Ivan Medenica is no longer the artistic director and selector of the Bitef festival, although he has neither been dismissed nor resigned. He decided to retire after seven years.
"I am not a political victim, no one replaced me, I am a political victim insofar as I am a symptom of unprofessional and politicized management of institutions where people are constantly kept in some extraordinary circumstances so that discipline can be enforced more easily." It is a fundamental problem, the focus should not be turned on me. My case is just a symptom of that problem," says Ivan Medenica.
The following happened: in July of last year, preparations for this year's Bitef began, because "a festival like Bitef is done at least a year and a half in advance." Medenica says that negotiations are ongoing with important European theaters: Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe Paris, Residenztheater Munich, some of these negotiations have seriously advanced and that "all this implies an extremely complex process." At the same time, we are working under the conditions of the same budget as last year, with official inflation of 20 percent."
The end of December was also the end of his mandate as artistic director and selector, but, he says, from the Secretariat for Culture of the City "there was no information about their intentions, whether they will renew my mandate or not." We did not manage to get a meeting even though the city secretary Nataša Mihailović Vacić proposed the meetings herself, we even met once on the street when she herself proposed the date of the meeting, December 27th. However, no response was received to Bitef's official request to confirm the proposed date."
"Nevertheless, I managed to present the situation to her over the phone, to tell her what the technology of making the festival is, and that I think it would harm the reputation of the festival and the City if someone were to suspend the agreements we are currently conducting." She gave an answer that seemed rational and correct: that she cannot guarantee me a new mandate because it is a political decision, but that she can guarantee me that if I make a selection and choose some plays, they will certainly be performed. She also gave me clear instructions to continue working. Honestly, I didn't believe her guarantees."
According to Ivan Medenica, the negotiations with foreign theaters, which continued in the first days of January, were reduced "to the lowest level, waiting for the mandate issue to be resolved." Because, a situation arose in which the city secretary directly pushed me to break the law - at that time I had neither technical nor VD status, I had no status, and I had to falsely present myself to my partners as the artistic director of Bitef. I did not agree to that."
This Monday, Ivan Medenica presented the new situation to city secretary Nataša Mihailović Vacić by email.
"I asked her to resolve the situation in the interest of Bitef, and said that I am suspending work on the selection because I will not harm the festival by working illegally."
The answer has not yet arrived. In addition to not having an artistic director, Bitef currently does not even have a Board of Directors whose mandate has expired. Medenica says that only director Nikita Milivojević contacted him "very politely, to tell me that he was offered a mandate."
On Tuesday, there is a session of the City Assembly, so Nikita Milivojević will most likely be appointed as the new artistic director on that occasion.
"It is important to understand that the problem here is not the question of my mandate, but of the relationship towards the institutions that are systematically put in a state of interregnum, of some acting status, so that people feel insecure and without full authority, and therefore they would be obedient. Also, it is much more difficult to replace someone who has a full mandate, than someone who is acting"
Medenica says that currently "not a single contract on participation in performances has been signed, contracts are not signed before May-June".
"Now it is my good will whether I will allow negotiations with those plays to continue or not." Of course, I'm not the owner of the negotiations, but if I mess up, I can contact those theaters and tell them to give up."
He clarifies that he would not do it just because of Nikita Milivojević "who said that he agrees to all the plays I have chosen", but still he is not sure what he will decide "given Nataša Mihailović Vacić, who is potentially the gravedigger of Belgrade's culture. So far, no one in her position has been as arrogant as she is. She has no competence for the job she does, and she takes herself very seriously."
However, there is a possibility that the program of this year's Bitef will be supplemented by performances from Russia. Last month, Mihail Shvidkoi, the cultural advisor of Russian President Putin, visited Belgrade's cultural institutions, and on that occasion he also visited Bitef, offering "free performances or with a small fee." Ivan Medenica was not at that meeting.
"His offer doesn't have to mean anything," Medenica believes, but he also reminds us of the status that Russia and its culture have in Europe due to the attack on Ukraine. "I do not agree with such an attitude towards culture, we suffered cultural sanctions and we know that this did not contribute to the overthrow of the Milosevic regime. It hurts those people who fight against Putin in impossible conditions like we fought against Milosevic, and I don't support that. But the EU is quite unique in this regard, remember that a year ago Minja Bogavac's play was banned in the Czech Republic because Serbia did not impose sanctions on Russia."
That's why, Ivan Medenica believes, "if five Russian plays were to appear at Bitef now, I'm speaking hypothetically, I think that sanctions would be imposed on Bitef, that is, negotiations with partners from Western Europe would be much, much more difficult."
However, "Serbia is an ideal training ground for Russia to break through cultural sanctions." And that's why I think there is a possibility for something like that to happen."
Medenica says that he would not be able to condemn his successor if he agreed to it. Because, "inflation is not included in the budget, sponsors are withdrawing en masse because of the recession, you came in March and you need to prepare the selection by June, and you are offered Russian performances for free or at some ridiculous price." In that situation, I would certainly resist at all costs, but I can't blame someone who would grasp at that straw. I repeat, it is only a possibility, but it is not impossible to happen."
Ivan Medenica says that when he ended the situation he was pushed into, he was relieved.
According to many, Ivan Medenica brought Bitef back to the stage of world theater festivals. It was also one of the main reasons why in 2017 the editors of "Vremena" chose him as Person of the Year.
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