Written by Sandra Urban //

For four months, student blockades and citizen protests have been ongoing in Serbia due to the deaths of fifteen people caused by the collapse of a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station on 1 November 2024. The students’ persistence and determination to see their demands met by state institutions — above all, to identify those responsible for the tragic event and thus expose the chain of corruption — have awakened the masses and sparked an unprecedented surge of positive energy. It feels as though people, dormant for decades, have suddenly awakened, along with hope and joy.

As students pilgrim across the country, carrying this new energy and calling for accountability, honour, knowledge, and integrity, people greet them along the roads they pass, welcome them in the streets and city squares, embrace them, kiss them, and weep in a catharsis of rekindled hope and optimism. They feel that the time has come for the country, seized by those in power, to be returned to them and become a beautiful and orderly place, like in their dreams, and in the dreams of their intrepid ancestors.

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in daily protests, bringing not only their courage and faith in the future but also their lucid and free-spirited nature, reflected in the messages written on banners. These messages draw inspiration from various sources — literary works, philosophical thoughts, folk wisdom, words spoken in historically significant moments — though the most prevalent are allusive texts filled with wit and ingenuity.

Driven by the wave of student and youth optimism, I searched for the most original textual material for protest banners. With the help of students, colleagues, and friends, I browsed books from various fields of human knowledge and creativity, translated different words and expressions, used my own knowledge and creativity, and, of course, sought assistance on the internet. There, among other things, a photograph caught my eye — on it, a yellow T-shirt with the inscription: OPTIMISM AS CULTURAL REBELLION.

The T-shirt was worn by my close high school friend, who has been living and working in London for nearly three decades. I knew that the slogan was a perfect illustration of her personality, but also of the era in which we grew up and were educated in Yugoslavia, up until the last decade of the 20th century, when everything changed. However, I also recognised the present moment and that same feeling brought about by the students and awakened in every sane person in Serbia: optimism as cultural rebellion.

I soon discovered that the author of the slogan was British artist Matthew Stone, who has been developing his personal philosophy of Optimism since 2004, defining it as „a vital force that intertwines with the future and then shapes it.“ Together with a colleague, I transcribed the slogan onto a protest banner, which was first carried at a demonstration in front of our school. Then, another colleague took it to a large protest in Niš, after which it came back home to stand in the high school hallway, waiting for a new opportunity.

Later, I read an article by Matthew Stone from 2016 in which he reflects on and reassesses his early ideas. Thanks to the goodwill and permission of the author, Art Box portal has also published this text in a Serbian translation.