To all of those people who destroyed my city., 2017
Graphic print 6000 x 1200 mm
Video 20:19 min. – the document of the performance
The object on the pedestal
The work was created on the foundation of historic situations which directly concern the city in which I live and create. There is a clear reference to the early nineties of the last century which have put the city into the state it currently finds itself in. Living through a breakdown, a crash on all spheres of life, has led to the state that Osijek has become a city of very uncertain future. The devastation in a physical context was visible and it remains a part of the past, while the psychological devastation of the community is still very potent and present today. I refer to both the pre-war, and the post-war period in the work, and the symbolism of one Kuna[1] in the context of the companies which have today, 26 years later, become a part of the archives of the ruined sector of economy, once a driving force of the city as a living environment. From the historical facts[2] we can conclude that the privatization with the aim of self-gain of individuals has led the city into a state of apathy and lethargy, the symptoms of the plain. The abandoned factory grounds have been left to fall into oblivion, mostly useless and snuggled in the times and nature which leads them through its own experiences. I “appropriate” them as my own creative spaces and they start to be interesting to me in the context of the works I create. The multimedia work “To all those people who destroyed my city.” was created from this experience of lifeless spaces.
There are several important items in this work; knee protectors sculpted from wood in which there are about 30 one Kuna coins inserted, indicating the symbolism of the devastation in the context of privatization which has not, in most cases, been performed for the common good, and for the benefit of the community. With the performative act of kneeling that turns into movement, I leave a trace on metal sheets with those same Kunas which is, in this case, the trace of the people who have done their share for the community, working in and for it, while being driven into a state of uncertainty by the one Kuna. Furthermore, there is an emphasized upright position of the body as a sign of the respect for the monumentality of the building, a metaphor for stability and solidity. The bloody traces contrasting with the whiteness of the paper are created by printing the metal sheets, and the very monumentality of the print of the work projects a personal perspective on the importance of the problem of the disappearing city.
„History is a material, like a clay.“ A.Kiefer
Foto: Antun Balog
[1]“Material: 65% copper (Cu), 23,2% nickel (Ni), and 11% zinc (Zn) Diameter and mass: 22,5 mm, 5g; Author: Kuzma Kovačić, academic sculptor. The upper semicircle shows a pine marten running towards the right. Across the marten’s stretched body there is a written vertical numerical value of “1”. Under the numerical value there is an inscription that says “KUNA”. Along the edge of the upper semicircle there is an inscription that says “REPUBLIKA HRVATSKA”. In the lower semicircle, along the edge, there is the national coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia. To the right of the coat of arms there are stylized ears of wheat, and to he left there is, also in a semicircle, a stylized olive branch with its fruit. The rim has 86 notches.”
[2] At the beginning of the 1990s, Osijek counted 26371 workers in 30 large companies (Analit, Opeka, Mio Standard, Svilana, Kožara, Šibicara, OLT, Mobilia, Croatia, Lio, Saponia, Kandit…). In 2011, Osijek counted 4606 workers, a great majority of which work in the only two companies that have survived the privatization – Saponia and Kandit. All of this is reflected in the number of inhabitants of Osijek, which has found itself in a continuous decline in the last ten years or so.
To all of those people who destroyed my city., 2017.
Grafički otisak 6000 x 1200 mm
Video, 20:19 min. – dokument performansa
Objekt na postamentu
Rad nastao na temelju povijesnih situacija koje se direktno dotiču grada u kojem živim i djelujem. Jasan je osvrt na početke devedesetih godina prošlog stoljeća koje su dovele grad do stanja u kojemu se trenutno nalazi. Proživljavanje sloma, kraha na svim životnim razinama dovelo je do toga da je Osijek postao grad vrlo neizvjesne budućnosti. Devastacija u fizičkom kontekstu je bila vidljiva i ona je dio prošlosti, dok je psihološka devastacija zajednice i danas vrlo potentna i aktualna. U radu se referiram na ratno i postratno razdoblje i simboliku jedne Kune[1] u kontekstu tvrtki koje su danas, 26 godina poslije, postale dio arhiva propalog gospodarskog sektora, ujedno i pokretača grada kao žive sredine. Iz povijesnih činjenica[2] možemo zaključiti da je privatiziranje u svrhu samokoristi pojedinca grad dovelo do stanja bezvoljnosti i letargije, simptoma ravnice. Napušteni tvornički kompleksi danas su prepušteni zaboravu, većinom beskorisni i uljuljkani u vremenu i prirodi koja ih vodi kroz vlastita iskustva. Iste „prisvajam“ kao vlastite stvaralačke prostore te mi počinju bivati zanimljivi u smislu radova koje stvaram. Iz toga iskustva beživotnih prostora nastao je i multimedijalan rad „To all of those people who destroyed my city“.
Nekoliko je važnih stavki u ovom radu; štitnici za koljena istesani od drveta u kojima je utisnuto 30ak kovanica od jedne Kune upućujući na simboliku devastacije u kontekstu privatizacije koja nije u većini slučajeva rađena za opće dobro, samim time za napredak zajednice. Performativnim činom klečanja koji prelazi u kretanje, s tim istim kunama ostavljam trag na metalnim pločama, koji je u ovom slučaju trag ljudi koji su dali obol zajednici, radeći u i za istu dok ih je jedna Kuna dovela do stanja neizvjesnosti. Također, naglašen je uspravni stav tijela kao poštovanje spram monumentalnosti građevine, ujedno metafori stabilnosti i čvrstoće. Krvavi tragovi u kontrastu s bjelinom papira nastaju otiskivanjem metalnih ploča te sama monumentalnost otiska rada projicira vlastito viđenje bitnosti problematike nestajanja grada.
„History is a material, like a clay.“ A.Kiefer
Mario Matoković 