Collective Bodies and Civil Action

Taking the recent experiences of anti-regime and anti-corruption protests in Serbia as a starting point, the session looks into how a collective body is articulated and mobilized in civil action, and what kind of agency is at play in collective gestures of disobedience. The conversation will draw from the concrete case of Generalštab complex - the former headquarters of the Yugoslav Army and the Ministry of Defence - and the joint efforts  in preserving it. It is situated within the larger protest movement, in order to understand how a collective body can activate and unsettle historical, political, and legal frameworks, and what tools are needed. The session will bring together two guests. Nenad Lajbenšperger is a historian, conservator, and researcher with a focus on war-time memorials and patterns of remembrance of victims of war. Nikolina Đorđević is representing the Ansambl Generalštab, a student-led initiative founded as a direct response to the threats posed by the government to systematically erase cultural memory.