The Saša Marčeta Foundation, as a partner of the Belgrade Irish Festival (BIF), proudly supported the “Siege in the Room” exhibition at Bioskop Balkan, which opened on March 12, 2026, inspired by the works of Samuel Beckett. The Irish Ambassador to Serbia, Kevin Kolgan, attended the opening and praised the festival as an “incredible week of culture” rich in Irish traditions, art, and innovation.
Kevin Colgan, Irish ambassador in Belgrade
Bridges of Irish Culture
Ambassador Kolgan emphasized the importance of cultural exchange between Ireland and Serbia, noting that festivals like BIF strengthen ties and foster mutual understanding. “Culture is the bridge that connects us,” he said, inviting visitors to attend performances, films, musical performances, and workshops throughout the week-long event running until March 21.
Jas Kaminski, the director of the BIF highlighted how the exhibition captures the very spirit and the purpose of the festival.
-Here we stand surrounded by this wonderful exhibition of leading Serbian and Macedonian visual artists, Siege in the Room. It captures the spirit of our festival’s vision and endeavor, taking us from the far northwest corner of Europe to Serbia in the southeastern part of the continent. It is a journey back in time to the first production of Waiting for Godot, 70 years ago, by the celebrated Irish writer Samuel Beckett and his revolutionary work, staged here in 1956. Returning to the present, we can experience the words and thoughts that Beckett inspires in the imaginations of another generation of artists. Elusive, evocative, mysterious, mercurial, yet somehow definitive too, echoing and stirring something within ourselves and inviting us to re-examine our surroundings and our understanding of the world we live in today, said Kaminski.
Jas Kaminski, the director of the BIF
Beckett’s Siege of the Soul
Curator Nikola Šuica, alongside Ksenija Samardžija, conceived the exhibition to mark 70 years since the Belgrade premiere of “Waiting for Godot” in Mića Popović’s studio at the Old Fairground. The title “Siege in the Room” alluded to Beckett’s most inventive years from 1945-1950, when works such as “Molloy,” “Malone Dies,” “Waiting for Godot,” “The Unnamable,” and “Endgame” were created. Šuica produced the video “Grounded – Beckett in Belgrade,” an evocation of the Old Fairground studios and the horrors of World War II, where the illegal premiere of Beckett’s play took place in 1954—just one year after its Paris debut.
Nikola Šuica, curator
The works on display transcended mere illustration, hinting at transitions, betrayals of principles, and the raw nudity of abandonment in our era of digital securities and technological priorities. Beckett’s themes of silence, blackouts, heartbeats, panic, and conscious forgetting resonate in these pieces, laying bare the ferocity of satire, wars, pandemics, and disenfranchisement.
Artists Reinterpret Beckett’s World
Vana Urošević and Zoran Todović have collaborated for years, offering prints and drawings interwoven with embroidery on silk. Zoran Dimovski challenged viewers with an imposing spatial drawing titled “The Dark Side of the Moon.” Aleksandar Denić presented a portrait resembling a gigantic photo print of still life made from edible ingredients, alongside a chair as a monument to physical impairment, dedicated to the hero of “Molloy.” Marija Ćalić captures sequences of states in amber-like resin and fuses fragments through acrylic transfers, evoking Beckett’s descriptions.
Connecting Art and Heritage
The Saša Marčeta Foundation, as a festival friend, supported this exhibition in collaboration with Bioskop Balkan to promote cultural exchange and contemporary reinterpretations of classics. BIF enriched Belgrade’s cultural life, drawing local audiences and international attention.
The exhibition is open until March 21, Thursday to Saturday, from 12 to 7pm, free admission.
Photos: BIF/Bojan Kovačević