On Factories and Workers

The Museum of Yugoslavia and the Museum of Science and Technology present the exhibition “On Factories and Workers”, dedicated to industrialization on the territory of today’s Serbia from its beginnings to the present day. This important and complex topic is presented from different perspectives – from the socio-political, cultural and historical, to the technical and technological. The first part of the exhibition at the Museum of Yugoslavia will be opened on the Museum Day, December 1, on the 25th anniversary of this institution. The audience will be able to see the second part of the exhibition, in the Museum of Science and Technology as of December 7, 2021.

The exhibition has been prepared by the curatorial team of these two museums: Ada Vlajić and Rifat Kulenović from the Museum of Science and Technology and Jovana Nedeljković and Radovan Cukić from the Museum of Yugoslavia.

“The two cultural institutions are connected by the desire to research and present to the public the industrial heritage which is an important part of the current scientific-technical and cultural heritage. Both museums deal with this phenomenon, the Museum of Science and Technology, deals with science, engineering and technology, and the Museum of Yugoslavia, with social history and Yugoslav heritage. The fields of research of these institutions overlap and enrich each other”, Neda Knežević, director of the Museum of Yugoslavia and Rifat Kulenović, museum advisor of the Museum of Science and Technology have pointed out.

The exhibition can be followed through five industrial sites that paradigmatically represent the development and functioning of industry in this area in different historical, political and social circumstances. A variety of material consisting of industrial products will be presented, as well as numerous photographs and video material that testify to various aspects of factory life, while other objects and documentation show the mines in Bor and Majdanpek, textile industry in Leskovac, Electronics Industry Niš, Servo Mihalj Combine in Zrenjanin and Military Technical Institute in Kragujevac.

“The sites have been purposefully selected in order to show, through the specifics of their development, numerous phenomena related to the process of industrialization: the role of capital (private / commercial, state, foreign), the status of the working class, the labour standard and (forced) labour, the natural conditioning of industry and changes in the natural environment caused by industrial activity, as well as the connection between industry and science “, the curators of the exhibition have said, and they added:

“The sites credibly reflect social changes, because in the processes of privatization and deindustrialization, most of them ceased to exist or survived in a significantly changed form. Institutional care to preserve this heritage in most cases has been lacking and, unfortunately, there is a small number of good examples of protection. That has motivated us to deal with this heritage.”

Due to the complexity of the topic, the exhibition is realized in cooperation of two institutions and at two locations. The Museum of Yugoslavia focuses on the industry observed mainly through complex, social and political relations, while the exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology focuses on technology and production processes.

The preparation of the exhibition has also been supported by Mira Luković, Mira Ninošević, Dragan Stojmenović and Stevan Golubović.

The author of the exhibition in both museums is Breda Bizjak, and Saša Pančić has been in charge of graphic design.

The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia. The authors of the exhibition thank the following institutions and individuals for their help in the preparation of the exhibition and the borrowed material: National Museum Leskovac, Museum of Mining and Metallurgy Bor, Public Library Bor, Museum of Old Foundry in Kragujevac, Archives of Yugoslavia, National Museum Zrenjanin, National Library of Serbia, Republic Newsreel Archive, RTS Program Archives, Faculty of Mining and Geology in Belgrade, Marija Milošević,  Alena Zdravković, Rastko Stefanović, Gordana Stojanović, Dragan Pavlović, Branislav Markuš, Tomislav Djurin and Velibor Ikodinović.