Workshop held: "Slovenia and Serbia – Artistic and Historical Connections and Diversities"

On Friday, 6 June 2025, the Institute for Recent History of Serbia hosted a scholarly workshop entitled “Slovenia and Serbia: Artistic and Historical Connections and Diversities.” The event was co-organized by the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the France Stele Institute of Art History in Ljubljana, the Institute for Recent History of Serbia, and the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade. The workshop opened with a welcome address by Dr Vladan Jovanović, Director of the Institute for Recent History of Serbia, followed by contributions from Dr Barbara Vodopivec, Mr Vukašin Zorić, and Dr Aleksandar R. Miletić. Fifteen early-career scholars, including both doctoral candidates and recent PhD recipients from Serbia and Slovenia, took part. Their presentations encompassed a wide range of thematic and methodological approaches to the shared past of the two countries, covering the period from the Middle Ages to the modern era. The following topics were examined during the workshop: the production of dynastic portraits of the Karađorđević dynasty in Slovenia, the conceptual art of the Slovenian OHO group, the development of road and rail transport in the Drava Banovina, Slovenia’s role in Yugoslav civil aviation during the socialist period, the construction of grand national narratives in interwar historiography, the emergence of authentic Yugoslav architecture in the First and Second Yugoslav states, the history of the heritage-protection and restoration service in socialist Yugoslavia, as well as issues in environmental history and gender studies. A comparative framework and the notion of “entangled histories” underpinned all contributions, and this approach was particularly evident in the discussion that followed the presentations.