Call For Removal of S.C. Management

leaflet, documentation, and action in public space, 2000

As part of the A New Beginning exhibition organized by the Zagreb-based association “Attack!”, Igor Grubić created and distributed a leaflet at the Zagreb Student Center (SC) calling for the removal of its management. The action marked the culmination of widespread discontent with the cultural policies of the SC in the 1990s.

During socialism in Yugoslavia, the Student Center was established as a state institution dedicated to engaging with young artists and cultural practitioners. It served as a platform for avant-garde experimentation, introducing new media technologies, fostering self-organization, and facilitating new forms of political engagement. By the 1970s and 1980s, it had become a hub of alternative and urban culture, renowned for its openness to artistic experimentation.

However, in the 1990s, under the conservative, right-oriented government, the SC’s management became closely aligned with the ruling party. Support for alternative cultural programs was withdrawn in favor of traditional and folkloric events designed to ignite nationalistic sentiment. Cultural policies for young people were dictated by government appointees, whose priorities reflected their own beliefs rather than the needs of the younger generation. As a result, many student cultural initiatives were rejected, and important magazines like Gordogan and Godine were shut down.

Grubić’s leaflet was both a work of art and a call to action. It not only called for removing the SC’s management but also became a rallying point for student mobilization. The leaflet provoked an immediate reaction: at the exhibition’s opening, members of the SC management were visibly agitated, and by the following morning, the leaflet had been removed from the gallery. This act of censorship fueled further outrage and sparked media attention.

Grubić actively participated in organizing student forums to address the SC’s cultural stagnation and propose ways forward. These discussions extended into public discourse and eventually led to the formation of the “Student Initiatives Movement,” which launched a petition demanding the removal of the SC’s management. The petition cited the censorship of Grubić’s work as one of its key arguments. Over nine months, the petition gathered 5,000 student signatures, while a state audit revealed numerous irregularities in the SC’s operations, finally leading to the removal of the SC director from his position.

Since this turning point, the SC has re-established its role as a space where students can create and manage their cultural programs, restoring its legacy as a vibrant center of youth-driven culture and experimentation.