Media Archaeology Ebook

MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY
Memory, Media and Culture in the Digital Age
MEDIJSKA ARHEOLOGIJA
Seanje, mediji i kultura u digitalnom dobu
Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Fakultet dramskih umetnosti, Beograd
MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY
Memory, Media and Culture in the Digital Age
MEDIJSKA ARHEOLOGIJA
Seanje, mediji i kultura u digitalnom dobu
Edited by / Uredile
Nevena Dakovi
Mirjana Nikoli
Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
Belgrade / Beograd, 2016.

MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY: Memory, Media and Culture in the Digital Age
MEDIJSKA ARHEOLOGIJA: Seanje, mediji i kultura u digitalnom dobu
Edited by / Uredile
dr Nevena Dakovi, dr Mirjana Nikoli, dr Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
Academic Committee / Akademski odbor

Prof. dr Nevena Dakovi, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Prof. dr Milena Dragievi ei, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Prof. dr Jelica Novakovi-Lopuina, Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade
Prof. Jacques Bonniel, Universit Lyon2
Prof. dr Miel Pavlovski, Univerzitet Sv. irilo i Metodije, Skoplje
Endorsed by / Recenzenti
Dr Zoran Milutinovi, University College, London
Dr Olga Manojlovi Pintar, Institute for the New History of Serbia, Belgrade
Dr Divna Vuksanovi, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
This publication has been published with the support of Ministry of Education,
Science and Technological Development of Republic of Serbia.
Izdavanje ovog tematskog zbornika, finansijski je podralo Ministarstvo
prosvete, nauke i tehnolokog razvoja Republike Srbije.
CONTENTS / SADRAJ
Introduction / Uvod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
I
The Archaeology of Memory Narratives & Media Texts/
Arheologija narativa seanja i medijskih tekstova
Nevena Dakovi
HISTORICAL REVISIONISM & MEDIA ARCHEOLOGY:
TV SERIES RAVNA GORA: END GAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Mirjana Nikoli
(RE)KONSTRUKCIJA SEANJA U NARATIVIMA TV SERIJA
VIE OD IGRE I MONTEVIDEO BOG TE VIDEO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Jelica Novakovi-Lopuina & Sven Peeters

DIGGING UP PRINCIP:
FROM ARCHIVE WORK TO A GOOD STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Boris Petrovi
BUILDING THE NATION THROUGH THE
WAR - WWI WAR POSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Ivan Medenica
MEDIJSKO PAMENJE ISTORIJSKOG SEANJA:
PERFORMANS OVA VAVILONSKA POMETNJA DAH TEATRA . . . . . . . 73
Marina Mualo
KAD SJEANJE POSTANE POVIJEST:
SLUAJ RUKOPISA RUDOLFA HABEDUA KATEDRALISA . . . . . . . 81
Aleksandar S. Jankovi
BARUNASTO PODZEMLJE - POLITIKA TRILOGIJA
MILUTINA PETROVIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
II
From Disseminating to Playing: Digital Archives & Video
Games/
Od diseminacije do igranja: digitalne arhive i video igre
Aleksandra Milovanovi
DIGITAL ARCHIVES AGAINST THE OBLIVION:
FAMA COLLECTION SARAJEVO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Aleksandra Mani
THE CANDLEBEARER BY GIORDANO BRUNO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Ksenija Radulovi
THE MUSEUM OF THEATRICAL ARTS OF SERBIA:
DIGITAL DATABASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Milena Jokanovi
THE NEW OLD MEDIA:
ARTISTS ARCHIVES IN THE DIGITAL AGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Nataa Dela
MNEMOTOPE OF BELGRADE: THE WEBSITE NEW DRAMA . . . . . 155
Mirko Stojkovi
NANO-SPECTACLE: PLAYING WITH MONOMYTH . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Vera Mevorah
SERIOUSNESS OF PLAY: VIDEO GAME ART IN SERBIA . . . . . . . . . 183
Biljana Mitrovi
DIGITAL MEDIA ARCHIVING PRACTICES VIDEO GAME TEXTS . . . 195
III
Production and Politics of Memory: Culture, Media and
Arts Practices/
Proizvodnja i politika seanja: kultura, mediji i umetnike
prakse
Milena Dragievi ei
MEDIATING THE PAST:
MONUMENT POLICIES & PRACTICES OF DISSENT . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Sofija Boi, Duan R. Bajagi

HISTORICAL THEMES IN PRINT MEDIA IN SERBIA:
SRPSKI/KNJIEVNI LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Vinja Kisi
EXHIBITING THE BALKANS IMAGINED: AN EXCESS IN MEDIATING
(TRANS)NATIONAL MEMORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Franjo Maleti, Blago Markota

SUSTAINABLE DIGITISATION MODELS OF ARCHIVAL
CONTENTS OF PUBLIC TELEVISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Ana Martinoli
KREIRANJE ALTERNATIVNOG MEDIJSKOG PROSTORA:
PROJEKAT RADIO BROD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Maja Risti
REPREZENTACIJA POZORINOG FESTIVALA U
ELEKTRONSKIM MEDIJIMA BITEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Biographies / Biografije . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY / MEDIJSKA ARHEOLOGIJA 9
Introduction
Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana Nikoli
and Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
New media and a number of phenomena that are related to the Internet and
telecommunications have introduced new challenges in media and culture
studies, but also in other areas of the humanities and social sciences. Media
archeology appears as a multifunctional interdisciplinary area of research
of memory, media and culture at a time when the humanities, cultural and
media studies, and arts are increasingly being focused on digital media and
technology. Archaeological metaphor refers to necessity for articulating the
material traces of the past and their social, cultural and political contextual-
ization. In this mapping of sediments and layers related to space, time and
events, media archeology is seen as archaeological and forensic research
of media, culture, media discourses and texts, media organizations, as well
as cultural policy, and branches towards archeology and history of media
and history and archeology in general, observed through the media. The first
point takes into account the expanded notion of media: from traditional me-
dia (theater and film, mass and electronic media) to new media (social, digi-
tal, screen media) and the arts. Media Archaeology is a dynamic field of study
and practice with multiple determinants, that tries to establish a new per-
spective on the new and the old. The other option is, in fact, a populist ver-
sion that studies the history and archeology through media scripts emerging
simultaneously or (more often) in a long post-time in relation to the event.
Finding its roots in media and cultural history especially in the field of
visual media such as photography and film media archeology has emerged
from at least two traditions:one is the archeology of knowledge (Foucault
1972), and the second is the archeology of cinema (Ceram 1965; Mannoni
1994). While the first provided an undisputed broad foundation for the de-
velopment of various currents and understandings of the field, by mapping
its interdisciplinary nature, the latter gave the narrow outlines focused on
history/archeology of the mechanical inventions that have enabled the in-
vention of cinema in a modest time span of Laterna Magica to the end of
10 Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana Nikoli and Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
the 19th century. The real innovative concept of media archeology has been
developed by the theoreticians from various fields (Zielinski 1999 Zielinski
& Custance 2008; Manovich, 2002; Kittler 1999; Elsaesser 2004; Ernst, 2015;
Erkki & Parikka, 2011, etc.). Then, as a hard core, a group of Berlin based
media theorists seceded, and established a scientific, engineering and tech-
nological deterministic optics (Kittler), mapping the genealogy of nonlinear
media that provided a philosophical consideration of the media in the Dem-
ocritus image of the world (Zielnski), which complicated the interdisciplin-
ary nature of the field of digital archival issues and above all the philosophy
of time (Ernst). Precisely the themes of the philosophy of time, the missing
link in the development of media archeology, has been revealed by Mary Ann
Doan in The Emergence of Cinematic Time: Modernity, contingency, the archive
(2002). Media archeology approach builds on the existing debate on the new
historicism, the new materialism, post-human era in which the questions of
methodology occupy the central place. As a specific hermeneutic reading of
the new compared to the past, media archeology finds its position primar-
ily in the discursive analysis, with different foci of narrative and text to tech-
nological and material. The importance of this approach is seen also in the
field of media practice, production and communication mechanisms, as well
as in the particular media forms and media formations.
Another path of development of media archeology as a systematization
of media material as a sample for research, reconstruction of cultural and
general history in this area, places the issues of (media) archival, exhibition,
art, textual and discursive formation (media aesthetics), at the examples of
primarily various television programs or other informative and artistic me-
dia. The research of the mediated past emerges on the basis of the archeology
of media content as a method of the urban, historical, and cultural archivis-
tics (e.g. Yugo Archives Project (YAP) or the works of Doppelganger, the artis-
tic couple from Belgrade).
The thematic proceedings Media archeology: memory, media and culture
in the digital age consists of papers presented at the international scientific
conference which was held at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, on 29
and 30 October 2015. At the event, over fifty works in the context of media
archeology as an interdisciplinary broader field of research were presented:
Media narratives of memory;Digital archives and dissemination of memories;
Meta-memory and metadata strategy;The revival of the past - heritage, identi-
ty, community;Internet, new media art practice and the resistance;(New) Hu-
manities and knowledge in the digital age, etc. This conference was organized
in the framework of the national research project on Identity and Memory:
trans-cultural texts of Dramatic Arts and the media (no. 178012) funded by
the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Repub-
lic of Serbia. Partners of this international conference were Centre for the
Promotion of Science of the Republic of Serbia and Discourse organization

Belgrade.
This book offers an interdisciplinary approach, since the analysis are
situated in various fields of cultural and media studies, sociology, philosophy,
heritage studies, art and history, etc. This is confirmed by the book chapters
through which the breadth of understanding and application of concepts and
approaches of media archeology is reflected. In a more or less direct way,
the authors of the texts have left to formulate their contribution to the un-
derstanding of media archeology, and new ways of thinking mediated past
through the selected case studies. Through particular chapters a more nar-
rative aspects are emphasized, while the other predominantly emphasize
technical aspects of the relations of memories (past), media and culture in
the digital age. The chapters thus build and make complementary the media
archeology optics mainly through case studies with theoretical support. The
examples illustrate the themes that transcend local boundaries they are
relevant in different parts of the world and in different research fields. These
chapters confirm the attempts of media archeology to define approaches and
methods for the study of media history, as well as its (implicit) lack of con-
sent to any definitive determination.
Twenty-two chapters are divided into three parts of the book: Archaeol-
ogy of narratives of memory and media texts; From dissemination to play:
digital archives and video games; and Production and policies memories of
the culture, media and artistic practice.
Film and television narratives of memory are in the focus of the first part
of the book, which consists of seven texts. Nevena Dakovi deals with the
representation of narrative and historical revisionism in the case of TV se-
ries Ravna gora, while Mirjana Nikoli analyzes the narratives of the past in
the TV series Vie od igre and Montevideo, Bog te video. Aleksandar Jankovi
approaches Serbian film history from the perspective of the history of poli-
tics and ideology, through the trilogy of the famous director Milutin Petrovi.
Jelica Novakovi Lopuina and Sven Peeters addressed the disclosure of mul-
tilayered representations of Principle and his act that marked the beginning
of the First World War, while Boris Petrovi put in the focus of the analysis
displays of enemies on war posters in the wider imagological context. The
phenomenon of remembrance/memory in performing arts was critically re-
viewed by Ivan Medenica on the case of the early performances of the inde-
pendent theater group from Belgrade DAH theater, pointing to the complex-
ity of establishing and maintaining the (media) memory in such practices
or performances. Through a narrative approach Marina Mualo presented a
new reading of the manuscript of the journalist and writer Rudolf Habedu
Katedralis about Radio Zagreb and about the spirit of the times in which it
was created.
12 Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana Nikoli and Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
The second part of the book, entitled From dissemination to play: digital
archives and video games brings together eight articles in a variety of the-
matic sense, but close to the key concept of archive. Aleksandra Milovanovi
focused attention on the digitization and ways of creation of digital archives
project case Fama collection, while Ksenija Radulovi presented project on
the information history of theater in Serbia, i.e. the repository of digital col-
lections of the Museum of Theatre Art of Serbia. In searching for the modern
understanding of the connection between theater and philosophy, Aleksan-
dra Mani investigated specific archives, digital video settings of the comedy
Candlebearer by Giordano Bruno, as a paradigmatic case. On the other side,
Milena Jokanovi turns to different understanding of the sense of archive as
a source of contemporary artistic practices and poetics, while Nataa Dela
has treated a dramatic text (archive) as a means of connecting individual and
collective memory. Three chapters on video games (by Mirko Stojkovi, Vera
Mevorah, and Biljana Mitrovi) have contributed to expanding our under-
standing of media archeology, both in thematic and in the narrow epistemo-
logical sense.
Production and policies of memory: culture, media and artistic prac-
tices is the title of the third part of the book in which seven articles round off
the theme of this anthology through a practical approach to research prob-
lem. In the context of public and cultural policy, Milena Dragicevi ei dealt
with artistic practices and narratives of memory formation against the of-
ficial policies of representation, while Vesna uki focused the attention on
the impact of the process of secularization in the politics of identity and col-
lective memory. The issues of identity and memory are approached by Vinja
Kisi through the analysis and interpretation of the exhibition on the Balkans,
with a special focus on the dissonance of national narratives and memories.
The research of historical themes in the classical sense is conducted by Sofija
Boi and Duan R. Bajagi by treating Serbian/Literary Journal as the archive
and the media at the same time. On the regional importance of digitization
of media and metadata records was indicated by Franjo Maleti and Blago
Markota at the case of Croatian Radio-Television. In her article on Radio
Brod, Ana Martinoli deals with complex interweaving of political and social
tensions in the Yugoslav media space twentieth century. Finally, the work of
Maja Risti on media presentation of the famous festival BITEF rounds up
this publication, thus returning the readers and researchers to be the basic
postulate of research and presentation of archived media materials.
And when the corpus of theoretical discourse related to media archeol-
ogy is complemented with new technical and technological framework which
implies on the total social relations, cultural, media and artistic practice, new
research frameworks are being opened, whose part has been the inspiration
the creators of the Conference Media Archaeology and the Proceedings.
Given the determinants of new technology, the research subjects of Media
Archaeology significantly expand, the methodological patterns modify, and

the ranges of knowledge and their application develop. In this sense, media
archeology is approached as a subject, a methodological framework and tech-
nology that allows the creation of symbiosis of the past and the future; opens
up enormous opportunities which combine memory and oblivion, written
and digital artifacts, mainstream and new media art, whose research cre-
ates a bridge between the archival material, media texts and digital archives,
and new forms such as video games and digital platforms. New technological
frameworks bring new aesthetics, new ethics, new general, media ecology
whose understanding requires both new theoretical postulates whose func-
tion is not only theoretization, but a more categorical construction of appara-
tus for further understanding and development of the new era literacy.
References:
Ceram, C. W. (1965) Archaeology of the Cinema, Harcourt, Brace & World.
Doan, Mary Ann (2002) The Emergence of Cinematic Time: Modernity, contingency, the
archive, Harvard University Press.
Elsaesser, T. (2004) The New Film History as Media Archaeology, Cinemas: Journal
of Film Studies, vol. 14, no. 2-3, pp. 75-117.
Ernst, Wolfgang (2015) Stirrings in the Archives: Order from Disorder, Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers.
Foucault, Michel. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge (1st American ed.). New York,
NY: Pantheon Books.
Huhtamo, Erkki and Jussi Parikka, eds. (2011) Media Archaeology. Approaches, Ap-
plications and Implications. Berkley, University of California Press.
Kittler, Friedrich A. (1999) Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, Stanford University Press.
Mannoni, Laurent (1994) Le Grand art de la lumire et de lombre : archologie du
cinma. Paris: Editions Nathan.
Manovich, Lev. (2002). The language of new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Zielinski, Siegfried (1999) Audiovisions: Cinema and Television as Entractes in His-
tory, Amsterdam University Press.
Zielinski, Siegfried and Gloria Custance (2008) Deep Time of the Media: Toward an
Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means, MIT Press.
Uvod
Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana Nikoli
i Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
Novi mediji i niz fenomena koji se vezuju za Internet i telekomunikacije uneli

su nove izazove u studije medija i kulture, ali i u druge oblasti humanistikih
i drutvenih nauka. Medijska arheologija javlja se kao multifunkcionalna in-
terdisciplinarna oblast istraivanja seanja, medija i kulture u vreme kada
su humanistika, studije kulture, medija i umetnosti sve vie fokusirani na di-
gitalne medije i tehnologije. Arheoloka metafora odnosi se na potrebu za
artikulisanjem materijalnih tragova prolosti i njihovom drutvenom, kultur-
nom i politikom kontekstualizacijom. U tom mapiranju sedimenata i sloje-
va vezanih za prostor, vreme i dogaaje, medijska arheologija se poima kao
arheoloko i forenziko istraivanje medija, kulture, medijskih diskursa
i tekstova, medijskih organzacija, kao i kulturne politike, odnosno, rava se
u prvacu arheologije i istorije medija i istorije i arheologije sagledanih kroz
medije. Prva odrednica uzima u obzir proirene medije: od klasinih medija
(pozorita i filma, masovnih i elektronskih medija) do novih medija (dru-
tvenih, digitalnih, ekranskih medija) i umetnosti. Medijska arheologija pred-
stavlja dinamino polje istraivanja i prakse sa viestrukim determinantama,
koje pokuava da uspostavi novu perspektivu sagledavanja novog i starog.
Druga opcija je, zapravo, populistika verzija koja prouava istoriju i arhe-
ologiju kroz medijske zapise nastale istovremeno ili (ee) u dugom post
vremenu u odnosu na zbivanje.
Nalazei svoje korene u medijskoj i kulturnoj istoriji, naroito u oblasti
vizuelnih medija kao to su fotografija i film, medijska arheologija iznikla je iz
najmanje dve tradicije: jedna je Fukoova arheologija znanja (Foucault 1972),
a druga Ceramova arheologija bioskopa (Ceram 1965; Mannoni 1994). Dok
je prva pruila nesporne iroke temelje za razvoj razliitih struja i poima-
nja oblasti mapirajui interdisciplinarnu prirodu, potonja je dala uske obrise
usmerene na istoriju/arheologiju mehanikih pronalazaka koji su omoguili
nastanak kinematografa u skromnom vremenskom rasponu od Laterne ma-
gice do kraja 19. veka. Pravi, inovativni koncept medijske arheologije razvili
16 Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana Nikoli i Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
su teoretiari iz razliitih oblasti (Zielinski 1999; Zielinski & Custance 2008;

Manovich, 2002; Kittler 1999; Elsaesser 2004; Ernst, 2015; Erkki & Parikka,
2011, etc.). Tada se kao vrsto jezgro izdvaja grupa berlinskih teoretiara
medija koji uspostavljaju naunu, ininjersku i tehno deterministiku opti-
ku (Kittler); mapiraju nelinearnu genealogiju medija (variantologija) koja
obezbeuje filozofsko razmatranje mesta medija u Demokritovoj slici sveta
(Zielnski); uslonjavaju interdisciplinarnu prirodu oblasti problemima digi-
talne arhivistike i nadasve filozofije vremena (Ernst). Upravo tematike filozo-
fije vremena, kariku koja nedostaje u razvoju medijske arheologije, otkriva
nam Meri En Doan (Mary Ann Doane) Nastanak filmskog vremena: moderni-
zam, kontigentnost, arhiva (The Emergence of Cinematic Time: modernity, con-
togency, the archive, 2002). Pristup medijske arheologije nadovezuje se na
postojee debate o novom istoricizmu, novom materijalizmu, post-humanom
dobu u kojima pitanja metodologije zauzimaju centralno mesto. Kao specifi-
no hermeneutiko itanje novog naspram prolog, medijska arheologija
svoje stanovite nalazi prvenstveno u diskurzivnoj analizi, sa razliitim foku-
sima od narativnog i tekstualnog do tehnolokog i materijalnog. Znaaj ovog
pristupa oitava se i na polju medijskih praksi, produkcionih i komunikacij-
skih mehanizama, kao i pojedinanih medijskih formi i medijskih formacija.
Druga linija razvoja medijske arheologije pojmljene kao sistematizaci-
ja medijskog materijala kao uzorka za istraivanja, rekonstrukciju kulturne i
opte istorije postavlja u ovoj oblasti pitanja (medijske) arhivistike, izlaga-
nja, umetnikog, tekstualnog i diskurzivnog oblikovanja (medijske estetike),
a na primerima pre svega raznovrsnog televizijskog programa ili drugih in-
formativnih i umetnikih medija. Istraivanje medijatizovane prolosti nie
na temeljima arheologije medijskog sadraja kao metoda urbane, istorijske,
kulturne arhivistike (npr. projekat Jugo Arhive (YAP) ili radovi Doplgengera,
umetnikog para iz Beograda).
Tematski zbornik Medijska arheologija: seanje, mediji i kultura u digi-
talnom dobu ine radovi sa meunarodnog naunog skupa koji je odran na
Fakultetu dramskih umetnosti u Beogradu 29. i 30. oktobra 2015. godine. Na
skupu je predstavljeno preko pedeset radova u okviru medijske rheologije
ko ire intersdisciplinrne oblsti istrivnj: Medijski nrtivi senj;
Digitlne rhive i disemincij senj; Metmemorij i metdt strtegije;
Oivljvnje prolosti - nslee, identitet, zjednic; Internet, novi mediji,
umetnike prkse i otpor; (Nov) humnistik i znnje u digitlno dob, itd.
Ovaj skup organizovan je u okviru rada na nacionalnom naunom projektu
Identitet i seanje: transkulturalni tekstovi dramskih umetnosti i medija (br.
178012) koji finansira Ministarstvo prosvete, nauke i tehnolokog razvoja
Republike Srbije. Partneri ovog meunarodnog skupa bili su Centar za pro-
mociju nauke Republike Srbije i organizacija Diskurs Beograd.
Knjiga koja je pred nama nudi jedan interdisciplinarni pristup, budui
da analize dolaze iz razliitih oblasti studija kulture, medija, ali i sociologije,
filozofije, studija naslea, umetnosti i istorije, itd. To potvruju i sami tek-

stovi, poglavlja knjige, u kojima se oituje irina u poimanju i primeni kon-
cepta i pristupa medijske arheologije. Autori tekstova su, na manje ili vie
direktan nain, prepustili da se kroz studije sluaja oblikuje njihov doprinos
razumevanju medijske arheologije, odnosno novim nainima promiljanja
medijski posredovane prolosti. Kroz pojedina poglavlja naglaavaju se vie
narativni, a kroz druga dominantno tehniki aspekti odnosa seanja (pro-
losti), medija i kulture u digitalnom dobu. Tekstovi grade i dopunjuju optiku
medijske arheologije uglavnom kroz studije sluaja sa teorijskom potporom.
Predstavljeni primeri ilustruju teme koje prevazilaze lokalne okvire one su
relevantne u razliitim delovima sveta i u razliitim istraivakim poljima.
Ova autorska poglavlja potvruju i nastojanja medijske arheologije da defini-
e pristupe i metode za istraivanje medijske prolosti, kao i njen (implicitni)
nepristanak na bilo kakvo definitivno odreenje.
Ukupno dvadeset dva autorska poglavlja podeljena su u tri dela knjige:
Arheologija narativa seanja i medijskih tekstova, Od diseminacije do igra-
nja: digitalne arhive i video igre i Proizvodnja i politika seanja: kultura,
mediji i umetnike prakse.
Filmski i televizijski narativi seanja u fokusu su prvog dela knjige koji
ini sedam tekstova. Nevena Dakovi bavi se reprezentacijom narativa i isto-
rijskog revizionizma na primeru TV serije Ravna gora, dok Mirjana Nikoli
analizira narative prolosti u TV serijama Vie od igre i Montevideo, Bog te
video. Istoriji srpskog filma Aleksandar Jankovi pristupa iz perspektive isto-
rije politike i ideologije, kroz filmsku trilogiju referentnog reditelja Milutina
Petrovia. Jelica Novakovi-Lopuina i Sven Peeters pozabavili su se razot-
krivanjem vieslojnih predstava o Principu i njegovom inu koji je obeleio
poetak Prvog svetskog rata, dok je Boris Petrovi u fokus analize stavio pri-
kaze neprijatelja na ratnim posterima u irem imagolokom kontekstu. Fe-
nomen pamenja/seanja u izvoakim umetnostima Ivan Medenica kritiki
je preispitivao na primeru ranih performansa nezavisne pozorine grupe iz
Beograda DAH teatra, ukazujui na sloenost uspostavljanja i odranja (me-
dijskog) pamenja u takvim praksama, odnosno izvedbama. Marina Mualo
je kroz narativni pristup predoila novo itanje jednog rukopisa novinara i
knjievnika Rudolfa Habedua-Katedralisa o Radio Zagrebu i o duhu vreme-
na u kojem je nastao.
Drugi deo knjige, pod nazivom Od diseminacije do igranja: digitalne ar-
hive i video igre okuplja osam tekstova raznolikih u tematskom smislu, ali
bliskih prema kljunom pojmu arhive. Aleksandra Milovanovi usmerila je
panju na procese digitalizacije i naina formiranja digitalnih arhiva na pri-
meru projekta Fama kolekcija, dok je Ksenija Radulovi predstavila projekat
informacione istorije pozorita u Srbiji, odnosno repozitorijum digitalnih ko-
lekcija Muzeja pozorine umetnosti Srbije. Tragajui za savremenim razume-
vanjem veza izmeu pozorita i filozofije, Aleksandra Mani je istraivala
18 Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana Nikoli i Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
specifine arhive, digitalne video zapise postavki komedije Svear ordana

Bruna, kao jednog paradigmatinog primera. Milena Jokanovi okree se dru-
gaijem razumevanju smisla arhiva kao izvora savremenih umetnikih poeti-
ka i praksi, dok Nataa Dela tretira dramski tekst kao svojevrsno (arhivsko)
sredstvo u povezivanju individualnog i kolektivnog seanja. Tri rada o video
igrama (Mirko Stojkovi, Vera Mevorah, Biljana Mitrovi) unose proirenje u
razumevanju medijske arheologije, kako u usko tematskom tako i u episte-
molokom smislu.
Proizvodnja i politika seanja: kultura, mediji i umetnike prakse na-
ziv je treeg dela knjige u kome sedam tekstova zaokruuju tematiku ovog
zbornika kroz praktini pristup istraivakom problemu. U kontekstu javne
i kulturne politike, Milena Dragievi ei bavila se umetnikim praksama
i narativima formiranja seanja naspram zvaninih politika reprezentacije,
dok je Vesna uki panju usmerila na uticaj procesa sekularizacije na po-
litike identiteta i kolektivno pamenje. Pitanjima identiteta i seanja Vinja
Kisi pristupila je kroz analizu i interpretaciju izlobe o Balkanu, stavljajui
poseban fokus na disonantnost nacionalnih narativa i seanja. Istraivanjem
istorijskih tema u klasinom smislu bavili su se Sofija Boi i Duan R. Bajagi
tretirajui Srpski/ Knjievni list istovremeno kao arhivu i medij. O regional-
nom znaaju digitalizacije medijskih zapisa i metapodataka ukazali su Franjo
Maleti i Blago Markota na primeru Hrvatske Radio-televizije. Ana Martinoli
se u svom tekstu o Radio Brodu bavila kompleksnim preplitanjem politikih
i drutvenih tenzija na jugoslovenskom medijskom prostoru devedesetih go-
dina dvadesetog veka. Konano, rad Maje Risti o medijskom predstavljanju
uvenog festivala BITEF zaokruuje ovaj Zbornik vraajui i itaoce i mogue
istraivae na osnovne postulate istraivanja i prezentovanja arhivirane me-
dijske grae.
I kada korpus teorijskih diskursa vezanih za medijsku arheologiju upot-
punimo novim tehniko-tehnolokim okvirom koji se implikuje na ukupne
drutvene odnose, kulturnu, medijsku i umetniku praksu, otvaraju se novi
okviri istraivanja iji je jedan deo upravo bio inspiracija kreatorima Konfe-
rencije Medijska arheologija i ovog Zbornika. U kljuu novih tehnolokih
determinanti, predmeti istraivanja arheologije medija, znatno se proiru-
ju, modifikuju se metodoloki obrasci, pomeraju dometi saznanja i njihove
primene. U tom smislu, medijskoj arheologiji se pristupa kao temi, metodo-
lokom okviru i tehnici koja omoguava stvaranje simbioze prolosti i budu-
nosti; otvaraju se ogromne mogunosti kojima se spajaju seanje i zaborav,
pisani i digitalni artefakti, mainstream i novomedijska umetnost, ije istra-
ivanje stvara most izmeu arhivske grae, medijskih tekstova i digitalnih
arhiva, odnosno novih formi poput video igara i digitalnih platformi. Novi
tehnoloki okviri rezultiraju novom estetikom, novom etikom, generalno,
novom medijskom ekologijom za ije razumevanje su potrebni i novi teorij-
ski postulati ija funkcija nije samo teoretizacija, ve i izgradnja kategorikih

aparata za razumevanje i razvoj pismenosti novog doba.
Reference:
Ceram, C. W. (1965) Archaeology of the Cinema, Harcourt, Brace & World.
Doan, Mary Ann (2002) The Emergence of Cinematic Time: Modernity, contingency, the
archive, Harvard University Press.
Elsaesser, T. (2004) The New Film History as Media Archaeology, Cinemas: Journal
of Film Studies, vol. 14, no. 2-3, pp. 75-117.
Ernst, Wolfgang (2015) Stirrings in the Archives: Order from Disorder, Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers.
Foucault, Michel. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge (1st American ed.). New York,
NY: Pantheon Books.
Huhtamo, Erkki and Jussi Parikka, eds. (2011) Media Archaeology. Approaches, Ap-
plications and Implications. Berkley, University of California Press.
Kittler, Friedrich A. (1999) Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, Stanford University Press.
Mannoni, Laurent (1994) Le Grand art de la lumire et de lombre : archologie du
cinma. Paris: Editions Nathan.
Manovich, Lev. (2002). The language of new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Zielinski, Siegfried (1999) Audiovisions: Cinema and Television as Entractes in His-
tory, Amsterdam University Press.
Zielinski, Siegfried and Gloria Custance (2008) Deep Time of the Media: Toward an
Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means, MIT Press.
I
The Archaeology of Memory
Narratives & Media Texts
Arheologija narativa seanja i

medijskih tekstova
HISTORICAL REVISIONISM
& MEDIA ARCHEOLOGY:
TV SERIES RAVNA GORA: END GAME
Nevena Dakovi
To the memory of my beloved father

and his version of (hi)story.
The archive manages to maintain order through heavy investment of

organizational energy. One function of the cultural archive is to ensure that
improbable (that is, seemingly useless) data is preserved for future possible
information []. What remains from the past in archives is the physical trace of
symbolically coded matter, which in its materiality is simply present in space.
The more cultural data are processed in electronic, fugitive form, the more
the traditional archive gains authority from the very materiality of its artifacts
(parchment, paper, tapes) an archival retro-effect.
(Wolfgang Ernst 2004: 2)
The aim of this paper, as the second part of the research Historical Revision-
ism on Screen and Media Archaeology,1 is to analyse the TV series Ravna gora
(Rado Baji, 2013/2014), as the peak of the most recent wave of the Chet-
niks narratives of historical revisionism. The dominant analytical optique is
moved from historical revisionism to media archaeology as a more conve-
nient approach for two-pronged research. The TV series is analysed as the text
of history, memory and archive (distinguished as digital and cultural)2, and
as the point of their intersection and overlapping. The media experts claim
that media archaeology helps us meet and understand the social impact of
rapidly evolving communication technologies, the uncertainties of collective
belonging (Kantsteiner 2006: 11) recognised as memory, identity and his-
24 Nevena Dakovi
tory. The TV narrative is approached through palimpsest de-construction

of John Tosh (1984) mediated history, i.e. history made by and in public, mass
media such as film, TV, historical, literary and web texts, or of the layers of
myth, memory and archives. Eventually, the emphasis placed on the ability
of media archaeology to deal with the challenges of coming to terms with
war and genocide (Ibid., loco. cit) as omnipresent topic (in history, memory
and archives) of WW2 and the Chetnik movement, confirms the adequacy of
the chosen theoretical framework. The research proceeds in several steps:
from the definition of the media archaeology, via media texts as narratives of
(collective) memory and history, the notions of multifaceted archives,3 to the
actual media archaeology analysis of the TV series.
History, Memory, Archive

