On June 7 Krzysztof Czyżewski gave a speech at the ceremony of handing in the Borka Pavicević award. Borka Pavicević was a friend of the Borderland and the founding mother of the Center for Cultural Decontamination in Belgrade.
The award, given for the first time, will be devoted to those who have had enough courage and dedication to work for the good of their community and thus to have been able to make ‘’a public gesture”. In his speech Krzysztof Czyżewski explained how he understands the concept of such a gesture. It is something which is proactive and, secondly, makes a change for people and communities.
The international judging panel of the award shortlisted six public gestures. These included Bojana Minovic (an eco -activist, a support worker for the elderly, and the Roma from Kosovo), Nebojša Slijepčević (a filmmaker who has recently been awarded in Cannes), Katarina Petrović (a famous Police officer from Serbia), Darija Radaković (a visual artist famous for the campaign ‘’Guild and Debt”), Ivana Gordić Perc (a brave journalist) and Dragan Stojković (an activist and editor).
The judging panel, whose member is Krzysztof Czyżewski, awarded Ružica Marjanović. She is a teacher and educator from Užice whose idea was to start a festival of literature halfway between Belgrade and Sarajevo. During the festival the writers from all the ex-Yugoslavian countries work with young people in order to help the develop the skill of critical thinking and openness.
The event was organized with the support of the Polish Institute from Belgrade which was also in charge of another event hosting Krzysztof Czyżewski. The event took place in Subotica and was an open discussion. It was another discussion in a series called On Common Things. These discussions focus on initiating the dialogue, community building and critical thinking.
To find out more about the Center for Cultural Decontamination see here.