Press Kit

Zvjezdane Staze is an independent artist residency in the village of Mijakovići, central Bosnia and Herzegovina. A testing ground for post-institutional models: transparent finances, sliding-scale participation, collective stewardship. Forest paths, medieval ruins, the possibility of encounter held open.

Zvjezdane Staze is an independent artist residency in the village of Mijakovići, central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Founded in 2019, it is financially independent, sustained through direct community support. All finances are published annually. The residency accommodates up to five artists at a time in private rooms, or eight in shared arrangements. Stays range from one week to three months. There are no thematic restrictions. Artists work independently, with access to studio space, a small library, and the surrounding landscape: forests, mountain paths, the medieval fortress of Bobovac. Programmes include open residencies, literary weekends, masterclasses, and a permanent sound installation along the hiking trail to Bobovac. A summer solstice gathering brings together artists and villagers for three days of performances and shared meals. The residency is run by Fondacija Prostor and directed by composer Belma Bešlić-Gál.

Zvjezdane Staze proceeds from a conviction that artistic practice requires conditions of shelter and autonomy, and from an equally strong conviction that the organisational structures providing such conditions are themselves sites of experimentation. The residency functions as a laboratory for post-institutional forms: transparent finances, sliding-scale participation, micro-fundraising, governance structures that move between analogue and digital. The question driving this work is what becomes possible when infrastructure embodies the principles it supports: self-organisation, mutual aid, distributed stewardship. We cultivate connection, initiate exchange, create conditions for collaborations that may materialise years later or remain latent. Yet we do so while refusing to prescribe modes of participation. Those who come may seek community or solitude, embed themselves in village life or remain in the studio. The substrate we maintain holds space for divergent needs. A house in a mountain village. Forest paths. The medieval ruins of Bobovac fifteen minutes on foot. Time structured loosely, or left entirely open. The possibility of encounter sustained, offered, unhurried. Zvjezdane Staze: star paths. Trajectories that cross, occasionally bind, then continue.

Mijakovići bb, 71330 Vareš, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Belma Bešlić-Gál (1978, Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia/Bosnia and Herzegovina) is a composer, pianist, curator, and intermedia artist based in Vienna. Her work explores the intersection of sound, language, space, and perception. Her compositions have been performed by leading contemporary music ensembles and premiered at festivals worldwide. Awards include the I z S Art & Culture Prize, the Austrian State Scholarship for Composition, and the SKE Publicity Award. She is Artistic Director of shut up and listen! festival (Vienna), Zvjezdane Staze artist residency (Mijakovići, Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Kultur1 cultural platform (Vienna).