The term media archaeology involves complex theoretical and method-
ological passage from non-textual to diagrammatic turn to deconstructive
permanent self-reflection, toward digging out secret paths in history, which
might help us to find our way into the future (Zielinski 1996), or to Foucaults
basic notion of media as epistemological toy (comp. Bollmer 2015: 68). Wolf-
gang Ernest writes that antiquarianism acknowledges the past as artifactual
hardware, so to speak, upon which historical discourse operates like a soft-
ware (Ernst 2005: 589). The hardware and software of the media discourses
generate and explain history and memory narratives of the past which does
not sit passively awaiting interpretation, but is made, remade and changed
through media. Accordingly, media archaeology, as employed in this paper,
has a two-fold focus. Firstly, it is interested in the identification of the used
media texts brought into light as recuperated by new media, and their knowl-
edge impact, while neglecting the habitual technological aspects. In return,
the given knowledge is seen as conditioned by the character of the (media)
sources, texts and archives, their narrative intertwining and methods of read-
ing or interpretation, all examined by media archaeology. The rebalance of
the object of study is articulated in Ernsts definition of the discipline:
My media archaeology is an archaeology of the technological conditions
of the sayable and thinkable in culture, an excavation of evidence of how
techniques direct human or nonhuman utteranceswithout reducing
techniques to mere apparatuses (encompassing, for example, the ancient
rules of rhetoric as well. (Ernst 2013: 195)
Secondly, it is the analysis of the uses of technologys/medias past to write
counter-histories to the mainstream [...] history (Parikka 2012: 6) as well
as memory narratives. The construction of the various representations of the
past determined by the all-inclusive effects of medias development is neatly
summed up in Pierre Noras conclusion:
The media culture of the late twentieth century spews out identities and
representations of the past which have little relation to any shared tradi-
tions, life worlds, or political institutions other than the frantic pace of me-
dia consumption itself. (cited in: Fogu and Kantsteiner 2006: 301)
The meticulous excavation of the forgotten media-cultural phenomena and
filling lacunas in shared knowledge (Parikka 2012, loc. cit.) performed by
media archaeology leads to complex and comprehensive assumptions. It sug-
gests the media archaeology research as condition sine qua non for mapping
out the populist and mass media versatile debate historical, memory and
archival about the Chetnik movement in WWII. The investigation of the
cultural layers of technology forms the discourse which itself merits the at-
tention as being the pop-cultural and media-historical revisionist one. Devel-
oped through media, literature, theatre, film and series, its layers (re)write
the desirable image of the past (hi)story. The longed-for revisionist narra-
tive, as the compilation of official and mythical mediated is conformed to
the needs of the actual political and ideological framework. The new version
works both ways in a sense of being determined by the (collective) memory,
as well as adequately reshaping its narratives. Neither memories nor histo-
ries seem objective and longer. In both cases we are learning to take account
of conscious or unconscious selection, interpretation and distortion (Burke
2011: 189), thus allowing history to be more appropriately defined as a par-
ticular type of cultural memory (Kantsteiner 2002).
The interlacing of history and memory in media acknowledges the dual
status of the texts as the memory of media and the media of memory.
The media of memory that help us construct and transmit our knowledge
and feelings about the past relay on various combinations of discursive,
visual and spatial elements. Therefore, collective memories are multimedia
collages consisting in part of a mixture of pictorial images and scenes, slo-
gans, quips, and snatches of verse, abstractions, plot types and stretches of
discourse, and even false etymologies. (Kantsteiner 2006: 21)
Ravna gora makes various sources, media and archives that were forgotten or
had limited accessibility such as old films only recently put on YouTube or
made in special DVD editions; old TV series which survived in urban mythol-
ogy; new Via-sat history episodes; texts on web sites like Serbianna; (sound
of) good old type writer and history books coalesce into the mass media
perceived public history, cultural and collective memory and various kind of
archives, marked after John Tosh (1984) theories, as areas somewhere be-
tween humanities and social sciences, as well as an art of detection of the
media texts. Employing various media that recorded and stored archaeologi-
cal data over the last century, Ravna gora offers a new version of the past
(WW2) recounted with the authority borrowed from the media to which new
stories of the old themes are transferred. The effects of TV presentation of
26 Nevena Dakovi
the data has complex archival retro-effect. The series becomes both meta-
archive and self-recurring archive presenting the archive of public history,
the history of media and offering foundations for the memory construction.4
As every archive, recognised as storage of systematised and labelled docu-
ments, it has the potential to proliferate ever increasing number of texts and
narratives which in return momentously get the status of archives artefacts
(written, audio, visual documents).
However the archive does not tell stories; only secondary narratives
give meaningful coherence to its discontinuous elements (Ernest 2004: 3).
Accordingly, by structuring and organizing the mediated archive into the (hi)
stories, memories or witnessing, Ravna gora becomes a narrative in the sec-
ond degree, while by applying an archaeological sensibility to (this) tmoi-
gnage in the second mediated degree we bring to light the telling ironies
that burst the bubble of myth (Graves-Brown 2015: 57). Concerning the
history of WW2 in Yugoslavia, the eroded myth mainly refers to partisan-
socialist-revolution one. Nonetheless, after the 1990s, by gaining the mythi-
cal momentum, the revisionism allowed the TV series, in double entendre, to
burst the bubble both of partisan myth and of the Chetniks it initially aimed
to support and promote.
The political moment involves two components that further tailor the
narrative perspective. The first is the wave of historical revisionism and divi-
sion of the WW2 past speeded up by the break-up of Yugoslavia. The image of
WW2 as of socialist revolution and anti-fascist battle is pushed into oblivion,
while the image of the conflict as civil war comes to the front. The disintegra-
tion of SFRY advanced the thesis that the legacy of civil war (of WW2) had to
be brought to the point, all the debts paid and revenge completed in the wars
of the Yugoslav secession in the 1990s. The partisans as the Yugoslav revolu-
tionist and antifascist warriors, the perfect heroes of Yugoslav red westerns
were abandoned and relegated into the background. The innovative histori-
cal narrative got refined through time in response to the traumatic events.
The regimes of Slobodan Miloevi and Franjo Tuman equally demon-
ized the figure of, until then untouchable, Josip Broz in order of creating the
new structure of memory, in which the nationalism is rehabilitated and the
anti-fascism is put in question. In Serbia, the process has been turned into
the equalisation of the partisans and the collaborationists under the heading
of anti-fascist, while in Croatia the NDH has been represented as the victim of
the partisan terror (Ramet 2006: 302-303).
The revised history, accommodated by political regime in power, re-
shapes the culture of collective memory (which exists on the level of families,
professions, political generations, ethnic and regional groups) based in so-
ciety and its inventory of signs and symbols (Lebow 2006: 33) presented in
the range of media texts. Every government, directly and imminently, creates
its own present, and also decides about the past, which in return once more
(re)constructs the present and the future (and their ideologies). All three
time dimensions buckle into the circle of mythical time which rules in the
Balkans.5
Produced almost as the first WW2 series in Republic of Serbia (i.e. after
2006), and coinciding with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the
Great War, Ravna gora had the perfect setting of the national(ist) histori-
cal narrative making the two epochs, when Serbia played an important role,
amalgamate into the mediated mythical history. The fusion is facilitated by
the arguments about the genetic link between the role of the Chetniks in
WW2 and, broadly, the glorious tradition of not only the Chetniks but of the
whole of Serbian Army in the Great War. With all narrative constituents, the
TV series is smoothly recognised as popular, ideologically utilitarian nation-
alist (re)interpretation of history and memory. The project is seen as the
space for the self-(re)imagining and self-historicization of the authentic past
of new Serbia. The versions of history and memory competing with the,
until then, official ones, are imperatively based upon true events and char-
acters as noted in the end rewritten through the evocation of previous
media recordings and stories now seen through both revisionist and mythi-
cal lenses.
Ravna gora
The ten episodes that have been broadcast are almost two thirds of the first
part entitled Ravna gora of the announced and planned Dramatic Trilogy
1941-1945 (Dramska trilogija 1941-1945). Conceived and long nursed ven-
ture of Rado Baji an actor turned total auteur and specialized in popular
rural stories of stereo- and ethno- typical Serbs6 came to life as a joint proj-
ect funded by state television RTS (at the time headed by Aleksandar Tijani),
as well as different regional sponsors, and supported by highest government
instances and approved by a great part of the public. In accordance with his
ambition, the responsibility and the burden of telling a new version of his-
tory, Baji accepted upon himself declining a much needed help of historians
or other relevant figures. He wrote the scenario after the already mediated
historical narratives, selected after biased criteria: popular culture, national-
ist myths and recycled stereotypes.
In a way, ideologically displaced and reframed spectacles of partisans
patriotism and heroism in WW2 became the basis of an attempt in writing
a different history and related national reconciliation discourse. A number
of historical inaccuracies made out of pure sloppiness and desire for perfect
image were to be covered by the impressionable key character of general
Mihailovi and his soldiers. The produced episodes tell the story of the first
two months of the German occupation, the arrival of Chetniks to Serbia over
the Drina river, and the foundation of their HQ at Ravna gora. Out of ten titles,
28 Nevena Dakovi
three are mythical toponyms Tara, Drina and Ravna gora; three echo with
historical and art references of certain magnitude: The Attack/Napad, The
Breakdown/Slom (like Emil Zolas eponymous historical novel Le debacle
(1892)) and The Downfall/Sunovrat; one is simply called Tito introducing
communist leader as Draa`s significant small Other, and one is named af-
ter the emblematic knife Kama7 carried by the Chetniks.
Multiple narrative lines are placed in Belgrade, along the Chetniks way
to Serbia and in two typical Serbian villages, Planinica and Zaovine, with so-
cially representative characters: cunning and manipulative peasants (Rado-
slav Milenkovi / Stanoje Tarali), a village teacher communist leader (uitelj
ivadin / Igor orevi), honest highlanders (Nikodije Janji Kode / Boda
Ninkovi), Jews (Maa Lazarevi) and war prisoners, pro Yugoslav officers
and gentlemen (lieutenant Rudolf Ukmar / Radko Poli), sheltering Serbi-
an family (the Janjis), and raped innocent victims (Marica Janji / Tamara
Popovi). The rhizomatic narrative works for meticulous and comprehensive
portrayal of the virtuous, endangered nation waiting for the Messiah found in
TV mediated history in the figure of Draa Mihailovi.8
A huge range of previous texts of mediated history, palimpsestically laid
one above the other, is recognizable in the narratively stretched, slow paced
and morose series. Majority refers to the figure of Draa, history of the Chet-
niks and WW2, and the figure of communist leaders.
Screen fiction and faction layers shape Draa as a beloved, noble, re-
spected figure of intelligence officer, a military attach, a caring lovely per-
son, and a man with versatile pater familias attitude. In a number of screen
representations, he becomes the one chosen by the people to lead the people
and preserve the nation and its mythomoteur. First he aligns with the Hol-
lywood portrait of the freedom fighter as combination of Robin Hood and
Pancho Villa (Louis Kings Chetniks (Fighting Guerrilla, 1942); or a simple
family man in the early thirties with young wife and two kids (a perfect Hol-
lywood family). The hollywoodized general in British production is found
in the figure of Milo Petrovi (Undercover (Sergei Nolbandov, 1942) who is
righteous and honest, impeccably shaven, wearing a uniform resembling the
regular army uniform.9
The gentle portrayal of the noble patriotic freedom fighter is under-
pinned by the historical and media analytical writings of the American his-
torian of Serbian origin, Karl Savi. His digital writings, on website and blog
Serbianna,10 contain a detailed, but biased comparative analysis of media
texts and historical facts of both Hollywood and ill destined Nolbandovs film.
In the same screen realm, other articles, digitalized documents and you tube
copies of the two films (historical photos and documentaries) are found, that
became widely accessible in this way for the first time.
The popular charting of Draa as the scapegoat of history and the Allies
is also presented in Via-sat history serial, The Secret War, episode (2002),
dealing with the British and Churchill renouncement of Chetniks. It tells the
story of James Klugmann responsible for procuring false data about deeds
and actions of Chetniks and partisans in Serbia, and thus providing the argu-
ments for the switch of the sides. The important discovery that Klugmann
was close to Cambridge Five and loyal to left and communist, became widely
known only when put on screen in the new millennium.
The same historical narrative as the topic of the 1991 book The Rape of
Serbia: The British Role in Titos Grab for Power, 1943-1944 passed almost un-
noticed. The book is written by Michael Lees, a British officer during World
War II with impeccable credentials as a guerrilla fighter on the side of the
doomed Mihailovic (Lees, 1991). In the book review, with an indicative title
Coffin for Mihailovic, David Binder11 claims that it
...offers fresh and astonishing material [...] culled from long-secret files that
turned up in the Public Records Office in London. (The author) documents
how James Klugmann, a Communist, and Basil Davidson, a self-described
leftist, both stationed in the Cairo headquarters of the Special Operations
Executive, systematically discredited Mihailovic while undermining British
material support for his forces. Their methods included manipulating bat-
tle maps and messages from the field, and attributing successful Chetnik
military actions to the partisans. [...] The pair of emissaries, William Deakin
and Fitzroy Maclean derived their evidence for accusing the Mihailovic
forces of collaborating with the occupiers almost entirely from Partisan
sources, which were blatantly biased. Neither spent any time with the Chet-
niks. (Binder 1991)
In the national production, Draa as the memorable and remarkable
main or almost main character appears in the film Trap for the General (Klop-
ka za generala,1971, Miomir Miki Stamenkovi) and in the mini TV series The
Last Act (Poslednji in, 1981, Sava Mrmak) and is played, respectively, by Rade
Markovi and Milan Puzi.12 Two screen fictions are based upon the same
historical event told as the legend of the secret services of the capturing of
Mihailovi and his closest collaborators. In both narratives, treating the topic
in vastly different ways, a more interesting figure, recognised as the epitome
of the true Chetnik is the real Nikola Kalabi (Zoran Ranki in The Last Act)
or one renamed as Ras (Ljuba Tadi in The Trap for the General). The Trap
for the General, made as the politically correct action film, revolves around
ethical dilemmas of the officer of OZNA (Doktor, Bekim Fehmiu) who orches-
trates the whole undercover action. Draa gains the momentum only in the
last scene, when begging to be shot and not left alive to stand the trial. In The
Last Act, the confrontation of partisans and Chetniks is implicitly positioned
as the conflict of two equally morally righteous sides. The sympathies and
empathy of the audience was divided between the two, while a timid Serbian
nationalist of the time got a new hero with Kalabi and his boisterous replica
Kalabi sam ja, bre.
30 Nevena Dakovi
The appearances of typical, anonymous Chetniks have longer and more

elaborate tradition. Inevitable bad guys and villains of every partisan film (or
red western from Battle of Neretva (Bitka na Neretvi, 1964, Veljko Bulaji) to
Guns of War (Uika republika, 1974, ivorad ika Mitrovi) appear as brutal,
bloodthirsty, disobedient slaughterers and rapists. utura (Milo Timotijevi),
the archvillain among Draas men in the episode Kama (predictably describ-
ing all sorts of war crimes - killing of the Muslim population in Bosnia, raping
of the Serbian girls, robbery) is descendant of Japan (Tanasije Uzunovi) from
Poslednji in or famous Misirac (Toma Kuruzovi) from Povratak otpisanih.
Symmetrically, the narrative provides the elements of an alternative
version of the history of communist party similarly as presented in the opus
magnum of Dobrica osi (Vreme smrti / The Time of Death, 1972-1979 and
Vreme zla / The Time of Evil, 1985-1990).
Aware of revisionist half fiction character of the series, Baji tried to as-
sure its historical relevance and credibility by the insertion of the original
documentary shots from the epoch. The first ten minutes of the first episode
consists of the reedited material of the probably the best documentary film
of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Max Kalmi`s The Unfinished Symphony of
One City or The Story of One Day ( 1941, Nedovrena simfonija jednog grada
ili Pria jednog dana)13 and added famous shots of the bombing of Belgrade,
previously seen in Makavejevs Innocence Unprotected (Nevinost bez zatite,
1968), as well as many other visual texts. Fiction-faction combination the
tradition going back to the 1960s and Kino Klub Beograd is made as a seam-
less switch between two kind of materials, highly narratively functional and
imbuing fiction with the strong feeling of reality and authenticity of the past.
In Ravna gora, these are mainly rough, mechanical cuts feebly alluding to the
model of reconstructive fiction but managing to wake up the audience from
the morose long establishing shots of fiction. The change from coloured and
unpersuasive to archaic black and white images of Belgrade disrupts the mo-
notonous perception of the audience, almost achieving the Russian formal-
ists effects of zatrudnenie and ostranenie.
The other element strengthening the historically grounded reconstruc-
tive fiction is habitual identification of the time and place, written by the typ-
ing machine in old fashioned letters accompanied by doomsday tapping
sounds. The process endows the fictional scenes with the impression of be-
ing the newly found and immediately labelled archival documents or even
newly made archival new media documents. The suggested archival quality
provides the series with the status of a meta, all-inclusive, audio-visual ar-
chive made as the real interplay of traditional and digital archives (Ernst
2013: 93). The option of on-line viewing14 endorses the TV series as:
...subject and object of cultural memory. For as soon as audio-visual trans-
missions remain accessible online in digital archives, they constitute a
challenge to the common practice of live broadcasting. This has certain
consequences for the media culture of memory and for the more traditional
philological inquiry into cultural narrative as such. (Ernst 2002: 625)
Still, the complexity of the text could be grasped only bearing in mind the
context of its premiere. Ravna gora was broadcast in 2013/2014, after the
election of the New Government and, as already pointed out, in the atmo-
sphere of the celebration of the centenary of the Great War which helped
the promotion of new mythomoteur rooted in national homogenisation and
reconciliation discourses. The series endlessly refers (visually, verbally) to
the mythical past, ambivalent victory on Kosovo, but even more it evokes the
hope and glory of Great War, which Serbia has to revive and continue. Draa
does not go to Ravna gora until he gets the support of the son of ivojin
Mii (Aleksandar urica) literary the blood line of Serbian ideals, flesh
and blood of the eternity. Visually, the myth of Great War echoes Krakovs Cal-
vary of Serbia (Golgota Srbije, 1932, Stanislav Krakov) episode with the flags
and shots of krajputai and cemeteries already cited by ika Mitrovi.15 The
panoramic shot of the Drina river from the Bosnian side reverberates the
famous ending of Mitrovis March on the Drina (Mar na Drinu, 1964) taken
from the opposite, Serbian side.
The Great War with poetics of survival and life became new mythomo-
teur of Serbs replacing the mythomoteur of Kosovo as poetics of death
with the Chetniks placed close to its centre. Ravna gora sustains the change
further connecting it with the contemporary imperative of survival and prog-
ress founded upon politics of converging and no more forking paths to
Europe and national glory. New ideology and government demand new past
which Ravna gora offers in the form of the political pulp fiction and soap
opera (Prpa 2013).16
The interstitial and interdisciplinary place of the TV series is argued by
the new media and new archive networked constituents such as revision-
ism, new mythomoteur, mediated public history, collective memory narrative
found in the text. Ravna gora is identified as a rewritten kitschy national
myth and mythomoteur based upon official history and traditional memo-
ry, thus gaining reliability and social efficiency. The mediated history and
rearticulated memory efface the borders between fiction and facts turning
into the demanded, utilitarian narrative of the past highly efficient in the ac-
tual political context. As every present is supported by the past, it is simulta-
neously new version of national memory, the one assuring the unmistakable
states continuity and the reconciled nation, homogenized to firmly stand
behind the leader and survive Kosovo, Albanian mountains and almost the
same road to Europe.
Being art and media text, TV series,
critical of the media of memory, ironical even, (TV series) could provide as-
sistance towards the superannuation of outdated images of recollection so
32 Nevena Dakovi
as to open up for the present day areas of thinking where the former media
memory of writing, printing, photography, film, video and television, vinyl
and tape recordings, converge because everything is in the same data-flow
of computing and streaming. (Ernst 2005: 98)
However, it fails to bridge the gap of the encounters of fiction, memory and
myth with real history. But smoothly and effortlessly, it charts the Chetniks
narrative in the territory bordered by the four points: digital and digitalized
archives, traditional and computer memory aesthetic, myth and official
history.
References:
Binder, David. 1991. A Coffin for Mihailovic, http://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/10/
books/a-coffin-for-mihailovic.html. retrieved 10/01/15
Bollmer, Grant. 2015. Fragile Storage, Digital Futures, Journal of Contemporary Ar-
chaeology 2.1, pp. 66-72.
Burke, Peter. 2011 (1989). History as Social Memory in: Jeffrey K. Olick, Vered
Vinitzky-Seroussi and Daniel Levy (eds.) The Collective Memory Reader. Oxford:
Oxford, pp. 188-193.
Dakovi, Nevena. 2003. Cinema and Death in: E. Biasini, Giulio Bursi, Leonardo Qua-
resima (eds), Films Thresholds, Udine: Universita di Udine, pp. 489-495.
Dakovi, Nevena. 2008. Balkan kao filmski anr: slika, tekst, nacija, Beograd: Institut
za pozorite, film, radio i televiziju FDU
Dakovi, Nevena. 2014a. Mythomoteur i Veliki rat. Zbornik radova FDU, no. 25-26,
Beograd: Institut za pozorite, film, radio i televiziju FDU pp. 139-159.
Dakovi, Nevena. 2014b. Studije filma: ogledi o filmskim tekstovima seanja. Beograd:
FDU.
Dakovi, Nevena. 2015. Istorijski revizionizam na ekranu i medijska arheologija (I):
ekranska istorija etnika, Zbornik Fakulteta dramskih umetnosti no. 28, Beograd:
Institut za pozorite, film, radio i televiziju FDU, pp. 113-129.
Ernst, Wolfgang. 2002. Between Real Time and Memory on Demand: Reflections
on/of Television, https://www.medienwissenschaft.hu-berlin.de/de/medien-
wissenschaft/medientheorien/downloads/publikationen/ernst-between-real-
time-and-memory-on-demand.pdf, 625-637. retrieved 10/01/16
Ernst, Wolfgang. 2004. The archive as metaphor, https://archivepublic.wordpress.
com/texts/wolfgang-ernst/. retrieved 10/01/16
Ernst, Wolfgang. Let there Be Irony: Cultural History and Media Archaeology in Par-
allel Lines, Art History, Vol 28, no. 5, November 2005, pp. 582-603.
Ernst, Wolfgang. 2013. Digital Memory and the Archive. Minnesotta: University of
Minnesotta Press.
Fogu, Claudio Fogu and Wulf Kantsteiner. 2006. The Politics of memory and the Poet-
ics of History, in: Lebow, Richard Ned & Wulf Kansteiner & Claudio Fogu (eds.)
The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe. Durham and London: Duke UP, pp.
284-311.
Graves-Brown, Paul. 2015. The Sex Pistols Guitar Tuner: Material Culture and My-
thology, Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 2.1, pp. 52-58.
Kansteiner, Wulf. 2002. Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of

Collective Memory Studies, History and Theory, Vol. 41, No. 2. (May, 2002), pp.
179-197.
Kantsteiner, Wulf. 2006. In Pursuit of German Memory: History, Television, and Politics
After Auschwitz. Ohio: Ohio UP.
Lebow, Richard Ned. The Memory of Politics in Postwar Europe in Richard Ned
Lebow, Wulf Kansteiner, Claudio Fogu (eds.) The Politics of Memory in Postwar
Europe, Durham and London: Duke UP, pp. 1-40.
Lees, Michael. 1991. The Rape of Serbia: The British Role in Titos Grab for Power, 1943-
1944. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Parikka, Jussi. 2012. What is Media Archeology? Cambridge: Polity Press.
Ramet, Sabrina. Srpska i hrvatska povijesna naracija, Anali hrvatskog politikolokog
drutva, 2006, str. 299-323.
Tosh, John. 1984. The Pursuit of History. London: Routledge.
Notes
1 The first part of the paper, entitled Istorijski revizionizam na ekranu i medijska ar-
heologija (I): ekranska istorija etnika, is published in: Zbornik Fakulteta dramskih
umetnosti no. 28/ 2015, pp. 113-129.
2 Kantsteiner conceptualises the collective memory as the hybrid of different forms
of memory, and the result of the interaction among three types of social factors: the
intellectual and cultural traditions that frame all our representations of the past,
the memory makers who selectively adopt and manipulate these traditions and the
memory consumers who use, ignore, or transform such artefacts to their own inter-
ests. (2006: 12)
Traditions and memory artifacts are offered by the media texts put under scrutiny by
media archaeology.
3 Media archaeology being concerned with signal processing rather than with semi-
otics directs attention to the technological addressability of memory, discovering
an archival stratum in cultural memory sedimentation which is neither purely hu-
man nor purely technological, but literally in between: symbolic operations which
analyse the phantasms of cultural memory as memory machine. (Ernst 2004: 2)
4 From a media-archaeological view, instead of narrative memory, a digital culture
deals with calculating memory. The evidence of files in archives knew it already: da-
ta-based memory cannot tell but only count, in accordance with the administrative
logic which produces such files. Narrative may be the medium of social memory; the
medium of archives, though, is the alphanumerical mode in conjunction with ma-
terialities (of data support) and logistical programs (symbolic operators). Power is
the area where narratives dont take place; the rest is interpretation. The archive
registers, it does not tell. Only metaphorically can it be compared to human memory
unless taken neurologically. (Ernst 2004: 3)
5 For more see Dakovi (2008: 60-67).
6 He became identified with the themes of traditional life in the pastoral countryside,
through his monodrama Led (1978) but indisputably through his highly popular
previous series Selo gori a baba se elja (2007-2011) described on IMDB as The
adventures of the residents of Petlovac, a typical Serbian village where the old cus-
toms and values are preserved in contrast to the contemporary, alienated world of
the city (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0906069/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1). Of course, the
34 Nevena Dakovi
originally preserved rural, perennial Serbia has every advantage over Europeanized
cities where people betray their essential Serbianness and Balkanness.
7 The film made as the condensed narrative of the series, told in flashback when old
Milisav Janji (Marko Nikoli) returns to Serbia, after many years, is entiteld after
the motto of the Chetniks For King and Country (Za kralja i otadbinu, 2015, Rado
Baji). Together with Milena (Neda Arneri) and her grand daughter (Ivana Adi) he
revisitis the historical places of the past telling his version of history.
8 Besides the obvious attempt in the rehabilitation of Draa that coincided with the
successful end of the court process in reality- the other historical figure hoping to
get the same destiny is Milan Nedi (Fea Stojanovi). From the very first appear-
ance, Nedi is shown to be honest, lonely, betrayed character; abandoned by former
friends and colleagues. Sitting in the dark in the house prison, he modestly longs to
be able to go to his grandchild birthday. The audience is prepared to be empathi-
cal and is given arguments for the historical justification of the controversial figure.
His historical role of the traitor or avior of the nation are still in the centre of the
polemics between SANU, Serbian Government, Liberal party, Democratic Party and
relevant historians. As there would be no continuation of the series, Nedis future
would not be seen on the screen, nor the text would turn into the plea for his histori-
cal rehabilitation, and recognition.
9 Comp. Dakovi 2008: 153.
10 Serbianna is conceptualized, following the model of Europeana, as a portal for the
written and audiovisual presentations of Serbian history.
11 He is the former Belgrade bureau chief for The New York Times.
12 For more see: Dakovi 2015, op. cit.
13 The same shots are included in the documentary about the early history of the Yu-
goslav cinema Eppur si muove (1963, Branko Ranitovi) and, more importantly, the
same are used in the feature fiction film Marathon Family (Maratonci tre poasni
krug, 1982, Slobodan ijan). As Berlin, simfonija velegrada (Berlin: Die Sinfonie der
Grosstadt, 1927, Walter Ruttmann) or ovek sa filmskom kamerom (Chelovek s kino-
apparatom,1929, Dziga Vertov). Kalmis film offers the chronicle of the one day in
the metropolis, citing and alluding to the composition of the shots and the graphical
repetitivity of Vertov`s constructivist film. The similarity is underlined by the opening
credits done in complementary avant guard style (with the list of characters such as
Belgrade`s Milkman, one abandoned bouquet of flowers, the pair of lacquered shoes
and many other known and known actors of our city ). However, the brilliant shots
of the cameraman, Mihajlo Ivanjikov, later would be used as the documentary shots
inserted in the film of the epochs, sustaining the atmosphere, reconstructing the ma-
teriality of the era. The shots from Symphony are later seen in the TV series, Unpicked
Strawberries (Grlom u jagode, 1974, Sran Karanovi), film Throatful of Strawberries
(Jagode u grlu, 1985, Sran Karanovi), Montvideo, God Bless You (Montevideo, Bog te
video (2010, Dragan Bjelogrli) (comp. Dakovi, 2003, 489-495).
14 http://domaceonline.blogspot.rs/search/label/Ravna%20Gora
15 For more see: Dakovi 2014 op. cit.
16 Branka Prpa. 2013. Poele polemike o seriji Ravna gora http://www.politika.rs/
scc/clanak/275394/Pocele-polemike-o-seriji-Ravna-gora retrieved 10/01/16
(RE)KONSTRUKCIJA SEANJA U
NARATIVIMA TV SERIJA VIE OD IGRE I
MONTEVIDEO BOG TE VIDEO
Mirjana Nikoli
Uvod
Mediji, prvenstveno film i televizija, mogu se posmatrati kao oblik kontek-
stualizacije tehnologije, odnosno dobra koja su drutvima donela jednu
novu dimenziju vezanu za mogunost beleenja prolosti, uvanja seanja
na drutveno, kulturno ili individualno bitne dogaaje.1 Medijske tehnologije
odigrale su dominantnu ulogu u realizaciji projekta i sprovoenju strategije
kulturnog kodiranja kojim seanja prelaze u kulturno i drutveno pamenje
(Kulji 2006). Opte je poznato da su metodi fizikog memorisanja prolosti i
memorijalizacije pamenja bili od davnina prisutni kroz umetnika likovna,
knjievna dela; meutim, ive rei i pokretne slike uspeno su u bioskope
ili domove donele sadanjost, da bi ona ve sutra postala delo prolosti koja
e biti zapamena. I dok je kod umetnikih dela slika, skulptura, roman,
poema uvek postojala ideja da su to umetniki artefakti koji se subjektivno
procenjuju i interpretiraju, filmski i televizijski produkti nudili su verizam,
zraili poverenjem, te nisu bili podloni kritikoj valorizaciji, ve su ned-
vosmisleno i nekritiki prihvatani kao artefakti. U tome i lei tajna zbog koje
su film i televizija vrlo visoko pozicionirani na listi umetnosti i medija koji
imaju kapacitet da manipuliu, pri emu se jedan od estih vidova manipu-
lacije upravo javlja kroz beleenje prolosti, njenu reprezentaciju (i reinter-
pretaciju) i konzervaciju kao dela individualnog i kolektivnog seanja. U tom
smislu, Kulji sistematizuje metode i tehnike koji se koriste u cilju konstrui-
sanja smisla prolosti i njenog integrisanja sa interesima vladajuih ili domi-
nantnih drutvenih grupa. U skladu sa definisanim ciljem, prate se: (a) dina-
mika promena izbora sadraja prolosti, odnosno izmene sadraja i smisla
koji se trai u prolosti; (b) naracija, tj. nain izlaganja, izbora, povezivanja i
osmiljavanje rastrzanih sadraja; i (c) drutveni sklopovi koji pogoduju oi
vljavanju pamenja na odreena zbivanja (Kulji 2006: 11).
36 Mirjana Nikoli
Film i televizijski formati, posebno oni igrane strukture dramski i

serijski programi, pokazali su veliki kapacitet upravo u pedantnom odabi
ru sadraj iz prolosti, kao i sposobnost da ih autentino uoblie i dodaju
elemente fikcije, ime se stvaraju autentina umetnika dela, u iji su nara
tiv snano utkana poeljna tumaenja prolih vremena. U sluajevima kon
zistentnih drutvenih sistema, u kojima gotovo vekovima postoji jedinstven
odnos prema prolosti, posebno prema nacionalnim mitovima i istorijski va
nim dogaajima, filmska i televizijska naracija obino je jedinstvena i jed
noznana. Mogue je da se u istorijskim prikazima engleskih, francuskih ili
nemakih suverena pojave sitna odstupanja, ali ukupna struktura medijskog
teksta ostae jedinstvena i orijentisana ka glorifikaciji, bitnoj sa nacionalnog
aspekta. Odstupanja se mogu pojaviti kao rezultat novih istorijskih injenica
i na nivou incidenta, kao oblik revizion izma i novog itanja prolosti.
U sluaju zemalja kao to je bila Jugoslavija (DFJ, FNRJ i konano SFRJ)
koja je 90-ih doivela i graanski rad i secesiju, medijski tekstovi - filmovi,
igrani TV programi, drame, serije... idealan su primer ne samo nekoherentne
kulture seanja, ve i medijske interpretacije prolosti u skladu sa dnevno-
politikim potrebama. Oni apsolutno svedoe o ideolokom korienju pro
losti (politizacija seanja), ali i o artikulisanju kolektivnog odnosa prema
deavanjima iz prolosti na osnovu kojeg se vri izgradnja kolektivnih iden
titeta (Roga 2012). Dogaaji iz blie i dalje istorije belee se uz korinje
tehnikih sredstava i kroz umetniki postupak, reprezentuju se bioskopskoj
ili televizijskoj publici. Kada je re o dogaajima koji nisu mogli ni na ko
ji nain da budu deo individualnog seanja publike, seanje medija postaje
prvostepeno deo individualnog, pa potom kolektivnog pamenja. U sluaju
dogaaja u kojima je deo publike mogao da bude svedok, pojavljuju se dve
situacije. U susretu sa umetnikim, medijskim sadrajem, filmom, igranim TV
programom, publika svojim seanjima dodaje medijski narativ kojim je zabe
leena prolost, i sa njim je potpuno ili delimino saglasna, odnosno suprot
stavljena, ukoliko umetnika interpretacija odstupa od modela seanja koji
su oni kao pojedinci ili njihova drtvena grupa izgradili kao deo pamenja. S
druge strane, ukoliko pojedinac ili grupa kao deo publike, nisu bili savreme
nici, neposredni svedoci u izgradnji percepcije, istiem percepcije, dogaaja iz
prolosti, medijski narativi postaju dominantni u kreiranju seanja, izgradnji
i prenoenju pamenja. U takvim situacijama, dolazi do izraaja konstrukti
vistiki karakter medija, mo pozitivne i negativne manipulacije u skladu sa
umetnikim slobodama ili, to je jo opasnije, dominantnim ideolokim kon
ceptima. Zahvaljujui medijima, uranjamo u kombinovano kognitivno-emoci
onalno seanje koje je oblikovano nainom medijske reprezentacije dogaaja
(Nikoli, 2012).
Iz navedenih razloga, u istoriji balkanske produkcije igranih serijskih i
filmskih sadraja, imamo situaciju da se pojavljuje neka vrsta diskontinuite
ta. U periodu socijalistikog ureenja, neki dogaaji, neke linosti iz prolo
sti procenjene su i reprezentovane na, za to vreme, eljeni i opteprihvaen

nain. Sa promenom sistema i politikih prilika, takav nain prezentacije se
revidira i uspostavlja se novo itanje prolosti utemeljeno na novom ideolo
ko-politikom obrascu. Ovakva situacija zahteva uvoenje pojma medijskog
revizion izma koji je suptilniji, esto moniji i dalekoseniji. U naoj filmskoj
i televizijskoj produkciji, najreprezentativniji primeri su filmovi i serije o na
rodnooslobodilakoj borbi, koji su u vreme snimanja nudili jednu, jedinstve
no itanu, sliku prolosti; u sadanjem vremenskom trenutku, imamo veoma
raznorodne odnose kako prema prolosti, tako i prema medijskim tekstovi
ma u kojima je ta prolost reprezentovana.
Televizijske serije (re)interpretacija i oivljavanje prolosti
Savremene studije televizije, osim to se bave njenim ekspresivnim mogu

nostima, estetskim dometima i publikom, veoma esto postavljaju dilemu
koliko su televizijski sadraji reprezentacija realnosti, odnosno koliko su
manipulacija (ei, u Ristovi 2007: 752).
Ova dilema vie je nego prisutna kada govorimo o tekuoj, dnevnoj pro
dukciji koja obiluje informativnim, politikim, dokumentarnim, kolanim
programima kod kojih ve pri izboru i selekciji onoga to e dobiti medijski
prostor uvodimo neki opravdan ili neopravdan subjektivitet, kojim inimo
da ti sadraji postanu sociop olitiki konstrukt koji se razvija kontinuira
no, vienamenski i sa poznatim i oprobanim narativima. (Neiger 2011: 4,
5). Drugostepeno posmatrajui, postavlja se pitanje da li epitet konstrukta
moe biti primenjen i na igrane strukture televizijskog programa dramskih,
odnosno serijskih programa. Kao i u sluaju filma i njegovih kapaciteta da
svojim narativom doara prolost, reprezentuje deavanja od kojih nas deli
vie vekova, decenija ili godina, slinu situaciju sreemo i kada televizijske
stanice kao producenti ili kooproducenti igranih programa, svojim narativom
pokuavaju da kreiraju novu sliku prolosti koja postaje konstrukcija seanja
velikog dela publike, gledalaca, na nain i pod uslovima koji su ideoloko, po
litiki i generalno kulturoloki usklaeni sa intencijama aktuelnih nosilaca
politikog odluivanja i vlasti. irok dijapazon narativnih i ekspresivnih sred
stava kojima raspolau kreatori igranih formi, produciranih za televizijsko
emitovanje, nudi nesagledive mogunosti da se situac ije i dogaaji iz prolo
sti predstave na najrazliitiji nain, iz razliitih uglova i naravno sa vrlo raz
liitim intencijama.
Kroz igrane televizijske programe, publika usvaja celovite modele ivota
i ponaanja, ambijente, komunikacijske obrasce, drutvene odnose, stilove
ivota iz prolih vremena. Za razliku od informativnih programa kod kojih je
publika generalno, a posebno ona medijski opismenjena, sklona da promilja
i procenjuje validnost iznetih podataka, publika igranih programa je znatno
38 Mirjana Nikoli
manje senzibilisana u smislu provere i procene manipulacije koje nose ovi

sadraji. Oputeni dijalozi, ljupki likovi, scenografija, kostimi, razvoj radnje
u kojoj akcenat obino nije na politikim prilikama i faktima, ve na linim
sudbinama i odnosima zaod enutim socio-politiko-ekonomskim prilikama,
poseduju mnogo vei kapacitet manipulacije i promocije za taj trenutak po
eljnog itanja prolosti.
Televizija je na eks-jugoslovenskim prostorima postala realnost u estoj
deceniji 20. veka i to: 1956. u Zagrebu, a 1958. godine u Ljubljani i Beogra
du. Iz tehnikih razloga, nepostojanja magnetoskopa, najvei deo program
skih sadraja ovih stanica je emitovan uivo, to je bila karakteristika igranih,
dramskih i serijskih programa. Sa razvojem ekonomske osnove i televizije i
drutva, raste obim i kvalitet produkcije ove vrste programa.
Tokom osme decenije 20. veka u Srbiji, televizija kao medij i TV aparat
kao sredstvo, nisu vie tehnika novina koja je bliska graanima sa veim pri
manjima. Opta demokratizacija drutva i finansijski napredak uinili su da
sve vei broj porodica poseduje TV aparat, a televizijski programi se multipli
kuju uvoenjem Drugog programa TV Beograda, (31. 12. 1971. godine), kao i
uvoenjem emitovanja programa u boji. Razvoj televizije i njenih perfomansi
predstavljao je paradigmu razvoja drutva, odraz poveanja opteg bogatstva
i rasta standarda, u smislu ega je zadatak televizijskog programa bio da po
mogne u stvaranju novih identiteta likova socijalizma, i onih koji doprinose
njegovoj izgradnji, i onih koji izgrauju njegove vrednosti (ei, u Ristovi
2007: 753). Tematski i anrovski, televizijski programi tog vremena nisu bili
posebno raznovrsni, ali kao i svuda u svetu, i tada i danas, serije su bile pri
vilegovani medijski artefakt za razumevanje vrednosti, nastojanja, ambicije
(ei, u Ristovi 2007: 752). Zahvaljujui tim sadrajima, publici je pruena
mogunost da kroz recepciju igranih programa razvija kombinovano kogni
tivno-emocionalno seanje, koje je oblikovano medijskom reprezentacijom
dogaaja iz prolosti i usaglaeno sa ideol okim i drutvenim kontekstom.
Ovde moemo aktuelizovati stavove Albvaksa (Maurice Halbwachs) koji po
tvruju kako su i zato TV serije generalno i osamdesetih godina, ali i danas,
funkcionalne medijske forme kroz koje se uspomene ponovo pojavljuju u ne
ijem seanju. On smatra da je prvi preduslov da se seanje moe dovesti u
vezu sa naim trenutnim problemima, a drugi uslov je da seanje usvojimo
kroz stanovite drutvene grupe u okviru koje ono ima smisla (Halbwachs
1944: 141-143). I upravo kada je re o televizijskim serijama koje su predmet
ove analize, igrani programi u produkciji TV Beograd kroz celokupnu istoriju,
najdirektnije su usaglaeni sa drutvenim, politikim okolnostima i ukupnim
ambijentom u kome su one producirane i emitovane.
Ideol ogija, politika, sport serije Vie od igre (1976) i

