„ПОЗОРИШТЕ НА ГРАДИЛИШТУ“: ИСПИТИВАЊЕ ОДНОСА ТРАДИЦИОНАЛНИХ И НОВИХ ВРЕДНОСТИ НА ПРИМЕРУ ПОЗОРИШНЕ ЗГРАДЕ У СУБОТИЦИ

Abstract

When originally constructed in 1854, building of the National Theatre in Subotica became a symbol of the city and a paradigm of well–thought local cultural policy. Reflecting political transformations and influences throughout history, it changed names, structure and artistic policy, becoming today a multicultural institution orientated towards three national communities – Serbian, Hungarian and Croatian. Latest reconstruction of theatre building, starting in 2007 as the biggest cultural investment in Serbia in the past thirty years, has stirred many professional and public discussions. Some of the main issues discussed relete to cultural heritage and various aspects of cultural protection of the building, as well as changes in the urban environment. Other important issues relate to the role of contemporary theatre in general, then local, national and regional position of Subotica theatre, and, most importantly, cultural needs of the audience. In order to examine the potentials of this very specific centre of city cultural life, a team of teachers, students and artists from Subotica, Novi Sad, Belgrade and Rome, gathered around “The Construction-Site Theatre” project. By using various media and art forms, authors aimed at animating theatre audience through direct engagement with people at the construction site, during 2010 Museum Night. Through guided tours, led by team of architects, visitors had an opportunity to see and discuss future performing spaces, examine project designs at the improvised architectural studio and experience live music performances. Evaluation results, gathered from media analysis and interviews with public and participants, show not only the positive change in audience attitudes towards new theatre building, but also a better understanding of the institu-tion in the future cultural life of Subotica.