The promotion of the monograph on the personality and opus of the renowned stage designer Geroslav Zarić entitled “Čarobnjak scene” (The Magician of the Scene), written by Živadin Mitrović, was held at the Madlena Art Palace on Thursday, 30 May 2024.
In the introductory part, the audience was addressed by MS Gordana Milosavljević-Stojanović, moderator and editor of the book, who firstly mentioned the author of the monograph, the recently departed art historian and prominent journalist Živadin Mitrović.
As she said, all Mitrović’s education and interests could be observed from the book. Throughout his life, Živadin was a journalist, but an art critic too, so that the monograph presented the crown of his endeavor, primarily as an investigative journalist, as he had managed to learn some truly obscure details which dated back from the period of Zarić’s childhood.
Parts of interesting events from the period of his adolescence and youth, which are picturesquely presented in the book, were read by actor Miodrag Krivokapić. In the course of his studies, Zarić took to painting, while as a young artist attending the final year of studies at the Faculty of Applied Arts, Department for Scenography, together with his colleagues Zarić organized an artistic movement so that they could express the new enthusiasm and sensibility of their youthful energy with a greater deal of ease. The first person he achieved professional cooperation with was director Egon Savin, when working on the performance “Lov na Divlje patke” (Wild Ducks Chase) in Atelje 212 in 1980, which marked the launching of his brilliant career throughout the former Yugoslavia. He realized as many as 24 performances with Egon Savin, while it is also necessary to mention his multiple successful cooperation with Vida Ognjenović, Jovica Pavić, Nebojša Bradić, Milan Karadžić, Kokan Mladenović, Nikita Milivojević, and Siniša Kovačević. Beside dramatic performances, his sets were also observed at ballet performances by choreographer Krunoslav Simić.
Stage designs by Geroslav Zarić are characterized with visual features and the balance between the real and the theatrical, which makes the main properties of his style. His talent for painting is an important factor in his works, while his paintings are reminiscent of his stage design opus and vice versa. He frequently painted the nature and portraits in water colours.
Director Vida Ognjenović also took part in the discussion, mentioning her first cooperation with Geroslav. She said that she had not wanted to be the one to determine how the set should look like, but initiated their cooperation with the question of what he thought about the set having read the text. With his work of sets, he corroborated his viewpoint that scenography is much more important than a mere decoration of the scene and pleasant communication. Scenography is an active factor and it should be in full harmony with other elements of the play. Scenography should act and have impact on developments in the scenic space. In his projects, said MS Ognjenović, he frequently tested, doubted, analyzed, and checked possibilities, not shying away from unusual, and, at that time, non—practical solutions. He never repeated his ideas, even when working on the same play for several times, or when cooperating with the same directors.
Director Božidar Boba Đurović pointed to the importance of such a monograph, highlighting that this type of material is something necessary in the cultural and public life, and that numerous great theatrical artists remain obscure, despite their merit. When it comes to the director-set designer cooperation he had with Zarić, Đurović said that he had learned so much from Zarić in the course of their joint projects.
Playwright Nebojša Romčević reflected on the impeccable character of this singular set designer and on his understanding of a good idea in a text and performance, an idea through which the iconic element is uplifted to a higher level, with incredible ease of artistic creation.
In the very end of the lecture, MS Milosavljević-Stojanović thanked all the speakers and the eager listeners, proposing to continue the discussion informally, at the cocktail reception which was organized after the promotion.
