Aesthetic Awareness and Spectacle: Communicated Images of Novi Sad (Serbia), the Exit Festival, and the Petrovaradin Fortress

Abstract

More research and discussion is needed to understand how destination image and awareness links to aesthetic portrayals. Representations of image, awareness, and aesthetics are embedded in textual content, and the narratives portrayed offer valuable meaning that is open to interpretation. Newspaper articles and websites play a crucial role in creating and presenting new images of places to international audiences. While image is certain, what is often overlooked in textual sources are discussions addressing the importance of aesthetics, which also link to destination image and awareness. The city of Novi Sad, Serbia represents a unique case given the location of the city's popular music event, the Exit Festival, which attracts youths from across the former Yugoslavia, Europe and the world and has contributed to a new image of Serbia. Moreover, the event's unique setting, held in the Petrovaradin Fortress on the banks of the Danube River overlooking Novi Sad, is described in relation to historical/cultural ambiance, and aesthetic attributes. Sources analyzed stressed the beauty of Novi Sad and the festival venue, but mere notions of spectacle could not be ignored. Discussions of image, awareness, and aesthetic dimensions presented in newspaper content and websites are analyzed in this article to understand how the festival textual content challenges us to re-create place meanings of Serbia.