Belgrade street art

Belgrade is the most beautiful city in the world. I guess it’s because we can feel one another. I haven’t started blog Stihnaasfaltu.rs because I think I know a lot about street art, but it was because I wanted to give a form to that empathy and so that I could continue to look forward to each new discovery. To pass on all that to others.

27 May 2013, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship

I’ve installed Google Analytics, and I’ve been checking whether this enthusiasm makes any sense. I had this idea for a couple of years; it was always included in my New Year’s resolutions – the idea would shine and then fade away, as I was confronted with the daily routine, and then I’d step away in front of existential priorities. There were some great coincidences coming progressively along the way, the signposts signalling that I should be paying more attention. A photo archive of Belgrade’s coloured façades in my computer branched out; I have folders there arranged by artists, techniques, locations. And then a young female artist asked me why not open a blog. I had been thinking about it for a while, I weighted who would read it, who was here generally interested in street art and whether it mattered when, there you see, it does make me happy. “Hardly could others decipher the hieroglyph, but someone would know that I was here,” Balašević composed for me by a fluke. I needed my own space to call it by that song and to fill it with the details that make me flicker. Stihnaasfaltu.rs soon will be one year old. Experts say that the statistics is quite good, but more importantly – the flickering is still there, driven by new developments, walls, people…

8 March 2014, The world is an infinite playground

“I don’t know how come you notice everything” is the most common comment I hear from people who read the blog. I guess it’s training. Once you start noticing things, walking through the city becomes an endless quest for stunning messages. I sharpened my eye for all those astonishing details – Miona’s ceramic birds, Iva’s cookies, the sheep watching us from above, old tennis shoes that ended up in a tree next to a skate park… If there was not for the Verse, I would be satisfied with the fact that such beautiful things exist in our city. That gave me a reason to start exploring – how, when, why… I started writing the stories so as to show others what they were missing in the daily rush. Unexpectedly, an exchange of joy went in my favour. Justina’s photo from Warsaw arrived soon, and Dino’s from Lisbon, followed by all others from various parts of the world, Srećko sent a story from one of the roofs of Zeleni Venac borough, Milan brought the sea to the page, Marta made a report about her neighbourhood, Grebo invited me to participate in the Free Art Friday project… “How is it possible that you follow street art so much and that you haven’t tried to draw?” Junk asked me one October day. Two weeks later we were drawing together on the Quay.

Stihnaasfaltu.rs soon will be one year old, but I have the feeling that the story is just now about to move into full swing. And what’s more, spring is at the door!