Something that we sadly haven’t had time to cover here at the Belgrade blog is Nikolai Tesla’s 150th anniversary celebration so this is our attempt to make up for this.
Internationally, that is outside Serbia, monuments and statues have been unveiled such as the one within a stones throw of Niagara Falls in the United States (incidentally RTS covered this live – how breathtaking the falling water looked in the background).
In neighbouring Croatia the anniversary was marked by a formal celebration in his home town of Smiljan. Croatian and Serbian Presidents Mesic and Tadic attended and both used the opportunity to make quite emotive but well thought out speeches. Mesic said that it was time that Croatian society face up to the fact that Tesla had been relegated to a footnote in Croatian history and that this and other acts such as the vandalisation of Teslas house were shameful.
In Serbia there have been many cultural events, scientific gatherings, educational presentations. There have been a number of exhibits or celebrations which will ‘go international’ as well. The exhibit held at the Nikola Tesla Museum called ‘Tesla – life and deeds’ will then be shown in Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka, Perth, Athens, Vienna and Vancouver.
There will be a celebration of the Tesla Jubilee held at the UN building in New York during October and in Strasbourg, Paris and other world cities.
But returning to Serbia, for those that don’t know yet Belgrade International Airport has been renamed Nikolai Tesla (a move that caused some groans when announced but perhaps a very good idea). At the airport itself a Tesla monument has been erected.
BELEF – the Belgrade Summer cultural festival which continues until August 12 kicked off with the return of Lawrie Anderson – last in Belgrade before the collapse of Yugoslavia. She was invited to give a performance in homage to Tesla.
For those unaware Anderson is a leading figure in modern visual art / music and is a huge admirer of Nikolai Tesla. It would be difficult to think of a more suitable figure to honour Tesla. Anderson created a song named The Dance of Electricity dedicated to Tesla.
Anderson entertained a sold out audience at the Dom Sindikata (union house) where the latest Superman film is being shown – an irony probably not lost on Anderson since this was the name of her melodic electronic hit of the 80’s ‘oh Superman’.
I wasn’t there but a good friend of mine did go. This is her (shortened report:
Union house, 10th June Teslas birthday a crowd and impatience hangs in the air, a concert we have waited too long for – the one and only inimitable Lawrie Anderson.
Even if she is 60 years old she sounds like a 25 year old. She’s already been surprising the world for the last 30 years with her multimedia performances and unbelievable intelligence and freshness.
Her angel like voice carried the audience through the underground ‘voice and stories’ through which she focused on the deconstruction of modern day consumer society…
This concert was certainly one of the best which will be held in Belgrade this year and I’m certain that people will still be talking about Lawrie for some time. Or perhaps they will remember the girl who at the end of the performance jumped onto the stage to present Lawrie with a picture drawn during the concert. I think I can freely say that if it weren’t for Tesla somebody like Lawrie wouldn’t exist and nor would the many different forms of electronic music which are listened to today.
Tesla Celebrations continue as does the BELEF festival www.belef.org . If you cant make it to Serbia perhaps you might be able to visit exhibits in a town near you.
Keep returning to the blog there will be a number of posts in the coming days.
