One narrow passage near the monument to Knez Lazar u Kosovska Mitrovica leads to the street where the Private Cultural Center "Aquarius" is located. Those 100 squares in which citizens they can watch a movie, an exhibition, read, buy or take home a book or simply drink a coffee, this year it celebrates ten years of existence.
At the entrance there is a shelf above which says "home the books". This summer, when this space was being prepared for the new season, the shelves were full. At that time, Miljana Dunđerin, who founded this PKC together with her husband Aleksandar, said that young and old, as well as people of different faiths, come for books.
Photo: Milica Srejić/VremePrivate cultural center "Aquarius" in North Kosovska Mitrovica
Inside there are colorful and different chairs, leather furniture, blue and white walls on which are hung the works of different authors who stayed in Kosovo, came and went. One of them is a pink-white oil on canvas with the inscription: "Barbie in Kosovo". Miljana later said in an interview with "Vreme" that it was the work of Kristina Kljajić, who was part of their artistic residency.
The residency brings together creators from the region who nurture interdisciplinary contemporary artistic expression in the fields of literature, fine arts, photography, film and music.
There are books on the shelves, and a part is from their literary edition "Aquarius". These are authors who live and work in Kosovo.
Cultural life in Kosovska Mitrovica
In addition to "Aquarius", exhibitions and performances are held in the gallery Faculty of Arts of the University of Pristina with temporary headquarters in Kosovska Mitrovica, but also at the faculty itself. And the European House organizes exhibitions of various authors.
Dunđerin says that culture in Mitrovica is found in corners, and that it was like that before.
"It's scary, but true. We currently don't have a single cultural institution that has its own premises. It's devastating. We don't have magazines, we don't import books, we don't have daily newspapers, we don't have a cultural scene, we don't have a theater, we don't have cinemas. And what we have - it's empty. So for me, 'Aquarius' is the whole universe, and not only for me but also for all the people involved. It's not the result of an individual, but many of us," says our interlocutor.
He adds that it is a "corner of this city" and that it really only has 100 square meters. But, he points out that "Aquarius" has only physical boundaries, because it is "a place of freedom where people want to stay. They are comfortable, they feel that someone is listening to them, that they are valuable and useful. This attracts them to be in this space."
"What we started and didn't finish," emphasizes Dunjerin, "is to make this city an even better place to live, and we're having a hard time doing that. We're trying as hard as we can to change it," says Dunjerin.
What has changed over the years?
They started the work by everyone bringing what they had at home. "'Aquarius' was made by the community," says Miljana.
However, something has changed in those ten years. "Those who participated in the creation of 'Aquarius' no longer live here. This is a city from which everyone leaves, rarely returns, and that's why every year feels like we're at the beginning."
He adds that "a lot of art" remains behind the people who have left. "Our depot is getting bigger and bigger. These are spaces full of art artifacts and books. This legacy is a legacy to this city. I hope that one day someone will recognize it and turn it into some kind of small city museum," says our interlocutor.
Politicians have also changed, says Dunjerin, but "their ideology, their actions do not change".
He adds that Mitrovica is a city that has endured so many bad political decisions from all sides, "regardless of whether they come from Belgrade, Pristina, Brussels or some fifth power".
"The bottom line is that this city still survives, but even after everything, it doesn't even have the right that a child can go to a gallery or see a play in a theater, go to a big concert, see a ballet performance or go to a ballet," explains Miljana.
And the cultural right and the right to cultural content belong to basic human rights, as well as the right to freedom, which is also lacking in North Mitrovica.
The future of the city
"All civilizations that could not accept others and others have disappeared. All those who tried to be mono-ethnic have disappeared. Simply, this world has long passed the period when something can be put together uniformly," says Miljana and concludes:
"Regardless of whether you are a Serb or an Albanian or a Roma, what religion you belong to, if you don't learn to live with the other and different and to accept it, I think ruin is what follows us. That is my deep conviction."
