Skopje, 21 March 2023 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski on Tuesday at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris delivered opening remarks at an international symposium in honour of Aco Šopov, an event which is part of the national programme “2023, Year of homage to Aco Šopov,“ held under the patronage of Macedonian President.

“We are celebrating two great jubilees – 100th anniversary of the birth of famous Macedonian poet Aco Šopov and 30th anniversary of North Macedonia’s membership in UNESCO. These extremely significant points in our socio-cultural development remind us that the task of the artist has always been to ask critical questions in the world and about the world and the time in which he lives. The literary work of our great Aco Šopov is a paradigm that poetry and overall art does not belong only to the aesthetic, but is deeply rooted in the ethical and humane,” Pendarovski said in his remarks.

He also referred to the present day and artificial intelligence that can create texts that imitate great writers.

“This is a time of scientific achievements, which leave behind the most daring and rich imagination. A time of technological miracles and robots that can write a song in a few moments that will satisfy all aesthetic demands. Is our time dead for poetry or is it dead for it? This was Aco Šopov’s message while opening the Struga Poetry Evevnings in 1962. Because as we speak, AI algorithms are already generating texts that imitate the great writers. The noise of social networks and media disturbs the silence necessary for artistic reflection and perception of the world,” Pendarovski said.

As part of the programme, which also celebrates the World Poetry Day, March 21, the 2023 winner of the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings and the winner of the Struga Bridge Prize will be announced, which is awarded in cooperation with UNESCO.

The Republic of North Macedonia has been a member of UNESCO since 1993.

Photo: print screen/ President’s YouTube channel