Since the beginning of the twentieth century, artists and art theorists have been trying to distance themselves from industry and design, which was seen as its faithful servant. However, at the turn of the century, the freedom provided by post-modernism has enabled artists to engage in the “hype” that mass industrial production brings with it, while preserving their authentic authorial stamp.

In England, artists gathered around the Saatchi Foundation dared to enter the world of commercial products. Contemporary artists who receive an “invitation” to cooperate with the industry and accept the role of a designer, usually do not put the product itself in the center of their artistic focus, but choose to follow their established artistic poetics.

American artist Tom Sachs is collaborating with the company “Nike”, making unique models of sneakers for them, and for the last five years he has even been collaborating with NASA. On the other hand, street artist Virgil Abloh collaborates with big fashion houses and in that way adds another frame to street art, and breathes a new life into the somewhat monotonous fashion scene.

In Serbia, artists whose works you can see within the exhibition BITE BEER COIN have been invited to express themselves on a small format of a beer label. By promoting their art, they gave this drink a dimension of unusual exclusivity, while assuring a larger audience of people that an individual cannot live without art.

Now the exhibition is available as a free virtual guided tour which you can visit by clicking on the player on the top of this page.

Venue: Samo Pivo pub (Belgrade, Serbia)

Dates: 27.05 – 10.06.2021

Artists: Vuk Ćuk, Davor Gromilović, Valentina Brostean, Vladimir Lalić, Super Timor, Sreten Bor

The project “BITE of Art” is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.