Montevideo, Bog te video (2012)
Kontekst
Godine 1977. kada je na programu Televizije Beograd premijerno prikazana
serija Vie od igre, u svetu je premijerno emitovana serija Koreni (The Ro
ots) koja se bavi problemima prvih afroamerikanaca koji su kao robovi doli
na tlo Amerike.
Kada je re o drutvem deavanjima, to je period u kome je dolo do la
ke politizacije svakodnevnog ivota (Vueti 2013), naroito nakon usvajanja
Ustava (1974)2, Zakona o udruenom radu (1976) i konano ozbiljnih ras
prava koje je izazvalo nezadovoljstvo rukovodstva Republike Srbije asime
trinom upravom u ovoj republici, zbog injenice da su se u njenom sastavu
nalazile dve pokrajine SAP Vojvodina i SAP Kosovo. U 1977. godini, Tito je
iao na veliku turneju po SSSR-u, Kini i Severnoj Koreji, gde je doekan uz
najvie poasti i spektakularne sletove, dok je Edvard Kardelj putovao u SAD
i imao susrete sa kosovskim rukovodstvom. Kada je re o meunarodnim
odnosima, interesantno je da je 3. januara 1977. godine MMF odobrio novi
zajam Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu, ali uz uslov sprovoenja najavljenih strogih
mera tednje. Te godine odran je istorijski koncert grupe Bjelo dugme kod
Hajduke esme, a poslednji koncert, neposredno pred smrt, odrao je i le
gendarni Elvis Prisli.
Narativi seanja
Ukupan ambijent u Jugoslaviji i Srbiji tokom osme decenije 20. veka, ukazivao
je na poetak uruavanja politikih i nacion alnih odnosa; meutim, mediji i
medijski tekstovi i dalje deluju unisono sa tendencijom ouvanja, konzervi
ranja stanja i ideje jugoslovenstva. U taj koncept uklapa se serija Vie od igre
(reija: Zdravko otra, scenario: Slobodan Stojanovi) koja je jednim delom
za cilj imala da uvrsti i razvije politiki poeljan koncept jugoslovenstva, an
tifaizma, socijalizma. Obrazac po kome je serija graena ima jasne odlike
ideol oke konstrukcije, ali ega? kako se u naslovu svog dela pita Ijan He
king (Heking 2012).
Prikazujui deavanja u periodu od deset godina (1931-1941), u fikci
onom gradiu Gradina3, intencija serije je da glorifikuje poetke radnikog
pokreta u Srbiji koji sa poetkom Drugog svetskog rata prerasta u pokret ot
pora. Konstruktivizam na koji nailazimo u ovoj seriji odlikuje odreena dvo
stepenost. Za razliku od brojnih TV serija koje su kroz svoje narative glorifi
kovale, pa i falsifikovale, prolost u skladu sa eljenim ideolokim ciljevima,
40 Mirjana Nikoli
serija Vie od ige ne referira direktno na narodnooslobodilaku borbu, Drugi

svetski rat, okupaciju... Veom a diskretno, kroz rivalitet dva fudbalska kluba
Radniki i Graanski, prati se polarizacija srpskog drutva na buroaziju i
radniku klasu, odnosno 1941. godine, na okupatore i pripadnike pokreta ot
pora partizane. Sa svojim dobro karakterizovanim likovima, ova serija tei
da postane artefakt jednog vremena i jasno, neno i pitko porui da je jedina
ispravna budunost, budunost zemlje na osnovama koje su postavljene na
temeljima borbe rodoljub, patriot i naravno komunist.
Seriju Vie od igre ine 9 epizoda podeljenih u tri celine: 1) 1931. godina
period koji je prikazan kao vreme u koje besni teror diktature i oseaju se
posledice velike ekonomske krize; 2) 1937. godina kada dolazi do preporoda
radnikog pokreta i njegovog sudara sa faizmom i konano 3) 1941. kao go
dina okupacije, ustanka, revolucije (Andri 1998: 724-726). S obzirom da je
Gradina toponim imaginarne varoi, u seriji nema istorijskih likova, mada je
mogue povui paralele sa nekim od linosti tog vremena koje nisu eksplicit
no imenovane. Serija nije pretendovala da bude realistini istorijski prikaz,
ve je ostala fikcion a hronika imaginarnog grada i likova, ali sa vrlo snanim
istorijskim background-om, to se uklapa u konstataciju da je ratna tematika
u odreenom smislu stalna politika dramskog repertoara Televizije Beograd
(Popovi 1984: 5). Nerealistinou likova i objekata, publici se sugerie stav
da u Srbiji nije bila jedna Gradina, ve je to mogla biti svaka varoica. Poseban
arm seriji daju kolektivni likovi dva lokalna fudbalska kluba, to teite svih
antagonizama malo pomera i relaksira, a eljene ideol oke konstrukcije ini
lake prihvatljivijim. Loptaki sport, kako se tada fudbal najee nazivao,
odlino je pomono sredstvo i kohezion i faktor u graenju radnje, ali i celo
kupne reprezentacije i konstrukcije prolosti.
Godine 2012, kao koprodukcijski projekat produkcijske kue Intermedia
network i RTS, realizovan je film, a potom i serija Montevideo Bog te video (re
ija: Dragan Bjelogrli, scenario: Sran Dragojevi i Ranko Boi). Radnja se
rije koja je u svojoj prvoj sezoni4 imala 8 epizoda, kao i dokumetranog filma,
za centralnu temu ima pojavu i razvoj fudbala na Balkanu, u Kraljevini Jugo
slaviji. Kroz prizmu dva rivalska beog radska fudbalska kluba BSK i Jugoslavi
ja, a potom napore reprezentacije Jugoslavije u fudbalu, odnosno loptakom
sportu, da prikupi sredstva za odlazak na prvo svetsko prvenstvo u Urugvaju
(Montevideo), serija pria priu o drutvenim, politikim i kulturnim kreta
njima kako u Beogradu, tako i u svetu. Radnja serije odvija se od kraja 1929.
do septembra 1930. godine, u vreme raanja fudbala kao nacionalnog sporta
i prati ideje pripadnika krupne buroazije da u vreme kada su najsiromaniji
slojevi drutva jedva sastavljali kraj sa krajem, obezbede sredstva za odlazak
fudbalske reprezentacije na svetsko prvenstvo, to e biti shvaeno kao kraj
nje neracionalno i neprihvatljivo. Serija, s jedne strane, prikazuje graansku,
a s druge, radniku klasu; gradsku elitu i beog radsku sirotinju pogoenu eko
nomskom krizom; afirmisane i neafirmisane fudbalere, provincijalni i urbani
Beog rad; glamurozne klubove (Doli bojs) i prestonike kafane sa loim vini
ma i rakijama. Jo jedan od dualiteta koji se pojavljuje u seriji je konfronta
cija izmeu Hrvata i Srba, koja je posebno podstaknuta realnim dogaajem
premetanjem centrale fudbalskog saveza Kraljevine Jugoslavije iz Zagreba
u Beog rad, to je izazvalo bojkot hrvatskih fudbalera i funkcionera.
U prvom sloju itanja, ova serija se vie bavi istorijom sporta, a manje
istorijom drutvenih odnosa koji su samo neophodan fn, milje, atmosfera
koji prate sportska deavanja. Za razliku od serije Vie od igre koja sport kori
sti kao kariku kojom konstruiu situacije, dogaaje i odnos prema prolosti,
Montevideo bog te video je serija koja fokus stavlja na rekonstrukciju istorij
skih dogaaja koji su dominantno vezani za fudbal, sport, dok se politike
prilike koriste kako bi se potcrtali dogaaji koji su u vezi sa slomom ideje
jugoslovenstva 90-ih godina. Fudbal kao lajtmotiv i vezivni motiv u seriji Vie
od igre i autentini junak u seriji Montevideo Bog te video, ovaplouje vreme u
kome je fudbal, sport vie od igre politika, borba, sloboda...
Ako je re o tipizaciji, obe navedene serije bi mogle biti tretirane kao
tip evolutivnih serija (Ekenazi 2013: 76) koje su strukturirane kao ise
ak iz ivota jedne zajednice i njenih lanova..., a njihove prie postepeno se
obogaaju nizom svakodnevnih obinih, ali i znaajnih dogaaja (Ekenazi
2013: 85). Takvu klisifikaciju moemo dopuniti i rei da ove serije mogu biti
tretirane kao podanr evolutivnih serija, tzv. horske serije (Dakovi, Milova
novi u Ekenazi 2013: 155), u kojima se ivoti pojedinanih junaka prepliu
i ukrtaju. Obe serije odlikuje postojanje horskog junaka u seriji Vie od igre
to su graani imaginarne Gradine, kao nepostojei konstrukt i reprezentacija
ivlja u bilo kojoj srpskoj palanci tog vremena, dok u seriji Montevideo Bog
te video epitet horskog lika mogu poneti fudbaleri dva rivalska beogradska
kluba, kasnije reprezentativci Kraljevine Jugoslavije i generalno graani Beo
grada koji je u to vreme bio jedna optina5.
Osim fudbala kao lajtmotiva, ono to karakterie obe serije je to to prva
epizoda poinje dugakim monologom uvodniara, naratora kome je povere
na uloga vodia zaduenog da nepristrastno upozna gledaoce sa najbitnijim
likovima i situacijama serije. U sluaju serije Vie od igre, to je doktor Du
ko (Milo uti) koji neno, gotovo poetski uvodi gledaoce u svet Gradine i
njenih Gradinara. S obzirom da je re o liku koji je istovremeno i simpatizer
komunistikog pokreta, jasna je intencija autora. Narator u seriji Montevideo
Bog te video daleko je neutralniji. Re je o hendikepiranom deaku, siroetu,
istau cipela Stanoju (Pavle Vasi) koji je odrastao u javnoj kui i koji svo
jim monolozima krajnje neutralno, izbalansirano i uzdrano, kao hroniar
belei izazove pred kojima su se nali i jugoslovenski fudbal i jugoslovensko
drutvo.
42 Mirjana Nikoli
Seanje na Prvi svetski rat

Godine 2014, pojavili su se brojni medijski i umetniki tekstovi koji su se ba
vili Velikim ratom i nainom ouvanja seanja na taj dogaaj. Kada je re o
seriji Vie od igre, sreemo fenomen dvostepenog ili sekundarnog seanja
u odnosu na Prvi svetski rat i seanje na njega. U deceniji u kojoj je snimana i
producirana ova serija, i dalje je snano prisutna ideja bratstva, jedinstva i ju
goslovenstva unutar unitarne drave, mada se ne sme prenebregnuti pojava
nacionalistikih pokreta prvenstveno u Hrvatskoj (Maspok6), ali i meu srp
skim intelektualcima, posebno nakon usvajanja ustavnih amandmana 1971.
i Ustava 1974. godine7. Ponitavanje i zanemarivanje seanja na Prvi svetski
rat u ovom periodu bila je jedna od strategija kojom se anulirala uloga i rtva
Srbije u ovom velikom sukobu8. Zato je za tadanje politike prilike u seriji
Vie od igre motiv Prvog svetskog rata veoma neno i suptilno interpoliran.
U prvim kadrovima serije, dok pratimo narativ doktora Duana (Milo
uti), kamera nas upoznaje sa Gradinom, pri emu je scenografski dominan
tan spomenik u centru varoice za koji se nasluuje, a tokom serije jasno sa
znaje, da je bista posveena srpskim vojnicima, stanovnicima Gradine, stra
dalim u odbrani otadbine. Najvei gubitnik tog bezumnog rata je gazda Leka
opi (Pavle Vuisi), koji je u ovom ratu ostao bez itave porodice. Njegov
autodestruktivni i hedonistiki ivot okonan je dolaskom Nemaca, okupato
ra u Gradinu i to simbolino, za kafanskim stolom i akom stisnutom u ipak.
Njegov ponovni susret sa novom okupacijom, zlom, stradanjima, bio je pre
veliki izazov za oveka koji je i oca i brata i strica i bratanca.... izgubio u pro
lom nemakom pohodu, 1914. godine. U vetom scenaristikom graenju
narativa pravi se jedan lk seanja kojim se stavlja znak jednakosti i povezuje
stradanje Srba u Prvom i Drugom svetskom ratu, to moe biti shvaeno kao
konstruktivistiki manir u odnosu na prolost.
Neposredni svedok i uesnik Velikog, poganog rata je i raalovani oficir,
major Mia ljivi (Zoran Radmilovi), koji je nakon golgote i rata, iz Fran
cuske doao sa enom, Francuskinjom Simonom. Iako je re o oficiru koji se
proslavio ratnim taktikama i hrabrou, major ljivi je svojim nekonvencio
nalnim ponaanjem i nepokornou, postao simbol otpora, opozicije svemu
to je retrogradno, opasno, nemoralno... On je ak neko ko je prehlaenom
mladom kralju, zabranio da ue u talu kod njegovog konja ampionskog po
rekla. Iako osobenjak, major ljivi i njegova supruga, mnogo su uinili za
kulturu i svakodnevni ivot Gradine (otvorili su i brinuli o radu francuske
itaonice) kao simpatizeri pripadnika radnikog pokreta, da bi on konano
izgubio ivot potpuno iracionalno, izazivajui na dvoboj nemake oficire koji
su okupirali njegov grad.
Serija Montevideo Bog te video se znatno smelije odnosi prema tradici
ji Prvog svetskog rata koja je deo aktuelnih seanja junaka serije i koja se
u seriji nenametljivo velia. Rat je prikazan kao deo individualnog seanja
mladog fudbalera Aleksandra Tirnania Tirketa, iji otac je poginuo u ratu.

Njegova seanja na rat snano su polarizovana, jer se trenutak kada je saznao
za smrt oca poklopio sa raanjem velike ljubavi prema fudbalu. Ova seanja,
duboko emocionalno obojena, simbiotiki se spajaju sa njegovim fudbalskim
debijem za BSK, kada oev ratni orden kao amajliju zaiva za unutranju stra
nu dresa. Njegova sudbina i odrastanje bez oca, zatite i sigurnosti, samo su
jedan od primera brojnih porodica u kojima su mnogi lanovi, nakon rata,
ostali bez mueva, oeva, brae.....
Zakljuak
Na poecima istorije televizije, u terminima emitovanja TV serija, itave po
rodice su se okupljale oko malog ekrana, a svoje dnevne obaveze su planira
li u skladu sa televizijskim programom. Publika je sa nestrpljenjem oekivala
nastavak zapleta i razvoj radnje serija, pogotovo ukoliko je bila re o epizo
dama koje su se zavravale udicom (cliffhanger) nakon koje je sledio rasplet
ili novi razvoj.
Savremeni trendovi pokazuju da TV serije koje se produciraju kao gi
gantski projekti sa velikim brojem epizoda i u nekoliko sezona i dalje uivaju
veliku popularnost. One se danas tretiraju i kao budunost filma, jer nije retka
situacija da su neki vrlo uspeni filmski hitovi imali i po nekoliko nastavaka9,
to govori o potrebi publike da iznova uiva u omiljenim temama, formatima
bilo da je re o serijama ili filmovima. Ipak savremena publika, posebno ona
mlaa, sve ee menja naine i navike u praenju serija i podlee fenomenu
tzv. maratonskog gledanja serija (binge watching), koji podrazumeva kon
tinuir ano, u jednom danu, praenje itavih sezona serijskog programa preko
Interneta. Takav trend postaje svojevrsna modifikacija i razvijeni oblik mo
dernizma i konzumerizma koji su primeeni jo u osmoj deceniji 20. veka
(Dakovi, Milovanovi 2015).
Televizijska serija kao umetniko delo ili medijski sadraj svoj puni smi
sao dobija u suretu sa publikom, koja kao krajnji primalac prie igra kljunu
ulogu u njenom stvaranju (Ekenezi 2013: 111, prema Ljubomiru Dolealu).
Istovremeno, ovi programi su i adekvatna forma za ouvanje, rekonstrukci
ju seanja i potom njegovo remodelovanje, stvaranje eljene konstrukcije u
skladu sa drutvenim, ideol okim, politikim potrebama. I ba zbog fokusa
na ove kapacitete TV serija, ovaj rad se bavio analizom dve serije ija radnja
je vremenski locirana u slinim istorijskim periodima, i donekle se bave sli
nom tematikom i u kojima sport fudbal, ima znaajnu dramaturku funkci
ju. Re je o serijama Vie od igre (1976) i Montevideo, Bog te video (2012) koje
su sline po navedenim parametrima, ali ija je produkcija vezana za razliite
period e razvoja jugoslovenskog, odnosno srpskog drutva, zbog ega se otva
ra pitanje koliko su promene drutvenih prilika uticale da se kroz umetnike,
44 Mirjana Nikoli
medijske tekstove uspostave novi i drugaiji modeli seanja. Kroz scenario,

likove, rediteljski postupak, ak i scenografska i kostimografska reenja ovih
serija, pria se pria koja je jednim delom ideoloki obojena i usklaena sa
krajnim ciljem, utiskivanjem seanja, ouvanjem pamenja koji su usklaeni
sa aktuelnim politikim diskursom.
Serija Vie od igre, njen narativ i ukupan diskurs kreirani su u skladu sa
aktuelnim trenutkom i vremenom. Ona je bila namenjena graanima SFRJ i
odslikavala je nain na koji su se prole generacije izborile za mir i blagosta
nje u kome je socijalistiki radnik iveo i uivao. Njenim narativom se dobrim
delom potvruje Morlijev nalaz da klasna pozicija znatno utie na dekodira
nje medijskih poruka posebno onih koje su povezane sa klasnim i politikim
pitanjima (Morley, 1999: 257). Serija poinje priom o raanju fudbala u jed
noj srpskoj varoici, kojom se pokazuje kako su svetske novotarije ulazile u
svakodnevni ivot u Srbiji izmeu dva rata i to mahom zahvaljujui privatnoj
inicijativi pojedinca10. Iz ovog sekundarnog narativa, razvija se centralni koji
prikazuje raanje radnikog, komunistikog pokreta iji reprezent je igra
fudbalskog kluba Radniki i vodei revolucionar u Gradini Danilo ivi.
Osamdesetih godina 20. veka, Srbija i Jugoslavija jo uvek nisu bile izloene
klasnom raslojavanju, tako da je radnika klasa seriju Vie od ige percipirala
kao rekonstrukciju naina na koji je ona postala dominantni drutveni sloj.
Bez elje da se vraamo na stavove o maksimalnim i manipulativnim moima
medija u kreiranju narativnog obrasca ove serije, moemo konstatovati da su
autori nastojali da konzerviraju politike ideje koje vie nisu bile u toj meri
dominantne i ije je uruavanje je zapoelo.
S druge strane, serija Montevideo Bog te video je pitka, vesela, dinamina
pria iji je put do publike bio pripremljen istoimenim i vrlo popularnim fil
mom. Nakon uspeha filma, TV serija je kroz redovne nedeljne termine anga
ovala panju publike i mnogo manje senzibilisala javnost u odnosu na neka
politika pitanja, a mnogo vie prema sportu, zabavi, kominim zapletima u
kojima su glavni likovi bili mladi fudbalski asovi.
Obe analizirane serije iza centralne teme, prate i interpretiraju drutve
ne, politike, istorijske i kulturne prilike iste zemlje, u istom periodu, ali sa
istorijski razliitih pozicija pozicije unitarne, socijalistike Jugoslavije (Vie
od igre), odnosno samostalne i tranzicione Srbije (Montevideo, Bog te video).
U kojoj meri aktuelni politiki diskurs utie na razliitu (re)interpretaciju
prolosti, kako se itaju medijski tekstovi u premijernom i repriznom emi
tovanju TV serija od kojih neka mogu biti i nakon vie decenija i koliko su
umetnika dela i narativi audio-vizuelnih umetnosti adekvatna arheoloka
graa za izuavanje i ouvanje kolektivnog seanja i identiteta, neka su od
centralnih pitanja na koje je ovaj rad pokuao da odgovori i dao odgovore.
Reference:
Andri, Bojana. 1998. Vodi kroz produkciju igranog programa TV Beograd (1958-
1995), Beograd: RTS
Dakovi Nevena, Milovanovi Aleksandra. 2015. Socijalistiki family sitkom : Pozori
te u kui, Zbornik radova FDU br. 27, Beog rad: Institut za pozorite, film, radio
i televiziju FDU
Dragievi ei Milena. 2007. Privatni ivot u vreme televizije u Privatni ivot kod
Srba u dvadesetom veku (priredio Milan Ristovi), Beograd: Clio
uri, Mihailo. 1971. Smiljene smutnje, Anali Pravnog fakulteta u Beog radu br 3,
Beograd: Pravni fakultet, str 230-233.
Eskenazi, an Pjer. 2013. Televizijske serije, Beograd: Clio
Halbwachs, Maurice. 1944. Les Cadres Socioux de la memoire, Paris: Albin Michel
Heking Ijan. 2012. Drutvena konstrukcija ali ega?, Novi Sad; Meditheran Publis
hing
Kulji, Todor. 2006. Kultura seanja. Beograd: igoja tampa
Morley, David. 1980/1999. The Nationwide Audience: Structure and Decoding. Lon
don: BFI.
Nikoli Mirjana Pamenje javnih medija: od istraivanja prolosti do oblikovanja
identiteta Beograd: Fakultet dramskih umetnosti, Beog rad: Fakultet dramskih
umetnosti, dostupno na: http://www.fdu.edu.rs/uploads/uploaded_files/_con
tent_strane/Mirjana_Nikolic.pdf (pristupljeno 17. jun 2015).
Neiger, M, Meyers, O, Zandberg, E. eds. 2011. On Media Memory: Collective Memory in
a New Media Age. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Popovi Vasilije. 1984. Dvadeset godina dramskog programa tv Beog rad 1958-1978
i originalna tv drama (domaa) u Iz istorije TV Beograd, Beograd: TV Beog rad
Roga Mijatovi Ljiljana Igra svetlosti i tame Uloga manifestacija u oblikovanju
seanja i identiteta grada (Beograd u Danima Beog rada, Beog rad: Fakultet
dramskih umetnosti, dostupno na http://www.fdu.edu.rs/uploads/uploaded_
files/_content_strane/2012_ljiljana_rogac_mijatovic.pdf (pristupljeno 17. jun
2015).
Vueti, Radina. 2013. ivot u socijalizmu 1945-1980, Beog rad: Kreat ivni cenatar
Notes:
1 Tekst je nastao u okviru rada na projektu Identitet i seanje: transkulturni tekstovi
dramskih umetnosti i medija (Srbija 1989-2015), projekat broj 178012 koji realizuje
Fakultet dramskih umetnosti u Beogradu, a koji je finansiran od strane Ministarstva
prosvete, nauke i tehnolokog razvoja RS.
2 Koji je dao vie autonomije republikama i pokrajinama i smanjio ingerencije savezne
drave.
3 Ime Gradina moe biti tretirano i kao augmentativ imenice grad, ime se naglaava
vrednost, znaaj, kapacitet ove srpske varoice. Postoje podaci prema kojima je u
originalnom tekstu scenarija varoica nosila ime Bunar, ali je reditelj Zdravko otra
odluio da naini ovu promenu.
4 Serija je imala jo dve sezone: Na putu za Montevideo i Montevideo, vidimo se koje su
nastavci prie o istorijskoj ekspediciji jugoslovenskih fudbalskih reprezentativaca na
svetsko prvenstvo u fudbalu u Montevideu (Urugvaj).
46 Mirjana Nikoli
5 Neki od njih su inspirisani realnim likovima, a drugi su ili tipski likovi - uburski
kafedija, berberin, kroja, dame lakog morala... ili autentini konstrukti.
6 Maspok ili Hrvatsko prolee je bio hrvatski nacionalistiki i secesionistiki pokret
1971. godine.
7 Meu najznaajnijim intelektualcima koji su ukazivali na negativnosti zakonske reg-
ulative kojom je ve dolo do razbijanja drave i njenog svoenja samo na geografski
pojam blo je Dobrica osi, ali i prof. dr Mihailo uri. U lanku Smiljene smutnje,
dr Mihajlo uri istie: Treb odmh rei d predloen ustvn promen iz osnov
menj krkter dosdnje drvne zjednice jugoslovenskih nrod. Ili tnije: tom
promenom se, u stvri, odbcuje sm idej jedne tkve drvne zjednice. Ukoliko
neto jo i ostje od nje, to je smo zto d bismo u sledeoj, tkozvnoj drugoj fzi
promene imli t d privedemo krju.
8 U to vreme proslava pravoslavne, tzv. Srpske nove godine bilo je nedozvoljeno i
otro sankcionisano, posebno u sluaju da se u restoranima ili kafanama pojavila
elja da se ovaj datum posebno obelei. Slina situacija je bila i sa pesmom Tamo
daleko ili Igrale se delije koje su ocenjivane kao nacionalistike.
9 Najsveiji primer je filmski serijal Nemogua misija, koji je doiveo svoj peti nasta-
vak.
10 Prvu fudbalsku loptu u Gradinu doneo je apotekar Beli, kolovan u vajcarskoj.
DIGGING UP PRINCIP: FROM ARCHIVE

WORK TO A GOOD STORY
Jelica Novakovi-Lopuina & Sven Peeters
Introduction
The centennial of the beginning of World War I urged us to put on the coat of
the archaeologist to brush the dust of a full centurys debris off that historical
event. While revealing the skeleton one discovers the continuity of universal
mechanisms that work in all times and that are similar to the mechanisms of
literature. The flesh of interpretation and imagination grows around the his-
torical facts. That growth is stimulated by the personal and ideological drive
of the individual journalist, but also by the contemporary political forces that
influence the author, by the media that pay him and by the audience he is
writing for.
The excavation of the skeleton is easier nowadays thanks to the digitali-
zation of the sources, in which the Dutch libraries have a leading role. Dutch
search engines and digital archives (such as Delpher1 and the website of the
Dutch Royal Library2), in Flanders still under construction3, are a very help-
ful tool for the media archaeologist. The authors starting point is the fol-
lowing fact: the assault by the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip on the Austrian-
Hungarian heir Franz Ferdinand on June 28th 1914. The layering of that fact
took epic proportions over the last 100 years. The act and the actor got the
most diverse labels and initialized the development of very different process-
es, ranging from war to friendships. Looking at it from that perspective, the
layers might be more interesting than the skeleton itself. The authors them-
selves created additional labels and layers to the historical facts by using 21st
century anarchist cafs as writing studios, by involving contemporary Bel-
gian and Serbian youth, asking for their interpretations and ideas, and by
collecting numerous so-called internet-Principalia. The making of literature
seems to be as creative as the making of history. In a less bloody way, though.
This paper is an overview of the methods and results obtained in the study
Wat kwam er uit een schot? (What resulted from a shot?), published in Dutch
48 Jelica Novakovi-Lopuina & Sven Peeters
by the Antwerp editor Vrijdag in May 2015 and in Serbian (Posledice jednog
pucnja) published by the Belgrade editor Clio in October 2015.
The start
The motivation for the authors to write a book about Gavrilo Princip was the
centennial commemoration of 28th of June 1914, the date of the assault of Sa-
rajevo. On that day, the Bosnian Serbian student named Gavrilo Princip killed
the Austrian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife during their
visit to the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in those days part of the Habsburg
Empire. To Princip, Ferdinand was the symbol of the Austrian oppression of
Bosnia and the South-Slavic people in general. He therefore committed these
murders (Ferdinands wife Sophia unintendedly) to liberate the South-Slavic
people from the Habsburg tyranny. Moments after the assault, Princip be-
came a hero to some, a murderer, a terrorist, an anarchist to others. For the
next century to come, Princip would get all kinds of labels, depending on the
source or the ideological framework defining him.
Hence their Princip study is a continuation of the imagological research
the authors have been doing since they started writing together. On the one
side, there is the Serbian professor and translator (Jelica Novakovi-Lopuina)
whos been collecting sources from the Low Countries on Serbia/Yugoslavia
from the beginning of the 16th century until World War II and whos been
translating all kinds of Dutch texts (literature and non-fiction) into Serbian.
On the other side, co-author Sven Peeters has been collecting sources from
the Low Countries (press and literary texts) mainly about the post-Tito era of
Serbia/Yugoslavia and gives lectures on contemporary Serbia. Among other
publications and projects, Novakovis research resulted in a PhD-publica-
tion Serbia and South-Eastern Europe in Dutch sources until 1918 (1999) and
for Peeters in a blog a kind of digital library hes been keeping since 20084.
Through these projects the authors reflect upon stereotypes and prejudices
that have been going back and forth between the Low Countries and Serbia/
Yugoslavia until today.
The authors try to establish bridges between their cultures of origin.
With their projects they want to invite readers from both countries to get to
know each other better and to overcome the stereotypes. Ten years ago, they
published an open invitation to the Dutch and the Flemish audience to visit
Belgrade. The Kafana Tribunal (Clio, 2006) is an alternative guide to Belgrade
in the shape of a sociologically and anthropologically inspired encyclopaedia
about the drinking and eating places of the Serbian capital. This polyphonic
citywalk, which includes recipees, drinking songs, poetry, reviews, inter-
views, reportages, in memoriams, literary fragments, a vocabulary etc., gives
voice to the inhabitants of Belgrade and their ideas in the midst of a turbulent
period of transition. It refutes the dominating picture of rogue state Serbia
in the Low Countries media of the late nineties. The Princip book offers an
equally nuanced and broader picture of the assassin of Sarajevo.
Last but not least, the authors are always in search of unseen connec-
tions between their countries. Princip appeared to be an excellent starting
point for this: the Bosnian Serb held in his hand a pistol made in Belgium.
Furthermore both Belgium and Serbia were often mentioned together dur-
ing World War I since their populations extremely suffered likewise from
the respectively German and Austrian attacks and occupation. To the public
opinion both countries were regarded as the war orphans of Europe5. Other
examples follow below.
The method
Journalistic research
The authors were curious about how the Dutch and Flemish sources wrote
about Princip and the assault of Sarajevo. During their research period the
Dutch newspapers were luckily digitally available in the online archives of
Delpher6. This website prooved to be very useful thanks to its user-friendly
search engine. But the Flemish newspapers were not yet digitalized, so the
authors had to look for useful documents and quotations going to The Heri-
tage Library of Hendrik Conscience in Antwerp. There the newspapers are
kept on microfiche. This meant digging and discovering. In the meantime,
the digitalisation of the Flemish newspapers has started and texts are getting
to be available on websites such as Het Archief7. Next to these archives there
is of course the World Wide Web. Most contemporary newspapers and maga-
zines have archives on their websites and other newspaper texts are easily
found back on the Internet.
Finally, the authors could rely on their own private archives with news-
paper cuttings from recent and older times, books and other publications.
All these different kinds of relevant fragments and quotations the au-
thors discovered are presented in the original spelling and together with
clear references to their sources, so that the interested reader can always
trace back the source, if desired.
Different kinds of sources

Press quotes: synchronic and diachronic. The authors were equally interest-
ed how different kinds of newspapers wrote about Princip in the days after
the assault and how newspapers continued to write about him for the next
century to come. A lot of quotations date as far back as July and August 1914;
another extended collection of excerpts focuses on the commemoration year
of 2014 (synchronically). Apart from that, this Princip book contains dia-
chronic references covering the whole 20th century, e.g. the interwar period,
World War II, the post-war period. For example: the headline of the 28th of
June 1914 edition of Gazet van Antwerpen reads: Horrible anarchistic con-
spiracy, while the 8th of March 2014 edition of the Flemish newspaper De
Morgen reads Is 2014 the new 1914? as it compares the conflict in the East-
ern Ukraine to the Great Powers game at the beginning of World War I.
Literature quotes. Next to the press quotes the book contains different quo-
tations and themes from novels, poems, songs and theatre plays. Heres an
example of a poem by the Antwerp poet Michal Vandebril. He wrote it dur-
ing the commemoration year and it was published in Serbian translation (by
Novakovi) in the Serbian daily Politika on the 28th of June 2014. This Eng-
lish translation is by Peeters.
Inat8 (to Gavrilo Princip)
it doesnt have a name it burns
in my eyes like a poem
which you can sing out loud
while it doesnt tolerate a title
Im satisfied with a handshake

to know what time it is
this mendacious day will crow three times
to make me remember my heroism
the hours pass by along this caf slowly

and shallow as the brown water of miljacka
I look in the mirror of the new age and I can see
the occident that falls like a blanket over my city
in the distance a sledge is rumbling

over the cobbled streets the sound fills
my empty soul that will penetrate
a thousand walls to come to you
like a black bird that settles

on the eternally smoldering field
Another interesting example worth mentioning here is the theatre play Gavr-
ilo Princip by the company De Warme Winkel9 (first staged in Amsterdam in
June 2014). They did a similar thing like the authors of the book did. They
staged a kind of bio-bibliography (or Google session) of Princip, often refer-
ring to exactly the same sources the authors used for their book.
Pictures and images. It is no surprise that Princip inspired illustrators and

painters as well. Their artistic impressions are an important addition to this
imagologic analysis. The authors describe and show in their book pictures,
drawings and paintings of both Princip and the aftermath of the assault in
Serbia/Yugoslavia. One can find Princip on the Internet in different shapes
(Ch Guevara-style e.g.) as Facebook profiles, manga-drawings and the like,
or in the autoportrait e.g. of the young Dutch artist Alle Jong. During World
War I the Flemish cartoonist and illustrator George van Raemdonck made the
drawing Wat er kwam uit het ne schot (What came out of that single shot
- Figure1.), inspiring the authors for the title of their book. His Dutch con-
temporary colleague Louis Ramaekers made anti-war drawings with titles
like October Slachtmaand in Servi (October, slaughter month in Serbia).
Thanks to the publication of his drawings in the U.S. and the appreciation of
his works in the highest political circles10 America decided to participate in
the war.
Figure1.
Principalia. To define this kind of source the authors invented a new term
to label Princip-objects: Principalia. The Inter0net, again, offers a variety of
Principalia ranging from underwear, T-shirts and cups (Figure2.) to Lego,
conceptual artforms like a toast and even a Princip-cake.
Figure2.
An informers network. Last but not least, the authors could rely on a very
inspiring and helpful source of information, i.e. friends, acquaintances and
colleagues who provided them with potential research data: World War I
postcards with crossed Belgian and Serbian flags from the private collection
of Aleksandar Borii, vice-president of the European Volleyball Association;
professional advice from the Dutch historian and author of a Princip biog-
raphy Guido van Hengel; additional commemoration information on the as-
sault by journalist Zlatko Serdarevi from Mostar; and detailed background
information about Serbian warprisoners who died and were buried in the
Netherlands thanks to the Dutch-Serbian cooperation of the project group
Seanje11; and many more.
Processing the sources

Chronically and thematically. With such an amount of sources, it is necessary
to select the most relevant information and present this in a clear and inter-
esting way to the reader. An obvious way of structuring data (fragments, quo-
tations, images) is the chronological one, clearly visible in the consecutive
chapters of the book. The book opens with a glance at the European situation
on the eve of World War I and the Young Bosnian movement in the Yugo-
slav region, by whom Princip was inspired and finally stimulated to commit
his act. After this chapter, the book discusses the direct consequences of the
assault to the Serbs, in the region and in the Low Countries, and Princips
punishment leading to a more general and international question of guilt.
Towards the end of the book the authors enter the 21st century while reflect-
ing on historical continuity; the most contemporary Princip labels have to do
with terrorism, nationalism and capitalism.
Intersecting with this chronological storyline there is a thematical one.
Substantial parts of the book are dedicated to Dutch-Serbian connections,
Belgian-Serbian connections, historical parallels and comparisons, the recy-
cling of history, Princips iconisation and his imagery in the arts.
Ideologically. Every Princip reference is consciously or unconsciously written

against the background of a specific ideology. At the beginning of the 20th cen-
tury, the Low Countries were dominated by three main world views and this
is clearly visible in the polemics and antagonisms among the newspapers af-
ter the Sarajevo assault. These ideological views are clericalism (catholicism
in Flanders and catholicism versus protestantism in Holland), socialism and
liberalism. Hereafter, we will see a clear illustration of these antagonisms.
Some visions never change. The following cynical pressquote comes
from the socialist De Volksgazet on 30th of July 1914, two days after the Aus-
trian war declaration to Serbia. It could have been written nowadays
And so them gentlemen capitalists are going again to The Hague, to the
Peace Palace. And then again there will be wonderful speeches about the
horrors of war and the necessity of peace. Then, they will cry crocodile
tears about the senseless bloodshed and gruesome massacres. Then, they
will have banquets with the representatives of the big nations, they will
drink, they will cheer, and everybody will go again and prepare for war
What hypocrisy! What a bunch of felons! The Peace Palace at The Hague
may safely be demolished.
The story
Literary non-fiction
An important aspect of the book is its double voicedness. The central
figure of Princip is looked upon from a double background, i.e. the Serbian/
Yugoslav and the Flemish/Dutch one. This is amidst the European commem-
oration of World War I, that tends to be a rather local (national or regional)
one, a unique approach. First the authors thought of presenting their project
as a short and sharp dialogue, followed by an anthology where the reader
could read for himself the excerpts the authors were referring to. But their
editor didnt want an A-B-dialogue in the book. He wanted more atmosphere,
more description, more personality. He wanted the authors to take the read-
er along during the research in libraries, in classrooms, in cities. This brought
up the genre of literary non-fiction, a style that is particularly popular in the
Low Countries after the succes (of the book and a tv-serial) of In Europe, a
European history of the 20th century by Geert Mak (2004). The latest winner
of the Nobel Prize of Literature, the Belarussian Svetlana Aleksijevitsj, writes
literary non-fiction as well.
Reinventing literary non-fiction

Although sharing the same point of view the authors wanted to keep
their personal voice so they had to come up with an up-to-date form of di-
alogue. Almost the whole story of the book was written during Skype-ses-
sions, Novakovi being most of the time in Belgrade, Peeters in Antwerp. For
those sessions the authors chose four cities that were relevant for the story:
Belgrade, Amsterdam, Antwerp and Brussels. In those cities they selected a
caf that has a connection with Princip and the idea of revolt. In Belgrade
there is the Zlatna moruna (The Golden Sturgeon), the pub where Princip
got inspired for the assault. In Amsterdam there is the anarchist bar De Bin-
nenpret (The Snicker), where the non-conformist customers have a library of
anarchist books at their disposal. In Antwerp there is the Rode 7 (the Red 7),
the former headquarters of the Belgian Communist Party. And in Brussels the
authors chose De dolle mol (The Mad Mole), a local anarchist caf since ages.
These places acted as writing studios where the authors launched their ideas
and interpretations of the sources which at their turn were forged into the
words and texts of their book.
Les petites histoires

This multibiography of Princip (meaning a collection of a century of Princip
interpretations) is intersected by numerous small anecdotes that the authors
discovered during their research and that to their surprise are somehow con-
nected to the Princip story. Here are some examples. At the beginning of the
book the authors describe the atmosphere at the eve of World War I; there
was a certain enthusiasm among the Europeans, a discharge of feelings. The
authors quote the German actress Tilla Durieux saying: Your meal is getting
cold, your beer is getting warm it doesnt matter, we have a war! (Mak
2006: 54). A few pages further Novakovi discovers in Berlin a so-called
Stolperstein dedicated to Durieux. These stones in the pavement commem-
orate local Jews that were deported or forced to flee during World War II.
Durieux was one of these refugees who fled to Yugoslavia, where she saved
Serbian children out of ustasha-camps by finding adoptive Croatian parents
for them (Stolpersteine in Berlin 2013: 36).
The promising young painter Danica Jovanovi was one of the early Ser-
bian hostages shot by the Austrians at the beginning of the war. A century
later a Belgrade exposition was dedicated to her. The authors found an unex-
pected bridge between their cultures when they discovered that at the time
of her execution she was busy copying a painting by the worldfamous Belgian
painter Rubens.
Dutchman and author Wim Wagenaar (2014) is such a bridge figure, too.
This Princippilgrim, as the authors call him (Novakovi & Peeters 2015: 9)
went on bike from the Netherlands all the way to Sarajevo to pay respect to
Princip and his fellow-heroes of Vidovdan on 28th of June 2014.
Another Belgian-Serbian connection the authors found in the South-Bel-
gium town of Lige. On a local cimetery one can find several Serbian graves
dating back from the World War I-period. The story of the buried remains to
be reconstructed.
A final petite histoire goes back to the origin of the Sarajevo assault,
which was conceived in the caf of Zlatna moruna. This place reopened two
years ago and it serves draft beer in the Belgian monks tradition!
The result: the 20th century in slices

Actually the authors cut up the 100 years old body of Gavrilo Princips image
like the German anatomist Gunther von Hagens did with some of his pre-
pared corpses presenting the body in different tiny slices. Every slice of Prin-
cip stands for an interpretation, a time segment, an ideology, a quotation. In

this final chapter we want to give some striking examples of some of these
slices, first from the 20th (4.1) and secondly from the 21st century (4.2).
Ideologies and external & internal antagonisms

