International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts

Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle

Creative Freedom, Openness of the Theatre Arts and Protection of Cultural Property in the Socialist Republic of Serbia

Olga Markovic (Belgrade)

17. Internationaler SIBMAS-Kongreß / 17ème Congrès International de la SIBMAS / 17th International SIBMAS Congress, 1.-9. September 1988, Mannheim

Bericht / Actes / Documentation. Red.: Liselotte Homering. Mannheim : Städtisches Reiß-Museum, 1990. pp. 157-159

It is impossible to consider the study of theatre collections, whether from a museum, institute or some other related institution, and their correlation with the public, without making certain comparisons and parallel research in the field of the theatre and its audience.

If we accept the axiomatic assumption that culture, generally spoken, advances both the individual and social existence, then theatre art occupies an important place in the spiritual and cultural sphere, while being simultaneously in the function of humanizing and aesthetizing the person.

The first evident question is whether the public, that in our case visits the Museum of Theatre Arts of the Socialist Republic of Serbia, is the same public that fills theatres, or not? Before we attempt to answer this and similar questions, I would briefly like to familiarize this assembly with some of the theses and proposals brought forward at the recent conference in Belgrade on the topic of the "Openness of the Theatre Arts in Belgrade". It was emphasized that the changes the theatre was exposed to were positive and meant a step in the right direction, unless, of course, they were not a result of compulsion.

"Each decline in the arts frustrates free creativity and thus leads to depersonalization and conformism. Consequently, preserving creative autonomy is the condition without which there is no theatre. Creative freedom for all, aside from the proclaimed rights, means responsibility, and at the same time a request that this freedom [shall] not be misused. However, openness of the theatre does not only depend on artistic quality. Frequently implied are political, economic and other factors. For this reason, the phenomenon of the openness of theatre and its participation in the cultural sphere, has to be viewed and analyzed not only from the culturological and theatrological, but also from the sociological, political, ideological and economic aspects"1

Certainly, the essential precondition for the openness of culture is a tradition in a democratic way of life. Without this tradition, cultural openness can only be temporary, formal, one-sided or the result of a clearly defined tactic in cultural politics.

A sad fact and great problem at the very conception of our Museum of Theatre Arts is that the archives of the oldest Serbian theatre - the National Theatre in Belgrade - had burned in both wars. Documents were misplaced, and since the last war, few theatres systematically preserved archive material. On the other hand, the history of the Serbian theatre was never a subject of study at any of the universities and institutes, and no-one was ever exclusively devoted to the study of the history of theatre.

The devastation of war, non-systematization, negligence, are not the only causes of numerous obscurities, confusions and secrets in the history of our theatre. To the general cultural public, particularly to the generation born between the 1950's and the 1960's, many events in the broader social context remained unknown primarily as a consequence of the withholding of timely information. Such a political climate was often implied in the area of the performing arts, so that repression or understatements concerning certain events and people, which in some cases lasted for decades, resulted in the impression that they fell into oblivion.

Luckily, the majority of theatrologists, museologists, scientists, cultural historians, sociologists and others, did not pay attention to temporary fancies. They did their jobs. Similarly, these circumstances did not influence the Museum of Theatre Arts of the Socialist Republic of Serbia not to carry out the obligations delegated to it at its conception in 1950, which were to "gather, study and exhibit material significant to the development of the performing arts in the Federal Republic of Serbia (written and published theatre works and other material related to the development of theatre; props, scenic design and costumes, models, etc.) as well as material which referred to the life and work of prominent members of the theatre2 etc.

In this sense, the current Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage provides for, among other things, that "everyone is obligated to protect cultural property and is obligated to act in extreme caution toward it. The development of citizen consciousness with regard to the significance of cultural property and their necessary protection is the continual task of educational and cultural and other self-managing organizations and communities".3 The above-mentioned Law also commits legal proponents to the obligation and responsibility with regard to the use, administration and handling of cultural property, to secure availability of cultural property to the general public, and prohibits the breaking up of collections and cultural property. Cultural property, which of course implies the inclusion of property from the area of the performing arts, is declared as property of the general interest which enjoys special protection, and should thus be used in conjunction with its nature, purpose and significance, primarily for fulfilling educational, scientific, and aesthetic (cultural) needs of workers, citizens and communities. Therefore, it appears that statutory norms and legal regulations satisfy to a great degree and offer a necessary framework and positive base for enforcing the assigned postulates.

Long ago, we stopped lamenting the performance which flickered out with the lowering of the curtain. Science and art found themselves on common ground with a common task. Theoretical contemplations of museological problems, in our case of organization, protection and maintenance, hence, presentation and communication with other museum collections, have been for a longer period based on the experience of contemporary theory. Therefore, it is not only a matter of accomodating practical goals of museum work to contemporary social and scientific development, but enriching the consciousness with the existence of the museum, i.e. of the theatre collection such as it is or such as we would like it to be in the future.

Within the traditional framework of communication between museologists, everything boiled down to presentations. Awareness of the existence of museological objects or theatre collections came about through such communication, as well as through published material, catalogues and periodicals. Since for the future we are planning an informative and communicative role for our Museum, openness of concealed museum holdings toward society is inevitable.

As we all know, contemporary life unleashed unsurmised applications of various forms of information and communication. It becomes clearer that, such as museums are, there is no reason to go to them. With regard to the organization and maintenance of theatre collections in museums, we cannot at this point in time expect any revolutionary changes, but it is necessary to perceive the unavoidable attempts to adapt them to the demands of contemporary social development, applying modern scientific methods (computerization, maximal applications of audio-visual systems, microfilms, etc.) for the sake of the museum's existence.

Theatre collections flowed into the Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia since its conception, and some today form autonomous cores of the Museum's holdings. However, these collections can and must be living organisms, through whose supplementing the developmental politics of the whole museum will be projected. Private collections and collections of lesser dimensions, which have only some external characteristics of public museum functioning (usually it is just openness to public viewing - artistic, memorial objects, and the like), do not have to expand, but simply maintain their existence at the achieved level. Collections within the museum follow the entire flow and development of the main institution. Museum collections are, as students find out in their first classes, a part of the living museum organism, included in the politics of programmed and planned collecting, supplementing, protecting and exhibiting, and not lifeless sealed holdings.

The level of cultural and civilizational achievement of a society or nation can precisely be noted in its regard to the testimonies of the past, both its own and the world's. Without this human and international consciousness with regard to cultural heritage, a transition of future generations could not be secured. Negligence, destruction, non-objective idealization of theatrical events or subjective interpretations of values and documentary qualities of the theatre and its participants and creators, denied many generations the satisfaction of discovering scientific truths and the aesthetic experience of spiritual rushes and the duration of the theatrical act, which we consider infinite and indestructible.

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