Published on 03 Jul 2023
The StartArt Festival is taking place in Trebinje, Bosnia Herzegovina, during the summer of 2023. Numerous citizens and representatives of various institutions have participated to co-create the program and the content of the festival, encouraged by the student pop-up exhibition.
Under the morning sun, representatives from Trebinje Institutions, such as the Tourist Organization, City Administration, Museum of Herzegovina, Youth Center, Cultural Center and many others joined the local student to co-create the program of the StartArt! Festival.
The StartArt! festival is a multi-day public cultural event that includes the co-design and implementation of a pop-up spatial installation in the public space of the Krš neighborhood in Trebinje. The goal of the festival is to highlight the value of the marginalized cultural heritage site in the center of Trebinje and its potential for cultural tourism development.
To achieve this goal local artists, artisans, and creatives will be involved. The festival is part of the actions organised in the frame of the EU- funded TExTOUR project, and it is realised according to the model of the multi-awarded small SCALE project of the Center for Spatial Research.
The festival team is currently formed by students in the 3rd year of the Architecture Study Program of the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy of the University of Banja Luka, gathered around the course Small Scale Design.
This was also an opportunity for students to:
- map the additional values of the Krš settlement,
- know Trebinje through an urban walk,
- visit to the Museum of Herzegovina,
- visit Hercegovačka Gračanica with the professional guidance provided by Jelena Pujić and other activities.
The trip itself was an opportunity to experience the dynamic change of the landscape of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a long section in the north-south direction (through the canyons of the rivers Vrbas, Rama and Neretva, i.e. Duvanjsko and Kupreško polje, and the Janja and Manjaca plateaus) and a visit to the city of Mostar.
The Krš neighborhood is one of the oldest urban units in the city of Trebinje, and is part of “Trebinje Historic City Area” of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unfortunately, this cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been neglected, marginalized, and poorly used for decades.
For that reason the Krš neighborhood is part of the laboratory of cultural tourism within the TExTOUR H2020 project. The area has the potential to implement one of the three actions that contribute to the integration of cultural heritage and tourism and to drive the economy of Trebinje.
