About us

As a wide and flexible platform of the Belgrade independent scene, Other Scene was initiated in a meeting on the 18th of November 2006 in the Context Gallery, venue of the Centre for Culture Stari Grad, Belgrade.

The meeting was organized by Other Scene in its initial constitution – that included Prelom Collective (Prelom kolektiv), Station (Stanica), TkH (Walking Theory (Teorija koja Hoda)), Dez.org, New Drama (Nova drama), Techne (Tehne), Stanipanikolektiv and Queer Belgrade (Queer Beograd) – which was operational from December 2005 until November 2006. Dragana Alfirević, Bojan Đorđev, Dušan Grlja, and Ana Vujanović formed the Working Group for the organization of the meeting, which was dismissed after the meeting.

Participants from the following groups took part in the meeting:
1.BAZAART: Sunčica Milosavljević, Ivana Despotović, Nikola Koruga, Zoran Rajsić, Aleksa Čajić and Živojin Živulović
2.Biro za kulturu i komunikaciju (SK): Vladan Jeremić, Selena Savić
3.Činč: Bojan Đorđev
4.Dez.org: Jelena Radić
5.DDT – centar za kreativni pokret: zastupnica Aleksandra Bjelajac
6.ERG Status: Aleksandra Bjelajac
7.Justart: Ivan Pravdić
8.Linux User Group Beograd (SK): Marko Đorđević
9.Megalofon: Slađana Rackov, Slaviša Rajković
10.Mimart: Nela Antonović, Predrag Radovanović
11.Prelom kolektiv: Jelena Vesić, Dušan Grlja
12.Simbiosis: Sanja Drašković
13.Slobodnakultura.org (SK): Vladimir Jerić Vlidi, Miloš Rančić (iz Vikimedije)
14.Socijalni front: Divna Komluški
15.Stanica: Dragana Alfirević, Dalija Aćin
16.Stanipanikolektiv: Majda Puača
17.Šarena laža: Ivan Zdravković
18.TkH: Bojan Đorđev, Jelena Knežević, Marta Popivoda, Ana Vujanović
19.Zluradi-paradi: zastupnica Majda Puača
20.Žene na delu (SK): Milica Gudović
21.Queer Beograd: Zoe Gudović
22.DRM teatar: Marko Paunović, Jovan Lukić
23.Kontekst galerija: Vida Knežević, Ivana Marijanović
24.CEDEUM: Ljubica Beljanski
25.Tanja Marković, as an individual

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GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND CRITERIA OF THE OTHER SCENE

Other Scene is a platform that gathers:
formal and informal organizations and groups from the territory of the City of Belgrade, which were not founded by the City of Belgrade Assembly nor the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, and which are not subsidized regularly from the budget of the City or the Ministry, as well as individuals who act as free lancers in the independent scene:
who are active in the fields of contemporary art production, art and cultural theory and practice, or cultural activism;
who are already active or willing to take part and work in the fields of contemporary art production, art and cultural theory and practice, or cultural activism and media/ communications;
who deal or are willing to deal with cultural policy issues;
who do not spread racial, national, religious, gender, or sexual intolerance.

OBJECTIVES OF THE OTHER SCENE
1.Changes of the status of the Belgrade independent scene:
Acknowledgement of the Other Scene by the responsible institutions on the level of the City, Republic, and Municipalities, as a significant player in the overall artistic and cultural life, practices, and results that it achieves in the society;
Participation of the Other Scene in negotiations with the responsible institutions, on issues of cultural policy, particularly in the segment concerning independent culture and art;
Influence of the Other Scene upon decisions of the responsible institutions concerning allocation of the budget for culture, in accordance to the overall contribution of the Other Scene to diversity and quality of artistic and cultural practices and results in the society;
Increase of media attention and visibility of the Other Scene in public
2.Repartition of public spaces:
Allocation of physical spaces purposely intended for independent artistic and cultural activities;
Utilization of the spaces which are under authority of the responsible institutions, for the activities of independent organizations, groups, and individuals;
Change in understanding of a common notion of “public space” – i.e. of its function in the society and of the ownership over it
3.Transparent mechanisms and protocols of work of the responsible institutions:
In the field of cultural policy;
In the field of administration: planning and distributing the budget, infrastructure, and other resources; open calls for projects; operating of the committees in-charge; distributing the funds/grants, etc.;
In the field of management of responsible authorities, as well as the institutions of culture
NB: Particular significance is given to introducing and spreading of the idea of free access to the content in the field of art and culture and in (mutual) communication between institutions, authors, and users, through free licenses (copy left licenses?) and protocols which are not privately owned.

