Mikser Festival facts for kids

The Mikser Festival is a cool yearly event in Serbia. It's all about showing off new ideas in design, buildings, city planning, tech, art, music, and how we talk to each other. An architect named Maja Vidaković Lalić started it in 2006.

The festival brings together experts from all over the world and from Serbia. They work in creative fields like art and design. You can find lots of fun things to do there. These include talks, contests, workshops, art shows, concerts, movies, and even plays.

The festival happens once a year in Belgrade. It usually takes place at the end of May or beginning of June. It lasts for about 4 to 7 days. The very first festival was held in a place called "Žitomlina" silo in the Dorćol area. Later, it moved to Savamala, an old industrial part of Belgrade. This helped make that area lively again. In 2017, it returned to Dorćol.

Lots of people visit the festival. In 2010, about 40,000 people came. By 2017, that number grew to 75,000 visitors!

The Mikser Festival is part of a bigger group called Mikser. This group also runs Mikser House, which is a gallery and cultural spot in Savamala. Other parts of the Mikser group include reMiks Studio, Mikser TV, and Mikser Café. They even have a place called the Miksalište Refugee Center.

Sometimes, the Mikser Festival works with other events. For example, in 2006, its "Ghost Project" art show was part of Belgrade Design Week. This project first showed ideas for industrial design that were never built in Serbia. Since 2011, it has become a competition for designers from all over the world.

Festival Fun: What's Happened?

2011: New Tech and Music

The main idea for the 2011 festival was to explore new technology and try out new things. It also celebrated 20 years since the break-up of Yugoslavia. Musicians who were popular before that time were invited to play. Famous DJs like Greg Wilson and John Tejada also performed.

In 2011, Maja Vidaković Lalić started a contest called "The Young Balkan Designers." This competition was for industrial designers from the local area. A famous designer named Konstantin Grcic and Maja Vidaković Lalić were the judges. The winners got to show their work at big design events. These included the Milan Furniture Fair and Vienna Design Week.

2014: Helping Savamala Grow

In 2014, the Mikser Festival focused on the Savamala neighborhood. The goal was to help it become even better. About 40 city planners from different countries came to talk about new ideas for the area.

A dancer from Austria, William Dorner, put on a show. His goal was to inspire local people to care for their city. Three artists from Switzerland showed a cool art display. It used videos of Savamala and other cities. There were also talks and workshops with designers and architects.

2017: Big Ideas and Gaming Fun

The 2017 festival talked about important topics. These included people moving to new places, learning on the go, city life, and how culture is made. They explored these ideas through design, art, movies, and music. There was also a series of talks called "Mikser Talks."

About 50 experts from Serbia and other countries spoke. They talked about city planning, buildings, design, and technology. People from Imperial College in London gave a talk about making cities eco-friendly. The festival also had a market with handmade clothes and food. The gaming company Nordeus held workshops for young people from Serbia. Many musicians played concerts, including Marko Luis. A new part of the festival in 2017 was a creative camp. It aimed to solve social problems using technology.