How do we generate a sense of responsibility? This was the central question of the 2011 October Salon. The 52nd edition of this major cultural event in southeast Europe was entitled “It's Time We Got to Know Each Other.” The exhibition was directed by two curators - Galit Eilat from Israel, whose projects are usually focused on the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, and Alenka Gregorič, an art historian from Slovenia, who is examining the responsibility of institutions that deal with culture and art.

The exhibition was held between 20 October – 4 December 2011 at the Museum of the 25th May in Belgrade and consisted of intensive and diverse programmes which incorporated video installations, photographs, and sculptures, as well as lectures, round table discussions, film projections, public events and workshops.

This year's October Salon laureate was Vahida Ramujkić (Spain / Serbia), whose archive interactive installation “History in the Debate,” which examines the subject of revising the history of South Slav nations in the textbooks of the countries of former Yugoslavia.

The award given out by the Belgrade Cultural Centre, the institution responsible for organising the Salon, went to Arthur Zmijewski from Poland for his two video works – “They” (2007) and “Repetition” (2005). The Belgian artist Jan Fabre decided to present the Belgrade Cultural Centre with his work entitled “I am a one-man movement,” which will also become the first work of art to belong to the new October Salon collection launched this year.

When asked about the concept of the exhibition, Eilat told Southeast Europe: People and Culture that the two curators opted to question the ideas of responsibility, obedience and authority, both global and local, such as of the “Occupy” protests taking place around the world, as well as the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa.

"All this has much to do with Serbia with its parallel narratives and where there is a lot of dissatisfaction, protests, unemployment, poverty, which is why we thought it would be important to attempt using the artistic system to talk about these problems," she said.

"Working with the local actors was extremely important for us in order to gain an insight into the operations of the local culture apparatus and the current policy of culture in Serbia," said Eilat. This was done through an intensive series of workshops and lectures where those who, according to Eilat, bear the responsibility for the future of the region took part, such as the Balkan Centre for the Middle East, the Učitelj Neznalica (Ignorant Teacher) and its committee platform, Blokovi NGO and the Festival Autorskog Filma (Auteur Film Festival).

Other participants of the exhibitions were: Jan Fabre (Belgium), Rod Dickinson (Great Britain), Imogen Stidoworthy (Great Britain), Yossi Atia and Itamar Rose (Israel), Yael Bertana (Israel), Amir Yatziv (Israel), Avi Mograbi (Israel), Akram Zaatari (Lebanon), Arthur Zmijewski (Poland), Ibro Hasanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mladen Miljanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Serbian collectives such as Art Klinika, Kisok, Kontekst, Center for Cultural Decontamination, as well as artists Darinka Pop Mitic, Vahida Ramujkic, Milica Tomic and Katarina Zdjelar.

Ever since 1960 when the first October Salon was held, this exhibition has been a milestone of the cultural and artistic life of Belgrade. With the beginning of the new millennium, it became an international event bringing together local artists with those from the region and the rest of the world.