SARAJEVO FEST 2026

Interview with Haris Pašović conducted by Đorđe Krajišnik for the newspaper “Oslobođenje”, on the occasion of the recently marked twentieth anniversary of the existence and work of East West Centre Sarajevo

HARIS PAŠOVIĆ: ART RECREATES MEANING AND CELEBRATES LIFE

East West Centre Sarajevo has marked twenty years of activity and work. Looking back from this distance, after two decades, how do you view the path you have travelled?

— Twenty fascinating years, truly! When we set up the photo exhibition about our work from 2005 to the present at the Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we ourselves were astounded by the scope and scale of what had been accomplished. And every performance, every project, is a great story in its own right, involving people from over 20 countries, more than 1,000 artists, technicians, producers, accountants, public communications specialists, craftspeople, drivers… We have performed in over 20 countries — that number 20 keeps repeating itself — and have worked on three continents. We have performed in around 50 cities and towns across Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have had tens of thousands of audience members. We have been covered by all domestic media and some of the most important media outlets in the world — The Guardian, The Independent, Financial Times, The New York Times, ABC, CNN, BBC, El País, Le Monde, Reuters, AFP, and many others around the world.

What was the essential vision behind your decision to launch East West Centre in 2005, and what has sustained you to this day?

— I wanted to work freely, with people I understood and without bureaucratic, mediocre, or any other kind of obstacles. In 2004, I wrote a play and directed the production “Revolt at the National Theatre,” which ends with the main characters deciding to create an independent theatre company as a response to their difficult lives — and that then happened in reality in 2005 with the founding of East West Centre. My collaborators from the very beginning to this day are Sanela Brčić, Ismar Hadžiabdić, Lada Maglajlić, Irma Saje, Vanja Ciraj, Dino Šukalo, Lejla Abazović Muratović, Selveta Džindo, Tamara Curić, Larisa Lipovac Navojec, Vedad Orahovac, Emin Bahtanović, and Dina Bahtanović. Over time, we have worked with many outstanding collaborators. Many actors have created major roles in our productions that launched their careers. Of course, we have also worked with many domestic, regional, and international stars — actors, musicians, dancers, and choreographers.

How has your fundamental cultural and social role changed over this period, and how complicated is it, given the circumstances in which we live and knowing the position of art in our country, to sustain an independent artistic platform?

— It is difficult, because you must spend a great deal of time — sometimes 90% of your time — seeking funding and creating the conditions for work, and only then, in the remaining time, can you actually create. But it has proven worthwhile to pay such a high price for freedom. Had we not worked this way, we would never have achieved the domestic and international success we have reached.

How would you describe, in both aesthetic and ethical terms, what East West Centre has done to date?

— We have built the most modern and most successful theatre in BiH and we are among the very best in the region. That does not mean others have not made interesting theatre or achieved successes — of course they have. But in sum, over a continuous period of 20 years, even setting aside the fact that we had 10, 20, and in some cases 80 times less funding than others, we have made the most avant-garde theatre that has always been socially relevant. In 2005, with “Hamlet,” we addressed the struggle of a young Muslim against a corrupt state in a world after the terrorist attacks of September 11. Then in 2006, with “Faust,” we spoke about artificial intelligence — nineteen years before it became a global topic. With “Class Enemy” in 2008, we addressed peer violence and lost generations in BiH. In 2009, we spoke about the economic, sexual, and every other form of women’s liberation in “Nora.” We addressed feminism again in the production “The Discovery of Woman” in 2016. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo, in 2012 we created “The Sarajevo Red Line” with 11,541 red chairs on Marshal Tito Street, in memory of the victims of the siege. In 2015, in France, at the Festival d’Avignon, we staged “Hope, Srebrenica.” This year, in co-production with other Sarajevo theatres, we created the production “My Soul Loves You,” about the love of two young people — a Serb woman and a Bosniak man — during the war in BiH. Each of our productions has been an aesthetic and social event. In 2013, with “The Conquest of Happiness,” we addressed, among other things, the Palestinian issue. In 2011, we spoke about the rise of fascism in Europe in “Europe Today.”

Your productions, as well as the many other activities you have initiated — including Sarajevo Fest — have consistently focused on the need to interrogate some of the fundamental dilemmas of our time, both within post-Yugoslav societies and on a much broader level. How, from that perspective, do you explain the role of art as a corrective to society, and what does it teach us as a space for the conquest of freedom?

— Art cannot solve social problems, cannot stop wars, cannot eliminate poverty. Nor are those its tasks. Art recreates meaning and celebrates life. This is true even when art is “pessimistic.” The very act of creation is life-giving and meaningful. Peter Brook, one of the greatest directors of the 20th century, wrote about those of us who created art in wartime Sarajevo, on the occasion of my productions’ guest appearances in Paris, that what we created in Sarajevo under siege was: “Proof that life always has the last word.”

We are living through extraordinarily turbulent times in which the primacy of political power and military force once again shifts worlds. Bearing all of this in mind, where is the space for the artist, and what, in your view, should their modus vivendi be?

— Artists should create art. That is our task, our calling, our duty. Just as the mission of doctors is to heal people, ours is to create art. Before any other identity I possess, I am an artist. That is my modus vivendi.

In the context of the reality of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the marginalisation of culture and art is frequently discussed. Given your decades of experience on the scene, do you see space and possibility for change?

— It is deeply troubling. I do not complain or lament — I work; that has been my way my entire life. But culture and art in BiH have never been in as poor a state as they are now, and I do not see that changing for the better anytime soon. Culture is in a state of constant decline, and the consequences are already being felt. If this continues, we will remove ourselves from the family of civilised nations and, as a country, we will become something like a large petrol station and impoverished colony where drugs and crime proliferate. Only serious cultural, political, and social emergency action can stop this.

You have on numerous occasions throughout this year emphasised the importance of the fact that in BiH, despite all the problems we face, peace is a category that is inviolable and must be continuously worked upon. How do you view our country over these thirty years?

— There is not much wisdom in our public sphere. If there were, we would recognise that thirty years of peace in BiH is a great achievement. It is 30 years of peace in spite of politics. People have had enough of war, quarrels, loss, and poor living conditions. They see that politicians live extremely well, as does a group of the “resourceful” who have set themselves apart and drive expensive cars. Politicians do not speak of peace, democracy, or freedom. If they were to speak of those values and ask their followers to live by them, the people of BiH would be more than ready for reconciliation. Within six months we would be living a different reality. But that reality would not be profitable for politicians who have a financial interest in the perpetual creation of conflict.