Museum Laboratory

At the Museum Laboratory exhibition, we are re-examining the Yugoslav heritage and the very institution of the Museum. We start our research from the artifacts as the main resources for understanding social phenomena and historical moments which are important for comprehending the experience of living in Yugoslavia. 

As Yugoslav heritage, like any other, is complex, we believe that the introduction of diverse perspectives in this process is crucial. Therefore, we include other experts, different communities, members of social groups, artists and the audience in the work on the installation. 

Starting from the collections of the Museum of the Revolution and the Josip Broz Tito Memorial Centre, which are directly confronted in this exhibition, and based of which the Museum of Yugoslavia was created, together with our collaborators we are constantly intervening, changing the content and structure of the exhibition.   

We use the topics that we periodically introduce as a key to figuring out not only the meaning and significance of certain subjects important for understanding the experience of life in Yugoslavia, but also their relevance in the modern times. Each new topic and new collaboration are recognized in the form of a route which you can take through our laboratory.  

You could…

1. Wander through the exhibition and discover stories behind the exhibits. In this way you will find out about the origins of the collection itself and why we use it as a platform for re-examining and re-reading Yugoslav heritage. 

2. Choose one of the routes: 

SIGN MUSEUM. Did you know that the Museum of Yugoslavia has a deaf curator? This route reveals hidden stories about historical events related to people with disabilities and uses the Museum collection to open topics that are relevant and interesting from the perspective of deaf community, which the hearing audience simply does not know. Use the unique opportunity to become a member of the deaf community for one day and to see the museum collection from this perspective. If you don’t use Serbian sign language, there is translation in both Serbian and English language.  

WORKERS AND FACTORIES. In accordance with the topic, which is in focus this year, museum curators prepared new interventions on the exhibition. You will learn more about industrial heritage seen as an important aspect of the scientific-technical and cultural-political heritage of Yugoslavia. This route, in which the motifs of workers and factories are particularly prominent, deals with the questions of workers’ rights and industrialisation, but also extractivism and growth seen through the lens of today’s ecological crises. 

THE END OF WW2 path is another possible itinerary of the exhibition which invites you to wonder about this turning point in the world and Yugoslav history.  Marked objects emphasize some of the specific historical moments and different ways of remembering the war, at the same time witnessing the processes and transformations the new system and the ruling ideology have generated.