VREME DIZAJNA U BEOGRADU
The Period of Suffocated design in Belgrade

Summary/Abstract: At one level this paper is a deep personal reflection on the Belgrade design scene and the situation in which it has found itself, in the wake of many political, economic and cultural upheavals which have recently befallen this country. At another level, its author being a designer himself, and having participated in, as well as witnessing the evolution of this scene for several decades, the paper proposes to, with relative objectivity, do the following: offer a brief historical overview of the development of design in Serbia starting Pom the 1920s to the present time, highlighting its creative pinnacles as well as setbacks. examine and analyze the current place and role of design in Serbia, placing it within the framework of visual arts in general as well as within the broader framework of the overall economic, political, and cultural situation in the country. It particularly focuses on prevalent attitudes to design, which are highly indicative of a deeply ingrained incomprehension of and prejudice to this kind of art. Furthermore, it poses the question whether certain social groups have a vested interest in perpetuating this kind of attitude. briefly discuss the existing critical and theoretical body of work on Serbian design, its range, relevance, and competence, whilst pointing to the need for developing a better founded and more systematic and competent theory of design. give an insight into some recent positive developments on the Belgrade design scene (in spite of the overall bleak situation in Serbia), and taking cue from these, and without being prescriptive, offer some guidelines for the future, in which the role of design will hopefully be recognized and appreciated in the way that visionaries like Steve Jobs have anticipated will inevitably happen worldwide.

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