Dejan Kaludjerović was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna and gained an MA in visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 2004. For his achievements in visual arts, Kaludjerović was granted an honourable Austrian citizenship.
June 2018, Vienna, Austria
Dejan Kaludjerović (DK): Personally, I’m coming from maybe another planet because I grew up in Yugoslavia which was a Communist Socialist country and I was taught that we are all the same. I can’t change that code in my brain, because I think that this is how I look at people. That we are the same. And also I think society/the collective has to take care of people and of the future of the society. It has to be social. Art and culture is a big part, an important part of society. Art should be there, in my point of view, not to be just a decorative thing on the wall, but as a place where we can ask questions. Therefore these possibilities should not be controlled by the private or by capitol in that sense, it should be public. And therefore I think that we have to fight that this is not changing.
Kelly Lloyd (KL): So then, in Yugoslavia, is a lot of arts funding also public-based?
DK: Yugoslavia does not exist. Now, Yugoslavia has seven new republics. They are independent states and they are struggling with bad economies.
KL: Forgive my history.
DK: That’s fine.
October 2020, London, United Kingdom
KL: What will the future look like?
DL: The future will / should look like a constant fight primarily for the environment, becoming less individualistic, less neoliberal, less profit oriented and more communal and social. Fascism continues to be an increasing threat therefore we will / should be aware and constantly fight for liberation and against complete control over us.
The Ballad of Peckham Rye 