149: What Can We Learn From Activist Artists In Serbia?

DAH SAYS: "In today’s world, we can oppose destruction and violence with the creation of meaning "The Economist Magazine's Intelligence Unit places, Serbia, and Singapore, among the 46 countries that are considered Flawed Democracies along with United States of America.&nbsp;As our three countries grow more alike in surprising ways, it felt like the right moment to revisit two powerful episodes featuring activist artists from Serbia and Singapore. First up is our 2022 Change the Story Change the World with conversation with Dijana Milosevic, the Director of Belgrade’s Dah Teatar. &nbsp;Imagine mounting a guerrilla theater performance in a bombed-out city square, in the middle of war, while armed soldiers look on—and still holding on to your art, your convictions, and your humanity. That is the story of Dah Teatar, a theater collective from Belgrade that has survived war, sanctions, shifting regimes, and censorship—and kept creating powerful, justice-driven work.In this episode of ART IS CHANGE, we dive back into the history and present of Dah Teatar through a rich conversation with co‑founder Dijana Milošević. We revisit their 1992 This Babylonian Confusion street performance, and then catch up on how the company has restructured, relocated, responded to climate concerns, and carried forward their practice of “being with” communities. Along the way, Dijana shares stories of bus‑based public theater, performances among trees, and how art continues to navigate complexity, contradiction, and resistance in Serbia today.You’ll hear:How Dah anchored themselves in relationship and material constraints during the war years, moving from classic theater into street performance in real time.The evolution of the company from ensemble-based actors to a more horizontal, administrative structure that can sustain creative risk.Their project Invisible City, performed inside buses, bringing stories rooted in neighborhood life to ordinary passengers—not just theatergoers.Their more recent project Dancing Trees, where trees become collaborators, audiences move into the forest, and performance becomes site, sound, memory, and activism.Reflections on censorship, environmental struggle, national narratives, cross‑community healing, and the role of artists in turbulent times.Tune in to follow Dah’s journey across decades of upheaval and resilience—and be inspired by how a theater company, rooted in place and poetic defiance, continues to bridge divides between people and environment.Change the Story CollectionBe sure to check out our CHANGE THE STORY COLLECTION OF ARCHIVED EPISODES on: Justice Arts, Art &amp; Healing, Cultural Organizing, Arts Ed./Children &amp; Youth, Community Arts Training, Music for Change, Theater for Change, Change Making Media. BIODijana Milošević is an award-winning theater director, writer and lecturer. She co-founded the DAH Theater Research Center in Belgrade, and has been its lead director for over 25 years.Dijana has served as the artistic director of theater festivals, the president of the Association of Independent Theaters, the president of the board of BITEF Theater, and a member of the board of directors of the national International Theater Institute (ITI). She has been involved with several peacebuilding initiatives and collaborates with feminist-activist groups.DAH Theater has performed nationally and internationally under Dijana’s directing. She has also directed plays by other theater companies around the world.She is a well-known lecturer, who has taught at world-famous universities. She writes articles and essays about theater as well as society. She has won prestigious scholarships such as Fulbright and Arts Link. She is a professor at the Institute for Artistic Play in Belgrade.Notable MentionsDah Teatar Research Center for Culture and Social Change: DAH Theatre is an independent, professional, contemporary theatre troupe and artistic collective that uses modern theatre techniques to create engaging art and initiate positive social change, both locally and globally. &nbsp;Mission: In today’s world, we can oppose destruction and violence with the creation of meaning.” Through dedicated teamwork, we create bold dramatic art to provoke, inspire, and incite personal and social transformation.Art and Upheaval - Artists on the World’s Frontlines: Author William Cleveland shares remarkable stories from Northern Ireland, Cambodia, South Africa, United States (Watts, Los Angeles), aboriginal Australia, and Serbia, about artists who resolve conflict, heal unspeakable trauma, give voice to the forgotten and disappeared, and restitch the cultural fabric of their communities.This Babylonian Confusion: The Dah Teatar project “This Babylonian Confusion” is a result of a montage of the actors’ materials and the songs of Bertold Brecht. This performance was created from the need of the artists to place themselves in their duty- as artists in “dark times.” Four actors using the characters of Angels say their share against war, nationalism and destruction. [1992]Slobodan Milošivić: was a&nbsp;Yugoslav&nbsp;and&nbsp;Serbian&nbsp;politician who served as the&nbsp;president&nbsp;of&nbsp;Serbia&nbsp;within&nbsp;Yugoslavia&nbsp;from 1989 to 1997. Formerly a high-ranking member of the&nbsp;League of Communists of Serbia&nbsp;(SKS) during the 1980s, he led the&nbsp;Socialist Party of Serbia&nbsp;from its foundation in 1990 until 2003. After Milošević's death, the ICTY and the&nbsp;International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals&nbsp;found that he was a part of a&nbsp;joint criminal enterprise&nbsp;which used violence to remove Croats, Bosniaks, and Albanians from large parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo.&nbsp;Bertolt Brecht: was one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century. His works include&nbsp;The Threepenny Opera&nbsp;(1928) with composer Kurt Weill,&nbsp;Mother Courage and Her Children&nbsp;(1941),&nbsp;The Good Person of Szechwan&nbsp;(1943), and&nbsp;The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui&nbsp;(1958). A member of the Independent Social Democratic Party, Brecht wrote theater criticism for a Socialist newspaper from 1919 to 1921. His plays were banned in Germany in the 1930s, and in 1933, he went into exile, first in Denmark and then Finland. He moved to Santa Monica, California, in 1941, hoping to write for Hollywood, but he drew the attention of the House Un-American Activities Committee.&nbsp;The Story of Tea: The central theme of the performance is the train that will finally take three sisters to the place of their dreams- Moscow, or missed opportunities and&nbsp;gambled chances, inspired and provoked by the other important themes of DAH Theater’s ‘three sisters.’&nbsp;Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov&nbsp;is a play by the Russian author and playwright&nbsp;Anton Chekhov. It was&nbsp;written in 1900&nbsp;and first performed in 1901 at the&nbsp;<a...