With culture and art, we can build relationships, particularly those that are politically bad
“Culture is a difficult industry for Greece,” said the long-celebrated actress and Minister of Culture of Greece, Melina Mercouri. Culture and art speak a universal language that is understood by all peoples, and different cultures testify to the beauty and diversity of the world in which we live. Creativity, originality, authenticity, innovation and cultural heritage of a country make its national identity stronger and its image in the world more influential and representative.
The exchange of different aspects of culture contributes to a better understanding of traditions and cultural expressions of other countries and peoples, and breaks down prejudices and thus enables their better mutual understanding. Furthermore, the goal of cultural diplomacy is to create a good image of a country in the international community. For Serbia, after the 1990s wars, the imposed sanctions and the turbulent political and social situation, cultural diplomacy is especially important in order to improve its international reputation.
Cultural diplomacy in the Service of Serbia
Our celebrated actress Dr. Vjera Mujović wrote about the importance of cultural diplomacy for Serbia’s image in the world in the monograph Cultural Diplomacy in the Service of Serbia. The book was written based on her doctoral dissertation and experiences gained during presenting Serbia in the world’s largest cities such as New York, Paris, Vienna, and Moscow.
“I needed to formulate, systematize, edit and generalize some of my knowledge and experiences, in order to come up with recommendations for myself and others – colleagues, institutions and my homeland. That is why I needed a lot of theoretical and practical research in areas that are not so foreign to my job, but are much more exact. This book is the fruit of my ten years of reading and researching and thirty years of artistic practice “, Vjera says.
As an actress, she has been a festival guest in many countries, as well as film and theatre productions. She was mostly asked about Kusturica and Bitef, and quite often she gifted foreigners with a book “A Guide to the Serbian Mentality”, written by Momo Kapor in the English language, Ivo Andrić’s novel “The Bridge on the Drina”, as well as music by Svetislav Božić, Pavle Aksentijević and our church music.
“I wanted to shape my knowledge from practice and research into a doctoral thesis dedicated to improving the image of Serbia in the world. I interviewed a hundred of my colleagues who cooperate with art institutions abroad and talked to our diplomats around the world, but also with foreign diplomats in Serbia. My colleagues agreed on one thing: we are excellent in individual projects, personal initiatives and engagement, but we lack unity, as well as state cultural policy, which would, through international cultural cooperation, persistently represent our best to the world,” Vjera Mujović points out.
This book is the fruit of my ten years of reading and researching and thirty years of artistic practice
In the preface, Professor Darko Tanasković, PhD, states that “Cultural Diplomacy in the Service of Serbia” is a pioneering endeavour in terms of the organized presentation of Serbian culture in the world.
“In our surroundings, this is a pioneering attempt to systematically unite practical experiences and theoretical thinking of one important component of Serbia’s overall performance in international relations; a component which contribution to the image of Serbia in the world could be incomparably greater than it is today. Cultural diplomacy should not be mystified. We just need to commit ourselves to it with a clear idea of purpose and goal, in a planned, organized, quality manner, permanently and with appropriate investments. This substantive study by Dr. Vjera Mujović convincingly tells us that “, writes Professor Tanasković.
Commenting about the monograph “Cultural Diplomacy in the Service of Serbia”, Dr. Jan Marcek states that, in addition to systematizing theoretical knowledge about cultural diplomacy, in her monograph, Vjera Mujović gives an overview of empirical research on forms of cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the world in the field of culture from 2001 to 2015. He adds that the author argues that the exceptional contribution of our top artists to the dissemination of Serbian culture in the world in the service of boosting the country’s reputation.
In the book “Cultural Diplomacy in the Service of Serbia”, Vjera Mujović states that Serbia’s cultural heritage represents the essence of national and cultural identity and should be presented on the international scene. She adds that we should not forget the people who are the pillars and ambassadors of Serbian culture, such as Tesla, Milanković, Pupin, Andrić, Crnjanski, Kapor, Emir Kusturica, violinist Nemanja Radulović, composer Isidora Žebeljan and others. Also, Mujović states that foreign artists can be included in the promotion of Serbia, such as Monica Bellucci, Johnny Depp and Robert De Niro.
At the end of the conversation, she especially underlines that we can build relations with culture and art, particularly where the relations are politically bad.
A versatile artist
Artist and author of the monograph, Vjera Mujović, is an actress at the National Theatre in Belgrade. She has won many awards, including the Mata Milošević Award and the Golden Knight in Moscow for the role of Aglaya in the play “The Idiot”. At the XXIV Festival of Russian Classics, she was the recipient of the Best Actress award for her role as Sonechka. In addition to acting, she is engaged in music, writing and translation. She defended her doctoral dissertation titled “Cultural diplomacy as a factor in changing the image of Serbia in the world” in May 2019 at the Faculty of Media and Communications of the Singidunum University.
Vjera Mujović also actively contributes to international cultural cooperation and the promotion of Serbian culture in the world, with a special emphasis on the Russian Federation and the Francophone world. She gained many years of experience both as an organizer and as a participant in institutional and non-institutional projects in the field of culture. Vjera also actively cooperates with our diaspora. In terms of public diplomacy, she participated in numerous campaigns, such as the exhibition “Jasenovac – the right to be remembered” which was held in New York City, at the United Nations, in 2018, as well as the opening of the Hebrew Centre in Belgrade and the Serbian-Jewish Centre “St. Sava and Yehuda Alkalay” in Jerusalem, in 2019.