The exhibition of photographs ‘Applied Nostalgia’, dedicated to Belgrade and Bucharest, has been opened today at the Gallery of the Yugoslav Cinematheque. On the occasion, Assistant Minister of European Integration Tamara Delić stated that the event aimed at emphasising the importance of cooperation in the field of culture and creativity between the two neighbouring countries and highlighting the significance of Romania's EU Presidency for Serbia.
The ‘Applied Nostalgia’ project, implemented by the Ministry of European Integration, is conceived as a series of joint exhibitions of two photographers – one from Serbia and the other from an EU presiding country.
Serbian photographer Mitar Mitović took photos of Bucharest, while Petrut Calinescu from Romania photographed Belgrade, and their works will be exhibited at the Yugoslav Cinematheque until the beginning of July.
Delić said that this was the 16th exhibition organised within the project, featuring photographs taken in the capitals of Serbia and Romania.
“This is also a great opportunity to commemorate an important jubilee for our two countries – 140 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Romania, which is reflected in good friendly relations and traditionally solid links”, said Delić.
As she pointed out, the photographers managed to convey the essence of the very principle Europe is founded on – “united in diversity”, having also succeeded in illustrating the atmosphere of these two cities.
The exhibition opened in Bucharest two weeks ago, and Ms. Delić said that they had already begun preparations for the exhibition on the occasion of the upcoming Finnish EU Presidency.
She thanked Romania for its wholehearted, continuous and principled support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and its strong support to Serbia’s process of European integration.
According to Delić, it is extremely crucial for Serbia that Romania kept the topic of EU enlargement high on the agenda of its presidency.
“We hope that by the end of June we will have an agreement on the opening of new chapters for which Serbia is technically prepared and on the next intergovernmental conference”, said Delić.
Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Romania to the Republic of Serbia Mihaela Osorio thanked Ms. Delić for highlighting the importance of Romania’s EU Presidency.
“We are independent in our work, but this work has not yet been completed. We expect a good follow up on this work next week, particularly in the context of the EU enlargement policy. We have three crucial issues that need to be addressed in the context of enlargement”, stated Osorio.
As regards the ‘Applied Nostalgia’ project, she said that it was running successfully, and that the photographs of Belgrade and Bucharest had common points as they presented the two cities’ similarities.
Head of Information, Communication and Press of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Mr Paul-Henri Presset, stated that the photos showed how certain topics were actually common to all cities, regardless of whether they were close to each other or not.
Photographer Mitar Mitović said that his experiences during his engagement on the project were positive and that Bucharest was rightly called “Little Paris”.
Source: Tanjug
