The Museum of Herzegovina in Trebinje hosted the opening of the exhibition “Sport in Art. The Art of Sport,” featuring artworks and objects created between 1858 and 2018.
The exhibition is a collaborative effort between the Museum of Yugoslavia in Belgrade, the Matica Srpska Gallery in Novi Sad, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka. Through an innovative museological approach, it successfully bridges the gap between sport and art in a completely new way.
It showcases selected works from the collections of the Matica Srpska Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska, the Museum of Yugoslavia, the Sava Šumanović Gallery in Šid, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, the Gallery of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the House of Legacies in Belgrade.
The featured artworks are signed by renowned artists such as Sava Šumanović, Ivan Radović, Petar Dobrović, Ivan Tabaković, Steva Todorović, Petar Omčikus, Dušan Todorović, Bojan Bem, Uroš Đurić, and Tomislav Peternek.
The exhibition also includes posters from the legendary “Art and Sports” collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska, created in honor of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.
Tanja Đaković, Assistant Minister for Education and Culture of Republika Srpska, emphasized the importance of collaboration between cultural institutions in Republika Srpska and Serbia.
“The Ministry of Education and Culture supports and highly values exhibitions of this nature, which are the result of cooperation and contribute significantly to expanding knowledge about key events, figures, and cultural phenomena that have shaped our history and tradition,” Đaković stated.
Sarita Vujković, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska, highlighted that after Paris and Banja Luka, the exhibition has now arrived in Trebinje to mark a significant event—Trebinje’s selection as the European Capital of Sport for 2025.
“This exhibition has several segments, one of which connects it to one of the most significant sporting events in former Yugoslavia—the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. To mark this occasion, a legendary art portfolio is on display, featuring works by artists from around the world who merged sport and art in a unique way,” said Vujković.
Ivana Grujić, Director of the Museum of Herzegovina in Trebinje, expressed honor in hosting the exhibition after its stops in Paris and Banja Luka, especially in a year when Trebinje has been awarded the prestigious title of European City of Sport.
Tijana Palkovljević Bugarski, Manager of the Matica Srpska Gallery, stated that the exhibition was initially created for the Paris Olympic Games last year and that it is an honor to now present it in Trebinje as the European Capital of Sport for 2025.
“We selected pieces from numerous museum collections that depict sport—paintings, drawings, photographs, graphics, posters, and various sports equipment—to illustrate how sport has inspired artists. This is a unique, different kind of exhibition aimed at demonstrating how sport and art are best friends,” Palkovljević Bugarski explained.
The exhibition was officially opened by Mirko Ćurić, Mayor of Trebinje, who emphasized that sport and art represent two sides of the same coin of human spirit, both relying on work ethic and the pursuit of excellence.
“Trebinje has been a city of culture since the time of Jovan Dučić, who saw his beloved Trebinje as an inspirational place that could become an open-air museum. But Trebinje is also a city of sport, as confirmed by its designation as European City of Sport for 2025,” Ćurić stated.
The exhibition will be open to visitors until March 15.
Source: RTRS
