The idea behind the art collective DOM came to be in 2023, after an exhibition in Dom vojske in Vršac organized by artists Dimitrije Despotovski and Jelena Ostojić. Ten artists took part in the exhibition which had proven to be the first step in establishing an art collective with a notable guerrilla art ethos. Amongst the participating artists was also one of the future members of DOM - Una Mladenović. The initiators of the project had recognized a necessity to reinterpret the very notion of home (Serbian: dom) thorough series of experiments in new media art practices, thus bridging the gap between contemporary art and everyday life and further exploring the physical, emotional and symbolic aspects of home as a place of belonging.

 

In 2024, a collective was formed under the name DOM. After another exhibition, which also took place in Dom vojske in Vršac, the collective is transformed through emergence of another layer of interpretation, that being the geist of socialist heritage and radne akcije (Serbian: Work actions, volunteer-based large-scale construction projects in SFR Yugoslavia which took place from late 1940s to late 1970s). The evocations of such sentiments are due to the spectre of SFR Yugoslavia still looming large over many homes and families, amongst whom are those of the participating artists. Ten artists took part in the exhibition, including Sara Mladenović, who would also become one of the members of the collective.

 

As we are approaching the collective's third exhibition which is to take place this year, the informal collective currently has four members and adds another sentiment to their collective practice - nostalgia. Without desire to further romanticize the notion of nostalgia, artists are reinterpreting the ideas of home and nostalgia through resurrection of personal sentiments and perceptions of their own upbringing. The common starting point in the practices of the participating artists is that a home is much more than a mere physical space as it is traditionally defined. Home also encompasses memories, people, thought processes and experiences which had shaped and woven us into the people we are today.