Interviewed in Vienna, May 29th 2006

From the earliest age, Bogdan Bogdanović entered the world of art in the house of his father, the famous literary critic and theatre director Milan Bogdanović, where he met Miroslav Krleža at the age of seven. The circle of Belgrade surrealists around Marko Ristić decisively determined his personal style in three media – monument architecture, drawing and literature. In his artistic as well as political life, Bogdanović never went the easy way, but always swam against the current. Ever since the difficult, leaden times, when he was forced to leave Belgrade as a political emigrant, he has remained a beacon of morality.

ORIS: If we were to introduce you, we would find ourselves in quite a quandary because you have four biographies – you’re an architect, visual artist, writer, politician. Do you have a hierarchy in that sense?

Bogdanović: I’ve always thought of it as a whole. My personality was composite so everything could be harmonized. I’ve often thought about hierarchy. First of all, I’m an architect, somewhat a writer, somewhat an artist and very little a politician. But that very little was intense. However, I didn’t like the politics, I was a politician because of the situation at that time, I simply felt I should be one. I reacted according to my temperament, the counter reactions soon followed.