The Wind Got Up in the Night and Took Our Plans Away

The Wind Got Up in the Night and Took Our Plans Away features intergenerational photographers and photography collectives from Serbia that approach documentary photography conceptually, and utilize photography as a means to explore social and political complexities, and cultural transitions happening within Serbia, once part of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia). The selected works highlight depictions from contemporary urban and rural life, to historical events occurring in, and after Yugoslavia, specifically between the 1980s and today, as photography has mirrored the changes in political and ideological systems and their effects on cultural values.

However, at the exhibition’s core, is the exploration of documentary practices through artworks that are the results of long-term research, demonstrating how photography can capture and decode the ways in which people perceive, and interact with, changing realities. The work of these Serbian artists and collectives encapsulates Serbia’s transition from a socialist to capitalist state through: personal memories; historical revisionism; the legacy of Yugoslavia’s industrial heritage; a significant period of isolation during the 1990s when Yugoslavia fell apart; and commentary on life in Serbia today.

The range of themes provides diverse perspectives on photography, and allows viewers access to Serbia’s complex historical, and rich artistic, narratives – reinforcing the notion that the human landscape is multifaceted, and that all places across the world are in a constant state of transition.

The Wind Got Up in the Night and Took Our Plans Away is accompanied by a monthly film program at the Harris Theater showcasing the work of Serbian documentary filmmakers, and a public art installation by the collective Belgrade Raw in Downtown Pittsburgh’s alley, Tito Way.

'The Wind Got Up in the Night and Took Our Plans Away' was curated by Miroslav Kari? and Sladjana Petrovi? Varagi?, organized by Rachel Klipa, and presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. This project is fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, with funding from The Heinz Endowments, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. Also with thanks to Silver Eye Center for Photography.