Art sees more clearly and beyond

Art, collecting and banking

Decades ago, someone in our Bank far-sightedly realized that investing in cultural heritage and supporting the best individuals, projects and institutions in the field of culture is one of the most important and beautiful investments of the Bank. With the planned purchases and regular maintenance of art colonies, the then Vojvođanska banka began collecting its art collection. Thus, over time, one of the most impressive corporate art collections in the country was created, which has more than 600 works of art. The collection of works of art consists of works of national art from the second half of the 20th century, which mostly deal with the themes of the Pannonia milieu – landscapes, urban and rural landscapes and still-life.

The Gallery of Matica srpska - our strategic partner

Aware of the valuables that this collection has, we have naturally focused on projects aimed at preserving the cultural and historical heritage of the country. They represent one of the main pillars of our corporate responsible activities, and our strategic partner in this segment of activities is the Gallery of Matica srpska, one of the most important cultural institutions in the country. In 2016, the expert team of the Gallery of Matica srpska processed – listed, catalogued and valorised the collection. In the same year, within the signed protocol on cooperation, the Bank financed the renovation of the facade and complete reconstruction of the entrance to the Gallery building, which included installation of an external elevator and ramp in the inner hall of the Gallery in accordance with design standards for all. The cooperation between the Gallery of Matica srpska and our Bank is an example of successful and quality cooperation between the business and public sector, which, in order to present and popularize Serbian national cultural heritage and raise the reputation and importance of national cultural institutions and large corporations, had a significant impact on the wider community and contributed to the promotion of true values ​​of joint responsible action.

Responsible collector

The Wandering Sun (1960), Milan Konjović

The best works have been publicly exhibited several times in the best art galleries, as well as in the Bank’s premises, which has provided the entire artistic value of the collection to the general and professional public, and we have shown that a COLLECTOR can be RESPONSIBLE. These are works presented to the public for the first time, which is a special value of these exhibitions. We are especially proud of the ten-day, free, guided exhibition “Responsibly in Culture”, during which the 40 most representative works from the collection were presented to the public, organized in 2016 at the Gallery of Matica srpska in Novi Sad. The presented selection of works represented a cross-section of different stylistic and thematic orientations and various techniques of artistic expression united by high artistic values. The exhibition thus formed, as a sequence of Vojvodina’s modernism, was conceived as an example of responsibility in culture achieved through the collection and care of works of art under the roof of our Bank, in cooperation with the Gallery of Matica srpska. During 2017, 33 representative large-format works were exhibited in the building of the National Bank in Belgrade. During the exhibition, curatorial expert interpretations of the exhibition were held. The works were presented to the public during the “traveling” exhibition “Caravan of Paintings”, which was organized in the same year in five branches of the Bank: in Zrenjanin, Apatin, Čačak, Kragujevac and Subotica. The cooperation between the Bank and the Gallery of Matica srpska has also developed in the direction of realising other programs, such as educational workshops for children, professional exhibitions for Bank employees, etc.

From gallery walls to imaginary space Publications

Based on the realized exhibitions, we made a selection of the most representative works, which we transferred to the pages of the created publication “Responsibly in Culture”. The publication prepared by the expert team of the Gallery of Matica srpska presents the most important works from the collection, along with accompanying texts and biographies of the artists.

A unique multimedia exhibition of the best works by Teodor Kračun

During 2019, we supported the installation of a unique 3D exhibition of two iconostasis by one of the most important Serbian baroque painters, Teodor Kračun, within the organized exhibition of the Gallery of Matica srpska “Kračun”. Thanks to the application of modern technology supported by the Bank, visitors of the exhibition “Kračun” had the opportunity to interactively experience Baroque painting of the 18th century. The iconostasis presented in the new digital format are located in the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas in Sremski Karlovci and in the Church of St. Archdeacon Stephen in Sremska Mitrovica and represent the most mature artistic achievements of Teodor Kračun.

Politikin Zabavnik Award

Realizing the necessity to nurture culture and tradition and recognizing the true values ​​that the house “Politika” and “Politikin Zabavnik” stand for, OTP banka, as a socially responsible company, decided to be the sponsor of the award for the best literary work intended for young people in 2019 and 2020. Politikin Zabavnik is the oldest children’s magazine in the country and one of the few newspapers that has been published since before the Second World War in our region. During these 70 years, through interesting columns on the world of science, nature, the past, it grew into a kind of institution without which growing up was almost impossible.