HISTORY

The Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina was founded as the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Art – Novi Sad by the decision of the Assembly of AP Vojvodina on 1 February 1966. The name of the institution was changed several times in order to complement the changes in the nature of the institution’s operations. It was first renamedthe Museum of Contemporary Fine Art (3 June, 1996), then the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in Novi Sad (24 March 2006), and received its final name – Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina (13 January 2012) i.e. MoCAV (MSUV). The most important consequences of these changes are that the activities of the former gallery expanded to museological activities and the scope of work shifted from fine art into several fields of contemporary art theory and practice, in line with current processes present in art and society.

Although it had been founded in 1966, due to lack of venue resources, the Museum started with its exhibition and publishing activities in 1969, with the occasional use of space of other public institutions in Novi Sad (The Gallery of Matica srpska,Radnički (Workers’) University, Youth Tribune, Yugoslav National Army House). In 1984, it moved into rented premises in the Sports and Business Center Vojvodinawhere it remained until 1999. For the first time, in the last 15 years, the Museum was given an opportunity to continuously develop its core program, research and museum activities, which resulted in many significant achievements for the contemporary art of Vojvodina. After November 1999, the Museum was again left without its exhibition space and staged exhibitions in other institutions (Gallery of the Novi Sad Branch of SANU, 2000/2001; Museum of Vojvodina – the site of the former Museum of Socialist Revolution, from 2001).

After the failure of the first public competition for the architecturalurban design of the building of the Museum and Gallery Square in Novi Sad, which, in 1998,had been announcedby the Executive Board of the City of Novi Sad – almost 10 years later, on 27 January 2007, the Provincial Government announced a new international competition for the preliminary architecturalurban design of the Museum building, which was also dropped. Subsequently, the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, on 13 May 2009, issued a decision to house the Museum in the building of the former Museum of Socialist Revolution, which was confirmed by the Decision on the Transfer of the Right of Use (28 March 2012) with which MSUV becamethe tenant of the part of the building in Dunavska 37, where it still conducts most of its activities today.

Current and previous Directors, Acting Directors of the Gallery/Museum (were) are: Slobodan Sanader (1966-1990), Danica Živkov (Acting Director 1990-1992), Dragomir Ugren (1992-2003), Branislav Jovanović (Acting Director, 2003), Suzana Vuksanović (Acting Director 2003/2004), Radmila Savčić (2004/2005), Živko Grozdanić (2005-2011), Vladimir Kopicl (2011/2012), Vladimir Mitrović (Acting Director 2012/2013) and Sanja Kojić Mladenov (2013-).

Current and previous Curators of the Gallery/Museum(were) are: Ljiljana Ivanović, Miloš Arsić, Grozdana Šarčević, Dragomir Ugren, Suzana Vuksanović, Nebojša Milenković, Slađana Varagić, Kristijan Lukić, Sanja Kojić Mladenov, Gordana Nikolić, Vladimir Mitrović, Svetlana Mladenov and Ljubica Milović Mastilović.