Remember can't forget
The «Remember, Never Forget» project (more details) was selected for the KC Grad cultural center’s open-call exhibition program. Initially, the installations included in the project were mounted on the grounds of Old Saimisht, where photo and video documentation was also produced. The exhibition included six installations (two of which were transformed from the original design) and a video documenting the works located within the grounds. The exhibition was opened by paper panels displaying a map of the area with the locations of the installations. Each installation has its own symbol, and the symbols on the map extend onto the wall, where each symbol (made of metal) points to the installation’s explanation. Each installation is also numbered on the floor to associate the texts with the works. This way, navigation for the viewer was solved.
Point 1. Wound inside.
A transparent cube, like transparent memories, within which lies a trauma—a barbed wire crisscross. A fragment of memory that cannot be extracted, which reminds us of itself by stirring within the body of memory. In Old Saimisht, this work was installed on a real structure where local women dry their laundry. For the exhibition, a similar drying rack was constructed, on which I hung my personal belongings.
Point 2. Hilda’s letter.
Nurse Hilda Deich volunteered for the Zemun concentration camp, considering it her duty to help people. I wrote the words from her letter (which she wrote from the camp to her friends who were free): «Stalno razgovaram sa vama i želim da vas vidim jer ste vi za mene onaj izgubljeni raj» («I talk to you all the time and want to see you, because you are my ‘lost paradise'») on plexiglass sheets and used them to cover the broken windows in one of the barracks. Making the memory of these words visible, augmenting reality, everyday life, with the shadows of the past—this is the return of the materiality of memory. The sun fell so that the shadows of the words gradually dissolved on the surface of the stairwell, the word «Paradise» practically dissolving into a barely recognizable silhouette of the letters. These shadows are like a dead person’s appeal to those living.
For the exhibition, a section of stained glass was constructed, with the dimensions of the cells identical to those of the stained glass in the entrance hall. barracks. The lighting was adjusted so that the shadows of the words fell on the back of the paper panels, on the front of which is a map of the territory that greets visitors to the exhibition. Continuing with the shadows on the paper canvases, I wrote the final phrase from the last letter: “I love you, your prisoner.”
Point 3. The Curve of Forgetting.
The only work that remained on the grounds of Old Saimisht and remains there to this day. The engraving on a building block is the «forgetting curve» or «Ebbinghaus curve,» a graph clearly demonstrating the process of forgetting over time. The more time passes since an event, the more, but also the slower, the forgetting of what happened. At the same time, the strength of information retention in memory is reinforced by repetition. What can we do to prevent a tragic experience from repeating itself? Return to our memories, not allowing time to dissolve the mistakes of the past into oblivion.
For the exhibition, the engraving was made on a 390 x 390 x 20 mm panel cast from ashes. The panel is associatively reminiscent of a memorial plaque. To remember.
Point 4. Ashes of sorrow.
Near the Spasichev Pavilion, concrete cubes stand, delimiting the parking lot. Whole cubes gradually fade into ruined and broken ones, into rubble. I continued this series with a transparent cube filled with ash. Ashes gradually cover the head, just as grief can gradually consume a person. The work symbolizes the ancient Jewish custom of sprinkling ashes or earth on the head, mourning the misfortune of oneself or one’s loved ones. One can drown completely in grief, become completely engulfed in ashes, and cease to exist. But will anyone notice? It may just remain a backdrop to the everyday lives of those around you.
To display this sculpture at the exhibition, a base was constructed, which is a scaled-down module of a fragment of the central tower on the territory of Old Saimišt.
Point 5. Library of Memories.
An object whose form is based on the image of library card indexes and, at the same time, on the image of a columbarium. The memories we store in a card index gradually seep through our fingers like sand and disappear into oblivion. The slits in the front of the drawers are shaped like the letters «izgubljeni raj,» quoting a letter written by Hilda Deitch from the camp to her friends now free. Freedom is the other side of the river, clearly visible yet so unattainable that Hilda compares it to paradise. Sand, which fills the drawers, trickles through the slits, gradually emptying them, just as it does with the card index of memories.
One of the important aspects of choosing this space for the exhibition of the project is its geographical location. The window overlooks the Old Sajmišt area, and just two meters from the entrance is a monument of the Holocaust victims.
At the exhibition opening, a performance was performed in which all the letter slots simultaneously opened, pouring sand through them.
Point 6. Pendulum.
In the mirror, we see our reflection, a reflection of the present, a reflection of life. The mirror is framed by a disk cast from ashes. The present life is framed by memories of the past, of a traumatic experience. The pendulum swings, and the reflection in the mirror appears for a split second. So, in the context of the historical process, our life and the memory of it are a very brief moment. Who will remember us, and for how long? Will we leave a trace of memories? Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
«For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.»