(part of bal’26)
The City That Has Peace
by Petra Matić
& discussion with Tayla Myree
The City That Has Peace is a documentary film following the rise and fall of Zagreb's International Student Friendship Club. Exploring topics of solidarity, war, and community, Sam Bushara and Mohamed Al Younis lead us through the largely forgotten history of Non-Aligned Zagreb. They reflect on the tenderness and unity they encountered in Zagreb but which are no longer there.
About artist
Petra Matić (Brussels) is an artist, curator, and activist focused on cultural transformation, social justice, and anti-colonial practices. Her work examines the socio-political histories of the Non-Aligned Movement, emphasizing collective action, solidarity, and conviviality, and she leads the building of the Non-Aligned Archive to amplify Global South narratives. She has worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb on L'Internationale's Museum of the Commons project and exhibited at documenta fifteen, Fotograf Festival Prague, and the Ljubljana Design Biennial. She has participated in residencies such as the Delfina Foundation, HKW, and Gudskul, and was a fellow of DAAD's MuseumsLab and Goethe Institute's Global Cultural Relations. She has curated projects for institutions like the Technical Museum Nikola Tesla, the Ethnographic Museum, and the Typhlological Museum. Her research has been presented at the Institute of Economics Zagreb and the University of Ghent, and she has contributed to spaces like La Linière refugee camp in France, where she managed the cinema and kitchen.
Duration: 60 min.
bal’26: Dismantling the Promise
bal’26 thematic focus looks into resistance against power structures. With the title Dismantling the Promise, the program reflects on the consequences of power agreements and connections, as well as the missed opportunities for solidarity, care, and dissent when viewed from a feminist standpoint. It is an intentional look back at the power structures that constrain the autonomy of marginalised bodies and their landscapes of physical territories, social spaces, and embodied environments—turning back toward these structures, using their own tools of language, technology, and speculation against them.
The bal’26 program is perceived as an exhibition which is multilayered and denies the common structure by bringing together artworks (including research presentations) in different formats that unfold over time. Exhibition Ghost Town by forms a constant presence, while additional works: short movie (The City That Has Peace by Petra Matić), a performance (RADIO GLAS DRINE by Vildana Hermann) , a performative reading by Collective Dreaming , publication presentation (Body as an Archive: Performative Art Practices in Postwar Kosova by Anyla Kabashi and Renea Begolli) and a symposium are introduced at different moments. These function independently, yet remain in dialogue with the Ghost Town creating a shifting field of relations across the duration of the exhibition.
The selected presentations in the symposium cover problematic decisions regarding transregional via-politics of so called Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Aegean Sea Corridor stretching from the Baltics to the Balkans (Corridor Limbo by Paula Veidenbauma); investigate how weaponised digital tools are recognised and reclaimed by feminist artists (Feminist Data as Resistance: Algorithmic Bias, Bodily Autonomy, and Digital Feminist Resistance in the Post-Yugoslav Balkans by Ana Marinković), expose how city scapes and eco systems co-exist and are disrupted by political governance (Ecologisation of Architecture by Aljaž Rudolf), and explain how Aesopian language influenced the transgenerational somatic effects of repression (Aesopian language by Rūta Junevičiūtė).
During the opening of the exhibition, the bal’26 publication will be presented with contribution by Helena Aadli, Renea Begolli, Likana Cana, Hana Čeferin, Anton Goncharov, Vildana Hermann, Rūta Junevičiūtė, Anyla Kabashi, Kroplya, Diona Kusari, Ana Marinković, Petra Matić, Milica Popović, Justina Špeirokaitė, Saša Tatić, and Paula Veidenbauma.
Curated by Justina Špeirokaitė
Curatorial and editorial team: Merete Väin, Ajda Ana Kocutar, Lara Mejač, Urtė Špeirokaitė, Miloš Vučićević
Supported by BMWKMS, MA7, 15. Bezirk, Lithuanian Council for Culture, and the Lithuanian Embassy in Vienna
bal is a transdisciplinary comparative project exploring the artistic and cultural landscapes of the Baltic states and the post-Yugoslav region. Combining academic research, artistic practice, public discussion, and critical discourse, the project challenges homogenising views of Eastern Europe and foregrounds diverse identities and experiences. Through an intersectional perspective, bal examines how historical and contemporary transformations shape the lives of women and others affected by intersecting forms of marginalisation.