The dreams live in the books and in the centre of Podgorica, for the last fourteen years, the most diverse and beautiful dreams has been dreamed near the river Ribnica, under the bridge, in a place called Banja, the cultural and historical monument that used to be a turkish bath. The Karver bookstore lives there now
This bookstore, gallery, reading room, storyboard, stage and cafeteria is an independent cultural project of the celebrated Yugoslav actress Varja Djukic. It is designed, among other things, with the aim to bind unbound and to connect separated, so Varja has built the unique cultural circle from the very beginning by constantly bringing the guests who help her- to crash.
They crash together. Persistently, they crash walls among different world cultures; but also the walls among the Balkan countries built during the bloody wars at the end of the last century and they arouse and initiate the exchange of cultural goods which was almost completely dead among nations, which paradoxically, have always shared a common cultural heritage. Both, Varja and her friends know that the best way to reconnect with someone is simply to listen to him/her.
Since 12th April 2005, Varja Djukic has chosen that entrepreneurship in culture become one of the roles of her life. Since then, more than a thousand events have been held near the Ribnica like promotions, exhibitions, workshops, literary and film festivals, concerts … The impact that these events have had on the Montenegrin and regional artists and cultural workers is immeasurable, considering that during the past years this was a meeting place of some of the most important cultural creators from the region, as well as from all over the world, who conveyed their experiences in an almost homey, family environment to anyone who was willing to hear them.
Thanks to the quality of the offer, this entrepreneurial venture in the field of cultural and artistic production has never had a problem with media promotion. The Karver bookstore is the best example of the well-known truth that the quality of a product, offered on the market is always the best basis of a PR strategy.
Out of the bookstore, a unique cultural centre quickly emerged, which gained not only regional but also wider international fame. From the very beginning, this new and relevant cultural address had intensive cooperation with the Capital of Podgorica, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education ,the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry For Human and Minority Rights, cultural and educational institutions in Montenegro – universities and high schools, local and regional publishers, , to almost all embassies, foreign cultural centres, the European and world cultural foundations and the European Union institutions in Montenegro. The inexhaustible energy and extraordinary communication skills of its founder, which will not leave anyone indifferent if they decide to descend to the Ribnica coast and to be indulged in the magic of culture, started a team which step into a number of new projects, on even wider organizational scale and with the help of a growing number of sponsors , the activities are being implemented through Sibila llc.- Karver bookstore and NGO Spaces: it is primarily about publishing and production ventures.
In Karver, both among guests and employees, you can meet a lot of different people. It does not matter where you are from or what school you graduated in order to work with Varja Djukic and her team, it is important that you carry the culture in your heart and that you have an immense desire to convey your passion to others. Therefore, do not be surprised when you meet economists, linguists, drama artists or painters there from Montenegro but also from other countries in the region. Of course, it is even less strange that even today one of the books by Danilo Kis may be most heartily recommended by a young Bolivian, a fan of the beautiful word and a citizen of the world.
The belief in the importance of expanding cultural ties and the entrepreneurial capacity of a great playwright gave us true and unexpected pleasure: a serious private cultural centre in Montenegro. And this project has never got far away from itself.
Still, Karver is a bookstore. And dreams still live on the shelves there. You don’t have to buy a book at this bookstore to read it; you can just sit down, order a coffee and take your chosen dream. You don’t even have to read books in this bookstore; most of the time you can sit down and talk to those who wrote them. In this bookstore, you have never had to look for a story that will interest you eventually – that story will always find you easily.
All the information on the activities of the Karver Bookstore (Sibila llc) can be found on the websites: www.karver.org; www.odaklezovem.net; www.poetikazemlje.me; www.vranacprice.me
