The process of searching for an EASA home made us realize how the problem of a sick society in transition is multilayered, ubiquitous and immense, and that localities suffer and are threatened in very similar ways. We decided to take a look at the situation from another angle. Not from a point of view of problematics, but from a point of view of a positive example. We began to focus on the unfulfilled potential of locations. In a country where basic existence is threatened and cultural basics are shaken from the ground, we have decided to look up for the ‘silver lining’. This search brought us to Kragujevac ...the fourth largest city of Serbia, known for its industries, most of which are abandoned today.

Duke’s Arsenal - Main event location

The location that we were intrigued by the most is “Knezev Arsenal” (Duke’s Arsenal) – a large military-industrial complex built-in 1853. It is the oldest industrial complex in Serbia, located in the immediate center of Kragujevac. The industrial architecture, characteristic for the Duke’s Arsenal, was „taken over“ from Germany and France. It is characterised by red bricks, wooden doxas and stairs, cascading roofs under the tiles and high chimneys, which form a harmonious whole. It has been abandoned for quite some time now. The unfulfilled potential of Arsenal reflects itself through numerous attempts of local activists to put this object in the service of cultural development. For example, the dean and students of the Faculty of Philology and Arts have been trying for a while to get one of the buildings from the complex to use it as their faculty building so they could be able to take all their lectures and tests in one place. Activists of the city’s Cultural Center have also been showing interest in Arsenal. In recent years they created numerous unofficial pop-up events, alternative exhibitions, spontaneous vinyl records exchange. Arsenal is also where the music festival “Arsenal fest” takes place.