It is already clear to the reader that every Princip interpretation has been
defined by the political, historical and ideological background of the inter-
preter. This is often caused by (internal and external) antagonisms existing
synchronically next to one another. Here we want to give some examples.
A Flemish newspapers war. Just days after the killings of Franz Ferdinand
and his wife the Flemish newspapers were already at war ideologically ac-
cusing each other of murder. The catholic Handelsblad kicks off the polemics
on 30th of June 1914 (following translations by Peeters):
The deeper causes of the assault undoubtedly lie with the ruthless socialist
propaganda, instigated by Serbia and having rooted in a very strong group of
the Serbian population within Bosnia.
The socialist Volksgazet (1st of July) replies:
That sewer newspaper of Antwerp found is necessary to write an editorial
claiming that socialism has a reason to cheer after this double murder; in
other words the socialists are to blame for this crime () Being rulers Ferdi-
nand and Sophia prepared their own bad luck. The murder of Sarajevo is, to
a certain extent, a suicide.
The liberal Nieuwe Gazet adds on the 5th July:
At the same time it is proven that among those little clerical newspapers, that
held socialism and, help us God, even liberalism responsable fort his terrible
crime, the ignorance might be even bigger than their bad faith () [They]
almost blamed the liberal city council of Antwerp of being responsable for
this royal murder.
Catholicism versus freemasonry. At the beginning of August 1914, the Ger-
mans invaded Belgium and committed terrible war crimes against civilians
in towns like Vis. This caused wide dismay and protest in the international
press. Except for some Dutch newspapers and magazines (e.g. the catholic
magazine De Toekomst) that argued that the attacks were a punishment by
God because of the immorality of the Belgian people and because of their
support of the freemasons who according to De Toekomst were responsible
for killing Ferdinand. The magazine called Vis one big brothel (6th of May
1916) and wrote that something could have happened that justified the
punishment.
Objectivity versus subjectivity. After the assault and the trial, Princip was
sentenced to a prison cell in Theresienstadt (Czech Terezin) where he would
die of bad conditions months before the end of the war. Later on, two journal-
ists gave two completely different eyewitness accounts of Princip in his cell.
The Dutch magazine De Tijd (12th of August, 1924) tells of a healthy young
man reading books in a comfortable room. The Tilburgsche Courant (16th of
July 1927) more veritably tells of a dark place where the terminally ill Princip
is waiting to die.
Flanders versus Belgium. In 1934, the Serbian King Aleksandar of Yugoslavia

was murdered by an international conspiracy including among others Croa-
tian ustashas. Belgian journalists visited a Croatian clubhouse in the Belgian
town of Seraing to interview them about the murder (see Limburger koerier,
27th of October 1934). The Croats reply that the Flemish will have to fight
themselves likewise free from the Belgian king. Obviously offended some
Francophone journalists in the company decide to leave the clubhouse im-
mediately. This is a nice example of historical parallells, comparing Yugosla-
via and its peoples with Belgium as the nation of problematically co-existing
Flemish and Walloons.
The eternal tribunal: an act of terror or an act of freedom? In a striking chap-

ter in the book the authors organize a war tribunal in front of which they
call every possible accused: man itself and his vices, the System, nations, re-
ligions, ideologies. It shows an ultimate collection of quotes on mankinds
motives and the antagonistic games of the Great Powers of this world. Games
that go on until today; in a recent review of the book, the Slavist Johan de
Boose wrote: Extraordinary interesting book, the more because there are so
many worrying parallels with these times. (De Standaard, 18th of Decembre
2015).
Three slices of Death of a Schoolboy. In 1974, the Dutch-American journalist

Hans Koning wrote a Princip novel written from Princips point of view. The
reissues and different presentations of the book tell a lot about the respective
era: in the seventies Konings Princip was a revoltionary hero; in the nineties
Sarajevo was revisited and once again connected with war; finally in 2013
Princip became a terrorist, thanks to the post 9-11 discourse. The afterword
to this edition by Jacco Pekelder, published one year before the centennial
year of World War I, reads as follows (translation by Peeters):
Just as Bin Laden looked upon the history of the Arabs as an enslavement
for centuries by Western imperialism, likewise Princip looked at the Serbian
people that had suffered even longer under Ottoman and Austrian rule. (Kon-
ing, 2013:248)
Princips latest incarnations

It is no wonder that in this final decade due to events in New York, Norway,
the Ukraine, Syria and most recently in Paris the Princip interpretations
fit in the ruling stories and ideologies of today: terrorism, nationalism and
capitalism.
Terrorism. Jejoen Bontinck is a worldfamous Belgian ex-fighter in Syria. His

picture was fotoshopped next to Gavrilo Princip in Flanders most important
weekly Knack exactly 100 years after the assault of Sarajevo. The article that
came with it read: If Princip was born today in our region, he was likely to
become a fighter in Syria (Knack, 28th of June 2014).
In 2014, the Danish graphic novel writer Henrik Rehr drew the story
of the life of Gavrilo Princip. It was published in different languages under
the neutral title Gavrilo Princip. When the American edition was published in
2015, the clamorous front title read Terroris.
Nationalism. Media in both the authors countries and abroad drew parallels
between the actual situation in Eastern Ukraine and the beginning of World
War I. After the shooting down of the civilian aircraft above the Ukrainian
battlefield Twitter asked: Is Igor Strelkov the Gavrilo Princip of 2014? (Tom
Hawthorn, 17th of July 201412). From a completely opposite point of view, the
Serbian tabloid Vesti (27th of February 2014) compared the Ukrainian op-
position leader Vitali Klicko with Princip: From Princip to Klicko: Sarajevo
1914 - Kiev 2014. Has the new world war started?
The Norwegian masskiller Anders Breivik should also be mentioned here
because he explicitly linked his acts of terror with his extremist, anti-Muslim
interpretation of nationalism. Princip has been called more than once a ter-
rorist and a Serbian nationalist in one sentence. Though a Balkan sympa-
thizer, even the well-known Dutch writer Benno Barnard drew some paral-
lells between Breivik and Princip (Novakovi & Peeters 2015: 195).
Capitalism. Talking about a possible Third world war, the authors found a
quote in the (digital) Serbian Magazine Tabloid of 13th of February 2014 call-
ing Blythe Masters, one of the current leading bank ladies a possible female
Princip of the Third World War (Mile Uroevi, s.d.13) because of her ruthless
capitalist strategies. This 2014-quote brings the reader back to 1914 as one
of the earliest comments on the official declaration of the Great War blames
capitalism as well:
And thus a feeling of hate is being created, the bloodthirstiness nourished
between two peoples that suffer from the same oppression by capitalism.
(De Volksgazet, 30th of July 1914)
These kinds of quotes (among others in the book) clearly illustrate that cause
and occasion of World War I are often not being differentiated.
Conclusions
Wat kwam er uit een schot? is the result of a research project by two writers
that took them more than 2 years. They gathered a rich and (both in content
and in type) diverse collection of Princip labels. All of them were structured
along chronological and ideological lines and presented to the reader as a
polyphonic and multimedial personal story set in different locations con-
nected to the authors paths of investigations and to Princip and his ideas.
Going through the book, the reader travels from 1914 to 2014 meeting differ-
ent Princips along the road. This imagological study of Princip is illustrated
by what the authors consider to be the core of their story: two poems they
created out of a long list of Princip descriptions. The poems are the summary
of the reflections on Princip and the 20th century including the beginning
of the 21st century. In short, one can say every generation had and has its
own Princip. This book itself adds to the long list of Princip interpretations.
By the concept of it, and by the invention of the term Principalia the authors
were proof themselves of the never-ending, eternally reinvented story of an
angry young man who changed the course of history and the world as it was
known.
References:
Articles:
De Morgen, 08-03-2014
De Nieuwe Gazet, 5-07-1914
De Standaard, 18-12-2015
De Td: godsdienstig-staatkundig dagblad, 12-08-1924
De toekomst; weekblad voor Nederland, 06-05-1916
De Volksgazet. Dagblad der Werklieden-Partij, 30-06-1914
De Volksgazet. Dagblad der Werklieden-Partij, 1-07-1914
Gazet van Antwerpen, 28-06-1914
Het Handelsblad van Antwerpen, 30-06-1914
Knack, 28-06-2014
Limburger koerier: provinciaal dagblad, 27-10-1934
Magazine Tabloid, 13-02-2014
Politika, 28-06-2014
Tilburgsche courant, 16-07-1927
Trevelyan, George M. 25-4-1915. The Frightful Condition of Serbia. in: The New York
Times
Vesti, 27-02-2014
Non-Fiction:
Anoniem. 2013. Stolpersteine in Berlin: 12 Kiezspaziergnge. Berlin.
Mak, Geert. 2004. In Europa. Reizen door de twintigste eeuw. Amsterdam/Antwerpen:
Atlas.
Mak, Geert. 2006. De eeuw van mijn vader. Amsterdam/Antwerpen: Atlas.
Novakovi-Lopuina, Jelica. 1999. Srbi i jugoistona Evropa u nizozemskim izvorima
do 1918. Beograd: Revision.
Novakovi, Jelica & Sven Peeters. 2006. Het kafana-tribunaal. Beograd: Clio
Novakovi, Jelica & Sven Peeters. 2015. Wat kwam er uit een schot? Antwerpen: Vrij-
dag.
Novakovi, Jelica & Sven Peters. 2015. Posledice jednog pucnja. Beograd: Clio.
Pekelder, Jacco. 2013: Nawoord. In: Koning, Hans. Het fatale schot of hoe Gavrilo Prin-
cip de Eerste Wereldoorlog ontketende. Zutphen, pp. 245-252.
Wagenaar, Wim A. 2014. Een mooie zondag. De moord in Sarajevo 1914. Arnhem:
Drukkerij Gerritsen.
Fiction:
Koning. Hans. 1974. Death of a schoolboy. New York.
Koning, Hans. 1994. De dood van Gavrilo Princip. Roman. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff.
Koning, Hans. 2013. Het fatale schot of hoe Gavrilo Princip de Eerste Wereldoorlog
ontketende. Zutphen.
Rehr, Henrik. 2014. Gavrilo Princip. De man die WO I ontketende. Antwerpen: Biloan.
Rehr, Henrik. 2015. Terrorist. Gavrilo Princip, the Assassin Who Ignited World War I.
New York: Graphic Universe.
Internet sources:
www1: www.delpher.nl (last visit on 12th of Dec 2015, 22.26h)
www2: www.kb.nl (last visit on 12th of Dec 2015, 22.28h)
www3: www.hetarchief.be (last visit on 12th of Dec 2015, 22.29h)
www4: www.balkanboeken.blogspot.com (last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.29h)
www5: www.dewarmewinkel.nl (last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.32h)
www6: www.allejong.com (last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.33h)
www7: http://louisraemaekers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Box_0017_the-
odore_roosevelt_17-1_theodore_roosevelt.pdf (last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.36h)
www8: http://diaryofapropaddict.blogspot.be/2010/09/famous-people-on-bread-
surface.html (last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.38h)
www9: http://balkanboeken.blogspot.be/2015/05/leesklaar-jelica-novakovic-
sven-peeters.html (last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.39h)
www10: www.secanje.nl (last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.40h)
www11: https://twitter.com/tomhawthorn/status/489839888317968384 (last
visit on 12th of Dec, 23.07h)
www12: http://www.magazin-tabloid.com/casopis/?id=06&br=304&cl=31 (last
visit on 12th of Dec, 23.07h)
Notes:
1 www.delpher.nl, last visit on 12th of Dec 2015, 22.26h.
2 www.kb.nl, last visit on 12th of Dec 2015, 22.28h.
3 www.hetarchief.be, last visit on 12th of Dec 2015, 22.29h, (a digital archive for World
War I was only launched after the publication of the book).
4 www.balkanboeken.blogspot.com, last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.29h.
5 The British historian G.M. Trevelyan wrote in the New York Times (25th of April
1915) how disastrous the situation in both countries was: The moral claim of Bel-
gium upon mankind is greater than that of Serbia or of any other country. But the
material needs of Serbia are at this moment the greatest of all.
6 www.delpher.nl, last visit on 12th of Dec 2015, 22.26h.
7 www.hetarchief.be, last visit on 12th of Dec 2015, 22.29h,
8 Inat is an untranslatable Serbian word of Turkish origin meaning pride, stubbor-
ness, obduracy
9 www.dewarmewinkel.nl, last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.32h.
10 See e.g. www7 for this praise in 1917 by ex-president Theodore Roosevelt
11 www.secanje.nl, last visit on 12th of Dec, 22.40h.
12 https://twitter.com/tomhawthorn/status/489839888317968384, last visit on 12th
of Dec, 23.07h.
13 http://www.magazin-tabloid.com/casopis/?id=06&br=304&cl=31, last visit on
12th of Dec, 23.07h.
BUILDING THE NATION THROUGH THE WAR

- WWI WAR POSTERS
Boris Petrovi
The nation building process encompasses many different domains, most no-
tably art and applied arts; film, literature, posters, paintings, architecture etc.
In theory, if one would wish to analyze the phenomenon in its totality, one
would have to perform an interdisciplinary research that would span in all
above-mentioned domains. That task may yet be endeavored, but at the mo-
ment it largely surpasses the frame of this research. Here we shall try to take
an opposite approach, one more suited to the size of the task at hand. By
analyzing one particular medium, we shall try to trace the main frame of the
nationalistic narrative, by following a hypothesis that we are always observ-
ing one singular phenomenon (the same nationalistic narrative), embodied
in many different media. Therefore, our main hypothesis is that by analyzing
its presence in one media, in this case a war poster, we can from there ex-
trapolate the structure of the notion in question.
If we are looking for the nationalistic narrative, war poster seems like an
excellent media to be analyzed. The first reason is the expected simplicity of
the message and of the language used; the message on the war poster must
be direct, clear, visually impressive and easily understandable to all espe-
cially if we are considering the WWI poster (given the percentage of illiterate
people in Europe at the time of the war and the fact that the large percentage
of the target audience would not be able to read). The second is the visual na-
ture of the media the posters are images, and like such, are more universal
than works of cinema or literature that are constricted by a certain language.
The visual language is universal and easily accessible. The third reason, fol-
lowing the second, is the possibility of a comparative analysis of several dif-
ferent nationalistic narratives in war posters. By comparing the examples
coming from different countries, we can see that while they all aim to use
(or to build) their own nationalistic narratives, they do all use the imaginary
coming from the same source - eagle, for example, in most cases stands for
a symbol of the state (U.S.A, Germany, Austrian-Hungarian Empire) whereas
the snake stands for the enemy of the state (all of the countries involved in
62 Boris Petrovi
the war). Visual nature of the medium makes the comparison of the posters
made in different countries easier. Therefore, the nationalistic narrative is
more easily recognizable and the visual formation of the idea of the nation is
more easily detectable and analyzed.
Our starting point is the notion that the nation is a cultural construct,
well-rooted historically and contextually in the post 18th century Europe (a
development of the concept presented by Herder). Anthony D. Smith ana-
lyzes the notion as such: a meta-construct, comprised out of many different
aspects; not only different domains, but also different forms of expression
and arts. While divers and inherently complex, the concept is also essentially
syncretic and oriented toward a singular goal (that is, of course, never to be
attained):
Defining the nation is an even more difficult task. It requires the construc-
tion of an ideal-type, based on both the visions of the nationalists and the
processes that converge to form the type of human association we call the
nation, processes like myth-making, memory selection territorialization,
cultural unification, and the like. The nation, in this view, is neither natu-
ral, nor essential; indeed, it does not constitute a once-for-all goal, or fixed
target, but a series of processes towards a goal that ever eludes its pursuers
(and hence requires nationalists in every generation). In this vein, I define
the concept of the nation as a named human population occupying a his-
toric territory and sharing common myths and memories, a public culture,
and common laws and customs for all members. (Smith 2003: 24)
Furthering that notion, for the nation to exist it does not only need to have
a common language, history, territory, religion etc., but also common goal,
common values, a cultural code that is easily recognizable by the members
of the given community; the way for the members of the said community to
identify themselves with a certain idea and also, equally important, to recog-
nize themselves different from other ideas (other nations) that are the center
of other communities.
Having proclaimed poets as universal figures, and having elevated them
to the level of divinity, the nineteenth-century thinkers worked out the
philosophical ground of later nationalism and redefined the heroic role of
men of letters as new social actants, new heroic subjects. The power of the
word and verbal art had been rediscovered by the new European nations in
the 19th century when the national groups recognized literature as one of
the best forms of expressing collective creativity. The desire of each nation
was to create a unique collective I, through common traditions, heritage,
shared symbolism and mythology. (Makolkin et al. 1992: 21)
This notion is very important. Constructing or using an already made na-

tionalistic narrative, one must be certain that the creators and consumers
must speak the same language. Therefore, if we are talking about the us-
age of symbols or archetypical nature, it is to be assured not only that these

symbols (like the already mentioned snake and eagle) are to be easily recog-
nizable, but also to be endowed with a certain quality: that of the sacred. By
doing that, the imagery in question is assured to have a specific effect on the
audience; same as religion, from where it is borrowed by the nationalistic
narrative; that of the social cohesion, an agent of unity between the people
and their history, territory, past and future.
Nations, too, combine elements of faith and ethnic communities to produce
a new synthesis, which draws much of its strength and inspiration, as well as
many of its forms, from older religious beliefs, moral sentiments, and sacred
rites. Not only are modern national public celebration, monuments, and dis-
plays, though created for relatively new purposes, often modeled on earlier
traditions and older religious motifs, rituals, and ceremonies. The nation
itself, as we shall see, is invested with sacred qualities that it draws from
older beliefs, sentiments, and ideals about the nature of community, ter-
ritory, history, and destiny. The result is a national community of faith and
belonging, a sacred communion, every bit as potent and demanding as that
sought by the ancient Jewish prophets and psalmists. (Smith 2003: 23)
Following the notion of the sacred, that is, of the highest importance in the
building (or using) of the nationalistic narrative, and locating the context of
these war posters as that of the early 20th century Europe (the nations in-
volved in the war being of dominantly Abrahamic religion), it is easy to un-
derstand the usage of the snake as a representation of the enemy; also, it is
possible to interpret the colors used in posters (red, blue, green, brown etc.)
via the canonical symbolism of colors used in religious paintings (especially
in the orthodox icon making)1. Furthermore, for the necessity of the notion of
the sacred to be fully understood, it is important to go back to the anthropo-
logical foundation of that notion and its initial and most important function
(as shown by Freud and later worked upon by Dumzil, Durand, Girard and
others): the sacred is the very foundation of the law and is therefore in the
very center not only of morality of a given society, but also the foundation
of its institutions. Which is the principal reason why nationalism stands so
close to organized religion:
National heroes subvert the systems of social hierarchy, uniting peasants
and aristocrats into one Whole-Nation. Throughout history, national feel-
ings have proven to be among the most deep-seated sentiments... Many
scholars liken nationalism to religion, seeing some common features be-
tween the expression of faith and the collective ethos of the group. (Ma-
kolkin et al. 1992: 20)
The posters we are about to mention are the perfect example of the
attempt to represent the notion of the holiness visually their visual and
symbolic anchorage in the domain of the religious is quite obvious. Britain
needs you at once2 and Unser Kaiser an sein Volk3 (Our tsar to its people)
64 Boris Petrovi
are almost identical posters, both drawing their inspiration from the Chris-
tian mythical narrative of Saint Michael slaying the dragon. It is made even
more obvious in the Russian war poster 4 (The Holy War)
the title is self-explanatory, as is the imagery used.
Following this logic, we arrive at the first great distinction used in war post-
ers: Us and Them, the state (sacred5) and the enemy (barbaric). In an almost
singularly unified fashion, all of the warring countries use the figure of a
woman as an allegorical anthropomorphization of the idea of nation. The
reason to do so is not only to convey the idea of the nation-mother (a strong
social cohesive in its own, suggesting that we, members of the said nation,
are all brothers of the same mother), but also to point towards the roots of
this praxis the woman, as the one who is patriarchal society is tasked with
raising the children, is therefore the one who transmits all of the national
values further on. Mothers raise their children and teach them values; those
values, in the paradigm of the nationalism, are those of loyalty to the fam-
ily and to the state (which is also a family of the sorts, on a higher level and
scale). This is clearly visible in many posters where women are represented
with children: one such example is Left behind in Serbia Send money for the
women and children6.
Therefore, the nation is given as a woman highly idealized features,
strong, often warrior like (drawing the inspiration from the well-known
Greek goddess Athens, an allegorical anthropomorphization of the Greek po-
lis-state, Athens), as we see her in Remember Scarborough!7, but equally often
tender, tame and unprotected, as we see her in Wake up America! Civilization
calls every man, woman and child!8. On the other hand, the Enemy of the state,
in this case the entire opposing nation, is its exact opposite in every aspect.
It is a masculine brute, a sub-human on the threshold of being a complete
beast, destructive, aggressive and blood thirsty, an incarnation of the threat
to civilization. In most cases, he is given as a brutal attacker on the desperate
female (the endangered nation in question). A perfect example is this ideo-
logical poster, Bolschewismus bringt Krieg, Arbeitslosigkeit und Hungersnot9
(Bolsevism brings war, destruction and hunger).
In this manner, the war in these posters is not represented as being led
between two different nations that have their own singular models of equal-
ly developed culture; it is necessarily represented as a conflict between the
civilization (our nation) and barbarism (their nation). This feature serves
several different purposes main one is exculpating soldiers for killing the
enemies, by presenting them with the idea that they are sub-human, bestial
and that as such they do not partake in the domain of the human (values and
morals). Such construction of the nationalistic narrative insists strongly upon
this basic dichotomy: Civilization/Barbarism, that is further developed into
visual symbols. Civilization is the organized space, subject to laws; laws are
enforced and made by the monopoly of the controlled violence; controlling
and rationalizing the violence comes from the mechanism of taboo, which is
closely related to the notion of the sacred. Therefore, the formula announces
itself clearly we, represented by a woman in this particular context, com-
ing from the Europe that culturally stems both from the Bible and the heri-
tage of the classical antiquity, is therefore a fusion of the figure of the Virgin
Mary on one side (biblical) and the mixture of the Greek goddess Athena and
the Roman goddess Roma (antique), are the civilization; they, represented
by a beastly barbarian, are outside of civilization and cannot (must not) be
treated in a civilized manner. It is easy to see what is to become of the rules
and laws of war within this narrative it goes without saying that the conflict
between two civilized persons cannot be the same as that between a man and
a beast. To illustrate the point, Anthony D. Smith takes an example from the
classical history:
One effect of the great Persian invasion was to transform a latent Hel-
lenic ethnocentrism into an overt politico-cultural movement.
On the other hand, in the realm of political culture, the Persian threat had
galvanized a sense of Hellenic unity into a cultural efflorescence which only
reinforced the sense of Greek superiority and uniqueness over Persian ser-
vitude and barbarian illiteracy. (Smith 2003: 63)
The enemy in this particular optics does not only serve as a counterweight,
a necessary contrast, to the image a certain nation is trying to form of itself.
The enemy serves, perhaps even more strongly than the actual positive im-
age (that of a motherly woman representing the nation) as a unifying agent,
a force of social cohesion. As such, he is the big other, the entity and the
space outside our community that can never be integrated in our society
(nor we in his). This trait of nationalistic narrative is very clearly detectable
in war posters an enemy is not to be trusted as he is essentially different
and strange; friendship, integration, peace (nor truce) are not possible; only
complete obliteration is an option. Nationalistic narrative, as it is well shown
in war posters (with due respect to the circumstance of war), does not deal
with the future where the diplomatic relations or the cohabitation with the
enemy are to be expected; again, it is the narrative that can only deal in the
complete destruction of the enemy. This brings us to a paradox enemy is
necessary as an agent of social cohesion, as a contrast that serves to better
define our society and our nation; yet, the entire narrative is oriented to-
wards his necessary destruction. Our nation depends on the existence and of
the (desired) non-existence of the enemy at the same time.
Any group instinctively longs for recognition of its uniqueness, despite the
fact that the reality of being and human history repeatedly put this notion
to a test. A group sustains the myth of the unique collective I superior to
the Other. Ironically, sometimes it is the Other that may nourish the col-
lective I of a given group. (Makolkin et al. 1992: 89)
66 Boris Petrovi
This incoherence in the narrative is not the only one. We have already
touched upon the inconsistency of the anthropomorphized image of nation
as a woman, sometimes weak and in need of protection (where the brute
menacing her bears explicitly sexual prerogatives therefore, the image of
a nation-woman in need of protection is to be imagined as a daughter/sis-
ter/wife), sometimes the one that actually protects (strong and equipped
with weapons, representing Athens in this case, the protective mother).
Not only there is inherent instability in the building of this image (nation
is at the same time strong and weak, protector and the one who is desper-
ately in need of protection); not only that the image is constructed drawing
from different context and indeed very different traditions (biblical imagery
in imagining nation as a Virgin Mary, and antique imagery imagining nation
as Athens/Roma) but the symbolical meanings are not very clear. If she is
motherly, she cannot be Athens (a virgin, therefore not a mother, warrior
goddess, clearly of solar origin and nature); if she is protector, she cannot be
Virgin Mary (initially also a virgin but a symbol of a virtuous mother clearly
of chthonic origin and nature). Virgin Mary is not very warrior-like; Athens
is not very mother-like (especially as she is, in all of different variations of
her image, always unmistakably virginal). Indeed, she is the very opposite of
the mother-like, chthonian principle of fertility being equipped with essen-
tially solar symbols, such are reason, intelligence, and in a very overt man-
ner, weapons of war (spear, helmet, shield also, Athens is almost always
seen in uniform). Yet, by merging these two images, we have their synthesis
and their combined symbolical potential that is inherently incompatible and
semiologically unstable.
This, however, is not done by omission or by accident. It is in fact a very
important part of the nationalistic narrative; rendering the key aspects of
it unstable in such a manner, the narrative is therefore rendered more vital
and open to interpretations (while retaining its simplicity and directness).
It is this very trait that ensures the vitality and the renewal of the narrative
in question. It is, in fact, a great way of fixing certain core meanings, but by
doing so making sure that they are not too rigid and openly imposed. It is
trying to avoid here described situation (talking of ideology more broadly
but it is perfectly applicable to the ideology of nationalism as well as to
others):
Ideology is essentially a matter of fixing the otherwise inexhaustible proc-
ess of signification around certain dominant signifiers, with which the indi-
vidual subject can then identify. Language itself is infinitely productive; but
this incessant productivity can be artificially arrested into closure - into
a sealed world of ideological stability, which repels the disruptive, decen-
tered forces of language in the name of an imaginary unity. Signs are ranked
by a certain covert violence into rigidly hierarchical order... the process of
forging representations always involves this arbitrary closing off of the
signifying chain, constricting the free play of the signifier to a spuriously

determinate meaning which can then be received by the subject as natural
and inevitable. (Eagleton 1991: 196-197)
It is therefore the manner in which it is possible to pose certain mainframe,
but not so that it would be made too static (and therefore sooner or later ob-
solete) and to keep that structure vital and dynamic. Internal inconsistencies
are a very important part of any broader narrative that pretends to longevity
nationalistic narrative, based around the identity and the destiny of a given
people, is by no means the exception; on the contrary, it deals, as we saw,
in absolutes. Therefore, it is not the question, as suggested in the following
quotation, of suppressing the interferences but rather integrating them as
a part of the functioning structure:
Messages which the audience can decode immediately and easily and
with which they can identify, i.e. absorb as the ruling ideology, are those
whose redundancy is sufficiently great to suppress the noise or the inter-
ferences which may disturb their reception... (Rossi-Landi 1972: 122)
This is a very important notion. Although the nationalistic symbol needs to
be unstable in its meanings and capable of multiple interpretations, all of
those interpretations still need to be easily recognizable. Even more than
that, they are made to be powerful emotional agents, linked to imagery that is
at the very foundation of our culture in other words, they need to represent
archetypes. An archetype by its very nature has recognizable and emotion-
ally powerful impact on its audience it is so deeply rooted in the individuals
culture that the contact and the message it harbors are sure to be decoded
properly. At the same time, one symbolical image can have multiple mean-
ings it can be built out of more than one archetypes. We can easily stay with
the example of Athens and Virgin Mary. By using both of these archetypical
figures (themselves composed out of ancient archetypical imagery and mu-
tually opposed solar and chthonic principles) combined, both of these goals
are achieved message is transmitted and understood on a very basic, vis-
ceral level, and at the same time, the narrative is kept unstable and dynamic,
therefore alive.
This brings us to an afore-mentioned statement that the nationalistic
narrative especially that of the posters, residing in the domain of the mythi-
cal (Athens being a very important figure in the Greek myth and Virgin Mary
being the key figure in the Christian myth) : the nationalistic narrative based
in myth is essentially syncretic in nature10. The very term syncretic (coming
from Latin syncretismus, an adaptation of the Greek , meaning
a Cretan federation, a composition of different and mutually opposing ele-
ments) indicates two key aspects of a mythical, nationalistic narrative one,
its ability to compose essentially different meanings, and two, the ability to
make sense of it. The syncretic narrative operates not despite these traits, but
68 Boris Petrovi
because of them. It also indicates that every symbol that is inserted in such a
narrative is necessarily made double.
Let us expand on this notion for a moment. Virgin Mary is a well-known
character from the Christian myth, signifying mercy, virtue incarnate, the
Mother-principle. On the other hand, Athens, as already stated, signifies rea-
son, intelligence, and justness. While these traits of Athens might be close to
Virgin Mary (as we can assume her to be just, and there is no evidence against
her reason and intelligence), she also stands for forgiveness and is complete-
ly non-violent. On the other hand, Athens law making capacity comes from
her violent nature the law is always based in rationalized violence. Those
qualities of Athens (reason, lawfulness, justness) are all based in violence, as
we already explained, leaning on the mechanism of taboo; therefore, Athens
is completely different from Virgin Mary. If we are to speak of the manner for
one of them to be just, and the other, those would be two very different forms
of justice.
Still, these two very different figures are brought together into a sin-
gle meta-figure, that of the mother nationalistic state. That figure is essen-
tially syncretic made of two opposing meanings and principles (Athens, a
clearly solar one, and a Virgin Mary, a clearly chthonian one) and made so
that it would overcome the difference between these two figures and create
a singular composite (meta)figure that is, on a symbolical plane, perfectly
functional.
It is here that we need to make a clear distinction between two different
modes of composite symbol making in the frame of the nationalistic mythical
narrative one is (already described) syncretic, the other one eclectic. Com-
posing symbols eclectically does not guarantee that they would overcome the
differences they originally had (indeed, symbols brought together dont need
to be different to begin with) whereas the syncretic composition necessar-
ily not only brings differences together, but overcomes them as well. Further-
ing this notion (as Gilbert Durand showed in his seminal study11), the syn-
cretic composition not only of the symbol, but of the narrative in its entirety,
ensures that the narrative in question is also isomorphic12 and convergent13
(Claude Lvi-Strauss came to the similar conclusion14).
Isomorphism and convergence, defined by Gilbert Durand as two nec-
essary aspects of any given mythical narrative (especially, wed add, if its a
nationalistic mythical narrative) because they alone make sure that the nar-
rative in question remains active, open to interpretations, unstable and ulti-
mately, to put it metaphorically, alive. A perfect narrative that would have no
open ends or unresolved issues (but still within certain balance) would not
be able to correspond with the changing times and would have nowhere to
be developed to. Isomorphism in particular makes sure that the nationalistic
narrative is able to change itself, from within, but also while including and
incorporating influences (symbols, figures, and smaller fragments of other
narratives or sometimes entire stories) from other narratives, even if they

come from the enemy we already saw (this is made especially easy with a
visual medium such is the poster, where similarities are clearly visible) that
the enemy states that partook in World War One all used the similar, if not the
same imagery. By doing so, the nationalistic narrative can stay actual with the
passage of time, and can adapt to changes. Also, the isomorphic nature of the
narrative assures that the development in question follows the lines of the
ideological values that are always at the core of every nationalistic narrative.
Still, the narrative must stay in the contact with the archetypical. It may
develop (and does), it may go through different stages and mutations, but in
order to stay effective and properly perceived, it needs to rely on the arche-
typical imagery, as well as it needs to rely on the notion of the sacred (in itself
contained in archetypical imagery).
In this manner, symbolism is (again, we shall add necessarily) made
double15. By composing these symbols, of Virgin Mary and of Athens, we have
a national state that is at the same time to be protected as feminine (being of
the chthonian realm, motherly, which in the patriarchal-militaristic cultural
context of early 20th century Europe, meant being in need of protection) but
able to protect us by being fierce and just. War as such is made legitimate
(Athens, being the goddess of laws of justness) violence is made acceptable,
when turned against the enemies of the nation state. Presence of the traits of
Virgin Mary also connects this notion with that of forgiveness going to war
and killing other humans is made legitimate and that is guaranteed by the
presence of Virgin Mary, that is, again, the virtue incarnate.
All the more important, the creation of this meta-symbol guarantees
the connection between the ever changing and advancing culture (and in-
evitable additions to the cultural corps of a nation state) and the roots out
of which that very culture stemmed. The notion of unshakable endurance
more precisely, that of ancientness and ideally eternal lasting entities (ideol-
ogy, values, code of conduct etc.) is essential for this form of narrative all
the more so, facing the fact that nationalism (as we already suggested) is a
fairly recent phenomenon, and was even more recent in the beginning of
the 20th century. Built into the very structure of the ideology of national-
ism is the very same principle of syncretism it is (and was in the given
chronological context) a very young ideology, but it clams ancientness and
antiquity. In order to do so, the ideology in question, carried by these post-
ers, needs to connect itself to the already existing symbols that indeed can
(strictly chronologically speaking) lay claim to ancientness and long dura-
tion. It is therefore that we have a Virgin Mary and Athens, both of them
ancient symbols and figures16, as a part of the newly made, yet at the same
time ancient, figure of the nation state.
It is our hope that some light has been shed on this interesting phe-
nomenon. While presenting but the elemental concepts of the nationalistic
70 Boris Petrovi
narrative, this work can serve as a basis for further exploration in the given
domain.
References:
Eagleton, Terry, Ideology Verso, London, 1991.
Claude Lvi-Strauss, Anthropologie structurale deux, Librairie Plon, Paris, 1973.
Gilbert Durand, Les structures anthropologiques de limaginaire, DUNOD, 11me di-
tion, Paris, 1993.
Makolkin, Anna, Name, Hero, Icon, Semiotics of Nationalism through Heroic Biography,
Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin - New York, 1992.
Petrovic, Boris, Apokalipsa u nacistickom i sovjetskom plakatu, http://libartes.
com/2012/decembar/slika_i_misao.php
Ren Girard, La violence et le sacr, Editions Bernard Grasset, Paris, 1972.
Rossi-Landi, , Ferruccio, Semiotica e ideologia, Bompiani, Milan, 1972.
Smith, Anhtony D, Chosen Peoples, Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 2003.
Smith, Anhtony D, The Ethnic Origin of Nations, Blackwell Publishers Inc., Cambridge,
USA, 1995.
Notes:
1 For the article on the link between war posters and the canonical symbolism of col-
or in orthodox painting is to be found, see: http://libartes.com/2012/decembar/
slika_i_misao.php , last accessed on 01.12.2015.
2 Great Britain, 1915, Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, LOC 2003675387.
3 Germany, 1914, Kaempster, Edward, LOC 2004665950.
4 Russia, 1914-191, Strelcova, M.A.
5 Or, perceived as sacred. There is an important distinction to be made between the no-
tions of the sacred and the holy. Sacred is a notion linked to the pagan myth and
is directly related to the sacrifice mechanism as a rationalized violence: holy comes
from the Christian religion and is, according to Ren Girard, violence and blood sac-
rifice abolished. These posters are rather holy than sacred, but they pretend to be,
as war is organized violence: that is, they were meant to be perceived as sacred even
though they are holy in nature.
6 USA, 1918, Robinson, Boardman, LOC 2002722439.
7 England, 1915, Kemp-Welch, Lucy, Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, IWM PST
5109.
8 USA, 19141919, Flagg, James Montgomery, LOC 91726511.
9 Germany,1918, Engelhard, Julius Ussy, LOC 2004665871.
10 As it was shown by Gilbert Durand in his seminal work Les structures anthro-
pologiques de limaginaire.
11 Les structures anthropologiques de limaginaire, Gilbert Durand, DUNOD, 11me di-
tion, 1993, p. 65.
12 Ibid., p. 65.
13 Ibid., p. 65.
14 Anthropologie structurale deux, Claude Lvi-Strauss, Librairie Plon, 1973, p. 309.
15 More on the necessarily double nature of symbols, see Ren Girards commentary of
the Dridas interpretation of the pharmakon in La violence et le sacr, Ren Girard,
Editions Bernard Grasset, 1972, pp. 440-444.
16 Possibly, or almost certainly, also made in the similar manner, as composite symbols
of the previously existing deities or narratives, connecting to the already existing and
already considered sacred principles and goddesses.
72 Boris Petrovi
MEDIJSKO PAMENJE ISTORIJSKOG

SEANJA: PERFORMANS OVA VAVILONSKA
POMETNJA DAH TEATRA
Ivan Medenica
Fenomen pamenja/seanja/arheologije u izvoakim umetnostima u ovom

se radu tretira na dva nivoa, a na primeru ulinog performansa iz 1992.
godine Ova vavilonska pometnja Dah teatra, nezavisne pozorine grupe iz
Beograda.
***
Prvi nivo jeste jedinstveni potencijal izvoakih umetnosti, pa tako i umet-
nosti performansa (performance art) da konstituiu ili rekreiraju kolektivno
seanje zajednice, te tako i njen identitet. Taj se potencijal moe istorijski
prepoznati jo u prvim ritualnim i pozorinim izvedbama; ovde i nije re o
potencijalu, nego, zapravo, o istinskom, pravom izvoritu izvoakih umet-
nosti, bar kada je tradicija Zapada u pitanju. Tragike predstave u Atini 6. i
5. veka pre n. e. bile su mesto i kontekst samoreprezentacije atinskog demo-
kratskog polisa i njegove religije, a glavni aspekt te samoreprezentacije bilo
je upravo kolektivno seanje i pamenje: seanje na istorijske pobede (pre
svega, onu u grko-persijskim ratovima) i pamenje mitskih narativa na koji-
ma je ta zajednica zasnovana.
Rad Dah teatra koji ove godine proslavlja veliki jubilej, dvadeset-pet
godina postojanja u pogledu umetnike (izvedbene) rekreacije i odravanja
istorijskog seanja posebno je upeatljiv, znaajan i jedinstven u lokalnom
kontekstu. On se moe, u najkraim crtama, svesti na kontinuirano svedo-
anstvo i seanje artikulisano kroz istraivake, ritualizovane izvoake
prakse, u duhu interkulturalnog projekta Odin teatra Euenija Barbe na
kolektivne i individualne traume prouzrokovane ratovima u bivoj Jugoslaviji
90-ih godina prolog veka.
Kvalitet seanja projekti Dah teatra dobijaju prevashodno danas, kada ih
sagledavamo u istorijskoj perspektivi. Inae, njihovi rani performansi naje-
e su bili neposredno svedoanstvo, direktna opomena, trenutna umetnika
74 Ivan Medenica
i graanska pobuna protiv ratnih dejstava. O tako shvaenoj misiji Dah teatra,
koja se u ovih dvadeset i pet godina kretala, dakle, u rasponu od direktnog
svedoanstva, opomene i pobune do seanja na zloine i pravljenja scenskih
okolnosti za aljenje neoplakanih rtava, rediteljka ove trupe i jedna od nje-
nih osnivaica, Dijana Miloevi, danas kae sledee:
Oni koji tee miru i pomirenju ne susreu se vie s trenutnom krizom na-
silja, ve vie s pitanjem kako da pomognu ljudima da otklone poricanje i
suoe se s istinom, ukljuujui i to kako da im pomognu da obnove uspo-
mene i bace svetla na bolne istine. Umetnost, a posebno pozorite, pokaza-
lo je neverovatnu snagu u pomaganju ljudima da obave taj posao. Pozori-
te stvara prostor gde ljudi mogu da podele uspomene, govore o nepravdi,
zajedniki ale, ili jednostavno budu zajedno i vide lice drugog. (Miloevi
2011: 28)
***
Konkretan predmet ovog istraivanja jeste, kao to smo naglasili, ulini per-
formans Ova vavilonska pometnja iz 1992. godine, koji se petnaest dana zare-
dom izvodio u Kulturnom centru Beograda i na platou ispred njega. etvoro
izvoaa, tri glumice i plesa, izvodili su istraivakim procesom osmiljenu
partituru fizikih akcija, izgovarajui istovremeno stihove iz politiki angao-
vane poezije Bertolta Brehta. Veza izmeu govora i pokreta bila je samo aso-
cijativna i mogla se pronai, pre svega, u ideji prenoenja antiratne poruke.
Antiratni angaman Brehtovih stihova je oigledan: kad oni odozgo govore
o miru, prost narod zna da e biti rata; vlade piu dogovore o nenapadanju,
mali ovee pii oporuku; oni gore su se okupili u jednoj sobi, mali ovee
na ulici kai zbogom nadi.
U scenskom deavanju, u telesnoj prisutnosti izvoaa, dimenzija pre-
noenja antiratne poruke bila je prevashodno oznaena kostimima Borisa
akirana. Svi izvoai nosili su laka, iana krila koja su razvijala jasnu aso-
cijaciju na anele. Ta asocijacija, meutim, ovde nije imala hriansko znae-
nje, izuzev reference na Arhanela Gavrila kao Bojeg glasnika. Ovakav bismo
utisak imali ak i da nema objanjenja jedne od dve rediteljke predstave, Di-
jane Miloevi (druga je Jadranka Aneli), datog povodom jednog drugog
projekta Dah teatra u kojima su aneli takoe glavni idejni, vizuelni i scenski
motiv. Govorei u jednom intervjuu o predstavi Aneli u gradovima, Miloe-
vi istie:
Ovo je trea predstava u kojoj su se pojavili aneli. Mislim da su oni posred-
nici izmeu ljudi i viih ideja, a i umetnici su u nekom smislu pali aneli,
odbaeni od dutva. (Kovaevi 1998)
Treba naglasiti da bi ove krilate figure dobile isto znaenje i kad bismo imali
asocijaciju na grkog glasnika bogova, Hermesa, jer je on takoe imao krila
na lemu i sandalama.
Osim Brehtovih stihova, i scenska akcija koja se odvijala na platou ispred

