06 Jan THE CHIMNEYS, 2025
Public performance, Bioskop Balkan, Belgrade, October 26th, 2025
Based on the opera The Chimneys on the Adriatic (1949) by Ivo Tijardović
Music: Anja Djordjević
Text: Ana Adamović
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The work was created in a dialogue with the only Yugoslav opera dedicated to the People’s Liberation Struggle and the proletarian revolution – The Chimneys on the Adriatic written by composer Ivo Tijardović in 1949.
The Chimneys on the Adriatic was created in the moment of victory, celebrating the emergence of a new and better world. Today, only fragments of that world still exist. We fight the same battles Tijardović described over and over again, while the actors barely change. Precisely these unexpected parallels between the long-forgotten Yugoslav opera and our current moment are the reason for returning to The Chimneys on the Adriatic after almost eighty years.
The new work was created in communication with Ivo Tijardović and dozens of people around Serbia. Throughout this long conversation, we were repeatedly confronted with the fact how temporary the victory described in The Chimneys on the Adriatic has been. At the same time, and throughout this same conversation, the belief was crystallizing that a better world must be possible again.
The authors would like to thank all of those who read The Chimneys on the Adriatic with us in Krivelj, Bor, Gornji Milanovac, Subotica, Požega, Zaječar, Zrenjanin, Popovac, and Belgrade, while helping us with their voices, thoughts, and attitudes to shape the final piece.
(The performance held in Belgrade in October 2025 was filmed, with material serving as a basis for a video installation under the same name. The performance itself will possibly stay the only public performance of the piece created upon the motifs of Tijardović’s opera, which itself had only eight public performances before it fell into oblivion.)
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Narrator: Vladislava Djordjević
Horkestar: Desanka Damjanović, Irena Ilić, Jonas, Tijana Matijević, Maja Nikolić, Nataša Todosić, Vladimir Šobajić, Milica Vilotić, Ružica Vrhovac
Orchestra: Una Stanić (violine), Marija Tunić (violine), Bojana Šerović (viola), Nemanja Stanković (cello), Jovan Aćimović (clarinet), Bogdan Djuranović (bassoon)
Conductor: Vuk Wolkov Popović
With: Mićan Bajić || Dragica Bešlić || Biljana Bibić || Ivana Branković || Mira Bondzulić || Biljana Božić || Miloš Božić || Violeta Božović || Sandra Cakić || Bojana Crnogorac || Jovana Ćupurdija || Milan Ćosić || Rajka Čekrdžin || Milunika Đolović || Vojislav Djolović || Ivana Djurović || Milosava Fufanović || Irena Ilić || Goran Jakovljević || Tatjana Janković || Gordana Karaulić || Engelbert Kolbert || Nataša Kostadinović || Marija Lošić || Ljiljana Marinković || Iva Marić || Tijana Matijević || Jasmina Marić || Ljiljana Meršnik || Goran Milenković || Darko Mičović || Jelena Miletić || Željko Miščević || Jovan Mošorinac || Olga Mošorinac || Vesna Nenadov || Maja Nikolić || Lidija Petković Ninić || Gordana Ninković || Tamara Orčić || Ivica Osmanovski || Nada Ostrogonac || Biljana Paunović || S. Paunović || Vojislav Paunović || Željka Paunović || Biljana Petrović || Božana Petrović || Jovan Petrović || Zoran Petrović || Dragana Sekulić Pilipović || Bojan Plavšić || Jelena Prokopić || Vladimir Radivojević || Aleksa Radonić || Jovana Radisavljević || Vladimir Radosavljević || Zorica Radovanović || Đorđe Reh || Nataša Todosić || Zdravka Savić || Olga Simeunović || Jelena Simić || Sanja Simić || Dalibor Stanković || Nadica Stojčić || Olga Teofilović || Jasna Tomić || Katarina Tomić || Boško Šabazović || Ivica Šimrak || Vladimir Šobajić || Nataša Šuljagić || Dušanka Uzelac || Stefan Vasić || Vladimir Vasić || Ružica Vrhovac || Višnja Vimov || Viktorija Šimun Vuletić || Iren Zimanji
Camera (video projections): Aleksandar Bubalo, Ana Melentijević, Vladan Obradović, Dragan Stojmenović, Milan Stošić, Ana Adamović
The artist wishes to express gratitude to: Jasmina Petković, Zorana Djaković, Ksenija Samardžija, Dragan Protić, Nevena Ivanović, Irena Prvulović, Vlada Vidaković, as well as to the following institutions: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; „Stanković“ Music School, Belgrade; Belgrade Cultural Center; Bioskop Balkan and The Foundation Saša Marčeta; Jewish Cultural Center, Belgrade, for their generous support during the realization of the work.