History
1963
On July 26, 1963, early in the morning at 5:17, a catastrophic earthquake devastated the sleepy city of Skopje. The images and news of this cataclysm, in which more than 1,000 people died, were on the front pages of the world media. The need for mobilization to overcome the devastating consequences was enormous and of planetary dimensions… “Skopje is not a film, it is not a thriller in which we sense the main event. It is a concentrate of the human struggle with nature, but also a result that inspires a new struggle, and not for accepting defeat” – Jean-Paul Sartre, 1963.
First donations
The solidarity of the world and Yugoslav community in the reconstruction of Skopje was also expressed with the first spontaneous donations of works of art. Such, for example, were the donations of the Italian painter Giuseppe Santomaso and the German graphic artist Hap Grieshaber, as well as those from the private collection of the Croatian collector Gerhard Ledić. Another spontaneous reaction during this period followed from the famous Montenegrin and Serbian artist Petar Lubarda, who donated all the works from his solo exhibition in 1963. In parallel with these individual gestures, the International Association of Fine Artists (AIAP) appealed for help in creating a collection of works of art with which to encourage the cultural reconstruction of the city. The first such action was organized by the Italian section of AIAP, and for the same purpose, a Committee for the Assistance of Skopje was formed in France, headed by the famous writer and historian Jean Cassou; The Committee in England includes painters Denis Bowen, Kenneth Coates-Smith, Peter Bird and sculptor Jesse Watkins.
The founding of the new museum
These initial donations and activities, as well as those that followed from international associations of critics (AICA), museums (ICOM), and other organizations and individuals, contributed to the arrival in Skopje, just a few months after the earthquake, of a collection of over a hundred works of art. This information, combined with the visionary spirit of several top Macedonian politicians, artists, and public figures, sparked the idea of establishing a Museum of Contemporary Art.
MCA – Architectural building
The Commission for the Development of the Founding Program of the Museum of Contemporary Art, at its first meetings in the fall of 1963, prepared the conceptual sketch for the future building of the Museum of Contemporary Art. The Polish architect and urban planner Adolf Ciborowski proposed the Kale hill in the center of the Skopje valley as the location for the Museum. The choice of location was motivated by the urban plan for Kale, which was intended to be arranged as a complex park-museum, in which the Museum of Contemporary Art would dominate the city panorama as a central monument and symbol of world solidarity in the reconstruction of Skopje.
Exhibitions and program expansion
Although initially without gallery space, the young and dedicated team of the MSU organized occasional exhibitions in various galleries in Skopje. Particularly significant and successful is the period from 1966 to 1970, when the Museum managed to obtain a rented gallery space in the center of Skopje, where it organized dynamic exhibition activity such as exhibitions of Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman, Pop-art graphics (Warhol, Lichtenstein, Wesselmann, Dine, Rosenqvist, etc.), graphic works of Picasso and a number of solo exhibitions of Macedonian and Yugoslav artists, which had a significant impact on the art practice in Macedonia. This trend would gain even greater quality with the opening of the new building of the MSU in 1970 and the installation of the first Permanent Exhibition, in which the museum collection was presented integrally for the first time. The Permanent Exhibition experienced two more versions in 1981 and 1986, including the current donations and acquisitions. Since 1992, the works from the collection have been presented through changing thematic exhibitions. In addition to the extensive exhibition program, the MSU is the only institution in Macedonia that owns archives of Macedonian art. From the very beginning, the museum has presented contemporary art in all its visual and performative variants. A significant part of the museum's activity also consists of regular interdisciplinary programs with guest lecturers from various theoretical disciplines who deal with current issues of culture and society today. The expansion of specific educational programs aims to bring art closer to the public. In further promoting these intentions, it should be mentioned the publication of The Large Glass Journal, the only periodical in Macedonia dedicated to the visual arts and contemporary culture and theory.
