down towards the re-opening of the museum set at exactly one year later. Once the timer ran out it was simply unplugged and the museum remains closed to the public to this day. There finally appears to be progress however, with very visible external structural work being undertaken and the building scheduled for re-opening in Autumn 2017.
Whilst the building was under renovation, you could still gain an appreciation for its clean angular lined architectural style by strolling around the pathway that lead around the fences. On 20 October 2017, it finally re opened and for a two week period stayed open 24/7. Now the collections which were locked away in the Serbian National Bank and Museum of Yugoslavia or displayed at some of the smaller MoCAB venues are able to return to this purpose built space.
Credit - Museum website: http://eng.msub.org.rs/o-muzeju and http://cimam.org/what-happened-to-the-museum-of-contemporary-art-in-belgrade/
FTF - Ekabiljo