Beacon 2008
Kalemegdan Bridge Collaboration
RICHARD DEACON MRDJAN BAJIC
Richard Deacon and Mrdjan Bajic working on the initial designs in Belgrade, July 2008
Exciting new public art project for the City of Belgrade
Beacon, in association with Handel Street Projects, is pleased to announce The Kalmegdan Bridge Collaboration between British sculptor, Richard Deacon and Serbian sculptor, Mrdjan Bajic. Coming together in Belgrade in July and September of this year they will work on the design of a new footbridge in Belgrade. The proposed bridge would connect Kalemegdan Fortress with the promenade by the confluence of rivers Sava and Danube over a busy road bringing to the City of Belgrade a landmark structure at a very symbolic place which was a border between east and west.
The collaboration will be the first stages of the creation of a major landmark for the City of Belgrade, and would be the first time since the19 th Century that an artist from another country will be involved in the production of a public monument in Belgrade. In 1873 Florentine, Enrico Paci came to Belgrade to start the work on the monument to Prince Mihailo Obrenovic, who ordered the creation of Kalemegdan Park in 1867.
Fedja Klikovac, of Handel Street Projects will curate an exhibition in October 2008 at the Kalemegdan (Belgrade) Fortress, a heritage site, dating back to Roman times, adjacent to the proposed site of the bridge. The exhibition will show the outcomes of the two weeks collaboration between Deacon and Bajic and would include a topographical model of the site, model(s) of the bridge design together with associated drawings and other material.
Deacon and Bajic represented Wales and Serbia, respectively at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Richard Deacon has been at the forefront of British sculpture since the seventies. In 1987 he was awarded the Turner Prize and showed in many prestigious art galleries and events around the world including Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Tate Gallery, Museum of Modern Art New York, Biennal de Sao Paulo, Sculptur Projekte in Munster, The Biennale of Sydney, Documenta Kassel etc. Since 1983, he's been represented and regularly shown at Lisson Gallery, London.
Mrdjan Bajic came to prominence in the eighties Belgrade and since then produced a vast body of work in rather different circumstances: from the lively post Tito Yugoslavia, to the isolated nineties wartime and at present new start for independent Serbia. His work was always embedded in the social practice and its effects, questioning and giving answers to the position of the artist in society. His work has been shown internationally from early in his career including 1990 Aperto, La Biennale di Venezia, Kunsthalle Wien, The Biennale of Sydney, Ludwig Museum Budapest, Biennal di Sao Paulo, Artists Space New York etc.
This first stage of the project has been made possible by the grant from The Henry Moore Foundation. Our partners in Belgrade will be JP Belgrade Fortress and The City of Belgrade.
August 2008
Images of the project's development... 
For further information and images please contact:
John Plowman info@beaconartproject.com
www.beaconartproject.com
Clare Munro info@handelstreetprojects.com
www.handelstreetprojects.com 
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