Kulturnog centra Beograda ukazuje na to da Ova vavilonska pometnja nije
bilo kakav glas/upozorenje s Neba, ve ba antiratni usmeren protiv rata
u bivoj Jugoslaviji, a koji je ve poeo. Jedna glumica (Maja Miti) nosi umo-
tani tekstil kao da je puka uperena u gledaoce i poskakuje kao da uestvuje
na nekim koreografski stilizovanim vojnim manevrima. Druga glumica (Varja
uki) marira na takoe stilizovan, komiki nain, dajui vojniki ritam lu-
panjem dairama o svoju butinu.
***
Da li je ovo cela predstava? ta su radili drugo dvoje izvoaa? ta su svo
etvoro izvodili u galeriji Kulturnog centra pre nego to su izali u otvoreni
prostor, na ulicu i plato?... Istraiva koji nije prisustvovao ovom izvoenju
kao to je to moj sluaj teko moe da odgovori na ova pitanja, jer mu
nedostaju izvori: od sauvanih vizuelnih svedoanstava o predstavi Ova vavi-
lonska pometnja postoji svega nekoliko fotografija i jedan veoma kratak, ne-
celovit snimak. Tako dolazimo do drugog aspekta fenomena pamenja/sea-
nja/arheologije u pozoritu i izvoakim umetnostima generalno: medijske
dokumentacije.
Glavna pretpostavka u razmiljanju o pozoritu i izvoakim umetnosti-
ma, kako zdravorazumskom tako i teorijskom, jeste da je prolaznost njihova
ontoloka odlika, njihova materijalnost kako to zove Erika Fier-Lihte (Eri-
ka Fischer-Lichte 2014: 22-23). Svaka izvedba, bilo umetnika (pozorite,
opera, ples, performans...) bilo kulturalna (verski obredi, sportski dogaaji,
rituali, politiki skupovi...), postoji samo u sada i ovde, u jasno ogranienom
vremenskom i prostornom okviru i situaciji koja podrazumeva bar poetnu
i, samim tim, teorijski zamenljivu podelu na izvoae i gledaoce. Jednom kad
vremenski okvir proe, kad se iskorai iz prostornog okvira i kad se razgradi
konstelacija izvoai-gledaoci, od izvedbe ostaju samo njeni materijalni tra-
govi, ali ne i ona sma. Kada vie nisu u funkciji izvedbe, svi njeni elementi,
od rekvizite do glumaca, svode se na vlastitu predmetnost ili telesnost: ne
oznaavaju nita izvan samih sebe.
Zbog ovakve prirode izvoenja, istraiva je primoran da, ako nije imao
lino iskustvo konkretne izvedbe (nije joj prisustvovao), te njene materijalne
tragove sakuplja na osnovu raspoloivih istoriografskih dokumenata i tako,
manje ili vie precizno rekonstruie kako je ona izgledala i dejstvovala. Kao
to smo videli, u sluaju ulinog performansa Ova vavilonska pometnja, ti su
izvori veoma oskudni, pa je tako i rekonstrukcija sasvim fragmentarna i ne
mnogo pouzdana.
Ovde treba naglasiti da svaka analiza izvedbe o kojoj istraiva nema li-
no iskustvo jer joj nije prisustvovao, odnosno u njoj uestvovao, zapravo i
nije analiza izvedbe onako kako je definie Fier-Lihte, a iji su teorijski
i metodoloki koncepti okvir i za ovaj rad ve je, zapravo, istoriografska
76 Ivan Medenica
analiza (Erika Fischer-Lichte 2014: 48). Pri tome je metodoloki svejedno da

li se izvedba dogodila u davnoj prolosti, pa istraiva nikako nije mogao da
joj prisustvuje, ili je ona sasvim skoranjeg datuma ali postoje drugi razlozi
zato istraiva nema lino iskustvo te izvedbe. Ovim se, u izvesnoj meri, re-
lativizuje pitanje brojnosti i pouzdanosti medijskih izvora o nekoj izvedbi,
jer ak i kad su oni optimalni analiza ne moe da bude potpuna bez iskustva
samog dogaaja koji nazivamo izvedbom. U istoriografskom pristupu ovaj se
nedostatak, dodue, moe nadomestiti dokumentarnim izvorima o reakcija-
ma publike.
Takvo shvatanje potie iz osnovnog teorijskog koncepta na koji se u
ovom radu pozivamo. U svojoj kljunoj studiji, The Transformative Power of
Performance, Fier-Lihte pravi otru i jasnu distinkciju izmeu koncepata
inscenacije i izvedbe i u izvoakim umetnostima i u kulturalnim izvedba-
ma. Ukratko reeno, inscenacija je sveobuhvatan, unapred osmiljen i dobro
uveban umetniki (ritualni, sportski) plan nekog dogaaja, dok je izved-
ba realizacija tog plana u fiziolokoj, energetskoj, emocionalnoj, duhovnoj i
misaonoj interakciji s gledaocima. Sama ta razmena, taj autopoetic feedback
loop kako ga naziva Fier-Lihte, jeste izvedba/predstava, a ono to su umet-
nici osmislili i uvebali (inscenacija) samo je njen preduslov. Ovaj koncept
je u najdirektnijoj vezi s jednom od prethodnih teorijskih hipoteza, onoj o
prolaznosti izvedbe kao njenom sutinskom svojstvu.
I kada bez dileme prihvatimo tvrdnju da je ova stalna razmena sutina
svakog izvoenja, ipak se moe tvrditi da postoje razliiti nivoi i intenziteti
uea gledalaca u razliitim tipovima izvedbi. Znaaj, funkcija i karakter tog
uea je u jednom tipu izvedbi vei, a u drugima manji: odnosno, vie ili ma-
nje konstitutivan. U realistikom dramskom teatru, koje se odvija u zamrae-
nim salama i sceni kutiji, plan inscenacije je takav da reakcije publike budu
to je mogue neprimetnije. Iako je eljena pasivnost publike, potpuno inte-
riorizovane reakcije (iskljuivo misaone i emocionalne), neostvarivi ideal
u apsolutnom smislu, ipak postoje konvencije i protokoli koji doprinose ta-
kvom cilju: reakcije se sistemski svode na aplauz na poklonu. Nasuprot tome,
ulini performansi su nuno nepredvidljiviji kada je re o reakcijama publike:
mnogi gledaoci to uopte nisu, ve su samo sluajni prolaznici, tako da se
njihove reakcije ne mogu projektovati i/ili kontrolisati. Zato se moe tvrditi
da reakcije publike u ulinim performansima imaju mnogo vei i presudniji
uticaj na realizaciju izvedbe.
Ako sada ukratko rekapituliramo i bolje organizujemo ove osnovne te-
orijske hipoteze, te primenimo na analizu performansa Ova vavilonska po-
metnja, dolazimo do sledeeg: materijalno svojstvo svake izvedbe jeste to da
ona nije materijalne prirode, da je prolazna. To je, izmeu ostalog, i zbog toga
to se izvedba ne moe svesti na svoju inscenaciju umetniki plan i njegove
materijalne nosioce jer se ona kao takva, kao izvedba, ostvaruje iskljuivo i
u neprekidnoj razmeni s gledaocima u jednom sada-i- ovde. Ako je, po ovom
pitanju, mogue napraviti gradaciju, znaaj reakcija publike za realizaciju

izvedbe jo je vei u onim izvedbama kao to su ulini performansi, u kojima
nema protokola i konvencija koje usmeravaju i pokuavaju da kontroliu te
reakcije. Istraiva koji nije imao iskustvo izvoenja koje analizira, koji mu
nije prisustvovao, mora da pribegne istoriografskoj metodi, odnosno rekon-
strukciji te izvedbe na osnovu medijskih svedoanstava: fotografija, snimaka,
kritika, intervjua. Nije od presudnog znaaja koliko i kakvih svedoanstava
ima o samoj inscenaciji, jer sve i da su brojna, sveobuhvatna i produbljena,
ona ne daju uvid u samu izvedbu. Da bi se taj uvid ostvario, potrebni su i
izvori o ponaanju publike: to je posebno bitno u formama kao to su ulini
performansi, jer u njima reakcije gledalaca imaju vei znaaj za realizaciju
izvedbe-kao-dogaaja.
***
Od dokumenata o reakcijama gledalaca, odnosno sluajnih prolaznika na Ovu
vavilonsku pometnju, ulini performans koji je, kao takav, i danas dosta ret-
ka pojava u javnim prostorima Beograda, izdvajamo dva svedoanstva. Prvo
je iz teksta Dubravke Kneevi, kritiarke i dramaturkinje koja je redovno,
temeljno i s razumevanjem, od samih njihovih poetka, pisala o projektima
Dah teatra.
Kad je Dah teatar izaao na ulicu, jedna treina njihove publike sastavljene
od prolaznika nosila je razliite vrste uniformi, a mnogi su bili naoruani do
zuba. Dvadeset metara niz ulicu od mesta na kome su igrali, bio je tand gde
su aktivisti ekstremno desniarske partije prodavali postere, bedeve, zasta-
ve i ambleme (...) Ali, kada je predstava poela i kada su pojavile etiri osobe
obuene u crno i sa zlatnim krilima nalik anelima, sve se zaustavilo. Mnogi
sluajni prolaznici su bili zateeni. Rei koje su uli nisu bili po njihovom
ukusu (...), ali nisu mogli da odole istoj emociji i pozitivnoj energiji koja se
nalazila iza tog izdajnikog verbalnog uznemirenja. (Kneevi 1998: 59)
Drugo svedoanstvo je izjava Maje Miti, glumice Dah tetara koja je igrala i
u ovom performansu, date u kratkom filmu Ne naginji se kroz prozor. To je
seanje na nepoznatu devojicu koja je, drei sladoled, s takvom panjom
pratila performans da joj se, na kraju, sladoled otopio, iskapljao joj odeu, a
da ona to nije ni primetila.
Dok inscenacija, kao sloeni umetniki sistem scenskog oznaavanja,
priziva semantiku analizu, dotle reakcije gledalaca, kao ulno i energetsko
dejstvo, vie prizivaju fenomenoloki metod analize.
Kad se koristi fenomenoloki pristup izvedbi, koncentriemo se na naine
na koje se pojavljuju ljudi, prostori, stvari i zvukovi za vreme izvedbe. Na-
glasak stavljamo na specifine odlike i kvalitete koji su stvorili svesni uti-
sak na nas i koji su moda doveli do primetnih reakcija meu gledaocima.
(Fischer-Lichte 2014: 55)
78 Ivan Medenica
Ako na ovaj nain pristupimo analizi dvaju navedenih svedoanstava o pona-

anju publike performansa Ova vavilonska pometnja, kao i onih reakcija koje
se mogu videti na pomenutom kratkom snimku, a koji nam je bio glavni izvor
i za analizu inscenacije, onda je utisak da je ovaj dogaaj izazvao iznenaenje,
zainteresovanost i pozitivnu energiju. Nema nijednog svedoanstva u doku-
mentima koje smo imali na raspolaganju to nikako ne znai da toga nije
bilo da su gledaoci reagovali s naglaenim negodovanjem na ovu provoka-
tivnu scensku formu i njen, u onom istorijskom i drutvenom kontekstu, jo
provokativniji, antiratni sadraj, olien u Brehtovim pesmama.
***
Vrlo specifian aspekt medijskog pamenja u oblasti pozorita i izvoa-
kih umetnosti generalno jesu novinski tekstovi o izvedbama, meu njima i
kritike. Zbog pomenutog materijalnog svojstva izvoenja, a to je njegova
prolaznost, tekstovi o ovoj umetnosti imaju vei znaaj nego novinski izve-
taji o drugim umetnostima. Sa kritikama i drugim tekstovima o filmovima,
knjigama i slikama o(p)staju i sama ta umetnika dela, tako da se ovo medij-
sko pamenje uvek moe, u novim i promenjenim drutvenim i kulturnom
okolnostima, preispitati, revalorizovati, pa i odbaciti. Koliko samo kritika o
knjigama ili slikama nije poloilo famozni test vremena: ti su tekstovi, u
promenjenim okolnostima, esto bivali odbaeni, bilo zbog toga to su hvalili
neto to se nije potvrdilo kao dugotrajno umetniko dostignue, bilo zbog
toga to nisu na vreme prepoznali vrednost koje e, dakle, tek potonje epohe
da afirmiu. Zbog te perverzne zatienosti pozorine kritike u poreenju
s drugim umetnikim kritikama, zbog te nemogunosti da vremenom bude
raskrinkana jer njen predmet nestaje dok ona traje sasvim je tana du-
hovita opaska Jovana Hristia da pozorina kritika moe da bude savreni
zloin.
Ove specifine zamke medijskog seanja u oblasti izvoakih umetno-
sti su jo vee i opasnije ako ne postoji dovoljno drugih arheolokih izvora o
izvedbama iz prolosti, pre svega snimaka, fotografija i drugih svedoanstava.
Upravo to je sluaj s performansom Ova vavilonska pometnja Dah teatra. Kao
to smo ve istakli, u arhivi same trupe, za koju moemo s velikom verovatno-
om da pretpostavimo da je najcelovitija kada je re o njihovim predstavama,
postoje svega etiri fotografije iz dotinog performansa i jedan snimak i to od
svega nekoliko minuta. Nasuprot tome, ima dosta kritika i novinskih teksto-
va. Meutim, kad neki dananji istraiva ne bi poznavao kontekst rada Dah
teatra, ne bi unapred bio obaveten o postojanoj moralnoj i drutvenoj misiji
ove trupe, i kada ne bi znao da su tekstovi Dubravke Kneevi najrelevantnija
svedoanstva o njihovom radu, tog bi istraivaa tekstovi iz ove arhive mogli
da dezinformiu. Oni bi, umesto medijskog pamenja, lako mogli da ostvare
funkciju medijskog falsifikovanja.
U veini tih tekstova, bilo da je re o kritikama ili novinskim izvetajima

koji u sebi sadre i izjave autora performansa, relativno detaljno se prikazuje,
za to vreme nov i poseban nain rada Dah teatra: laboratorijski, istraivaki,
zasnovan na tradicionalnim azijskim izvoakim formama i ritualnom po-
zoritu Jeija Grotovskog i Euenija Barbe. O nedvosmislenom drutvenom
angamanu ovog projekta, o osudi rata koji je tih dana poinjao na terito-
riji bive Jugoslavije, ima samo usputnih, veoma uoptenih ili eufemistikih
komentara. Novinari i kritiari pominju, bez i najmanje kontekstualizacije u
aktuelne i lokalne prilike, Brehtovu angaovanu poeziju i istinu nae loe
svakodnevice (Jakovljevi: 1992), antiratni protest i angaovanu Brehto-
vu poeziju (oki: 1992). U izvetaju u Ludusu s izvoenja ove predstave u
Skopju, na festivalu MOT, ni reju se ne pominje drutveni kontekst (Lazovi:
1992), a isti sluaj je i s reportaom o Dah teatru i radu na konkretnoj pred-
stavi u Ilustrovanoj Politici (Jokanovi: 1992)... Kao to smo nagovestili, jedini
napis u kome se predstava posmatra u izvornom drutvenom kontekstu jeste
onaj iji je autor Dubravka Kneevi i koji je objavljen u dugo vremena nepo-
stojeem, danas i potpuno zaboravljenom listu Pacifik:
No, najneverovatnija je injenica da jedan mali istraivaki, eksperimental-
ni i nepopulistiki alternativni teatar prvi oseti sutinsku potrebu za anga-
manom. (...) Breht je progovorio kao na najivlji i najsavremeniji savre-
menik protiv pokolja i totalitarizma. Zbunjeno gledalite, sluajni etai
i pretplaeni posmatrai izloga bez dinara u depu, istog su trena pristali
na zabavu koja nije komercijalna, na teke teme u tekim vremenima (...).
(Kneevi: 1992)
***
Kada na kraju ovog rada sumiramo domete medijskog pamenja na ulini
performans Ova Vavilonska pometnja Dah teatra koji je u doba svog nastan-
ka bio neposredna antiratna opomena, dok danas dobija karakter istorijskog
seanja na odnos graana Beograda i, generalno, naih umetnika prema rato-
vima na teritoriji bive Jugoslavije izdvaja se jedan osnovni utisak. On pro-
istie iz analize dokumenata o reakcijama publike, ali i iz novinskih izvetaja
i kritika. Predstava je kod obine publike to su bili, u prvom redu, sluajni
prolaznici izazvala iznenaenje, uenje, radoznalost, dok su mediji i stru-
na javnost bili najvie zainteresovani za njegova umetnika svojstva: istrai-
vaki karakter, formu ulinog performansa, elemente brehtovskog kabarea,
izvoaku praksu u duhu Grotovskog i Barbe... Drugim reima, ni u jednim
ni u drugim reakcijama ne moe se prepoznati ili on bar nije dominirao
stav prema jasnom antiratnom sadraju ovog performansa. Razlozi za ta-
kvu recepciju, ili bar za nae utiske o takvoj recepciji, viestruki su. Kreu se
od nepotpunih medijskih izvora, preko neobuenosti ili ak benevolentnosti
tih sluajnih gledalaca u prihvatanju provokativnih stavova u provokativnim
80 Ivan Medenica
formama, do izraene medijske autocenzure... Zapravo, dananji status koji

Dah teatar ima i koji je zapoeo upravo ovim performansom a to je da su
njihovi projekti dosledno, odgovorno i smelo istorijsko seanje na ratne zlo-
ine i druge traume iz devedesetih godina steen je, pre svega, u kasnijoj
analizi i kontekstualizaciji, u kojoj bitno mesto imaju nekoliki tekstovi Milene
Dragievi ei. U doba kada su nastajale njihove prve predstave, osnovu za
medijsko pamenje istorijskog seanja na zloine i traume iz devedesetih, isto-
rijskog seanja koje Dah teatar postojano i uzorno neguje od svog poetka,
prevashodno, ako ne i jedino davali su tekstovi Dubravke Kneevi. To ide na
ast ovoj autorki koja, uzgred, ve dve decenije ne ivi u Srbiji, ali ne i naoj
medijskoj i kulturnoj sceni toga doba.
Reference:
oki, ., 1992, Vavilonska pometnja, Beograd: Politika.
Fischer-Lichte, Erika, 2008, The Transformative Power of Performance, London/ New
York: Routledge.
Fischer-Lichte, Erika, 2014, The Routledge Introduction to Theatre and Performance
Studies, London/ New York: Routledge.
Jakovljevi, B., 1992, Otmenost ulinog vaspitanja, Beograd: Borba.
Jokanovi, Sran, 1992, ene imaju prednost, Beograd: Ilustrovana Politika.
Kovaevi, T., 1998, Beogradski aneli sleu s metlama, Beograd: Glas.
Kneevi, Dubravka, 1992, Tragika farsa, Beograd: Pacifik.
Kneevi, Dubravka, 1998, Marked with Red Ink; Radical Street Performance (ed.
Cohen-Cruz, Jan), London/ New York: Routledge.
Lazovi, Zoran, 1992, Susret sa znanjem, Beograd: Ludus.
Miloevi, Dijana, 2011, Theatre as a Way of Creating Sense: Performance and Peace-
building in the Region of Former Yugoslavia, Acting Together: Performance and
the Creative Transformation of Conflict (ed. Cohen, Cynthia E, Gutierrez Varea,
Roberto, Walker, Polly O.), Oakland: New Village Press.
KAD SJEANJE POSTANE POVIJEST:

SLUAJ RUKOPISA RUDOLFA HABEDUA
KATEDRALISA
Marina Mualo
Uvod
Pukom sluajnou, dok sam u veljai 2011. godine, pretraivala arhivsku gra-
u u ondanjoj Novinskoj dokumentaciji Hrvatske radiotelevizije, u jednoj od
onih staromodnih kartonskih fascikli, naila sam na neki obiman tekst. Brojni
listovi vrlo tankog pelir-papira bili su gusto ispisani prepoznatljivim slovima,
tipinim za nekadanje pisae strojeve koji su na papiru buili rupice. Prve
su stranice pretrpjele znaajna oteenja, pa su bile teko itljive, a tekst je u
cjelini djelovao neprivlano, poput zapisnika neke maratonske sjednice. Bilo
je oito da se radi o autorskom radu jer je svaka stranica na marginama imala
zelenom tintom dopisane preinake, dopune ili napomene.
Naslov je glasio Katedralis: Iz kronike grada Zagreba, a podnaslov Pri-
lozi za pribiranje provjerene grae o povijesti pobuda, o osnutku i o prvom
razdoblju rada Radio stanice Zagreb. Paginacija je kazivala da se radi o 155
stranica, grupiranih u 17 biltena (poglavlja). Naslovi poput Prva emisija,
Prvi radio-kvartet i radio-roman, Portret naeg prvog radio-govornika,
Prvi enski glas mistina teta Boena, Daljnji govornici i dogaaji jasno
su ukazivali na 1926. godinu kada je Radio Zagreb poeo s emitiranjem. Me-
utim, prema uredno naznaenim datumima vidljivo je da su tekstovi nastali
u razdoblju od veljae do travnja 1951. godine.
Katedralis je bio pseudonim feljtonista i novinara Rudolfa Habedua
(1894-1960) koji je od 1919. godine, redovito pisao u zagrebakim dnevnim
i tjednim novinama te asopisima. Najee se bavio gradskim temama, Za-
grebom i njegovim stanovnicima, posebice Gornjim gradom. Okuao se i u
pisanju romana i novela, ali u knjievnim krugovima nije stekao istaknutiji
status. Jedan od razloga svakako je bila slinost s temama cijenjene Marije
Juri Zagorke. Tridesetih godina 20. stoljea, poeo je pisati i za radio, uglav-
82 Marina Mualo
nom skeeve i dramolete (Vonina, 2002). U poslijeratnim godinama radio je

u knjinici Radio Zagreba. Umro je 1960, u dobi od 67 godina.
Rukopis je zanimljiv ponajprije stoga to o poetku emitiranja Radio Za-
greba, a koji je ishodite ukupne hrvatske radiodifuzije, nema osobitih povi-
jesnih izvora. Radijski arhiv nije sauvan podjednako, kao to nema ni izvor-
nih tonskih zapisa jer u to vrijeme jo nije postojao nosa zvuka prikladnog
vremenskog trajanja. U dnevnim novinama tog vremena mogu se nai tek
kratke informacije ili programske najave, a u periodici koju je objavljivao sam
Radio Zagreb, uglavnom slubeni izvjetaji ili tehnike upute Opirnijih au-
torskih tekstova, biljeki ili crtica o zbivanjima iza mikrofona ili atmosferi
na radiju, nema.
Praznina je kvalitetno popunjena tek sredinom 80-ih godina, kad je dr
sc. Nikola Vonina (1934-2016), dugogodinji dramaturg i redatelj na Radio
Zagrebu, objavio knjigu Prilozi za povijest radija u Hrvatskoj: Radio Zagreb
1926-1941. Prikupio je i povezao grau rasutu po tisku, arhivama, prigod-
nim izdanjima i osobnim dokumentacijama, nastojei iz preostalih kamen-
ia rekonstruirati barem neke obrise tog mozaika prilika i neprilika kroz
koje su proli nai prvi radio-djelatnici (Vonina 1986: 4). Prilozi su i da-
nas jedinstveni po sistematinosti pristupa i brojnosti svojih izvora, a meu
kojima su i Habeduovi tekstovi.
Oekivano, rije je o feljtonistikim zapisima punim osobnih doivljaja,
atmosfere i ljudi, snano proetim nostalgijom za starim, dobrim vremeni-
ma. Podjednako kao i slini anali, kronike, biografije, autobiografije ili me-
moari, predstavljaju tradiciju odnosno izvor koji, prema Gross (1996: 386),
prikazuje neku pojavu u odreenom svjetlu s namjerom da obavijesti potom-
stvo o svom vienju. Meutim, aktualne rasprave oko vrijednosti (korisnosti)
takvih povijesnih izvora i (ne)poeljnosti narativnog pristupa u tumaenju
povijesnih dogaaja, osporavaju njihovu ozbiljnost.
Vrijednost Habeduovih Priloga za pribiranje provjerene grae treba
promatrati u svjetlu dviju injenica. Prva je kronini manjak informacija o
poetku Radio Zagreba ime se rekonstrukcija oslanja na suhoparne admi-
nistrativne sadraje (zakoni, pravilnici), radijsku periodiku1 (tjednici, mje-
senici) i rijetke objave u dnevnom tisku (najave, otvorena pisma). Druga
je Habeduov status svjedoka, osobe koja je prisustvovala nizu zbivanja na
radiju i oko njega, te osobna poznanstva i prijateljstva s ljudima koji su krei-
rali ranu radijsku programsku politiku, a o kojima nemamo nikakvih dubljih
saznanja. Usprkos jasnim slabostima koje prate sjeanja, dnevnike zapise ili
memoarsku prozu, a emu pripada i i Habeduov rad, nedvojbeno je rije o
svjedoanstvu iskoristivom za popunjavanje, povezivanje i obogaivanje po-
stojeih saznanja.
Rudolf Habedu Katedralis

Opirnije Habeduove biografije nema, jer je dijelio sudbinu mnogih auto-
ra, pisaca, pjesnika, publicista i novinara, koji nikad nisu privukli dovoljno
pozornosti da bi se itko detaljnije bavio njihovim djelom. Tek je 1997. go-
dine, ugledni hrvatski knjievni kritiar, esejist i prevoditelj Branimir Donat
(1934-2010) izabrao, priredio za tisak i objavio (u vlastitoj nakladnikoj kui
Dora Krupieva), zbirku Habeduovih pria i feljtona pod nazivom etnje
Gornjim Gradom i starim Zagrebom.
U opirnom pogovoru pokuao je prikazati Habeduovo odrastanje i ko-
lovanje, ali se umjesto uobiajenih informacija o datumu i mjestu roenja, pa
i samom imenu i prezimenu, sreo s dvojbama oko njihove tonosti. Pokuaj
povezivanja dostupnih informacija, a koje bi dale odgovor na pitanje tko je
uope bio Rudolf Habedu (ili Rudea Heister), koji je roen 7. ili 8. oujka u
Zagrebu ili moda Krapini, zapeo je na samom poetku. Donat je odustao od
traganja kad se trag potpuno zametnuo jer je 10-godinji Rudolf odustao od
redovnog kolovanja.
Pronaao ga je ponovo sredinom 20-ih godina, kao novinara tjednika Hr-
vatska metropola ija je redakcija bila prijavljena na istoj adresi na kojoj je
ivjela Marija Juri Zagorka. Meutim, Habeduovo prijateljstvo s poznatom
novinarkom i knjievnicom raspalo se kad ga je 1929. godine javno prozvala
(tekstom u Jutarnjem listu), zbog navodne krae ideje za povijesni roman.
U ondanjoj atmosferi urbanog, ali malog Zagreba, bila je to prvorazredna
tema za kavanski razgovor, ali i daljnje rasprave po novinama.
Ostaje nejasnim zato se Donat, po umirovljenju u Matici hrvatskoj, od-
luio na objavu Habeduovih pria i feljtona. Oito je iz nekih svojih razloga
odabrao ovog posljednjeg nostalgiara malog starinskog svijeta Zagreba i
analitiara mentaliteta koji je obitavao pod krovovima Gria i Kaptola. (Do-
nat 1997: 266). Tim se povodom Habedua prisjetio i najzagrebakiji pisac
Zvonimir Milec (1938-2014) tekstom Katedralisova katedrala podlistka
kojeg je prigodno napisao za Jutarnji list.
Obojica iskazuju iskreno aljenje zbog sustavnog i viegodinjeg ignori-
riranja Habeduovog rada, osobito tekstova koji govore o Zagrebu i Zagrep-
anima. Takoer, obojica pretpostavljaju da je uzrok zapravo format feljtona
(ili podlistka) umjesto tzv. ozbiljne literature, ali ne iskljuuju ni Habeduov
prepoznatljivi sentiment (Milec), pa i plaljivost (Donat). Bez uputanja u
rasprave o vrijednosti danas posve nepoznatog, zaboravljenog i u nehaj po-
tonulog pisca (Ibid: 257), vraam se Habeduovim zapamenjima na rani
Radio Zagreb .
Usprkos teatralnom nainu pisanja, romansiranim dijalozima i melodra-
matskim opaskama, Habedu u svom stilu, jednostavno i toplo, pripovijeda o
Zagrebu, njegovoj atmosferi, gornjogradskom radiju i ljudima koji su ga stva-
rali. Razlog za pisanje daje odmah, ve u prvom poglavlju koje je napisano 6.
84 Marina Mualo
veljae 1951. godine. Ondanje radijsko rukovodstvo planiralo je u svibnju

iste godine obiljeiti 25-godinjicu prvog emitiranja, pa su traili autore koji
bi mogli napisati prigodan tekst. Moe se pretpostaviti da je posao u radijskoj
knjinici ostavljao dovoljno vremena za pisanje, a tema je ionako jo bila svje-
a u pamenju. U sljedea dva mjeseca ispisao je brojne stranice sjeanja na
dogaaje, znance i prijatelje. Zapravo je na neki nain pisao o svojoj mladosti
jer je u vrijeme poetaka Radio Zagreba, tek preao tridesetu godinu.
Kako su rat i okupacija unitili mnogo toga morali smo pribiranje gradiva
zapoeti po naim osobnim zapamenjima pa onda nadalje i razgovorima s
rijetkom ivim svjedocima (), onda smo se jednog nedjeljnog popodneva
uputili na reminiscentnu etnju u kolijevku Radio Zagreba, u na stari Gor-
nji Grad. (Habedu 1951: 3)
Pisao je u prvom licu mnoine, namjerno arhainim onodobnim jezikom
jer ga je, prema vlastitom objanjenju, smatrao primjerenijim za plastino i
pitoreskno ilustriranje dogaaja i boljoj povezanosti s 1926. godinom. Op-
irnost upuuje na pretpostavku da je (moda) planirao i prigodnu knjigu, ali
se neto oito isprijeilo. Devet godina poslije je i umro, a rukopis je ostao u
nekom dijelu arhive netom ustrojene Radiotelevizije Zagreb.
Nismo slutili ni u potsvijesti da e ta zapamenja biti bilo kada kome po-
trebna, ali historija i razvoj njenih dogaaja bili su uvijek puni iznenaenja
[] Tko bi onda pomislio pa i naslutio da e za relativno kratko vrijeme
nestati svih onih spisa pa i velikog broja ljudi koji su bili autentini svjedoci
te prve grike radioepohe. (Ibid: 146)
Jedinstven doprinos radijskoj povijesti uinjen je u poglavljima koja se u cije-
losti bave dogaajem kao to je bilo prvo emitiranje (Prva emisija, Bilten br.
1) i samozatajnim prvim ravnateljem Radio Zagreba, dr Ivom Sternom (Na-
baeni crte za portret prvog naeg radio-govornika, Bilten br. 9). Meutim,
podjednako su jedinstvene i prie o prvom kunom orkestru Radio Zagreba
(Kvartet Rozbroj) te pjesnikinji i prevoditeljici Boeni Begovi koja je, kao
mlada glumica Hrvatskog narodnog kazalita, bila prvi enski glas Radio
Zagreba. Bez tih Habeduovih zapamenja, bez obzira koliko bila proeta
osobnou samog autora, prve bi godine zagrebakog broadcastinga bile oko-
vane politikim zbivanjima, zakonima, pravnim aktima i administrativnom
terminologijom. Ovako su neusporedivo toplije, upravo u skladu s prirodom
medija o kojem je pisao.
Zapamenja o prvom emitiranju: verglec bez drota

