by Aleksandar Bošković, MSH's invited professor

Zenithism, a Yugoslav avant-garde artistic and literary movement, was shaped and promoted by its founder, Ljubomir Micić, as the authentic contribution of Balkan culture to the European avant-garde. Zenithism sought the artistic and cultural emancipation of the Balkans from both the West and Europe; the dethronement of European traditional values; and the reversal of Europeanization toward the Balkanization of Europe. Micić argued that if the Balkans or Slavs are treated like barbarians by Western Europeans, then artists from the Balkans can reset the conversation on their terms. 

In this lecture, I will provide an overview of zenithism, focusing on its founders, main associates as overall aesthetics, and experiments with various artistic and literary genres. This includes the magazine Zenit (1921-1926) and its publishing house Biblioteka Zenit (1921-1927). I will trace the movement’s development, from its search for an authentic contribution of Balkan (Yugoslav) culture to the European avant-gardes, to its creation of previously unexampled form of conceptual writing that challenges the notions of author(ship), authenticity, and originality as the very premises upon which the notion of cultural value has been created, reproduced, and re-capitalized as a cultural means for colonial oppression and economic domination.

Aleksandar Bošković (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2013) teaches at Columbia University. He is the author of The Poetic Humor in Vasko Popa’s Oeuvre (in Serbian, 2008) and the exhibition catalog Temporary Monument: Photomontages for Mayakovsky’s Poem ‘To the Workers of Kursk’ by Yuri Rozhkov (2015). He is also the co-editor of The Fine Feats of the Five Cockerels Gang: A Yugoslav Marxist-Surrealist Epic Poem for Children (2022) and Zenithism (1921–1927): A Yugoslav Avant-Garde Anthology (2023). He is currently working on The Bioscopic Book: Slavic Avant-Garde Cinépoetry, an anthology forthcoming from Academic Studies Press.

Wednesday 14th May 2025, from 2pm until 4pm

Salle de réception
Building DE1 - Level 3 - Room R.3.105
Avenue Antoine Depage 1
1000 Bruxelles

Free entrance