MY STUDENT MOBILITY IN PODGORICA: Aleksandar Rakezić, Faculty of Fine Arts

Aleksandar Rakezić
University of Arts in Belgrade, Faculty of Fine Arts

Erasmus+ Mobility for Studies at:

Academy of fine arts in Cetinje, University of Montenegro

In the following few statements, I will try to describe my impressions of the Erasmus+ Exchange project. Regarding the fact that I am currently in the second year of PhD at the Faculty of Fine arts in Belgrade, I intended to develop concepts and ideas for my main project by coming to Montenegro. The series of objects that I was producing for four months at the Faculty of Fine arts in Cetinje will be a capital part of my final PhD exhibition. The Series of objects were inspired by the Montenegrin origin of my mother and for that reason, it was understandable to reach the opportunity to stay and study in Montenegro.

The beginning of the stay mostly included meeting new colleagues, professors and inhabitants of the historical and sentimental town Cetinje. Firstly, I was fascinated by the technical abilities of studios at faculty, especially mentioning good natural and artificial light in painting studios, spacious studios with high ceilings, well-secured buildings, new furniture and technical equipment. Staff, assistants and professors were welcoming and open-minded so any little problem that had occurred was fixed in no time. I shared the studio with three other Erasmus students and this was important when it comes to creating a collective and coherent atmosphere. We went together to Podgorica to visit exhibitions, we planned our final exhibition together and we shared all ups and downs we had during this stay. When it comes to local students, the connection was more easily created in the last months, when the majority of them started to spend more time with faculty. I got inspired by the potential I saw in them, especially among younger generations. That’s why I used my enthusiasm to voluntarily create a detailed presentation named “Exhibiting Opportunities in Belgrade”. My wish was to show possibilities and explain the gallery system in Belgrade to the local students. I got a lot of support from professors but also good reactions from students when it comes to this presentation.  This event and other talks with younger students proved to me that my experience and knowledge would be useful to them, mostly because that would be a new approach in this faculty. Because of their good feedback on constructive dialogues with me, I got the conclusion that I might consider starting my pedagogical career right here.

Cetinje was a wonderful experience where I made good and solid friendships, projects, respectful relations with professors and curators and important components of my PhD project. If I could repeat this experience, I would do so, even more, because, in the end, the comments by professors were:” We wish you can stay here.”