Radio Zagreb poeo je emitirati 15. svibnja 1926. godine, temeljem dozvole
koju mu je, kao sastavni dio Ugovora o instalaciji i eksploataciji jedne radi-
ofonske stanice Brodkastinga u Zagrebu ili okolici, dodijelilo Ministarstvo
pota i telegrafa Kraljevine SHS. Ugovor je potpisan 5. kolovoza 1925. godi-

ne u Beogradu i objavljen u Potansko-telegrafskom vesniku, ali izvornik s
potpisima i peatima nije sauvan. Program je trebao sluiti saoptavanju
radiofonskih vesti namenjenih optoj publikaciji: dnevne vesti, meteoroloki
izvetaji, berzanski kursovi, muzika svake vrste i sve vesti kojima se iri na-
uka i umetnost, pa razonoda. (lan 1). Ministarstvo je vlasnicima dodijelilo
pristojbu od svakog radio-telefonskog aparata u krugu od 150 km, a sebi za-
dralo pravo na kontrolu poslovanja i ubiranje postotka od zarade. U sluaju
emitiranja protuzakonitih sadraja, osobito krenja Zakona o tampi, pripri-
jetilo je oduzimanjem i zatvaranjem stanice bez prava na naknadu (lan 8).
Radio se smjestio na Gornji grad, najstariji je i najpoznatiji dio Zagreba,
bogate povijesti i arhitekture. Sredinje mjesto je Markov trg gdje se nala-
ze istoimena crkva, Banski dvori (danas sjedite Vlade RH), Saborska palaa
(danas zgrada Hrvatskog sabora) te mnoge druge palae plemikih obitelji. U
ovom otmjenom susjedstvu, na adresi Markov trg 9, u veernjim satima (20
sati i 30 minuta) poelo je prvo emitiranje Radio Zagreba.
Studio i reija smjestili su se u prostorima prvog radio-amaterskog klu-
ba, osnovanog dvije godine ranije (15. travnja 1924.). Predsjednikom je po-
stao ugledni sveuilini profesor matematike i fizike dr sc. Oton Kuera, a dr
Ivo Stern izabran je za tajnika. Nakon potpisivanja ugovora o broadcastin-
gu, prostor je ponovo preureen, sad za potrebe radija, a Stern je imenovan
direktorom.
Danas na ulazu stoji spomen ploa na prvo emitiranje. Iza drvenih vrata
nalazi se duga i uska kuna vea koja vodi do skrovitog i prostranog dvorita
u kojem je nevelika prizemnica, nekadanji studio i reija Radio Zagreba. Iako
je prostor tijekom godina doivio dodatne prenamjene, oito je da ga ve go-
dinama nitko ne koristi.
Habedu pie da je dobio poziv za dolazak na prvo emitiranje, ali i da
mu je osobno telefonirao dr. Ivo Stern, molei da novine posvete panju tom
njihovom radio-faustovskom laboratoriju. (Habedu 1951: 12). Vraajui se
u mislima na tu veer kad se uspinjao na Gornji grad, Habedu ali to nije
uinjena kakva fotografija ili crte.
I ta dvorina slika bila bi slikarski prizor starog Zagreba. Znatieljnice odje-
vene u onodobne toalete. Duge suknje, raskone eire s cvijeem i golu-
bljim krilima, a njihovi pratioci u bijelim prslucima, a neki od njih i u za
danas ve izumrlim aketima. (Ibid: 18)
Emitiranje je trebalo poeti klavirskim nastupom prof. Krste Odaka, a za na-
javu programa bila je zaduena mlada glumica Boena Begovi, ki uglednog
knjievnika Milana Begovia, Sternovog prijatelja.
Doao sam i kao novinskom feljtonisti dali su mi mjesto u samom studiju.
Sjeo sam u kut pokraj nekog kontrabasa i velikog bubnja i u asu poetka
86 Marina Mualo
emisije pozorno promatrao profesora Odaka. [] U naem zapamenju vi-

dimo ga i danas. Vidljivo je uzbuen. Nije ni udo. Dogodilo se njemu prvo-
me od naih da se kao umjetnik naao pred mikrofonom. [] U kratko: imao
je Odak one veeri onaj osjeaj treme koju i danas ima svatko tko prvi puta
nastupa pred mikrofonom. (Ibid: 12-14)
Budui da na prvom emitiranju zaista nije uinjena nijedna fotografija (ili
moda jo nije naena) lako se da zakljuiti kako radio nije bio osobito za-
nimljiv urednicima novina. Neobino je to se sama uprava nije pobrinula
za fotografiranje. Mogue je da su, u urbi, jednostavno zaboravili ili su se
moda pribojavali mogueg neuspjeha. Sutradan je Jutarnji list donio krat-
ku informaciju o poetku Radio Zagreba, a Novosti su u cijelosti preutjele
dogaaj. Habedu za to krivi pekulativni duh njihove komercijalne uprave
koja je na radio gledala kao na konkurenciju kojoj ne bi bilo korisno praviti
reklamu. Navodno su radio usporedili s kinematografom pa ako ele da ita-
telji togod doznaju, moe se urediti na bazi plaenih oglasa (Ibid: 24).
Takav stav nije neobian budui da je neprijateljstvo tiska i mladog ra-
dijskog medija bilo uobiajeno i u drugim dravama. Naime, novinski su na-
kladnici smjesta prepoznali potencijal medija koji brzinom objave vijesti, ju-
tarnje izdanje novina ini zastarjelim. Zbog nelojalne konkurencije radio je
dugo vremena, kako u Americi tako i u razvijenim europskim zemljama, bio
ogranien posebnim pravilima za emitiranje informativnih sadraja (Mualo
2010: 180).
Budui da fotografa nije bilo, Habedu se odluio na detaljan opis pro-
stora Radio Zagreba.
Stijene i strop obloeni su zbog akustike sivom jutom, tkaninom za ivanje
vrea [] kvadratni prozor s krupnim staklom koje ne proputa zvukove,
a sluio je zato da se spiker i tehniar mogu i za vrijeme emisije sporazu-
mijevati grimasama i gestama. [] U samom studiju stajao je glasovir, a iza
njega veliki gong na preki, u kutovima razni muziki instrumenti [] u
sredini spikerska katedra, a na drugoj strani veliki pisai stol amerikanac
jer je studio kroz dan radna soba direktora. (Ibid: 15)
U studiju je bilo i dosta stolaca, ali uglavnom razliitih jer su bili posueni iz
susjednih kua. Postojala je i jedna sijeda fotelja nepoznatog podrijetla koja
je sluila, iako je umjesto jedne noge imala vjeto ispiljenu cjepanicu, samo za
otmjene i starije posjetitelje.
Prisjetio se i zgode s posuenim klavirom. Vlasnik je jedne veeri htio
prirediti kunu zabavu i elio ga je natrag. Takav bi gubitak, ak i na samo
jednu veer, znaio znaajnu izmjenu programa, moda ak i neemitiranje.
Suoena s tako stranom mogunou, radijska je uprava u zamjenu ponudila
gramofon i ploe. Klavir je spaen i program se mogao nesmetano odvijati.
Toliko o unutranjosti prve emisione stanice, a sad se ponovo vratimo na
prvu emisiju: Dok je Odak svirao Lijepu nau, vani u dvoritu ispod rascvale
lipe u majskoj veeri, u modrikastoj kopreni tmine, sjedili su u garnituri na-

slonjaa od trstike i stajali mnogi znatieljnici. Prozorii od studija bili su
rastvoreni, uo se glasovir i vidjelo se glasoviraa i one koji su ga okruivali,
a oekivalo se u glavnome to e na telefonu odgovoriti oni prijatelji koji su
u svojim domovima na detektorima sluali tu prvu emisiju. Da li e uope
togod uti? (Ibid: 17)
Tijekom emitiranja u eter je nakratko dospio i psei lave. Naime, netko je
sa sobom doveo psia koji je bio malen ko igraka i miran kao saiven iz
filca. Bila je proljetna veer pa su prozori studija bili irom rastvoreni, ne
samo zbog skuenosti prostora u kojem se muziciralo, ve i stoga to su na
dvoritu stajala publika i sluala. Meutim, proletjela je neka nona ptica ili
imi, pa je psi zalajao u falsetu, kao kastrat iz Sikstinske kapele. Nastala
je prava pobuna.
Ravnatelj tri iz studija u dvorite, svi se mrko ogledavaju na pasju gos-
podaricu, a i ona je posve smetena. Ali to moe? Uzme svog pekinezera u
naruaj i pojuri kroz tunelsku portu nekud u tminu Markovog trga. Poslje-
dica tog intermezza bila je ta da je uvrijeena pasja gospodarica drugog
jutra poslala svoju kuharicu i sobaricu po svoja etiri posuena stolca jer
da nee vie imati posla s tim radistima koji su prostaci. (Ibid: 18)
Napokon, oko 22 sata i 15 minuta, prvo je emitiranje uspjeno dovreno, a to
je potvrdio i prisutni javni biljenik. Ugovorom propisani kriteriji bili su za-
dovoljeni i dozvola je postala pravno valjana. Dnevno je emitiranje ve za par
mjeseci poveano na pet sati programa. Najvie je bilo glazbe, ali se program
punio i govornim sadrajima, uglavnom iz kulture, znanosti i obrazovanja.
Tisak je i dalje ignorirao postojanje radija, ali se gradom pronio glas o gornjo-
gradskom tehnikom udu.
Habedu prepriava sitnice iz kojih je mogue bolje razumjeti dnevni i-
vot Zagreba i razmiljanja njegovih stanovnika. Primjerice, znatieljnike koji
su zavirivali u prostore radija kao u neki alkemijski laboratorij ili se kriali
i odvraali glave kao to su to inili i prolazei pokraj groblja, a na radio se
bacala krivnja i za svaki prolom oblaka ili suu. Biljei i poslovni potez ka-
vanara koji je, potaknut konkurencijom u susjedstvu, na stolovima instalirao
prijemne aparate sa slualicama te Sternovu potragu za najboljom gradskom
kapelom.
Nakon to je komisija posjetila vei broj lokala u kojima se i muzici-
ralo, izbor je pao na kvartet Rozbroj. Prihvatili su ponudu i nastupali pred
mikrofonom sigurno i s velikim elanom, a nije ih smetalo ni to to nisu imali
vidljive publike. Biljei i potez naelnikovice H.2 koja je poslala nepoznatom
Rozbroju koaru s cvijeem, vinom, delikatesama i okoladom, uz poruku da
je svirka ugodno zabavljala kod nje okupljeno drutvo, meu njima i nael-
nika Beograda [] pa je pravo da Vas i mi pogostimo kao nae nevidljive, ali
ugodne goste (Ibid: 40).
88 Marina Mualo
Vijesti su svakako bile najslabiji dio programa jer su jednostavno pre-

pisivane iz dnevnog tiska. Teko je rei je li u pitanju bila tednja, bojazan da
bi se i nehotice zamjerili vlastima ili jednostavno vrsto osobno uvjerenje o
kulturnoj i obrazovnoj ulozi radija. Mogue je da se Stern ugledao na Johna
Walshama Reitha, autokratskog prvog direktora BBC-ja koji je bio apsolutno
uvjeren u prosvjetiteljsku ulogu radija kao snane kulturne, moralne i obra-
zovne sile koja mora unaprijediti ponaanje, znanje i ukus svojih sluatelja
(Mualo 2010: 123).
Stvarni razlog Sternovog zaziranja od bilo kakve politizacije sadraja,
nikad neemo saznati. Naime, usprkos svoje kljune uloge u osnivanju Ra-
dio Zagreba, o njemu se vrlo malo zna. Postoji tek jedna njegova portretna
fotografija, neto mladenakih tekstova koje je napisao za periodiku te po-
neko slubeno izvjee o radu radija. Sternove obiteljske prilike poznate su
zahvaljujui recentnim istraivanjima3 idovskih obitelji u Zagrebu, ali osim
Habeduovih zapamenja nema ni jednog drugog poznatog izvora o tomu
kakva je zapravo osoba bio Ivo Stern.
Zapamenja o Ivi Sternu
Nije bilo obljetnice u kojoj se, prilikom kakvog prigodnog govora o po-
etku emitiranja Radio Zagreba, ne bi spomenuo i njegov prvi direktor dr
Ivo Stern (1889-1961). Meutim, Stern je bio puno vie od direktora koji su
nakon njega, najee logikom politikog interesa, obavljali tu funkciju. Bio je
inicijator ideje o broadcastingu, agitator u okupljanju lanova i prikupljanju
sredstava, potom dioniar, programski strateg i esto spiker.
Zauuje da se svih ovih godina nitko nije posebno bavio njegovom bio-
grafijom ili radom. Prije petnaestak godina, nakon bezuspjenog pretraiva-
nja dostupnih arhivskih izvora, informacije sam potraila i u idovskoj opini
u Zagrebu. Naalost, odgovoreno mi je da nemaju nikakvih podataka. Daljnji
povremeni pokuaji takoer su ostali bez rezultata. Stoga je Habeduev Na-
baeni crte za portret (Bilten br. 9, napisan 6. oujka 1951.) zaista jedin-
stven nalaz. Bili su slinih godina i oito prijatelji.
Trag o Ivi Sternu vodi u povijest jedne od najstarijih zagrebakih idov-
skih obitelji, u ijem je vlasnitvu bila najvea tvornica za preradu koe u Hr-
vatskoj. Prema Despot (1976/77) utemeljena je 1869. godine u Zagrebu i bila
jedan od najmodernijih industrijskih pogona tog vremena. Najvei problem
bio je nezaustavljivi vonj koji se irio oko tvornice i zbog kojeg su graani
poeli sve glasnije prigovarati. Ugovor s vojskom iz 1880. dao je koari sna-
an poslovni poticaj jer je proizvodnja proirena na obuu i konjsku opre-
mu (remenje i sedla). Uspjeno i unosno poslovanje nastavilo se bez obzira
na posljedice potresa koji je iste godine pogodio Zagreb te radnikog trajka
(zbog niskih nadnica). U 20. stoljeu poari su dvaput poharali skladita, ali
su sagraena nova i posao nastavljen. Uoi Drugog svjetskog rata, 1938. go-
dine, pokrenut je postupak likvidacije. Danas su tvornike zgrade u sustavu
zatiene industrijske batine u kojima je smjetena Gliptoteka Hrvatske aka-
demije znanosti i umjetnosti.
Sterna ne nalazimo u tom obiteljskom biznisu jer se, oito, nije elio nji-
me baviti. Nedvojbeno je da je ivio ugodnim ivotom, u stanu u samom cen-
tru Zagreba (u Juriievoj ulici). U vrijeme kad je drugi poar poharao koaru
(1926.), intenzivno se bavio pripremama za poetak emitiranja. Habedu ga
je, najvjerojatnije, tad i upoznao jer u svojim zapamenjima spominje pri-
jateljstvo dugo 14 godina (Ibid: 146) odnosno do poetka Drugog svjetskog
rata. Opisuje ga kao visokog i vitkog ovjeka, ljubitelja umjetnosti, estetu i
bibliofila.
Ako je istina da glas odaje ovjeka onda su njegov nain govora i boja glasa
bili nesumnjivo u skladu s njegovim komotnim kretnjama, pomalo i blazi-
ranim, njegovim manirama, pa i samom vanjtinom. Govorio je isprekidano
kao da se teko izraava, kao da se bori i boji nee li prekinuti kontinuitet
misli, a samu boju glasa mogli bi ilustrirati sa rijeima zagasiti bariton.
(Habedu 1951: 69)
Tijekom tog vremena vjerojatno je u razgovorima saznao poneto o mlado-
sti i sazrijevanju dr. Sterna. Navodno je namjeravao studirati filozofiju, ali se
obitelj usprotivila.
Lederfabrik u Novoj Vesi bila je najvea u nekadanjoj Austro-Ugarskoj i
proizvadjala je bakande za itavu armiju. Od Galicije do mora znalo se za
te Ledersterne, a jedan bistri i po porodu predestinirani za trgovca, hoe
studirati filozofiju! (Ibid: 70)
Oito je popustio pred nagovaranjima i upisao studij prava, ali je umjesto oe-
kivane odvjetnike karijere, odluio biti sudac. Obitelj opet nije bila zadovolj-
na. Sudac s odreenim dohotkom? zar je to za jednog Ledersterna? (Ibid).
Meutim, sad ve znaajno stariji i odluniji, zaposlio se na Prvom Kotarskom
sudu, u kaznenoj referadi.
Ne zanimaju ga kapitalistiki pravni sporovi ve socijalna strana povezana
s kriminalom. [] On ne podie plau, dijeli je svojim perovodjama i tumai
im: Zakon treba da popravlja, a ne da kanjava! Kod socijalnih bijednika on
donaa odreavajue presude i dolazi do prigovaranja viih sudbenih insti-
tucija. Stern ne poputa. Takovo je njegovo sudako uvjerenje.a i socijalni
pogled na svijet. Osjea se u mladom sucu njegov weltsmertz. (Ibid: 71)
Habedu opirno opisuje i jedan presudan dogaaj u kojem je mladi
sudac Stern oslobodio krivnje kradljivca para zimskih cipela. Navodno je bila
rije o nezaposlenom radniku koji je, idui od kue do kue, traio nekakav
posao. Vani je bio snijeg pa je s nekog kunog praga ukrao cipele. Stern ga
je oslobodio krivnje, poveo kui i darovao mu par svojih cipela. Presuda je
90 Marina Mualo
izazvala nezadovoljstvo kolega koji su burno protestirali protiv oslobaanja

takvog tata, a to je rezultiralo Sternovim odlaskom iz slube. Zadnje go-
dine rata radio je kao dobrovoljni tajnik Crvenog kria, pisao pjesme i eseje
od kojih je neke objavio u Krleinom Plamenu, pod pesudonimom Putnik
Ivan.4
I nekoliko godina poslije, najvjerojatnije 1924, u vrijeme kad je BBC ve
poeo s emitiranjem, dogodio se sudbonosni posjet nekom radiju u Beu.
Ovdje treba ukratko podsjetiti na radijsku sliku tog vremena. Tijekom Pr-
vog svjetskog rata civilima je bilo zabranjeno bavljenje radioamaterizmom,
a poratne su godine bile optereene svakojakim egzistencijalnim problemi-
ma. U opustoenoj i poruenoj Europi prva je s redovitim dnevnim emitira-
njem 1922. godine, poela privatna tvrtka pod nazivom British Broadcasting
Company (BBC). Treba naglasiti da je i u drugim zemljama bilo puno slinih,
ali uglavnom eksperimentalnih pokuaja ogranienog trajanja. Naime, jedan
od vanijih kriterija za stjecanje statusa radijskog programa bila je i dozvola
koju je moralo izdati neki dravno tijelo. BBC je dozvolu dobio od Britanske
pote koje je, u to vrijeme, ve upravljala telegrafijom (podravljena 1868.) i
telefonijom (podravljena 1912.).
Stern je zasigurno bio upoznat s tim novostima jer se opravdano moe
pretpostaviti da je redovito itao domae, a najvjerojatnije i strane dnevne
novine i periodiku. Povratkom iz Bea uhvatio se osnivanja radioamaterskog
kluba, a potom je inicirao i slubeni zahtjev za broadcasting. Upuen je Mini-
starstvu pota i telegrafa u Beogradu. Sljedea je godina protekla u svladava-
nju brojnih administrativnih i politikih prepreka, o emu opirno izvjetava
Vonina u svojim Prilozima. Kad je Radio Zagreb poeo s emitiranjem, Stern
je imenovan direktorom.
Politike prilike u Kraljevini SHS, osobito Vidovdanski ustav i zloglasni
Zakon o zatiti drave, bili su izrazito restriktivni, osobito u pitanju razot-
krivanja neprijatelja i sankcioniranja navodnih uvreda, kritika ili neslaganja
s vlau i dravnim ustrojem. Postojei radiotelegrafsko-telefonski pravilnici
iz 1923. i 1924. godine, bili su podjednako strogi u odreivanju pravila za
koritenje radiovalova.
Informacije o Sternovom upravljanju radijem, programskim smjernica-
ma i dominantnim sadrajima, nalazimo u radijskoj periodici. Prvi slubeni
list objavljen je prije prvog emitiranja, 12. travnja 1926. godine pod nazivom
Radio glasnik. Dva mjeseca poslije, kad je radio ve poeo s radom, zamije-
njen je Radio vjesnikom. List je u svibnju 1927., u skladu s prvom godinom
emitiranja, objavio poslovni, tehniki i programski izvjetaj o dotadanjem
radu. Stern jasno naglaava da se u programu klonio svake politike nastra-
nosti kako ne bi otetio rad stanice. (br. 35 iz 1927.).
Ostaje otvorenim pitanjem je li Stern izbjegavao politiku zbog stvarnog
i opravdanog straha za budue poslovanje radija, tednje na novinarima i
agencijskim vijestima ili je zaista bio uvjerenja kako radijski program slui
iskljuivo kulturnim i obrazovnim ciljevima. U tekstu ugovora (dozvole) za

emitiranje jasno je naglaeno kako Ministar Pota i Telegrafa ima pravo, u
sluajevima koji se protive postojeim zakonima, bez ikakve sudske presude
instalaciju stanice odmah onesposobiti i aparate oduzeti bez davanja ikome
ma kakve naknade. (l. 8).
Meutim, iako se Stern nije elio baviti politikom, ona se bavila njime.
Zbog oite nezainteresiranosti (ili izbjegavanja) politikih tema, a posljedi-
no i izostanka politikog stava, radijska je uprava bila izloena sve eim i
otrijim kritikama. Usprkos ponavljanju kako su broadcastingi izrazito kul-
turne i nepolitine ustanove, a da tisak slui politikim raspravama5, pritisak
javnosti sustavno se poveavao. U vrijeme pete godinjice postojanja radija,
sad ve u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji, programom je i dalje dominirala glazba, prije-
nosi iz kazalita i koncertnih dvorana, a u govornom dijelu vijesti iz kulture,
radio-romani, jezini teajevi i sportska zbivanja. Zapravo, o Radio Zagrebu
i radu direktora Sterna u to se vrijeme sudilo ne prema onomu o emu se u
programu govorilo, ve po onomu o emu se nije.
U sjeni panjolskog graanskog rata, ruenja zepelina Hindenburg, ne-
stanka Amelije Earhart i ljubavne prie Edwarda VIII i Wallis Simpson, u Nje-
makoj su ve poele prve rasno utemeljene deportacije u koncentracijske
logore. U studenom 1938. dogodila se i Kristalna no (njem. Kristalnacht),
ali su mnogi europski politiari jo odbijali povjerovati da bi Hitler mogao
pokrenuti novi svjetski rat. Politiarima je bio potpuno jasan propagandni
potencijal radija. Amerika je ve imala radijskog predsjednika6, a Njemaka
je po Goebbelsovoj naredbi uurbano proizvodila jeftine narodne radiopri-
jamnike (njem. volksempfanger). Propaganda je uskoro postala cilj, a eter bo-
jinica bez pravila.
Sustavne i sve otrije prozivke Radio Zagreba zbog njegovih izvanvre-
menskih sadraja, uskoro su proirene na neodgovorno troenje pretplat-
nikog novca. Uzavrela politika situacija u zemlji i rasprave o hrvatskom
pitanju u Kraljevini, dodatno su intenzivirala zahtjeve za promjenom ruko-
vodstva i vlasnika. Stern je smijenjen krajem 1938. godine. Bio je, po Habdu-
ovim rijeima, silno povrijeen. Navodno su razgovarali i nije skrivao svoju
razoaranost.
Dao sam sve to sam mogao stvorio sam sve to se je stvoriti mogloi sad
su me izbaciliDa su me pridrali bez plae, radio bih i dalje.ini mi se da
su me bacili iz roene kue. (Ibid: 77)
Vlasnitvo nad radijem promijenilo se sredinom kolovoza 1939. godine.
Uredbom o oduzimanju koncesije7 i Uredbom o eksproprijaciji8, Radio Za-
greb preao je u dravne ruke. I ovdje se gubi trag dr. Sterna. Poznato je tek da
je uoi uspostave Nezavisne drave Hrvatske promijenio prezime u Globnik
to je, prema Habeduu, bilo prezime u skladu s njegovim uvjerenjima: sin
globusa (Ibid: 78). Izbjegao je u Italiju, gradi Chiavari pokraj Genove, ali se
92 Marina Mualo
ne zna zato ba tamo. Nepoznato je i ime se bavio, kako je ivio i je li imao

obitelj. Zna se tek da je tamo 1961. godine umro, u dobi od 72 godine.
Zakljuak
Sluaj rukopisa Rudolfa Habedua nema negativnu konotaciju kao to
bi naslov mogao sugerirati. Izdvojenost u sluaj naglaava feljtonistiku
prirodu rukopisa u kojem se autor pridravao stvarnih vremenskih okvira,
dogaaja i osoba, piui o njima na naglaeno osoban nain. Openito govo-
rei, feljton ili podlistak esto je bio izloen kritici jer nikada nije imao pravog
mjesta: bio je na pola puta prema knjievnosti i isto toliko udaljen od novi-
narstva. Osim u prostoru, zapeo je i u vremenu u kojem su ljudi imali vie
vremena za itanje, a televizija jo bila daleko.
Literarnost i ivahnost Habeduovih zapamenja, bez obzira na patetiku
koja ih prati, daje mladim godinama Radio Zagreba osobnost koju mu dosad
dostupni izvori nisu mogli dati. Kavana koja izgleda kao telefonska centrala
jer gosti imaju slualice, lako je pamtljiva kao i lipa koja cvjeta pred ulazom
u radio i u ijoj hladovini sjedi Stern (za zapamenje, ta lipa postoji i danas).
Takvih sliica, tipinih za feljtone, Habedu ima u svakom poglavlju.
Ve sam naslov Prilozi za pribiranje provjerene grae o povijesti pobu-
da, o osnutku i o prvom razdoblju rada Radio stanice Zagreb upuuje na dis-
tanciranost od socijalistikih vremena u kojima je tekst nastao. Usprkos pri-
godnosti nije napisan snishodljivo i nema univerzalnih i uniformiranih fraza.
Piui o zbivanjima iji mu je ishod bio ve dobro poznat i ljudima kojih vie
nema, oslonio se na (njemu blizak) jezik vremena koje je prolo. Starinskim
izrazima, osobito onima koji se izravno tiu radija, ondanje tehnike i naina
rada, nehotice je ukazao i na dinamiku promjena u radijskom emitiranju.
Oito namjerno i s ciljem, cijelo je poglavlje posvetio Sternu, a esto ga je
spominjao i u drugima. Naravno da je bio upoznat sa svim prigovorima i kri-
tikama koje su ga pratile dok je tvrdoglavo odbijao pustiti politiku u program,
ali se Habedu na to ne osvre. Pie o njemu biranim rijeima, opisujui ga
kao samozatajnu osobu, posveenu umjetnosti i kulturi, humanista i bibliofi-
la. Kakav je Stern zaista bio vjerojatno nikad neemo saznati jer drugih izvo-
ra niti nema. Meutim, imajui na umu da su i Habeduova zapamenja bila
zaboravljena u dokumentaciji Radio Zagreba gotovo 60 godina, danas kad je
arhiva u fazi digitalizacije ipak postoji vjerojatnost da se pronae jo kakav
tekst. Neka ovaj rad bude poticaj za traganje.
Reference:
Despot, Miroslava. 1976-77. Nekoliko podataka o prilikama u zagrebakoj tvornici
koa 70-ih godina 19. stoljea, Historijski zbornik, Savez povijesnih drutava
Hrvatske, godina 29/30, Zagreb, str. 377-383.
Donat, Zvonimir. 1997. Pogovor u: Habedu, Rudolf (Katedralis): etnje Gornjim Gra-
dom i starim Zagrebom, Dora Krupieva/Kronus, Zagreb.
Gross, Mirjana. 1996. Suvremena historiografija, Novi liber, Zagreb.
Habedu Katedralis, Rudolf. 1951. Prilozi za pribiranje provjerene grae o povijesti
pobuda, o osnutku i o prvom razdoblju rada Radio stanice Zagreb, inv. br. 34744,
Odjel notno, foto, multimedijalno i drugo gradivo, RJ Arhiva i programsko gra-
divo, PJ Produkcija Hrvatske radiotelevizije.
Milec, Zvonimir. 2001. Katedralisova katedrala podlistka u Zagreb je inae lijep,
AGM, Zagreb.
Mualo, Marina. 2010. Radio-medij 20. stoljea, AGM, Zagreb.
Odgovor Uprave Radio Zagreba, Hrvat, god. 10, br. 2798, 6. 5. 1929.
Stern, Ivo. 1927. Izvjetaj o programatskom radu stanice, Radio vjesnik, br. 35, 15.
svibnja 1927, Zagreb.
Ugovor o instalaciji i eksploataciji jedne radiofonske stanice brodkastinga u Zagrebu
ili okolici, Potansko-telegrafski vesnik, br. 15/16, 1925.
Vonina, Nikola. 1986. Prilozi za povijest radija u Hrvatskoj; Radio Zagreb 1926-
1941, Zbornik Treeg programa Radio Zagreba, Radio Zagreb, Zagreb.
Vonina, Nikola. 2002. Habedu Katedralis, Rudolf (Heister, Rudea), Hrvatski bi-
ografski leksikon, Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krlea, Zagreb http://hbl.lzmk.
hr/clanak.aspx?id=7011 (10. 10. 2015)
Notes:
1 Rad Radio-kluba i Radio Zagreba od poetka su pratile skromne novine (slubena
glasila), s kraim ili duim vijekom trajanja. Danas se uvaju u Nacionalnoj i Sveui-
linoj knjinici u Zagrebu.
2 Vjerojatno je rije o Berti ro. Pick, supruzi Vjekoslava Heinzela koji je bio gradona-
elnik Zagreba od 1920. do 1928. godine.
3 Dr sc. Snjeka Kneevi, prof. dr sc. Ivo Goldstein i Aleksander Laslo..
4 Putnik, Ivan (1919): O smislu lutanja problem jevrejske rase, Plamen, br. 9 (85.
87).
5 Odgovor Uprave Radio Zagreba, 6. 5. 1929.
6 Nadimak kojeg je zbog svojeg oslanjanja na radijske mree dobio Franklin Delano
Roosevelt.
7 Uredba o oduzimanju koncesije drutvima Radio a.d. Beograd i Radio d.d. Zagreb,
Slubene novine Kraljevine Jugoslavije, Beograd, 17. 8. 1939.
8 Uredba sa zakonskom snagom o eksproprijaciji za potrebe radiofonije, Slubene no-
vine Kraljevine Jugoslavije, Beograd, 17. 8. 1939.
94 Marina Mualo
BARUNASTO PODZEMLJE - POLITIKA

TRILOGIJA MILUTINA PETROVIA
Aleksandar S. Jankovi
Istorija srpskog filma je istorija politike i ideologije.1 Od prvog trenutka kada

je Srbin uzeo kameru u ruke (ivot i dela besmrtnog voda Karaora, 1911,
Ilija Stanojevi), sutinska motivacija je bila glorifikovanje dnevne ideologije
i veno preplitanje istorije. Bilo da je u pitanju samo prvi film nove Jugosla
vije (Slavica, 1947, Vjekoslav Afri), svi gorostasi srpskog filma, sa ili bez pre
fiksa jugoslovenski, eksplicitno i direktno su kroz prie o posrnuu i uzdi
zanju nacije ili pojedinca, snimali filmove o vlasti, uglavnom za vlast, ali esto
i protiv vlasti. Meutim, neoekivano versatilan i referentan reditelj srednje
generacije, Milutin Petrovi, prvi igrani bioskopski (no-budget) film snima u
osvit svog etrdesetog roendana, i ujedno zapoinje spontanu filmsku trilo
giju (Zemlja istine, ljubavi i slobode, 2000; Jug Jugois tok, 2005; i Petlja, 2014)
koja bolno, precizno i mimetski, opisuje kriptine denotacije politikog mo
mentuma koji u Srbiji kao da traje veno, te koristei popkulturne i umetni
ke reference, stvara slojevitu, ivu i pulsirajuu umetnost idiosinkratinu,
elokventnu i eruditivnu, samim tim i zaudnu za istoriju nacionalnog filma.
Kljuni ovek ideologije zrelog staljinizma, Andrej A. danov (
), (voa komunistike partije Lenjingrada, predsednik parlamenta i
potencijalni zamenik samog Staljina) je, od sredine tridesetih, svojim utica
jem u politikoj vrhuki SSSR-a, raskrstio sa formalistikim i eksperimental
nim imperitivima u umetnosti (filmovi Vertova ( ), Kuljeova
( ), Dovenka ( ), Ajzentajna (
), Kozinceva ( ), Taruberga (
) postajui arbitar nove ideologije, tzv danovizma u kojoj
dominira socijalni realizam i nauni pristup umetnosti. Ovakav vid umetnosti
bio je dominantan kako u Sovjetskom Savezu do samog sloma drave 1991.
i u svim dravama tzv. Istonog bloka. Ovakav ideoloki gvozdeni pristup
stvara hipotezu o istorijsko-politikoj uslovnosti razvoja umetnosti: sem do
nekle u Holivudu koji se uvek vodio imperijalistikim principima, u ostatku
sveta, politiki reimi, kao i njihove promene, odigrale su najvaniju ulogu u
odreenju umetnikih tendencija i stremljenja, stvarajui neku vrstu (auto)
96 Aleksandar S. Jankovi
cenzorske ome gde je filmska umetnost, kompleksnim jezikom i teorijom,

pokuavala da spasava savest nacionalnih umetnosti. U socijalistikoj Jugo
slaviji je tokom prvih deset turbulentnih godina, radilo telo sainjeno od vi
sokih partijskih inovnika, knjievnika, diplomata, novinara, filmskih redite
lja, slikara, kompozitora, kritiara... koji su svojim autoritetom procenjivali
koje filmove je trebalo cenzurisati u perspektivi mlade drave i njene vie
nego rigidne i karantinske ideologije.
Svest o filmskoj cenzuri u Jugoslaviji i dalje je difuzna i nekoherentna, ne
retko se granii sa anegdotom ili urbanim mitom i ne predstavlja dovoljno
pouzdanu osnovu na kojoj bi se gradila nauna slika prolosti i pokuala
njena tumaenja. (Miloradovi 2004: 101)
Ipak, imena koja su bila ukljuena u institucije cenzure prve poratne decenije
(1945 - 1955) govore o znaaju i sveob uhvatnosti filma kao budue domi
nantne umetnosti mlade drave. Do pojave crnog talasa, utopistika slika
2
SFRJ filmski je bila predstavljena ili kroz jednodimenzionalne partizanske

epopeje, ili komedije svakodnevice (koje su ponekad ovlano bile graene
na klasnoj netrpeljivosti3). Unevi patinu netrpeljivosti, kako socijalne tako
i nacion
alne, crni talas je postao mea ukazivanja na neodrivost lanih
ideala koji e implodirati i eksplodirati poetkom devedesetih. Kako je reim
gubio potpunu kontrolu nad podanicima (ak i pokuaju uljuljkivanja crve
nim pasoem i parcijalne kulturne otvorenosti) jo od poetka sedamdese
tih, filmovi su ili maoistiki branili trulu ideologiju4, ili su postajali turobno
eksploatatorski, rugajui se sopstvenom padu iste ideologije5.
Filmovi uitavaju i interpretiraju kulture u kojima i postoje, koje postaju
samo magnovenje iza sadanjeg stanja stvari. - Helene Keyssar, Robert Alt
mans America (Lev 2000: 7)
Tokom godina vlasti Slobodana Miloevia (1988-2000), reim je tendenci
ozno marginalizovao umetnost (i medije) tako da su neki oigledni filmovi
sa kritikim diskursom dobijali ambivalentnu i konfuznu ideoloku otricu6.
Zbog toga ne udi da je najvoljeniji film epohe bio eskapistika retro fantazija
Lajanje na zvezde (1998) Zdravka otre.
Zemlja istine, ljubavi i slobode (2000)

Zemlja istine, ljubavi i slobode (2000) je film zamiljen kao omnibus tri redi
telja; meutim, kao i veina nezavisnih, niskobudetnih filmova, Milutin Pe
trovi je potpisan kao jedini reditelj i (ko)scenarista uz Petra Jakonia i Sau
Radojevia. Petrovi je poznat po pivotalnoj ulozi u snimanju muzikih video
spotova osamdesetih (uglavnom za RTB emisiju Hit meseca), kao muziar
i kompozitor u kemp projektu Heroji, reiranju TV serije Dome slatki dome
(1989), TV filma Telefonomanija (1987) TV emisije Popovanje, dokumentar
nih filmova Novo je to da sam bila zlostavljana (2007) i U ime naroda (2015), i
pozorinog mjuzikla/performansa Trinidad7, po predloku Neboje Pajkia.
Zemlja istine, ljubavi i slobode je tipian izdanak filmske istorije koji uz
svaki novi istorijski kontekst dobija i potpuno novo itanje. Snimljen tokom
metastaze miloevievske Srbije i prikazan u Srbiji u godini velikih promena
koje 15 godina kasnije izgledaju kao politika farsa u kojoj su skriveni i ma
nje skriveni akteri samo obukli novija i modernija odela, Zemlja... je inicijalni
graanski pamfletizam zamenila vrhunskim nihilistikim rukopisom koji se
amorfno menja, kao i jeftini efekti u filmu. Oneobien narativ ima enkodiranu
i kaskadnu strukturu koja mea stvarnost i fikciju i time obezvreuje stvar
nost, postajui meta-film koji se ini kao jedini ispravni film u Srbiji i o Srbiji
posle pada Miloevia, oktobra 2000.
Montaer (Boris Milivojevi) koji je preiveo bombardovanje zgrade RTS-
a, tone u neurozu i biva hospitalizovan u privremenu kliniku podzemno
sklonite. U seriji psihoterapeutskih seansi, on objanjava sopstvenu viziju
idealnog filma, govori o filmu koji bi voleo da snimi razvijajui/pravei slike
u sopstvenoj glavi. Kao u teorijama Bertrama Levina koji tvrdi da se svaki
film zapravo projektuje na platno u naim glavama, Borisov film poseduje
istu imaginarnu egzistenciju. Bolesnik sa susednog kreveta, bivi policajac
(Rade Markovi glumi i u citiranom Nanovievom filmu, a Rade Markovi
je, takoe, i ime tadanjeg efa SDB-a), sea se i kaje, sanjajui stari jugo
slovenski film udotvorni ma, (1950, Vojislav Nanovi) i zamiljajui naci
onalnu prolost posredstvom fikcione konstrukcije i ideologije. udotvorni
ma je inspirisan motivima bajki o nesutraivom pastiru Neboji, koji upr
kos skromnom poreklu mudrou i smelou osvaja lepe princeze. Scena
poetka Zemlje... je zaplet maa, prizor turnira u streljatvu - sa natpisom
koje ukazuje na doba Boja na Kosovu ali i na tekue prolee u Srbiji a ju
nak odgovara na tri pitanja koja ine naslov filma:
ta je najlepe? (Sloboda)
ta je najjae? (Ljubav)
ta je najotrije na svetu? (Istina)
Magina snaga tri rei materijalizuje se u zvezdama i zvezdanoj praini koja
dolee na ulice Beog rada pod NATO bombama, prenosei nacion alne ideje
u prostorima venosti. Film se razvija naizmenino montiranim scenama
filma, filma u mati i zavrava se junakovom smru - ulaskom u svet filma,
ostvarenjem idealnog filma koji spaja ivot i smrt. Rafinirana etvorostruka
struktura - nalik na Makavejevljevu igru doku-fikcije - obuh vata okvirni/
glavni film; udotvorni ma; junakov zamiljeni film i snimke grada kao ci
lja viene iz kabine NATO bombardera. (Dakovi 2008: 126-127)
Imaginarni, ili meta nivo filma, zaudno funkcionie kao besprekorna an
rovska kriminalistika pria o ubistvu i preljubi. Motivacija likova je isprav
na, tana, koncizna i jezgrovita. Petrovi kao sutastveni vladar obe realnosti
sopstvenog filma, koristi ne tako retke trenuke koji u stvari predstavljaju malu
popkulturnu fusnotu8. Nivo realnosti, meutim, vreme bombardovanja pro

lenih meseci u Srbiji 1999-e, izgleda eluzivno i bizarno. Real istiki prosede
(sic!) koji koristi Boris da bi ispriao svoju filmsku priu na osnovu fizike i
mentalne fizion omije likova u prolazu, to jest, po katakombama improvizova
ne bolnice stvara oniriku sliku nacion alnog imperativa9. Kvazi majstori koji
popravljaju instalacije, medicinski tehniari sa eksplikacijama o seksualnosti
zaposlenih u instituciji, ponosni budui oevi koji pokuavaju da snime poro
aj supruge u nadrealnim okolnostima, dijagnosticiranje psihijatara koje se
granii sa filmskim tribinama i svakako, najdinstinktivniji predstavnik, ika
Rade, komunistiki islednik koji progovara najvaniju reenicu u filmu: Isti
na je dola po svoje. Petrovi u katakombama prolaznosti postavlja ideolo
ku i nacionalnu polokovsku slikarsku konstrukciju due srpskog naroda koji
je ogrezao u svesnim i nesvesnim krivicama. Kao penzionisani hladnokrvni
ubica (Rade), ili tek montaer informativnog programa u doba ratnog stanja,
kao izvritelj radova na zadatu temu, Boris10 u prvoj sesiji sa doktorkom izgo
vara takoe paradigmatinu reenicu za razumevanje filma: Prodree istina
o nama u svet? Ne daj Boe da istina o nama prodre u svet!.
Kroz izvitoperenu zamenu teza, poremeaj realizma i realnosti, Petrovi
koristi mimezis kao vrhunski filmski jezik. Istorijski trenutak bombardova
nja SRJ, ili preciznije zgrade RTS-a nosi u sebi novomilenijumsku dominaciju
i distorziju medija i medijske percepcije u najmranije svrhe, poprilino da
leko od formalistikog i lenjinistikog pogleda na film. U spekulacijama u vezi
sa Borisovom dijagnozom, doktor Despotovi insistira da pacijent ima pore
meaj percepcije stvarnosti, tj mate, to e ga i dovesti u bezizlaznu situac iju
u kojoj i sam postaje protagonista sopstvene prie11 koja brehtijanskim ti
kom zavrava film agresivnim pokazivanjem srednjeg prsta publici.
Kada Jung upotrebljava konstruktivnu metodu psihoterapeutske procedu
re, polazna taka je pacijentova sopstvena fantazija. On je razvio tehniku
koju je nazvao aktivna imaginacija, koja pomae pacijentu da snizi stepen
sopstvene kontrole svesti i dopusti nesvesnom da prodre na povrinu. Sa,
u svakom smislu, dostupnim sopstvenim fantazijama, pojedinac dobija jed
nostavan metod za izradu i razmiljanje o istim. (Izod 2003: 25)
Ovakva vrsta eksperimentalnog filma predstavlja eksces u domaoj kinema
tografiji nastaloj na tromim nogama soc-realizma i ideoloke mitomanije.
Film Zemlja ljubavi, istine i slobode ima retku vrlinu umetnikog raskrinka
vanja istine kroz kriptini i sinkretiki modus operandi, gde transparentnost
biva zamenjena specifinom filmskom izmom o lai-koja-govori- istinu.
Petrovi bi filosofskim renikom bio enciklopedista, erudita ije reference
u ovom filmu dolaze intuitivno a ne proraunato, iji se gnev i bes prema
prolom reimu i politici uopte sagledava kroz pratovski stilizovan cinizam
u kojem erudicija nadvladava primalnu reakciju. Zato smestiti politiku trilo
giju, a pogotovo ovaj film, u kontekst epohe istorije srpskog filma nije nimalo
lak i zahvalan posao. Koliko je Zemlja istine, ljubavi i slobode postao skrajnut
i distanciran film jo od skromne bioskopske premijere i distribucije gurnut
u funduse perifernog seanja, toliko je i najvaniji film prelaska XX u XXI vek
koji u sebi sadri visoku svest o istoriji, teoriji i znaaju medija12.
Jug Jugoistok (2005)

