In this lecture, Jelena Vesić looks into the images of history in contemporary art, what she calls solidarity in time, engaging with the questions of how to think of history in the present moment, beyond teleological and linear understanding of time or apologetic-nostalgic returns to "better past".

Focusing on the Tribune Program of the Student Cultural Centre (SKC) in Belgrade – a hub for experimental art, social activism, and critical thought – Vesić highlights its evolution from the 1968 student and worker protests into an institution-in-movement. From the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, SKC hosted significant political events, including The Week of Spain (1976), The Week of Latin America (1977), and the Comrade Women conference (1978), engaged with the issues of anti-fascism, anti-colonialism and feminism.

Vesić reconstructs the story on the faded mural On Solidarity of People of Yugoslavia and the people of Latin America through a "spiral montage" of archival and contemporary voices, referencing Armand Mattelard's film La Spirale (1976) presented in Belgrade on the same occasion. She poses critical questions: How do contemporary artists explore and actualize emancipatory histories? Can solidarity in time be expressed beyond mere commemoration? 
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Jelena Vesić (PhD) is an independent curator, writer, editor, and lecturer. She is active in the field of publishing, research and exhibition practice that intertwine political theory and contemporary art. Vesić is co-editor of the journal Red Thread (Istanbul), a member of the advisory board of Mezosfera (Budapest) and president of association of art critics AICA Serbia.

Vesić has curated many exhibitions, among them Lecture Performance (MoCA, Belgrade and the Koelnischer Kunstverein, 2009/10) as well as the collective exhibition project Political Practices of (post-) Yugoslav Art (2009), which critically examined art historical concepts and narratives on Yugoslav art after the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

Recent publishing includes On Neutrality (w. Vladimir Jeric Vlidi and Rachel O'Reilly), Non-Aligned Modernity edition, MoCA, Belgrade, 2016; Alt-Truths and Insta-Realities: The Psychopolitics of Contemporary Right, Red Thread #5, 2020 (w. Vladimir Jeric Vlidi); Stagecraft by Vesna Pavlovic, Vanderbilt University Press, 2021, Feminist Takes: Early Works by Zelimir Zilnik (w. Antonia Majaca and R. O’Reilly), Sternberg Press, 2021 and Yugoslav Art Space (w. Branislav Dimitrijevic and Jesa Denegri), JRP/Ringer, 2024.

Photo: Brigades Salvador Allende painting the mural On Unity and Solidarity with the people of Latin America, The Week of Latin America, SKC, 1977 (courtesy: archive of TV Belgrade)
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VISITOR INFORMATION: Oshman Hall is located in the McMurtry Building on Stanford campus at 355 Roth Way. Visitor parking is free after 4pm on weekdays, except by the Oval. Alternatively, take the Caltrain to Palo Alto Transit Center and ride the free Stanford Marguerite Shuttle. If you need a disability-related accommodation or wheelchair access information, please contact Julianne Garcia at juggarci@stanford.edu. This event is open to Stanford affiliates and the general public. Admission is free.