By organizing exhibitions, theater performances and public debates, the Center aims to help transforming social atmosphere that has been contaminated by orchestrated nationalism, hatred and destruction. Unaffiliated with any political party or government organization, the CZKD provides a venue for artists and cultural workers to work with colleagues from abroad and from other former Yugoslav republics. After the massive demonstrations that culminated in Slobodan Milosevic's ouster from power, the citizens of Serbia are slowly returning to their normal lives. For Yugoslavia, getting back to normal means getting the country readmitted to international institutions and receiving the financial aid that will ease the most acute problems of this impoverished society. A normal life also means a life without fear and the belief that from now on, we will solve our problems in a democratic way.
Democracy here is a rather mythical sanctuary where there is no anxiety and no crises.
Of course, in today's Yugoslavia no such safe haven exists. The return to reality is going to be a long, slow process. This cannot be addressed without a thorough self-examination. One of the heritages of the Milosevic era is that people mistakenly identify the state with society. But democracy does not come with how-to manuals and survival kits.