Sledei Petroviev film, snimljen pet godina posle debija, je trebalo da, i po bu
detu i po svom konceptu, bude prebaen u filmski mejnstrim; meutim, Jug
Jugoistok je propustio da ostvari oekivani kontakt sa publikom koja (i pored
povratka tragine heroin e YU filma, Sonje Savi) nije (opet) oekivala krip
tian i slabo komunikativan politiki triler koji se poziva na Hikoka (Hitch-
cock) i Premindera (Preminger). Ponovno meanje turobne stvarnosti i jo
turobnije fikcije sa dogaajima koji su obeleili i odredili novu srpsku istoriju,
ali u svojstvenom i sutastvenom Petrovievom manirizmu nije poentiralo u
beogradskim snobovskim i NGO serklovima. Filmski film multiplih nivoa s
jedne strane referira na gorostase hladnoratovske paranoje, Hikokov North
by Northwest (1959) i Preminderov Bunny Lake is Missing (1965), koristi ko
lege reditelje kao glumce koji se zovu kao i u realnom ivotu i veto se poigra
va sa tadanjom strukturom vlasti (Sran aper). Glavni lik, Sonja Savi, ta
koe pati od stanja poremeene realnosti (kao i Boris u prethodnom filmu)13.
Petrovi uspeno zalazi i u tumaenje srpske istorije od stvaranja moderne
Srpske drave (1804) kao period a konstantnih previranja, ubistava vlastodr
aca, teor ija zavere, zaverenika iz senke, poentirajui da je jedina konstanta u
Srbiji paranoja. Topografski, svi vani dogaaji u filmu se deavaju u hote
lu Moskva, ispred Francuske i Ruske ambasade. Reditelj elegantno pogaa
ambivalentnost srpske due rastrzane izmeu Moskve i Pariza, kao najveih
saveznika tokom burne istorije. Kao specifini mekgafin (mcguffin), pojavlju
je se Mladomir Puria orevi u ulozi demijurkog efa slube koji u duhu
Donalda Satrlenda (Donald Sutherland) iz filma JFK (1991, Oliver Stone) ob
janjava stanje stvari glavnom liku, uz samoreferentnu upadicu danas niko
ne gleda domae filmove. Petrovi se u kadriranju, osim repliciranja scene sa
avion om (North by Northwest), nadovezuje na jo jedan paranoini Hiko
kov film, drugu verziju The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).
Bilo da vritimo ili ne vritimo tokom Hikokovog filma, u najboljem slu
aju doivljavamo strah koji razbija sopstvenu uukanost u zadovoljstvo
gledanje filma, koji nas dovodi do delova sopstva kojih moda nismo bili
svesni. Hikokov genij se sastoji u mogunosti da stvara filmove koji istra
uju resurse medijuma da nas natera da reagujemo, uplaimo i ak doivi
mo haos koji se samo razmota iz nas. Njegovi filmovi odgovaraju Kafkinoj
definiciji dobre knjige sekira za zaleena mora unutar nas samih. (Fabe
2004: 150)
Kroz simboline rekonstrukcije ubistva Stambolia i inia, dolazak na apo

logetsko tle u kojem je uvek neka sluba spreavala politiki i ekonomski
napredak Srbije, ubijajui legalne vlastodrce (Karaore, knjaz Mihailo,
kralj Aleksandar Obrenovi, kralj Aleksandar Karaorevi...) Petrovi poen
tira da je Srbija idealna geopolitika (i geop
oetika) taka u kojoj je paranoja
prirodno stanje svesti.
Jug Jugoistok, jo jedno nainjanje svee i nerazreene istorije postaje sko
ro trenutno performans istorijskog iskustva, varijacija iste prishoan alitike
matrice. U Zemlji istine, ljubavi i slobode, reditelj istrauje prevladavanje li
ne i kolektivne traum e, dok kao temu Juga bespogovorno dijagnostifikuje
kolektivnu i linu paranoju. Ako je XX vek bio izofrenije prisutne u mit
sko-ironino ocrtanoj zemlji raspetoj izmeu razliitih identiteta, epoha,
politikih partija, mitskog idealizma i narcisizma i ostrakizovane prezre
nosti doba sankcija i bombardovanja, XXI vek je definitovna pobeda para
noje. Teglajn Juga je nije pitanje da li ste paranoini, ve da li ste dovoljno
paranoini, a paranoja kvalifikuje mnogo toga, od autorske intencije do ka
uzalne motivacije narativnog strukturisanja. Petrovi izjavljuje da je svaka
stilska figura paranoina. Umetnost uopte, ista je paranoja to vodi lu
dilu promiljanja da uvek ima neega drugog od onoga to naprosto vidi i
to je oigledno. (Dakovi 2008: 129)
Kao prvoklasno politiko tivo, Jug Jugoistok ne referira na velike filosofske
koncepte poslednja dva veka i ne trai uporite u neo-egzistencijalizmu, ide
jama omskog (Chomsky) ili Eka (Eco), ve u popkulturnom elitizmu, post-
postmodernizmu meajui ak i bodrijarovska poimanja stvarnosti i simu
lakruma. Postoji poznata maksima likovi i dogaaji nemaju nikakve veze sa
stvarnim likovima i dogaajima koja se pojavljuje veoma esto na odjavnim
picama kao neka vrsta osiguranja filmskih stvaraoca od pogrenog tuma
enja; meutim, Petroviev filmski Weltanschauung ozbiljno mea fikciju
i stvarnost. U oba filma, brehtijanski odmak je oigledan, uz paralelu da je
Breht i sam pravio par exellence politiki teatar inspirisan turbulentnim vre
menom u kojem je iveo. Petroviev Fau efekat (Verfremdung) poseduje
dva dominantna nivoa. Glumci (naturici) koji uglavnom tumae glavne li
kove nose svoja prava imena, dok su njihova zanimanja i porodine situac ije
u realnom uglavnom distorzirana. Ovakvim procesom postie se neka vrsta
elitistikog dokumentarizma upuenog krugu obrazovane publike koja pre
poznaje likove u filmu kao osobe iz beogradskog kulturnog (ili politikog)
ivota. Ovakva vrsta ravanja osnovnih narativnih, pa ak i aristotelovskih
principa, donosi sasvim novi sloj percepcije koji ne mora da izgleda kao pu
ki kapric rediteljskog snoberaja. Iako se Petrovieva filmska (a i televizijska,
muzika i pozorina) karijera moe nazvati snobizmom, zbog provokativnog
i prokazanog politikog trenutka, tako inspirativnog za ovog reditelja, pre
tee na vajldovsko poimanje razlika talenta i genija. Kako dovoljno elokven
tan gledalac moe sagledati i proiveti katarzu na nekoliko nivoa, shvatajui
da Petrovieva inventivnost nije inovativnost, ali i da je njegova virtuoznost

ujedno i progresivnost. Jug Jugoistok ne razotkriva velike i (ne)poznate srp
ske zavere, niti implicira povezanost istih sa dogaajima iz najnovije istorije.
tavie, ovaj film radi ono zbog ega film kao medij i postoji stvara zaudnu
umetnost od komplikovane stvarnosti izuzimajui dosadne delove. Na kraju,
kako se veliki povratak na film Sonje Savi pokazao i epitafnim, Jug Jugoi
stok dobija i neeljen nekrofilski kulturni nivo koji u poslednjih 25 godina si
stematizuje sumrak i pd cele novotalasne generacije. Meutim, Petrovi to
ini s vrhunskom elegancijom i profinjenou, opet stvorivi introvertan film
koji zahteva prethodno znanje i razumevanje. Kao to to zahteva svaka dobra
umetnost, a posebno rokenrol.
Agi i Ema (2007)

Pre nego bude snimio film Petlja, skoro deset godina posle filma Jug Jugoi
stok, Petrovi snima jedan od najboljih i najverodostojnijih deijih filmova,
za skoro deset puta vei budet od prethodnog filma. Neoekivano, ali konzi
stentno, vea publika e i ovoga puta izos tati.
U post-postmodernoj epohi brzih nadraaja, svedostupnosti, emotivne
hipokrizije, seksualnih hiper sloboda, modne uniformisanosti i poasti kusog
konzumerstva stvoriti ist, nepatvoren deiji film ravno je senzaciji, pogoto
vu ako se tako neto dogodi u Srbiji u novom milenijumu kada je najvanije
biti, postati i ostati tinejder (kolinar ejdizma), jer je celokupna industrijska
mainerija fokusirana na dorijangrejvsku potrebu da se bude mlad po sva
ku cenu. Adolescencija znai biti autodestruktivan; meutim biti preadole
scent znai biti melanholian. Ne na nain jednog Dostojevskog ili Prusta, ali
gledanje deijih filmova poput Agija i Eme zaista moe da vrati izgubljeno
vreme, kada je biti dete znailo biti buntovnik, ali ne u smislu arhe buntov
nika Lucifera, biti neshvaen ali ne u smislu Kurta Kobejna, ili biti autsajder
ali ne u smislu ejna (Shane, 1953, George Stevens) ili biti usamljen ali ne u
smislu Henka Vilijemsa (Hanka Williamsa). Biti dete je poslednja velika avan
tura ovog doba to, pomalo zaboravljen, propoveda i Petar Pan (Peter Pan).
Avantura, dovoljno vesela koliko uznemirujua, dovoljno histerina koliko i
tragina. Agi i Ema je jedan od onih filmova koji se vie ne snimaju. Reditelj,
je u ovom sluaju morao da ovlada deijim rukopisom, da ne bude ni banalan
ni snishodljiv roditeljima ni deci, a ni komercijalan na nain jednog oboa
vanog reka (Shrek) ili ivotinjica i insekata u bilo kojim doivljajima koji
referiraju kako na pozne, psihodeline Bitlse (The Beatles), tako i na Foknera
(Faulkner), ili Melvila (Mellvill). Film Agi i Ema ima nekoliko samoreferenci
iz treeg plana (uobiajeno za Petroviev opus), ali to je skriveno pismo pri
jateljima reditelja. Ono to ovaj film zais ta ima je neto toliko kompromito
vano i kao najkolokvijalniji termin spoznaje sveta oko sebe, a to je dua.
Ne na nain toliko slavljenih socrealistikih dragulja dejeg filma SFRJ poput

Vlaka u snijegu (1976, Mate Relja) ili Krvave bajke (1969, Branimir Tori Jan
kovi) ili posebno Poslednje trke (1979, Jovan Rani) u kome je pojedinac ili
grupa uvek u sukobu sa prirodnim ili socijalnim problemima. Ovde postoji
unutranji svemir, problem nerazumevanja, odbaenosti, neprilagoenosti
i na neki nain buntovnitva. Ovde postoji film koji je najblii univerzalnoj
poruci Sedmog kontinenta Duana Vukotia (1966), bisera dejeg metaanra
raskonih i psihodelinih ezdesetih, koji je govorio dejim jezikom za decu
o deci, na nain da roditelji shvate i prihvate. Agi i Ema je raskono matine is
kustvo u gradu i vremenu koji vie nema vremena ni mogunosti za matine.
Najzad, ovo je film za koji roditelji nee imati strpljenja iako bi trebalo. Ono
to je sigurno, moda e deca koja odgledaju ovaj film doiveti svojevrsni fras,
jer je atmosfera spora, razvuena, gotovo filosofska, ali Agi i Ema zasigur
no ostavljaju traumu za sva vremena postajui ne seanje-na-jedan-film,
ve oseanje-jednog-filma, i to ne na nain Piksara (Pixar), Diznija (Disney),
Rolingove (Rowling), Tolkina (Tolkien), ve na nain salonskih bajki Oskara
Vajlda (Oscar Wilde) ili deijih promiljanja Duana Radovia ili Miroslava
Antia. Jasno je da je ovaj film raen po literarnom predloku, dejoj knjizi
Igora Kolarova. Zato e moda podsetiti i na Egziperija (Egzyperi). Ali forma
kojom je film raen nedvosmisleno govori da je film zaista nepatvorena de
ija literatura. Kadriranje je gotovo uvek iz perspektive Agija. Ceo film je Agi
jev subjektivni doivljaj, kako njegova matarenja, tako i nezainteresovanost
roditelja za njegov ivot. Naravno, roditelji su prikazani jednodimenzionalno
i transparentno bez potrebe za kompleksnom analizom ili evaluac ijom moti
vacije. Boje su tople i dominantne, pa su identifikacija i empatija kompletne.
Milena Dravi je, u poznim godinama svoje karijere, uspela da napravi srce
parateljnu ulogu ekscentrine starice koja daje savest filmu i sutinu malom
Agiju. Filmu koji je u koliziji sa savremenim kulturnim imperativom odrasti
odmah i po svaku cenu.
Petlja (2014)
Svojevrsna sublimacija Petrovieve subverzivne filmske karijere ovaploe
na je u filmu Petlja, eksperimentalnim delom koje spaja holivudsku dogmu i
avangardnu zavodljivost. Poput Zemlje istine, ljubavi i slobode, Petlja je impre
sionistiki kroki sa raskonim paspartuom, jungovski iscrtanim, na kome se
bez jasne petlje vezuju politiki pamfletizam, socijalna kritika, diskurs zate
enog heroja otpadnika u nekoj velikoj dekadentnoj zaveri. Petlja je zato i naj
kompletnije filmsko delo koje se svojom lepljivom atmosferom i voajerskom
estetikom, porn gruv muzikom, metafilmskom strukturom i buddy movie
estetikom i obiljem kulturnih referenci istie u recentnoj filmskoj produkciji.
Glavni likovi su opet vrsto vezani za politiku (Saa Radojevi, Danijel Kova,
Ivan Zari) to ih uvodi u kerolovsku zeiju rupu bizarnih perverzija koje ko

ketiraju sa pornografijom. U Zemlji..., lice stvarnosti su katakombe14 dubioznih
podruma koji obavljaju funkciju mentalne institucije. U Jugu... to su ostaci ru
evina Generaltaba VJ, dok su u Petlji nejasni fundusi, podzemni prolazi i za
puteni delovi predgraa. Nalije u sva tri filma su paralelne stvarnosti lane
psiholoke i fizike sigurnosti, Borisov imaginarni svet, hotelske sobe i foajei
ministarstava i u Petlji udobni, zadimljeni i vlani stanovi erotskih matarija.
Petrovi u sva tri filma koristi hodnike kao arterijski sistem koji spaja njego
ve realnosti. Bilo da su u pitanju podrumi, sruene zgrade ili prostor ispred
raskonih stanova. Takoe, u sva tri filma, glavni likovi imaju jasnu dijagnozu,
poremeaj mate, paranoju ili bipolarnu depresiju. Niko od njih nema sreen,
niti jasan porodini status, ve je sve zavijeno velom opasnih konspirativnih
tajni. Centralni deo filma je takozvani film-u-filmu Expression Dream, lani
film u filmu o lai koji za centralnu figuru ima intrigantnog beogradskog foto
grafa Ljubomira imunia (osvedoenog erotomana, voajera i majstora erot
ske fotografije) koji je svojim oneobienim i bizarnim umetnikim opusom
dao specifinu, autsajdersku sliku Beograda sedamdesetih i osamdesetih ka
da se uspeno uklopio u estetiku novog talasa. Petlja je u jednom od svojih
slojeva jezgroviti oma imuniu (koji se u filmu naziva aman), njegovom
znaaju kako za ivot grada tako i za modernu umetnost. imuni je jo jedan
od mnogobrojnih likova koji je petroviizovan u filmskom opusu Milutina
Petrovia15, tj. korien mu je identitet i delo zarad umetnike distorzije16. Ta
koe, petroviizovana je percepcija slube u sva tri filma kao dubiozne, en
kodirane, demijurke i makabrine sile koja ovim prostorima konspirativno
vlada jo od poetka XIX veka i stvaranja moderne Srpske drave. Elegantan
i na neki nain folie de grandeur odmak od sopstvenog filma, reditelj je i ovo
ga puta napravio, ali na neoekivan nain, ogolivi sebe kao stvoritelja filma
na nain arobnjaka iz Oza, kada se pred kraj pojavi za montanim stolom u
procesu nastajanja probijajui takozvani etvrti zid i ukazajui dvosmer
no tumaenje da je i film Petlja deo sistematske zavere koja je vea od same
umetnosti, ili da stvoritelj ipak nije vei od dogaaja i likova.
Posebno sam zainteresovana da stvorim obrasce koji se odnose na vanost
i simptomatizovanje seksa, roda, seksualnosti i psihe na nain na koji umet
nost i umetnici postoje u filmu. Drugost drugih vizuelnih umetnosti ima
znaajnu, retko jednostavnu i direktnu vezu sa filmom u kontekstu kulture
i drutva u kojima film postoji. Strastvena veza s umetnou nije viena sa
mo originalno i inherentno seksualno u sutinskoj energiji, ve i kao ekspli
citna veza sa snagom seksualnosti. U tom sluaju, narativi postaju mitski u
kontekstu porekla filma. Protagonisti personifikuju ultimativni erotski in
stvaranja filma dodire specifinog senzibiliteta filma i stvoritelja istog koji
postaju deo kvazi pornografskog iskustva posmatranja iz kojeg nastaje feti
istiki interes tehnike snimanja i herojska strast ka valorizaciji produkcije.
(Felleman 2006: 157)
Zakljuak
Srbija je u XXI veku dobila adrenalinsku, nihilistiku i mizantropsku gene
raciju mladih autora koji sopstvena destruktivna iskustva generacijskog
Weltschmertza koriste kao socijalnu kritiku geopolitikog okruenja koje u
nekoliko vekova nikada nije imalo smiraj i prosperitet dui od decenije. U
mikrokosmikim svetovima psiholoke nestabilnosti i socijalnog patosa, novi
senzibilitet kao da se nije pomakao od zavretka najznaajnijeg crnotalasnog
filma Kad budem mrtav i beo (1967, ivojin Pavlovi). S druge strane, ostare
li reditelji ili mitomanski preispituju ideol oke stranputice bivih reima, ili
pak snimaju menclovske pitoreskne filmove o provansalskom bitisanju. Je
dinstven, idiosinkratian, nesvrstan i marginalizovan opus Milutina Petrovi
a u samo 15 godina stvorio je metaanr kriptinog i konsekventnog jezika
koji u beskrajnom politikom trenutku izgleda kao klju sa najvie zupanika,
navojnica i zavojnica; meutim, taj jezik je sveproimajui i sveobuhvatan u
ideji da zaudna umetnost objasni jo zaudniju umetnost zemlje sa najza
udnijom politikom i istorijom. Uhvatiti se u kotac sa potonjim fenomenima
u zemlji u kojoj ne stanuje istina, ljubav i sloboda, a zaista se baviti istinom,
ljubavlju i slobodom velika je i nepatvorena hrabrost i vrhunska umetnost
koja je, po starom dobrom obiaju, skrivena od nas.
Reference:
Belton, John. 2005. American Cinema/American Culture, New York, McGraw-Hill Hu
manities/Social Science/Languages, 2 Edition,
Dakovi, Nevena. 2008. Balkan kao filmski anr. Beog rad: FDU
Fabe, Marilyn. 2004. Closely Watched Films - An Introduction to the Art of Narrative
Film Technique. Los Angeles: Regents of the University of California
Felleman, Susan. 2006. Art in the Cinematic Imagination. Austin: University Texas
Press
Grainge, Paul. 2003. Memory and Popular Film. Manchester: Manchester University
Press
Hayward, Susan. 2003. Cinema Studies The Key Concepts. London: Rout ledge
Izod, John. 2003. Myth, Mind and the Screen. New York: Cambridge University Press
Lev, Peter. 2000. American film of the 70s Conflicting Visions. Austin: University Texas
Press
Miloradovi, Goran. 2004. Lica u tami drutveni profil filmskih cenzora u Jugoslaviji
1945 - 1955 godine. Beograd: Godinjak za drutvenu istoriju 2-3. Filozofski fa
kultet
Paglia, Camille. 1992. Sex and Violence or Nature and Art. London: Penguin Books
Rosenbau, Johnatan. 1997. Movies as Politcs. London: University of California Press
Volk, Petar Srpski film. 1996. Beograd. Institut za film, Beograd
Welch, David. 2001. Propaganda and the German Cinema 19331945. London: I.B. Ta
uris
Yeoman, Ann, 1998. Now or Neverland, Toronto, Inner City Books
Notes:
1 Ovaj rad je napisan kao deo projekta 178012 Identitet i seanje: transkulturalni tek-
stovi dramskih umetnosti i medija, Medijska arheologija: seanje, mediji i kultura u
digitalno doba.
2 Aleksandar Vuo, Oskar Davio, Vladimir Dedijer, Oskar Danon, Veljko Vlahovi, Petar
Kriani, Eli Finci, Vladislav Ribnikar, Ivo Andri, Dobrica osi....
3 Bog je umro uzalud, 1969, Radivoje Lola uki; Kako su se voleli Romeo i Julija, 1966,
Jovan Jovanovi
4 Uika republika, 1974, ivorad ika Mitrovi
5 Serijal Tesna koa 1982 - 1992, Mia Miloevi
6 Podzemlje, 1995, Emir Kusturica; Lepa sela lepo gore, 1996, Sran Dragojevi, Rane,
1998, Sran Dragojevi
7 Objavio je i knjigu o filmu, kao i nekoliko samostalnih muzikih projekata.
8 Biljana Srbljanovi, Gru, korienje inserta iz filma Konan (Conan, 1982, John Mil-
ius), likovi koji se uglavnom zovu kao i u realnosti, to e postati Petroviev trade-
mark.
9 Rat je najbolja halucinacija citat iz filma.
10 Boris inteligentno referira i na film Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979) u vezi sa Zonom i
Srbijom.
11 Prie postoje samo u priama, dok ivot prolazi bez potrebe da se pretvori u priu.
Vim Venders (Der Stand der Dinge, 1982)
12 Reditelj film okonava nihilistikom dekonstrukcijom nacionalnih ideja. Deklarie
se podjednako skeptino spram uzora slavne prolosti i spram civilizovanog sveta.
Besmislenost naocionalistikog usijanja prikazana je citatom iz udotvornog maa,
kad doslovno i metaforino sednjovekovno Kosovo, mitovi i ideali, progone srpsku
prolost i sadanjost donosei unitenje i patnju. Ideali su pretvoreni u kolektivno lu-
dilo nacionalizma, koja je zemlju dovela do samounitenja. Zahvaljujui takvim mo-
mentima, Zemlja... kao dijagnoza mentalnog stanja i sloma nacije podlona je dosled-
nom simptomatskom itanju. Pacijentima je mesto u bolnici; prolost i pamenje su
korelativ unutranjih dimnjaka koji se iste na terapiji, a katarza pojedinca nastupa
smru koja je otkupna patnja ili lek za, kako se ini, neizleivo, ludilo nacije. Ludnica
je nacionalna alegorija, svesna i jasna, otvorena, subjektivna i koherentna. Kritika
mitsko nacionalnog stava povlai dihotomnu sliku Zapada. To je neprijatelj koji nas
posmatra iz aviona, ali i industrija koja pravi najbolje i najznaajnije filmove na svetu,
odakle Petrovi preuzima citate. (Dakovi 2008: 128)
13 I Boris i lik iz duevne bolnice koga glumi Nikola uriko (imitacija Vojislava eelja)
pojavljuju se u ovom filmu kao epizode.
14 Oma Nanoviu i Hikoku.
15 Indikativno je da on i glumi u sva tri filma politike trilogije.
16 Saa Radojevi, Dinko Tucakovi, Kosta Bunuevac, Bogdan Zlati, glumica Ljuma
Penov, ali i manje poznata beogradska konceptualna umetnica Marina Markovi, za
koju tuilac Radojevi posle gledanja njenog filma kae Savremena umetnost - kakvi
su to ljudi?
II
From Disseminating to Playing:
Digital Archives & Video Games/
Od diseminacije do igranja:
digitalne arhive i video igre
DIGITAL ARCHIVES AGAINST THE OBLIVION:

FAMA COLLECTION SARAJEVO
Aleksandra Milovanovi
Events that led to the wars and the fall of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugo-
slavia (SFRY) are the subject of numerous analyses taking different perspec-
tives: historical, political, military, economic, media, juridical, legal, sociologi-
cal, philosophical, cultural, etc. Looking at the Fama Collection1 , as well as
their methodology of preserving collective memory of the ex-Yugoslav wars,
could be helpful in considering broader and more general question of digi-
tal archives, their development and advantages, as well as possible problems
and constrains. This archive, by recording and mediating embedded memo-
ries and testimonies of first-hand witnesses, could help us understand more
about the causes and consequences of Yugoslav wars.2 Transmedial Fama
collection consists of: text documents Survival Questionnaires, The Siege of
Sarajevo 92-96 (Ankete Opstanak, Opsada Sarajeva 92-96, 1996-1997), video
series Oral History, The Siege of Sarajevo 1992-1996 (Oralna istorija, opsada
Sarajeva 1992-1996, 10 VHS, 1997-1999), documentary film The Ultimate
Survival Guide: Mechanism of Terror versus Mechanism of Survival (Ultima-
tivni vodi za preivljavanje: mehanizam terora protiv mehanizma opstanka,
Suada Kapi, DVD, 2005), book Encyclopaedia: The Siege of Sarajevo 1992-
1996 (Enciklopedija Opsada Sarajeva 1992-1996, 2005), educational package
Fama Educational Pack: The Siege of Sarajevo 1992-1996 (Fama edukacijski
paket: Opsada Sarajeva 1992-1996, 2007), two maps in analogue and digi-
tal interactive format Survival map 1992-1996 (Mapa opsade Sarajeva 1992-
1996, printed map 1996; interactive version 2011), The Fall of Yugoslavia
1991-1999 (Raspad Jugoslavije 1991-1999, printed map 1999; interactive ver-
sion 2011), digital archive/the Internet site Fama Collection (Fama kolekcija,
2008), museum 3D The Siege of Sarajevo Museum, The Art of Living (3D Muzej
opsade Sarajeva Umijee ivljenja 1992 -1996, 2012), etc.
Fama Collection has accumulated and systematized records of Sarajevo
inhabitants and their memories of war in Bosnia and Hercegovina (1992-
1996). Collection considers a four-year period of occupation of one European
city, which it contextualizes regarding the whole period of ex-Yugoslav wars
110 Aleksandra Milovanovi
(1991-1999). The main characteristic of this archive is that the very process
of the archiving began in the year 1996, which was right after the Dayton
Agreement,3 and peaceful reintegration of Sarajevo4. This means that the ar-
chive has collected the first-hand memories, witness testimonies recorded
right after the end of war, thus representing corpus of testimonies uninter-
rupted or modified by potential influences, such as other witnesses, cultural
and political factors, as well as media influence.
The question of various interpretations regarding Yugoslav conflicts and
its consequences for this region, varies from essential disagreement to initi-
ating a dialogue. Twenty years after the wars ended in the West Balkans, the
process of reconciliation has been marked by disputes over different inter-
pretations of the same events.5 Our collective recollections and visions of the
recent past are still in flux and (re)shaping, which renders objective evalua-
tion impossible and postpones larger regional processes of European Union
accession. Basic assertion following these process is that the concept of col-
lective memory rests upon the assumption that every social group develops
a memory of its past; a memory that emphasizes its uniqueness and allows
it to preserve its self-image and pass it on to future generations. (Neiger/
Meyers/Zandbergm 2011: 4). The danger of this assumption is that it pre-
supposes a specific immanency of the present context from which memory
arises and significant historical events form stronger collective memories,
and present circumstances affect what events are remembered as signifi-
cant (Pennebaker 2013: 6). Since, at the present moment consensus around
shared past within the region among various factors is unattainable, we have
the responsibility to preserve our knowledge (documents, data, etc.) and the
memories (of first-hand witnesses) in the form of digital archives. That way,
once this region overcomes the present-moment obstacles future generations
can use this knowledge to evaluate the past. Mediated memories (van Dijck
2007) of the past, in the form of digital archives, thus, could be understood as
production of knowledge that goes beyond present moment discourse. These
mediated memories further depend on the process of digitalization and the
content of the digital archives6.
In order to provide access to understanding regional politics and its spe-
cificity in terms of its culture, society, history and its overall past, it would
be of greatest value to digitalize and archive wide range of print documents,
books, press articles and audio-visual materials (archive footage profes-
sional and amateur, photographs, video testimonies, documentary movies
and series, etc.). Much of the available audio-visual material has been digital-
ized, but it was never sorted in one digital collection, rather it was dispersed
and fragmented. As a consequence, the existing material is not easily acces-
sible, especially if the search has been conducted outside of the specific lo-
cal and national context. Only a small fragment of already digitized material
is searchable online and accessible beyond national borders (Verbruggen/
Oomen/Muler 2014: 54). Allowing broader discoverability and accessibility

for different types of users (general public, (trans)national institution, re-
searchers, educators, etc.), as well as metadata exchange of already digitized
audio-visual material is of particular importance for development of consen-
sual collective narrative around causes and consequences of the wars in the
nineties 7. Eventually, these processes could lead to an ongoing evolution of
West Balkan and European identity, history and culture.
Multichannel Archival Access
In digital archives, for the first time in history, different types of records (im-
ages, sounds, written documents, animation, etc.) are available for transmis-
sion, storage, indexation, analysis, retrieval, and visualization (Blanchette
2011: 25). Multichannel outlets of digital archives connect multidisciplinary
fields (media, archive, history, memory, etc.) through the conjunction between
digitalization, archiving, contextualizing, interactivity, hyperlinkability, inter-
connectivity, communication and collective recollection (Ernst 2006). Models
for developing new media archives (which change our understanding of both
the archive and the media) evolved from interactive CD-rom and DVD to its
current stage - the Internet. In digital archives memory and technology co-
evolve (Hoskins 2009: 101) and it results in proliferation of metaphors such
as memory on demand, prefect memory, disability to forget, the continuous
present of the World-Wide Web (van Dijck 2011: 404), as well as the prefix
e e-memory, e-history, e-storage, e-archive, etc. In the book Digital Memory
and the Archive (2013) Wolgang Ernest argues that on microtemporal level,
memory is literally permanently in transition (Ernest 2013: 97) transforms
the past into a content that is permanently accessible in the present, which
he considers to be a consequence of this digital transformation8. The increas-
ingly digital networking of memory not only functions in a continuous present
but is also a distinctive shaper of a new mediatized age of memory (Hoskins
2009: 96)9. Archive is no longer exclusionary and the out-of-the-way reposi-
tory (Pinchevski 2011: 255) in which collecting and selecting is controlled
by single authority. On-line digital multimedia archive is accessible and shar-
eable for everyone, at all times and it displays the past into a permanent
stream of visual present (van Dijck 2011: 402). Personal and collective past,
history and memories, that are permanently available in such manner, pro-
vide a simple perspective to life in the present (Zelizer 2002: 698).
On the dialectical processes of (perfect) remembering and (inevitable)
oblivion Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell in the study Total Recall, How the E-
memory Revolution Will Change Everything (2009) and Viktor Mayer-Schon-
berger in Delete, The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age (2009) offer dif-
ferent standpoints. Published at the same time, these two studies stand as
two opposed and contrasting perspectives. Their main points of departure

regard specific historic status of digital data, which due to their resilience to
time and usage, contrary to analogue archives, aim to permanently preserve
and protect history and memory. While Bell and Gemmell adress the positive
side of digital archiving and e-memory revolution (Bell/ Gemmell 2009:
15), Schonberger points out the question of our right to forget. In the text The
Noise in the Archive: Oblivion in the Age of Total Recall (2011) Jean-Francois
Blanchette draws attention about the danger of digital archiving that could
potentially lead us towards a perpetual dark age of domination by an om-
nipresent past (Blanchette 2011: 30) and that trope of perfect remember-
ing may cast a chilling shadow on individuals ability to think and act in the
present (Blanchette 2011: 26).
The aim of Fama Collection is to digitalize memories about siege of Sa-
rajevo. That way, the recollection of the daily life and survival of citizens of
Sarajevo, as well as the complex historical events from the past would be pre-
served and passed on to future generations in form of real-time knowledge
transfer (Fama Mission). This Collection is based on testimonies of survivors
and its triangulated relationship between archive, transmedia, and trauma.
Testimonies collected through surveys (Sarajevo LIF magazine, 1992-1995;
Survival Questionnaires 1996-1997) and video statements (Oral History,
1997-1999) balance emotional dynamics between trauma as individual re-
membering (re-enacment), as well as collective memory classified by Fama
as Mechanism of Survival vs. Mechanism of Terror (Mehanizam opstanka pro-
tiv Mehanizama terora). Over a period of two decades Famas concept of ar-
chiving evolved in its methodology, form, style, design and format. However,
this transmedial collection is not product of media convergence, defined by
Henry Jankins as a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed
systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a
unified and coordinated entertainment experience (Jankins 2007). As some
analogue formats become obsolete, due to rapid changes in technology, this
Collection digitized all its contents and present them in an interactive manner
on Internet without ever jeopardizing the integrity of information (Fama
Interactive Modules).
Magnitude and Dynamics of Digital Archives
Fama Collection is one of the first regional initiatives for archiving events
related to 1991-1999 period across the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
This archive contributes to the processes of recollecting and commemorating
recent (sill unresolved) past. The Collection counts 27 projects in total (ana-
logue as well as digital), and gathers for an assemblage of memory that could
be categorized by following periods: pre-war period (1990-1991), the siege
of Sarajevo (1992-1996), post-war years (1997-2010) and forming of digital

archive (2011- present). The Collection consists of 50 hours of unedited and
30 hours of edited video material in the form of 987 individual interviews.
The interviews are systematized based on: a particular time-frame (month,
year), topic of the interview, name, gender and the profession of the respond-
ent. Video testimonies capture personal experiences of the witnesses to the
events from March 1992 to March 199610. Individual testimonies about trau-
matic events mediated trough digital archives are more than personal act of
seeing and individual story about a particular event. They become individual
acts of bearing witness that unify the collective (Zelizer 2002: 697) and they
are united by a common vision of experience. (Young 1988: 159).
Famas survey Sarajevo LIF magazine (Sarajevo LIF magazin, 1992-
1995) recorded and portrayed personal survival experience of 87 individu-
als (artists, academics, social scientist, actors, intellectuals and journalists).
Their second survey The Survival Questionnaire, about life under siege, con-
sisted of 31 questions answered by 4,637 respondents from every city dis-
trict. In scope, Fama Collection also contains over 10,000 textual data-units,
around 3,000 visual files (photographs, videos, drawings, animations, map
details, and illustrations), 60 hours of video archive footage and video com-
pilations depicting some of the most complex cross-related historical events
about break-up of Yugoslavia.
All Fama projects are available in different languages for local and global
audience. Along with the number of different regional projects, Fama estab-
lished a specific model of facing the past. However, majority of similar proj-
ects which aimed to archive and interpret the nineties events face different
problems or obstacles: they have either started later on or they have never
achieved the scope of Fama. Some of the prominent video productions in Ser-
bia are B92, Vreme, Arhitel, Anem, Vin, Mrea; in Croatia Factum; regionally
Birn, Youth Initiative for Human Rights. Besides educational role, Fama has
also proved a significant contribution to the processes of truth and recon-
ciliation, as well as to the democratization process of our post-war society
(Encyclopedia 2005: 10-11). In context of new digital media, democratic so-
ciety is the one which collective memory is not controlled by a single central
authority, but by millions of individuals and private entities (Bell 2009: 14).
On account of its magnitude, Fama Collection helps us address several
important questions around digital archives in general. The first question,
concerning digital archives with similar compilation format, is the problem
of the authority e.g. who has the right to narrate collective stories about the
past (Neiger/Meyers/Zandberg 2011:10). Secondly, what connects and sep-
arates private and personal/first-hand/individual and social/ mediated/
collective memories (Ibid.). To potentially address these questions Fama
uses a five coded phases methodology that aims not to conclude, rather to
provide facts, testimonies and evidence (Encyclopaedia 2005: 10-11), in or-
der to make the obvious visible (Fama methodology). What digital archives
lack in general, is the criteria by which we might consider a particular archive
valid, accurate or relevant, furthermore, a standardized model for the form-
ing of the archive, a methodology for selecting the material, as well as the
presentation and evaluation of the material. For these reasons Fama Collec-
tion formulate their objectives, using phased research methodology for each
project: research, mapping cause and effect, developing project structure, its
presentation in digital archive and its educational value11.
Digital archives face the same dialectics other historical models of ar-
chiving faced: objective /subjective, growth/decay, inclusion/exclusion, ac-
curacy/inaccuracy, transparency/censorship, memory/oblivion. The com-
bination of the Internet and digital media has transformed the configuration
of the archive, its pre-selection now being inclusivity rather than exclusivity
(Pinchevski 2011: 256). However, the relationship between archives and
memory is not a given (Noe 2014: 3) and it would be wrong to assume that
there is a straightforward connection between the collection of records in ar-
chives and collective memory. Past events and their subsequent rationaliza-
tion and memorialization do not have to coincide (Karnstainer 2002, 190).
Also, there is a difference between collected and collective memory (Olick,
1999)12. Technological process of digitalisation and the upload itself dont
provide interaction with the collective memory. Thus, it should be noted that
the notions of data conversion, digital record and remediation relate to dif-
ferent processes, which brings us back to the importance of contextualising
digital records13 within the archives. The audio-visual material recorded dur-
ing the wars in the West Balkans, could be found at various Internet sites, ex-
cept that many lack contextualisation, providing minimal, false or uncertain
information about the material. By setting its methodology and each projects
objectives Fama Collection managed to avoid the greatest threat of digital ar-
chives in general, and that is a lack of critical and historical contextualisation.
Following the paratexts which contextualises the siege of Sarajevo users can
easily interact with the collective past.
The structure of the Fama Collection is transmedial and accessible at var-
ious media platforms (analogue, digital and interactive)14. The transmedial
process places Fama texts into an open and endless web of transfer, which
creates a complex chain of communication that results in one messages end
to become the starting point of another. For example, themes and questions
in video testimonies contained in Oral History project (in analogue VHS for-
mat), are based on guidebook Sarajevo Survival Guide (Sarajevski vodi za
preivljavanje, printed text and photographs, 1993), magazine Sarajevo LIF
magazine (printed text and photos), questionnaire sheets The Survival Ques-
tionnaire (printed text), map Survival Map (printed hand-drawn map and the
map legend), guidebook The Siege of Sarajevo, Chronology 1992-1996 (Opsa-
da Sarajeva, Hronologija 1992-1996, printed text, 1996-1997). Further devel-
opment of the Collection inspired production of the feature documentary The

