Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro
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The Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro (AFAM) is the first modern class organization of fine artists and creators living and working in Montenegro. From its founding until today, the Association has been one of the main carriers of current art life and the initiator of the opening of many galleries, salons and other art events in Montenegro.
AFAM was founded on the 24th of March, 1946. in Cetinje. Back in 1944, the initiative to establish the Association was given by a group of painters and sculptors, gathered in the Art atelier at the Ministry of Education of Montenegro. Since then, until today, he has been working continuously, on a professional level. Since 2000, AFAM has been an NGO.
The association, as a class organization, provides support to members and contributes to the improvement of working conditions of artists. It organizes collective and solo exhibitions and provides assistance for individual exhibitions to its members. It advocates for the improvement of legal legislation in its field, the construction of art atelier and exhibition spaces, the procurement of materials, the sale of art works, protects the legal interests of its members, and owns and upgrades extensive documentation. The existing AFAM documentation center contains documentation for about 480 artists, with biographical data, which have been entered into the existing database. It has several thousand slides of the most significant works of Montenegrin art.
In 2005, AFAM became a full-fledged member of the European International Art Associations (IAA), so we participated in that status at the Congress in Istanbul in June 2005, September 2006 in Brussels and June 2007 in Berlin. In October 2007, the IAA Congress was held in Montenegro.
In order to promote cultural cooperation in the region, protect the interests of the profession, support the unobstructed flow of artists and art projects, development of joint cultural projects and joint performances in 2016 in Cetinje, a Protocol on Cooperation was signed between the Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro, Croatian Society of Fine Artists, Fine Artists of Serbia, the Association of Fine Artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Society of Fine Artists of Macedonia and the Alliance of Association of Fine Artists of Slovenia.
The association organizes, helps and exchanges exhibitions with other associations and their members, as well as with foreign creators in the field of fine arts. The Association should be viewed, not only from the point of view of the class artists needs, but also as an integral part of the cultural needs of Montenegro.
AFAM today has 600 members, all of them graduated from the School of Fine Arts.
In the space of the Art Pavilion, AFAM organizes between 15 and 20 solo exhibitions a year. In recent years, notable exhibitions of Montenegrin and guest artists have been organized, as well as several collective exhibitions (Traditional AFAM exhibition; BAUHAUS Imaginista exhibition in cooperation with the Goethe Institute in Belgrade; AFAM exhibition of young artists "26 <41" realized in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro on the principle of reciprocity in the Art Pavilion and in Zagreb as part of the manifestation "Creative Montenegro: Days of Montenegro in Zagreb", photo exhibition "Diego and Frida: Smile halfway" realized in cooperation with the Embassy of Mexico, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European integration, the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro and the Capital Podgorica; an exhibition of serigraphs and drawings "Intuition" by Virginia Chihota from Zimbabwe, as a joint project of AFAM and the Austrian Embassy in Podgorica, the festival of art and ideas "Brothers of the Nations" on which 15 Turkish artists presented themselves, an exhibition of art photographs by Tina Modotti realized in collaboration with the NGO The bridge of culture; exhibition by Karl Korab and Inga Wavre realized in cooperation with the Austrian Embassy in Podogrica;
The association presented contemporary Montenegrin art in: Vienna, Graz, Cologne and Linz, as well as the exhibition "Montenegrin Art", which was presented at the "Collegium artisticum" Gallery in Sarajevo; in January 2006, in organization of AFAM, the exhibition "Markers of AFAM 1995-2005" was organized, which was previously held in Paris at the Cultural Center of Serbia and Montenegro; the exhibition “Contemporary Montenegrin Art” was realized in the gallery “Karas” in Zagreb in October of 2008, as well as the exhibition “Contemporary Montenegrin Art” in Vienna in 2009; in 2010 exhibition of 33 artists - members of AFAM, Stanković Gallery Zagreb (Croatia); in 2011. Joy of Life (Joy de vivre) in Skopje City Gallery (Macedonia); in 2012 TAG Exhibition, Collegium Artisticum Gallery – Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; in 2019 exhibition of young artists AFAM "26 <41" which was realized in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro in Zagreb as part of the event "Creative Montenegro: Days of Montenegro in Zagreb".
In the coming period, our intention is, in addition to the above, AFAM to serve as a carrier of reintegration of cultural space that we share with the countries of the former SFRY, as well as the wider environment.