04 Mar Belgrade Irish Festival opens with the group exhibition “Siege in the Room,” inspired by the work of Samuel Beckett
The Belgrade Irish Festival (BIF) will open with a thematic visual arts exhibition inspired by the work and ideas of Samuel Beckett, a key figure of 20th-century Irish art and culture. Titled “Siege in the Room,” the exhibition will open on March 12 at Bioskop Balkan.
Works emerging from the atmospheres of Beckett’s writings will be presented by prominent Serbian and regional artists: Vana Urošević and Zoran Todović, Marija Ćalić, Zoran Dimovski, Aleksandar Denić and Nikola Šuica. The exhibition will feature diverse forms and dimensions across media including drawing, silk embroidery, photo prints, acrylic transfer, transformed objects, and video. The curators are Nikola Šuica, professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, and Ksenija Samardžija, director of the Saša Marčeta Foundation.
“The selected works are by artists who have been immersed in Beckett’s evocative world for years and who carry forward his themes of existential collapse. Through both recent works and new, previously unpresented pieces created for this occasion, artists from the region will share their own artistic interpretations of Beckett’s themes,” says Professor Šuica.
The exhibition title, “Siege in the Room,” is a metaphor used by Beckett to describe a sense of isolation and inner struggle during the post-war period between 1946 and 1950, when he was writing in cramped Parisian rooms, often in poverty and solitude. This period is widely regarded as marking Beckett’s turn toward an apocalyptic tone and a profound sense of ending, emptiness and the disintegration of the world. It was during these years that he created the works that defined the Theatre of the Absurd, including the globally celebrated play Waiting for Godot, as well as Endgame and the prose trilogy Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable, along with numerous experimental texts and stage works that ultimately contributed to his being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969.
(The interview Beckett gave to Swedish television after receiving the Nobel Prize – on the strict condition that he would not be asked anything: ninety seconds of silence as his answer to the Nobel.)
Among the exhibiting artists is Aleksandar Denić, widely known to broader audiences for his work on production design in films by Emir Kusturica, as well as for representing Serbia at the most recent Venice Biennale. He will present two works inspired by Beckett.
The exhibition opens on March 12, 2026, at 18:00. It serves as the opening event of the Belgrade Irish Festival, which this year is largely dedicated to the legacy of Samuel Beckett.
On the same day, in collaboration with the French Institute in Belgrade, the photography exhibition La Zone Nono by Irish photographer Nigel Swan will also open. The exhibition focuses on the period from 1942 to 1945, immediately preceding Beckett’s most prolific creative phase. There are no visual records, photographs, or memorials from that time – only the understanding that his wartime experience was crucial in shaping the themes and style of the work for which he later became known worldwide.
A Mural at Silosi and the Human Figure in Digital Painting
Two additional notable visual artists will present their work to the Belgrade audience during BIF. James Earley, one of the most prominent street art and graffiti artists of the Irish scene, will create a large-scale mural on one of the walls at Luka Beograd during the festival. The mural will be unveiled on March 21 at 17:00.
At the premises of Comtrade, a long-standing partner of BIF, the exhibition Liminal Body by Patrick Henry will be on display. Henry explores the human figure through 3D technology, digital painting, and AI-assisted moving images.
The Belgrade Irish Festival is the largest event dedicated to contemporary Irish culture in the region. Its programme includes film and theatre screenings, exhibitions, concerts, talks with Irish writers, as well as social gatherings and celebrations marking St. Patrick’s Day.