A landscape without people is dead nature, and an interior without books is an empty space

The guest of the forum "Imaginarium", whose theme was "Painting, literature and theater", was the writer and director Vida Ognjenović

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Interview between Kristina Radović and Vida Ognjenović, Photo: Svetlana Mandić
Interview between Kristina Radović and Vida Ognjenović, Photo: Svetlana Mandić
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

"A picture, whether it is an artistic expression, whether it is painted with words and description, must be experienced. If it's not, if it doesn't tell a story, or doesn't connect us with something, or doesn't remind us of the world of feelings, then it's a dead letter on paper," said the writer and director. Vida Ognjenović, who was a guest of the panel "Imaginarium" organized and led by an art historian Kristina Radovic, author of "Imaginarium".

The first picture that Ognjenović remembers, who was born 83 years ago in the village of Dubočke, in Banjani, near Nikšić, is a picture of her mother at a sewing machine.

"I often bring that image back to my memory because it tells me about work - that work occupies a person and that if a person is not completely concentrated in that work, that work is not complete and can be deficient".

Although the creative act in literature and theater is similar because, as she said, they are branches of art that use research, imagination, searching for solutions, respect for inheritance and clearing a path into the unknown, there are differences - literature is a complete author's work, while in theater the author has assistants.

"It is a group process where the director is at the head, and he orchestrates all these processes and makes them into a whole called a play. It is a much more complex process than writing," said Ognjenović.

Answering the question of Kristina Radović, editor of the program at JU "Zahumlje", about art in the theater, Ognjenović pointed out that scenography is not only the place where the action takes place, but the place where the action must take place.

"Costumes and scenography help the drama, they make the action whole. Music is no less important. She is not there to cheer up the audience, nor the actors. It is a means of underlining the action, or expressing those parts of the action that cannot be expressed in any other way".

She writes novels, short stories, plays and essays, and her directing opus includes close to a hundred theater, as well as a large number of television and radio directorials, many of which are based on her own texts.

"The heroes of my literary work are people who had a thought imprint in the society in which they lived, and that imprint continues to this day and we use it in some way. I am interested in people who had and solved some problem, mental, civil, political, and who overcame that problem with their character, way of life, opinions, and left a mark that we evaluate and that can serve as a certain guide. My personalities are complex. I am interested in characters whose life and work have some secrets, and I am interested in researching these characters and describing what I discovered. The landscapes in which my characters live are full of obstacles, injustices, winding paths that I can easily deceive," she describes.

She believes that the most important thing in theater is the actor, and her theater formula is actor plus thought. The director, writer, stage, costumes, music help to create a thought.

According to Ognjenović, imitation is not a work of art but a skill.

"Imitation is a means to remember something, to see it well, to study it, but that is not the goal of artistic activity. Art is to give a theme, an idea. Art is not imitation or skill, but the superior expressiveness of some novelty. It is more powerful and stronger than reality, because man is transitory, and art makes him imperishable", says the writer and director.

As Radović said, Vida Ognjenović's official biography and bibliography are so rich and content that it would take someone else two lifetimes to achieve everything she has achieved. But, as she pointed out, it is particularly interesting, as she called it, the "silent biography", which was created in response to the request of the organizers of the scientific symposium in Trestenik, of which Vida was the guest of honor. Ognjenović read that biography.

"I live intensively, but simply. I am mostly interested in people and books. I consider every landscape without people to be dead nature, and an interior without books to be an empty space. I am fascinated by the music and the speed of the spirit. I get along best with children. I appreciate their insatiable curiosity and trust in the power of tenderness. I am afraid of people who are able to betray those childish qualities. I try to do as little harm as possible in my immediate surroundings and I consider this a way to contribute to the common good. I also have flaws and not a few, of course. One of them is acute bookishness. To put it succinctly - I am, in fact, an incurable book addict and that is why I am here today, among you, hic et nunc (Latin: here and now)", explained Ognjenović.

The organizer of "Imaginarium", whose theme was "Painting, literature and theater" and which was held as part of the October repertoire of the Nikšić cultural scene, is JU "Zahumlje", in cooperation with the Music School "Dara Čokorilo".

It is up to the educators to influence so that the use of the brain does not decrease

"I think that today's education is a victim of technological development, that children already use phones and computers in kindergarten. That speed interrupted the process and the student does not come to knowledge and understanding through the process, but gets it ready-made. Today's education has a distance from the student, because the student does not have the patience to explain the process, he does not understand it. Educators have a great burden to ensure that the use of the human brain is not reduced. We have to teach the student to understand what he reads. Finding out is a difficult process and it requires knowledge of details, and this process must be educated", said Vida Ognjenović.

She told the young generation not to listen to recommendations when it comes to literary works, but to search for them themselves.

"Make a mistake and correct yourself and don't worry. Go ahead," said Ognjenović.

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