STRATEGIES OF THE OTHER SCENE
1.Integration: It is managed through connecting of the existing actors of the independent scene, and spreading of the Other Scene by inclusion of new actors who accept the principles and values of the platform;
2.Visibility: Other Scene has a recognizable name and a (adaptable) logo which are mentioned in the projects of the platform participants, in collective actions, and in joint appearances in public and media;
3.Pressure / dialogue with responsible authorities and institutions in regard to the issues of organization, support, and (re)presenting of the independent art and culture;
4.Internal coordination of the activities: coordination of objectives, strategies, and activities of the participants regarding the platform; associating, sharing, and joint usage of the resources; a common calendar of events
Strategies are carried out on a micro and on a macro level:
Through programs and activities of the participants (who individually engage in certain segments of the strategies), and
Through Working Groups (which carry out certain tasks within the Other Scene)

ORGANIZATION
General form:
Other Scene is a platform that has, above all, a role of a service of the Belgrade independent scene, with an aim of empowering and advancing position and work conditions of independent artistic and cultural organizations, groups, and individuals. Other Scene is an informal structure and doesn't have a legal status.
Definition of participants:
Participants of the Other Scene are and can become organizations and informal groups which are not founded by the City or the Republic, and which are willing to engage in cultural policy, and accept general principles and values of the platform; as well as individuals who work as free lancers in those fields, and are willing to engage in cultural policy and accept general principles of the platform.
Participation: Other Scene has no formal membership – joining and leaving of the Other Scene is done according to the interests of the participants, and in accordance to general principles of the platform. A participant may join the Other Scene by subscribing to the e-mailing list, and leave by unsubscribing from the list. In case of possible problems, and on demand of a list member, a possible exclusion from the Other Scene i.e. the e-mailing list is discussed on the list.
Bodies:
a) Working groups/ WG: Working groups are operational bodies of the Other Scene, which are formed when and if needed, for accomplishing certain tasks, and dismissed upon accomplishment of a task.
Working groups consist of min 3/three and max 7/seven members. Participation in Working Groups is voluntary. WG are a core element of the organizational structure of the Other Scene.
b) Assembly: Assembly of the Other Scene consists of all members of the e-mailing list. Assembly operates through e-mailing list and in live meetings. Assembly meets on regular basis twice a year; if needed, special meetings are summoned.
Decision-making:
All the questions/issues of the Other Scene are discussed and decided by all the interested participants on the Other Scene e-mailing list (i.e. Assembly). Operational and tactical decisions are made by Working Groups. Decision-making principle is consensus, and it is a general form of deciding on all activity levels of the Other Scene.
Consensus is a decision-making process that is not based on the “rule by majority” but on achieving the most agreeable decision. Instead of the case when ruling majority make decisions on behalf of a group, here all members have equal voice and power. Consensus is achieved when all members of a group agree with certain proposal – individuals have not to agree with all the aspects of the proposal, but the obligation to the community renders consensus working.

Owing working efficacy WG who brings certain proposal calls to public discussion and estimation of the proposal, in the period that it finds optimal for making certain decision. Non-responding to the call within the period is considered acceptation of the proposal.

(PRESENTLY) ACTIVE WORKING GROUPS OF THE OTHER SCENE

1.WG for internet and internal communication
2.Strategic WR for making program documents
3.Strategic WG for elaboration of the organizational models
4.WG for mapping of available spaces and space needs of the participants
5.WG for organizing of a collective public event (will be active later)

2. ADAPTIVE LOGO OF THE OTHER SCENE

Examples:

Explanation:
Logo is designed as a flexible form (easy to reconstruct and redesign in accord to the needs of participants), in order to display ideology of the Other Scene (self-organization, rhizomatic structure, non-representability, etc.) and to avoid branding, but still to achieve a necessary visual identity.
Fixed categories of the logo:
1. Arial font (not copyrighted), 2. text wrap as follows: drugascena (upper row), .net (lower row), 3. square background, 4. drawing-scrabbling
Flexible categories of the logo:
1. color combination, 2. placement of the text on the background, 3. size of the font and 4. shape of drawing-scrabbling

3. RESUME OF THE PROGRAM TEXT OF THE OTHER SCENE

Other scene is a wide and flexible platform of the Belgrade independent scene. It gathers organizations, groups, and individuals involved in improvement work of a legal and infrastructural status of the independent scene; redistribution of public spaces; increasing of transparency of operational mechanisms and protocols of responsible institutions in arts and culture; as well as presence of the independent scene in media and public space. Strategies of the Other Scene in the field of cultural policies are: integration of the independent scene “bottom-up” (self-organization of actors), increasing of its visibility, dialogue/pressure on the responsible institutions and internal coordination of activities.