From State Exhibition to Contemporary Force: The Transformation of the October Salon

On a crisp autumn evening in 1960, Belgrade's artistic elite gathered for an unprecedented event: the first October Salon. Established by the city government to showcase the achievements of Yugoslav artists, few could have imagined that this state-sanctioned exhibition would evolve over six decades to become one of Eastern Europe's most vital platforms for contemporary art and a barometer for the region's complex cultural politics.

The Salon's founding coincided with Yugoslavia's unique political positioning during the Cold War. While remaining socialist, the country had broken from Soviet influence, pursuing a "third way" that allowed for greater artistic freedoms than elsewhere in the Eastern Bloc. This political context gave the early October Salons a distinctive character—officially endorsed yet relatively liberal, ideologically aligned yet aesthetically diverse.

"The October Salon has always been a mirror of Serbia's relationship with both its own identity and the outside world," explains Zorana Đaković Minniti, artistic director of the 59th edition. "You can read the country's cultural and political history through the exhibition's transformations." Indeed, the Salon's evolution—from socialist showcase to international biennial—offers a fascinating lens through which to understand the artistic and political shifts that have reshaped Serbia and the Balkans.

The early decades of the Salon reflected Yugoslavia's cultural policy of "socialist aestheticism," which permitted formal experimentation while maintaining loose ideological constraints. By the 1970s, as conceptual art gained traction, the October Salon became a contested site between traditional painting and sculpture and more radical approaches. This tension came to a head in 1983, when a group of conceptual artists boycotted the exhibition, staging their alternative "October 83" show.

The Salon's most challenging period coincided with Yugoslavia's violent dissolution in the 1990s. Under Slobodan Milošević's nationalist regime, Serbia faced international sanctions and cultural isolation. Yet remarkably, the October Salon continued, providing a rare space for artistic expression. "The exhibitions of the 1990s weren't politically radical in an explicit sense," notes art historian Branislav Dimitrijević, "but the mere act of continuing artistic production during this period of catastrophe was itself a form of resistance."

The fall of Milošević in 2000 marked a turning point. The October Salon responded dramatically, appointing its first foreign curator in 2004 and declaring its new international orientation. This shift was controversial—many local artists worried about being marginalized. Others welcomed the opportunity to engage with international trends after years of isolation. The transformation into a biennial format in 2014 formalized its status as the Belgrade Biennale while retaining the historically significant name.

The 2018 edition, titled "The Marvellous Cacophony," exemplified this new ambition, bringing together 72 artists from 28 countries, including luminaries like Yoko Ono and Cindy Sherman. As it enters its seventh decade, the October Salon stands as a testament to art's resilience amid political turbulence. From socialist Yugoslavia through nationalist isolation to European integration efforts, it has continuously adapted while maintaining its role as Serbia's most significant contemporary art platform. More than just an exhibition, it remains a cultural institution that has both witnessed and participated in the complex transformation of Serbian society.