The District, as a new urban centre of the alternative art scene, is proud not only of its rich history, but also of supreme street art, more precisely, colourful, monumental murals along the entire façade of the Proizvodnja facility, which delight the passers-by and visitors of the renovated Novi Sad quarter. 

At the very entrance, first you see the Distrikt installation made of letters, by Jugoslav Sivić, which weighs as much as two tons, as well as the murals by Artez, Nataša Konjević and Pablo Astrain, which are a symbolic representation of the industrial development of the place. They were painted during the last year’s Kaleidoscope of Culture, when the first exhibition about the District, which tells the hundred-year story of the place, was opened.  

Each of these works of art hides an interesting story about the origin and development of industrialization in Novi Sad. One of the three artists who painted the District is Andrej Žikić Artez, who painted a machine at the entrance of the Proizvodnja facility that depicts basic principles of industrialization – automation, repetition and lack of labour.

‘As part of the 6^th Kaleidoscope of Culture, the largest exhibition of contemporary art in the Western Balkans, I got the opportunity to paint a mural together with Pablo Astrain and Nataša Konjević. As the topic of the Kaleidoscope was Unbreakable Ties, we showed the development of the District since its birth, which happened 100 years ago’– stated the talented artist when creating the artwork.

He also explained that each of the six stages of industrialization is represented on the wall, and that the biggest challenge for the artists was to visually connect them into one whole. ‘We decided to divide the walls into two parts – Factory Life – Glory and Decline on the left and Transition to the Creative Hub on the right,’ Artez said.

We invite you to walk through the District to experience the turbulent history of the place and see it through the eyes of these artists, and then visit the permanent multimedia exhibition Spirit of Place – A Century of the District in the Fabrika 2 facility, every day except Monday and Tuesday, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Photo: Vladimir Veličković