Ultimate Survival Guide: Mechanism of Terror versus Mechanism of Survival
film (in DVD format). Parallel to the film, there was a printed Encyclopae-
dia, The Siege of Sarajevo (1315 pages), which included chapters on the oral
history, questionnaire text, maps, photographs, chronologies and drawings.
Fama Educational Pack included encyclopedia, two printed maps, printed al-
bum and two DVDs and it was distributed to all the regional libraries and
archives. As a result of digitalisation process, all this projects could be ac-
cessed in the digital interactive archive - Fama Collection. Since 2011, Fama
organisation develops virtual 3D Museum The Siege of Sarajevo Museum, The
Art of Living as a final product of the collection and there is an ongoing archi-
tectural project for the actual one.
In the text Memory and Digital Media: Six Dynamics of the Global Memory
Field (2011) Anna Reading argues that virally globalized memory in digital ar-
chives enable the capture and storage, management and reassembly of data
records in ways that in relation to earlier mediated memories are less costly,
globally connected, and reproducible across different media (Reading 2011:
242). However, the notion that digital format, due to their resilience to de-
cay, should be considered superior, appears to be ultimately flawed, because
the obsolescence of hardware and software arises as systematic threat to the
digital archives. The fact that mass digitization and cheap storage allow the
permanent accessibility and sustainability of digital information opens a new
set of questions and complex problems, such as the issue of the long-term
conservation and storage which are the key to long-term preservation and
survival of collective memory and history. One of the greatest threats to the
digital archives is the migration of the content from one media platform to an-
other in order to avoid obsolescence of digital video formats, resolutions and
compressions. For example, the VHS containing Oral History, or DVD containing
the film The Ultimate Survival Guide are out of date compared to the Blu-Ray or
4K digital formats. For these reasons, digital carriers hardly secure future ac-
cess to audio-visual content from the past and thousand-year preservation
is a matter shrouded in uncertainty (Bell 2009: 224).
Difficulty to maintain relationship between the digital records and re-
membering, as well as the uncertainty of long-term preservation, imply that
in order to preserve history and memory from obsolescence, decay and dis-
tortion, digital data will require some kind of permanent and continuous
process of remediation and migration into newer formats. For example, map
The Fall of Yugoslavia15 first was printed with the legend, secondly it was
the chapter in Encyclopedia, thirdly it was compiled together with archive
audio-visual materials in the multimedia DVD Users Guide for Fama Educa-
tional Pack (Vodi za upotrebu Fama edukacijskog paketa, 2007) and lastly it
is the interactive map in digital archive. Also, one can find the Survival Map16
in print, as well as textual chronology, a chapter in Encyclopedia, and since
recently it can be accessed via hyperlink The Siege, Interactive Chronology

(Opsada, interaktivna hronologija, 2011). The user can scroll through a 3D
timeline and open a icon/window with content from different sources and
in various formats - video testimonies, text transcript, chronology, location
on the survival map, related photographs, texts and videos from other Fama
projects.
Digital or Virtual Archive

In the context of digital environment, the Collection is instructive, inspiration-
al, educational, etc., and it contributes to regional reconciliation, cooperation,
cohesion, stability, as well as the exchange of knowledge and information.
Famas digital archive is very visually orienting, easy to navigate and use. The
user interface and data is completely available in Bosnian and English. Its
aesthetic (dark blue is the dominant colour) makes it appear solid, reliable
and serene. Audio-visual testimonies are segmented and positioned at the
window in middle of the screen surrounded by paratext connecting it to the
other relevant parts of the Collection. In the search menu bar content cat-
egories provide an overview of the classification system of the archive. How-
ever, there are no options for keywords search and users commentary. Today,
many libraries, archives, museums and collections (private and institutional-
ized) explore possibilities and principals of digital design for enhancing users
interaction and participation. Nanna Verhoeff for example, claims that digital
environment is no longer marked by traditional forms of representation, but
by principals of virtual mobility and navigation. Our visual culture entails
a shift of focus from (fixed, authored) objects to (dynamic and collaborate)
processes (Verhoeff 2013: 23) which consists of simultaneous creation and
exploration (ibid.) and are integrated in process of virtual navigation.
Metodology of Fama Collection transforms oral history into an impor-
tant historical source, establishing common people, along with their struggle
to survive and overcome trauma as main historical actors. It aims to create
a model for developing digital archives by demonstrating conditions that
convey tragic events, such as war and trauma, into historiografic text. (Users
Guide for Fama Educational Pack, video). Historians consider that there are
two very different kinds of traumatic pasts one long gone, the other which
we are still experiencing (Zelizer 2002: 697). Since we are still facing the
consequences of the events Fama archived, the very process of indexing and
cataloguing becomes more complex. For this reason, Fama assembles the ex-
perience of former digital archives that systematize traumatic events that oc-
curred further in the past, such as Holocaust survivors testimonies17. James
Young observed that personal audio-video testimonies of Holocaust survi-
vors gave voice to anonymous corpses and skeletal prisoners (Young 1988:
163). Similarly, emotions and memories of each Sarajevo siege survivor, with
their unique voices and gestures in audio-visual testimonies transform and

personalize inanimate images of the city devastation.18 Discussions around
the place that survivors testimonies hold in historiography have opened up
a number of questions19 toward survivors as mediators of memory and in-
terpreters of the past (Byford 2014: 60).
The technological apparatus of the archive, which has seen significant
technological transformations during the last three decades (Pinchevski
2011: 253) changed the ways of researching, writing, perceiving and using
history in education. Initially, Fama interviews were recorded in analogues
format, as well as many Holocaust survivors audio-visual testimonies. After-
wards, as Alina Bothe writes in the text (Dis)Orienting Memory, Shoah Testi-
monies in the Virtual Archive (2013), they were digitised and catalogued in
virtual archive. In this process of mediation, audio-visual testimonies first
become digital testimonies and then virtual testimonies. The term digital tes-
timony therefore describes mainly the technical aspect, while virtual testi-
mony hints at a new quality of perceiving testimonies in the virtual sphere
(Bothe 2013: 74). Furthermore, she employs Homi Bhabhas postcolonial
concept20 to describe digital archive as a virtual space in-between of memory.
Bothe remarks that users while watching audio-visual testimonies in virtual
archive often have the impression of distinct relationship (or dialogue) with
the survivor and virtual mitting in there.21 They challenge audience beyond
traditional written historical narratives into perceptual and emotional im-
mersion within personal (hi)stories and memories. On the grounds of this
digital archive feature, Fama further develops pedagogical approach and in-
teractive educative model for pupils, students, academics, teachers, educa-
tors, researchers, historians, media and general public. Its foundational as-
sumption is that it is an effective model to archive knowledge and memories
for future generations and historians, as lessons-learned on the Phenomenon
of Survival vs. Phenomenon of Terror.
Conclusion
This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the arising difficulties around digital
archiving, especially regarding methodology of evaluating and contextualiz-
ing the digital record. By looking at Fama Collection as a transmedial archive
containing memories of Sarajevo inhabitants during the siege, we drew at-
tention to the co-relation between digitalization and memory, along with the
issues ascribed to the very process of digital archiving. We highlight the way
digital archives challenge the dominant discourse, as well as its potential to
influence and (re)shape the collective memory. On the grounds of the sen-
sitivity of the material, Fama Collection helped us highlight other important
points concerning digital archives in general. It tends to transform our un-
derstanding of the present, since it offers the past content visually, making it
available at all times. Whilst the complex relation between the individual and
the collective memory sometimes cannot be resolved at present moment (on
account of the often conflicting perspectives and contrasting interpretations
of the past), digital archives (on account of their resilience to the decay), could
preserve knowledge (documents, data, etc.) and memories (of first-hand wit-
nesses) for the future analyses, dialogues, interpretations, etc. In this regard,
Fama Collection has provided a significant contribution to the processes of
responsibility, truth and reconciliation in post-conflict society.
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Notes:
1 Fama International was the first independent multi-media company in ex-Yugoslav
region. Their collection was established as a result of a private and not institutional
initiative.
2 Ex-Yugoslav wars left behind devastated cities, infrastructure, cultural and historic
monuments, etc. During this period 3,800,000 people became refugees. The number
of casualties has not been established yet, but ranges between 150,000 and 300,000
people, the majority of whom were civilians. (Users Guide for Fama Educational
Pack, video).
3 Negotiations for ending wars in former Yugoslavia started on 31st October 1995 in
Dayton (Ohio, USA) and ended with ratification of the peace agreement in Dayton on
21st November 1995 and signing of The Dayton Peace Accords on 14th December
1995 in Paris. Fama produced two-part TV documentary about the event Dossier:
Implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords (Dosije: Provedba Dajtonskog mirovnog
sporazuma, 1997) and designed album Mapping the Negotiations The Dayton Peace
Accords (Mapiranje pregovora - Dejtonski mirovni sporazumom, 2000) reprinted later
on in Encyclopaedia: The Siege of Sarajevo.
4 On March 16th 1996, the siege of Sarajevo has been declared officially over and after
1.395 days of continuous shelling and sniper attacks, forcing Sarajevo inhabitants to
live without food, water, electricity, heating, telecommunications, traffic () Sarajevo
was declared de-blocked (Encyclopedia 2005: 1298).
5 One of the first steps towards the reconciliation, after the conflicts end, is the process
of its contextualisation within general history. The contextualisation is especially im-
portant regarding the question of responsibility of the perpetrators (e.g. politicians,
military officials, academics, citizens, etc.). For example, contrasting interpretations
of the past events, lead to parallel commemorative gatherings, such as August 5th. In
Knin (Croatia), this day is marked as The Victory day (Dan Domovinske Zahvalnosti,
Dan Hrvatiskih Branitelja). At the same time in Serbia this day is marked as com-
memoration of the victims of the exodus, that was a result of the operation Oluja
(Storm). This clearly draws attention to the existing contradictions, but on the other
hand, it offers certain preconditions for future institutional, academic, political and
social dialogue.
6 Collective and individual memory are constantly produced through, and mediated
by, the technologies of memory. The question of mediation is thus central to the way
in which memory is conceived in the fields of study of visual culture, cultural studies
and media studies (Sturken 2008: 75).
7 The situation is further complicated by the process of digitalisation of the audio-
visual material and its circulation on the Internet. On the one hand, the process of
digitalisation, by allowing the material to access the new media, helps to gain and
maintain memory and knowledge about the ex-Yugoslav wars. On the other hand, due
to the lack of historical contextualisation, various audio-visual files, are unreliable
and unobjective, which could lead to further distortion of this topic. Digital archives,
at the present moment, add to the problem of distortion and confusion around the
fall of Yugoslavia and the times when the country we lived in faced economic social,
moral and human collapse.
8 Ernest differentiates between different modes of textually or visually processing
the past (Ernest 2013: 55), adding that the stability of memory and tradition was
formerly guaranteed by the printed text(Ernst 2013: 117). On the other hand, the
digital archives, due to the dynamics of the hypertext, face a danger of transforming
the memory into an ephemeral, passing drama. (ibid.)
9 Collective memory defined by Maurice Halbwachs (1980/1950) is being trans-
formed by the availability and popularity of new media into what Andrew Hoskins
has termed networked and connective memory. In digital age, he argues, connective
memory replaces the collective: the Internet refashioned the very conditions of re-
membrance to the point where the moment of connection becomes the moment of
memory (Hoskins 2009, 2011).
10 The project Oral History contains 10 VHS cassettes (30 hours of video), CD-ROM with
interviews transcript in Bosnian and English and the Survival Map and packed to-
gether in the hand-made traditional wooden chest (sehara).
11 Also Fama avoids the common model for documentary projects, that is, combining
personal testimonies of the survivors about some historical event or trauma with ar-
chival materials (e.g. audio-visual images, photographs, documents, etc.) and inter-
views with experts and voice-over narration (which affects the viewers emotional
and ideological stands) (Milovanovi 2014: 74).
12 On the subject see also Joanne Garde-Hansen, Andrew Hoskins and Anna Reading,
Save As ... Digital Memories (2009).
13 Since the emergence of the Internet different types of archives and museums have
started massive digitization in order to make their collections accessible and search-
able. It resulted in delocalization of archives, mass circulation of information, unlim-
ited access to potentially unlimited number of users, as well as the arising problem
of de-contextualization. Because of the tendency towards non-linear narratives of
history (Fickers 2012: 26) digital archives loose the linear connections. For these
reasons while archivists have to deal with the problem of digitization of sources as
it touches the questions of conservation and preservation, historians neglect these
problems and focus on the problem of authenticity and reliability (Fickers 2012:
23).
14 In the region, there was number of different attempts to make a transmedial project
about the 90s such as B92's documentary production The Independents for the Truth
(Nezavisni za istinu, 1999-2011). This project consisted of documentary films and TV
series, television live programs and debates, radio programs, exhibitions, books, etc.
In 2007, B92 released a package that contained 10 DVDs, which contributed highly
to the process of understanding the fall of Yugoslavia. However, this DVD package
lacks in additional material (such as audio commentaries by historians, interviews
with experts, photographs, documents, users guide for placing the package within
a certain historical context, etc.). For this reason, project only uses the first step of
transmedia strategies and that is repurposing of the same text.
15 The chronology starts with the death of Josip Broz Tito (1980) and following the rise
of nationalism, fall of Yugoslavia, 4 wars, piece agreements, crises, camps, sieges,
massacres, burned villages, mass crimes, destroyed cities, etc.
16 The map was based on the documents and photographs taken during 1395 days of
the longest siege of a European city in the modern history. The city was exposed to
the global media attention 24 hours a day, still remained blocked for all its inhabit-
ants for 4 years, despite all the media focus. (Encyclopedia 2005: 124)
17 The institutions that have recorded and archived large number of testimonies from
Holocaust survivors are The Oral History Department of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, The Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, USC Shoah
Foundation Institute for Visual History and The Visual History Archive at Freie Uni-
versitat Berlin, Forced Labor 1939-1945.
18 The audio-video testimony gives texture to memory or to images that otherwise
would have only sentimental of informational impact (Hartman 1996: 138). Its val-
ue is not in their factual accuracy or reliability, but in authenticity of psychological
and emotional milieu of the struggle for survival (Hartman 1996: 142).
19 For further discussions also see: Nevena Dakovi, Studije filma, ogledi o filmskim
tekstovima seanja (2014); Nevena Dakovi, Holokaust u digitalnom pamenju i digi-
talnom seanju (2013); Zoe Waxman, Writing the Holocaust, Identity, Testimony, Rep-
resentation (2006); Annette Wieviorka, The Era of the Witness (2006); Tony Kushner,
Holocaust Testimony, Ethics, and the Problem of Representation (2006); Shoshana Fel-
man and Dori Laub, Testimony, Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis and
History (1992); etc.
20 Homi Bhabha developed postcolonial concept of the space in-between as the places
of negotiation and new possibilities of thinking and experiencing something more
and different.
21 Alina Bothe develops this assertion by using Aleida Assmann and Juliane Bauer term
virtual encounter to describe this process.
THE CANDLEBEARER BY GIORDANO BRUNO

Aleksandra Mani
There is a strong relation to be established between the theatrical aspect of

Giordano Brunos philosophy on one side, and theatre practices of the 20th and
21st centuries and their use of new media on the other.1 It has to be viewed as
a form of translation in order to explore the mutual dependence of different
types of media involved in the philosophical and the linguistic experiment
that Brunos philosophy offers. I started by researching Brunos relation to
the new media of his own time a printed book, a revolutionized theatre: just
like the book a century earlier, in 16th century, the theatre was going through
a change that made it into a new media one that Bruno actively used as a
tool in his work (Mani 2015: 58-64, 102-123). This research lead to a logi-
cal next step: research of Brunos works in the context of the new media of the
21st century. Even Giordano Brunos mediatic personality has had a revival as
a result of archeological research the authors made using new media. The ar-
cheological work is to be done here as excavations and discovery of material
traces buried under the thick layers of sedimentary strata of learned dust,
in order to translate his ideas creatively into the present time. On the other
hand, it is the new media that enabled me to gather most of the material on
which my research is based, and to realize the extent of Brunos presence and
relevance today, although it can equally remain blurred by an overwhelming
mass of other material, imposed by the same new media. A few points are of-
fered here in order to present the current state of my research in progress.
The Candlebearer
Giordano Brunos powers of memory and his provocative ideas about the in-
finity of the universe gained him notoriety of an unorthodox thinker among
the highest intellectual circles of 16th century Europe and inevitably attracted
the attention of the Inquisition, which had him burned at the stake as a her-
etic in 1600. Bruno valiantly defended his ideas and his right to maintain
them to the very end. His name, even at four centuries distance, still causes
controversy among scholars. Recent historical assessments have shed new
124 Aleksandra Mani
light on Brunos scientific and philosophical work, undeniably provocative,

and the same can be said of his literary work. The radical tendencies are evi-
dent in his erudite comedy The Candlebearer, which is often considered the
end of the Renaissance genre. There is a general consensus among critics that
the work is excessively enigmatic, offensive, and obscene. But the stylistic
and thematic excesses that have aggravated critics are entirely intentional.
By including an exasperating number of prologues and an overkill of obscen-
ity, cupidity, false learning, pedantry, and related motifs, Bruno pushed the
genre to its ultimate capacities and made a mockery of its rules. A quintes-
sential example of his aesthetic philosophy of the extreme and of his attitude
of antagonism, The Candlebearer is entirely in keeping with the workings of
Brunos mind in general, as evidenced by his other intellectual endeavors
that made him a martyr to intellectual freedom.
The Candlebearer, a comedy written in Italian (Il Candelaio), was com-
pleted and published by Bruno in Paris in the summer of 1582. He goes
against the current, by publishing in Italian in France, and by publishing a
comedy as a book, instead of putting it on stage. Actually, Brunos sole theat-
rical production goes against the current in every possible way. It is divided
into five acts, in accordance with the ancient and the humanistic canon, but
it is preceded by a series of unusual literary materials: a burlesque sonnet
recited by the book, a dedicatory letter to Madama Morgana B, a tripar-
tite argument, and finally a prologue, also in three parts. If the division into
five acts is canonical, the long introduction in turn constitutes a pyrotech-
nic phantasmagoria of inventions with which Bruno establishes his distance
from the humanistic tradition and the models of contemporary culture, lit-
erary, philosophical, and religious. And indeed, the comedy is written in a
language rich in terms drawn from spoken Neapolitan, one that absorbs the
realistic and burlesque practice of Aretino, Ariosto, or Francesco Berni, mix-
ing it with parodic echoes of classical and ecclesiastical rhetoric. The result
is a contamination of linguistic planes, rhetorical levels and literary genres
that yields a violent critique of the learned language, which is reduced to a
repertory of formulas, and transports onto the social plane the coincidence of
infinitely large and infinitely small, illustrated in the cosmological dialogues.
That is how Bruno uses the most important media at his disposal: the lan-
guage. Always going against the current, he applies the same principle to the
usage of other media as well.
Giordano Bruno
For an uninformed observer, the claim that Giordano Bruno was an important
media personality might come as a surprise. And yet, in 2008, Paolo Coelho
began his speech at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair remembering the
1973 film Giordano Bruno by Italian director Giuliano Montaldo. He also re-
membered the fact that Bruno regularly visited the Frankfurt book fair (an
institution with origins directly related to the revolutionary new media of the
movable type printing) throughout the last decade of the 16th century. Bruno
has been strongly attached to the new media of his time.
His mediatic appearance is in recent times linked to the first aired epi-
sode of the American documentary television series Cosmos: a Spacetime
Odyssey, Standing Up in the Milky Way, premiered on March 9, 2014. The
series, a follow-up of the 1980s television series Cosmos: a Personal Voyage
by Carl Sagan, is hosted by astrophysicist and author Neil de Grasse Tyson.
It explores astronomy, space and time, astrophysics, biology, and other di-
verse areas of science. In the first episode, in an animated segment, Tyson
discusses life and vision of Giordano Bruno, voiced by Seth MacFarlane, as a
person championing an expansive understanding of the Earths place in the
universe. To show Brunos vision of the cosmic order, he uses an animated
adaptation of the Flammarion engraving, a 19th century illustration that has
now become a common meme for revealing the mysteries of the Universe.
However, the short animation provoked a small storm in the American me-
dia, and a series of reactions ensued, as well as a controversy between evolu-
tionists and creationists, in highly polemic tone, from questioning the role of
this idiosyncratic Dominican monk (Higgitt 2014) as a scientific hero and
martyr, to the outright denial of any scientific importance of Brunos thought.
A list of participants in this debate was long, and it included all sorts of me-
dia, from The Guardian to the Discovery Magazine. At the beginning of the 21st
century, the character of Giordano Bruno remains mediatically attractive and
controversial.
As a symbolic figure of the 19th century, Giordano Bruno was an exciting
theme: The Warburg Institute catalogue lists half a dozen plays inspired by
his life written between 1870 and 1929. At the beginning of the 20th century,
in 1908, he became a hero of a silent film by Giovanni Pastrone. Through cen-
turies, his symbolism has undergone certain changes. Late nineteenth-cen-
tury Italians saw Bruno as a national hero and an apostle of modern science.
In mid-twentieth century, in London, an influential Bruno scholar, Frances
Yates, recasts him as a religious reformer, a mystic, and a practitioner of mag-
ic. Giovanni Aquilecchia, her younger contemporary, saw Bruno primarily as
a philosopher. However, his alter ego in The Candlebearer is not a philosopher
or a scientist, but an artist.
The Candlebearer Revival

Since the sixties, Brunos comedy became first-rate material for intermedial
and transmedial art forms and experiments in theatrical domain. The im-
126 Aleksandra Mani
pulses for the alternative theatre arose in the mid-1960s from a sense of dis-
satisfaction with traditional theatre, both in terms of its repertoire as well
as its production methods and hierarchical structures. Known variously as
underground, experimental, guerrilla theatre, these non-traditional forms
became widespread in the general climate of youthful political involvement
throughout the Western world. Only then, after all the experiments conduct-
ed in the 20th century theatre, was Brunos comedy put on stage for the first
time: after Artauds only attempt at putting his theories of the Theatre of
Cruelty to the test on stage in 1935, in his own adaptation of the story of the
Cenci, that somber Renaissance story of incest and patricide, the theatre of
Jean Genet, and Brechts theatre technique, which all created new theatrical
treatment of the narrative.
Italian theatre actor and director Paolo Poli staged The Candlebearer in
1964, in Torino. His production combined several urgent issues of the time,
and an experimental scenography made by famous theatre designer Eugenio
Guglielminetti (Teatro Stabile 1964). The staging was cited as exemplary in
the booklet accompanying the only Serbian production, made in 1992.
Luca Ronconi, another important figure of the Italian theatre, produced
his first production of Brunos comedy in 1968 in the Teatro Fenice in Venice,
with a labyrinthic scenography and language as its principal motor, followed
by a second one, a co-production of Milans Teatro Piccolo and Palermos
Teatro Biondo Stabile, directed by Ronconi in Teatro Bellini, in Palermo, in
2001.
The time span between the two productions establishes a relation be-
tween significant eras in the history of the (Italian?) theatre, crucial in the
search for new expressivity. Aldo Trionfo produced Brunos comedy in the
Teatro Stabile dell Aquila, in Abruzzi, in 1981. In his vision, the piece tackled
the problem of language, the participation of the audience, the blurring of the
levels of reality and fiction. In tune with Becketts Waiting for Godot, Aldo Tri-
onfo saw the perpetual procrastination of the finale as one of the important
features of the comedy. At the beginning of the nineties, famous theatre actor
and director from Southern Italy, Tato Russo, directed, in the Bellini Theatre
in Naples, a production that involves the issues of language even more deep-
ly, and translates, through the standard Italian as a mediate agent, Brunos
multiple languages back into 16th century Neapolitan. The production was
considered a Tato Russo masterpiece, an expression of his artistic maturity
and an extraordinary invention. Its performers were men only, playing both
male and female roles. Acclaimed by critics, his Candelaio was considered a
significant event in the history of the Italian theatre, with an excellent cast
of the first class Italian stage actors, led by Tato Russo himself. The staging
of Brunos comedy was a sort of an initiation to the new, experimental, and
politically engaged forms in theatre, and those theatrical experiments of the
20th century led to a new turn made in the 21st, when Brunos philosophy and
his theatre become virtually discovered by the new media.
The Candlebearer in Serbian Theatre

In Serbia, the figure of Giordano Bruno was present through the Italian
Risorgimento influence since 1890s (uri 2012: 257-265), and it must be
taken as an important issue, as the interaction with the Italian scene of the
time was fruitful in several aspects, political, as well as artistic. Later on, in the
first decades of the 20th century, since the philosophical writings of Ksenija
Atanasijevi, Bruno was present mainly among the philosophers, and in the
second half of the century, his presence continued in translations of his philo-
sophical works. A 1992 production by Ljubomir Draki in Belgrades Atelje
212 theatre (Figure 1.), however, seems to have been influenced by the Ital-
ian productions directly. In a year especially difficult and crucial for Serbias
history in the last decade of the 20th century, director known as the veteran
of the avant-garde theatre staged a 16th century comedy Il Candelaio, or The
Candlebearer (1582). Historians of Italian theatre describe Brunos comedy
as a farewell to the cultivated Renaissance drama. What can we possibly
excavate from these heteroclite elements joined together in a play performed
in a newly renovated venue, the focal point of Belgrades avant-garde theatre
from its inception in the late fifties, which was Atelje 212? The production
of the play was more or less classical, and there was nothing to suggest oth-
erwise in the directors comments (or even silences, for that matter) about
it. On the contrary: Even the classical theatre can be new if one is not famil-
iar with it, Draki said in an interview (Petkovi, 1998). The connections
Figure 1.
128 Aleksandra Mani
between Drakis selection of the play and the circumstances surrounding

his production seem to be important. It was the first and only production of
Brunos comedy, based on the translation by Ivan Klajn (Bruno 1992).
The date of the premiere, on one of the leaflets found in the theatres
archives2, is October 6, 1991, but the booklet of the program printed for the
occasion states another date: July 4, 1992. Political events might have played
a part in the postponing. For the moment, I have not gathered all relevant
facts. The same booklet states a relevant fact that the theatre building, closed
since 1988, was reopened in the summer of 1992. However, the booklet puts
the premiere of The Candlebearer in the theatrical colony Barski ljetopis, in
a town on the Montenegrin coast. In any case, the excellent cast was rep-
resentative of Atelje 212. Until the last performance on June 29, 1993, it
had been played 36 times, not only on the stage of Atelje 212, but also in
various towns and at theatre festivals throughout Yugoslavia. In comparison,
Drakis famous production of Alfred Jarrys Ubu, which lasted 14 seasons
between 1964 and 1978, was played 205 times about 14 shows a year. A
problem to be addressed in future research is why Svear disappeared from
stage so quickly. There is no video recording of it, as far as I have found. On
this occasion, I did not want to collect testimonies of others, so I am only
presenting available facts, like the graphic material provided for the play, the
leaflets and the booklet. But the directors trajectory struck me as telling.
This staging fell into the oblivion, not to be disturbed, as yet, by any media ar-
cheology. Thus the chance for Brunos theatre to be translated by avant-garde
movements to Serbian theatre seems to be lost.
Prison Theatre
The short overview of the productions of Brunos The Candlebearer in 20th
century Italy offered here should present us with the tradition to which in
the years 2007 2009 a production by Fabio Cavalli in the prison theater of
the high-security Roman correctional facility of Rebibbia inserts itself. Made
famous by the Taviani brothers film Caesar Must Die, the Golden Bear win-
ner at the Berlinale in 2012, the prison company of inmate-actors guided by
the theatre director Fabio Cavalli recorded a rehearsal of their performance
of The Candlebearer in the Rebibbia in 2007. However, it was uploaded to
YouTube only on May 20, 2013. It consists of four parts that can be found on
the Prigionieri DellArte channel of an inmate-actor, Cosimo Rega. The vid-
eo is of very poor quality, and its first part had 549 views. First three parts
last approximately twenty minutes each, and the last one consists of only a
minute and a half-long closing speech. The premiere was held on May 17,
2009, in the Prison Rebibbia Theatre, as Il Candelaio allAcademia dei Diavoli
Commedianti.
The trailer for the performance was uploaded on October 1st, 2009, and
has had 1.452 views since. Seen from the perspective of Tavianis film, it al-
ready has all the essential components: the actors-inmates translate Brunos
language into their own languages, mostly jargons coming from the south of
Italy. To understand why their Candlebearer is more intense than one might
expect, why it ranks among the most involving adaptations of Brunos com-
edy, one has to know exactly what it is and how it came into being. Presented
by inmates serving life sentences inside the high-security section of Romes
Rebibbia prison, emotions of the comedy correspond with the world that the
prisoners came from. Actors are men who truly understand violence, and
the characters desperation becomes theirs. The video uploaded on YouTube
shows the plays rehearsal period: another similarity with the Taviani broth-
ers film. The actors make situations in the comedy of their own by translat-
ing the lines to their particular regional dialects, using the same technique
that was used later on, in the staging of Shakespeares Julius Caesar in the
2012 film, as if this experience prepared them for the later experiments, and
enabled them to translate their own lives into the plays situations, in search
of the metamorphoses they can offer as actors, or as human beings in a par-
ticular situation.
Morgana B Company
The relation that female readers researchers, translators, philosophers, or,
in this particular case, actresses establish with Bruno texts is a very pecu-
liar one, and deserving a study in its own right. Feminist theatres appearing
in the 1970s experimented, among other things, with breaking down of the
assigned roles of the writer, designer, and technician. In that vein, the actress
Angela Antonini and director Paola Traverso, forming Morgana B Company,
produced The Candlebearer and staged it in Rome, premiering on February
2011, to be followed by a series of presentations in Nola, in February 2014, in
Paris in April 2014 (Figure 2.), and again in Rome in April 2015.
Angela Antonini and Paola Traverso have chosen to stage an original ad-
aptation of the drama for a single actress playing many characters. The piece
is set in the key of the Parisian cabaret and vaudeville. The two artists see
Brunos comedy as a frontal attack on the symbols of power (the candle is
the obelisk, the phallus, the masters stick). They describe their performance
as a desecrating challenge, where a woman, a single actress, gives voice and
body to the many characters involved in the comedy, following Brunos prin-
ciple of singularity in multiplicity.
This production is most interesting from the media archeology point of
view in the strict sense. On YouTube, again, we can follow its development
through the years in recordings made successively, and get a clear picture
130 Aleksandra Mani
Figure 2.
of its evolution through different phases, mirroring different translations of
Brunos work to the stage that the two artists produced. In this case, the new
media kept full record of the metamorphosis. The first variant was staged
in Rome as a monodrama performed by Angela Antonini, with sound and
music composed by Paola Traverso. The trailer was uploaded on September
28, 2011. It is four minutes long, and had 1.520 views by November 2015. It
was followed by a piece entitled Candelaio di Giordano Bruno, presenting a
few images of the performance at the Vittoria Theatre in Rome on November
23, 2012, photographed by Maurizio Guiducci, and made public on March 22,
2013, and a trailer Candelaio Promo, uploaded on May 8, 2012, seven minutes
long variant, made after the two actresses-producers discovered a practice
developed in the time of Goldoni, of a single actress playing all the roles in
the play. This made them redirect their production towards something dif-
ferent. The artists made a five minute-long special trailer for their 2014 per-
formance at the Bruno festival in Nola, in slow motion, posted on April 14,
2014. The new, 2015 trailer prepared for a festival in Paris and subtitled in
French follows their performances further evolution.
Pantamorph and Morphing

Bruno conceived a concept of pantamorph, a form that includes all possible
forms in a combination of metamorphosis, a perpetual change from one form
into another, and closely related to anamorphosis, a distorted projection or
perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific
vantage point to reconstruct the image. Bruno explains that pantamorph is a
multiform beast; apparently it is one, and actually, it is one, but it is not uni-
form [...] it has many forms, because it is shapeless and has no face of its own.
In a certain sense, his comedy The Candlebearer also invites performances
that feed on the concept of pantamorph, which easily relates to the mediatic
concept of morphing. In that sense, it is interesting to mention a collabora-
tion of Gaetano delli Santi (poet, writer and professor of Aesthetics), Claudio
Pappalardo (film director) and Fabio DAmbrosio (virtual set designer) in the
production of a video play based on interdisciplinarity of the competences of
each, titled Fra Giordano Bruno redivivo. The video play presents the beast of
a politician-pontiff-business magnate as an Inquisitor of our time, torment-
ing a 21st century Giordano Bruno portrayed as a biker persecuted by a series
of flashes accompanied by loud noise. It offers a poetic, literary and ideo-
logical key to the inquisitorial process of the philosopher Giordano Bruno
of Nola, based on original documents. Set in a multimedia space, with use
of screens and cameras, inspired by the planetarium form, it is continuously
balancing between archaic and modern. The show was presented in Rome
at Metateatro on February 12-16th, 2003, with the participation of Amnesty
International (which provided video footage of public executions, projected
during the show) and Applicando, a computer magazine.
Starting with a text written by Delli Santi, and involving various experts
in the project: technicians and scholars working in the field of new technolo-
gies of virtual communication and artists using new technologies in their
creations, Pappalardo produced his own virtual translation and conceived
a scenic space which includes different artistic disciplines. He created a play
dedicated to a language experience inspired by the interdisciplinary nature
of the arts. Everything is contained in what might be called a great scientific
instrument, a colossal machine, a cathedral synthesis of modern and archaic,
where allegory, art of memory and science merge. It is a machine exponen-
tially evolving and processing; a man (Giordano Bruno) becomes an operator
and an instrument, processing and synthesising. Bruno is a neuron, a part of a
brain intertwined in a game of structures and macrostructures, of languages
and metalanguages (Pappalardo 2003). Information is presented as virtual:
a projection of images taken by an intubation in the interior of the body; a
flux of numerical data, geometrical forms and fractals; web surfing; visualiza-
tion of the text while it is pronounced; consultation of universal data banks.
From diverse angles and in real time, the cameras register the particulars of
the interaction between actors and virtual machines; images are projected
on screen or the monitor.
Giordano Bruno, whose idea of theatre was closely related to the Eliz-
abethan theatre in England, but more provocative, had the courage to re-
nounce an attractive plot, and more or less traditional attractiveness of the
characters, and even stage effects, in order to imagine a perfectly liberated
theatre. This form of theatre renovation was forgotten for the sake of others,
less disturbing than Brunos. In the second half of the 20th century, and in the
132 Aleksandra Mani
21st, several paths opened for translation (in broader sense) of the art and
the thinking of the 16th century philosopher into the new media. Rather a
social media than a mass media, YouTube is an important (we might even say
ideal) place for dissemination of this type of art, deeply concerned with phi-
losophy, which I hesitate to call marginal. Instead, I would say it is hermetic,
in the same sense that James Joyce, or any other great artist, before or after,
influenced by Brunos texts, can be labeled hermetic. The new media offer a
major accessibility to the hermetic arts, and even though as it is perfectly
appropriate their visibility is incomparable to the massively distributed
ones, their presence is strongly felt.
References:
Antonini, Angela e Paola Traverso. 2011. Il Candelaio. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=5TNoBjdU8JY [17/11/2015 15:45]
Antonini, Angela e Paola Traverso. 2012. Candelaio di Giordano Bruno. Teatro
Vittoria, Rome, 2012. Photographs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
kryo4MRtOog [17/11/2015 15:54]
Antonini, Angela e Paola Traverso. 2012. Candelaio_promo. Candelaio di Giordano Bru-
no. Trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MkXXMzdE6s [17/11/2015
16:54]
Antonini, Angela e Paola Traverso. 2014. Candelaio. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=tcSNt8mQZ0k [17/11/2015 16:11]
Bruno, Giordano. 1582. Candelaio. Comedia del Bruno nolano achademico di nulla
achademia; detto il fastidito. In tristitia hilaris: in hilaritate tristis. - In Pariggi:
appresso Guglelmo Giuliano. Al segno de lAmicitia. http://cir.campania.beni-
culturali.it/archividiteatronapoli/atn/biblioteca_digitale/dettagli_testi_lista3
[07/11/2015: 14:50]
Bruno, ordano. 1992. Svear. U prevodu Ivana Klajna. Beograd: Atelje 212.
Cavalli, Fabio. 2007. Il Candelaio. Rehearsal recorded in the Rebibbia prison. Upload-
ed on May 20, 2013. Prigionieri DellArte channel. https://www.youtube.com/
channel/UCgCbDaOQcRYmS_OyWtt7cFA [16/11/2015 13:36]
Cavalli, Fabio. 2009. Il Candelaio allAcademia dei Diavoli Commedianti. Adattamento
e regia di Fabio Cavalli. Teatro e Carcere. Uploaded on Oct 1, 2009. https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=EV2kdSmS_1s [16/11/2015 13:31]
Coelho Paolo. 2008. Speech for the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair. http://pro-
fesores.ie.edu/enrique_dans/download/FrankfurtBookFair-PauloCoelho.pdf
[14/12/2015 14:32]
De Grasse Tyson, Neil. 2014. Standing Up in the Milky Way. Cosmos: A Space-Time
Odyssey. Episode 1. Aired March 9. FOX TV. 44 minutes. 20th Century Fox Home
Entertainment.
uri, eljko. 2012. Srpsko-italijanske knjievne i kulturne veze od XVIII do XX veka.
Beograd: Filoloki fakultet.
Giannini, Luciano. 1991. La Napoli di Bruno la nostra.
Intervista con Tato Russo. Il Mattino di Napoli. 18 ottobre.
Higgitt, Rebekah. 2014. Cosmos and Giordano Bruno: the problem with scientific
heroes, Blogpost History of Science. The Guardian, March 14 http://www.
theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/mar/14/cosmos-history-science-
giordano-bruno-danger-heroes ) [10/12/2015 15:01]
Longhi, Claudio. 2001. Conversazione con Luca Ronconi. Candelaio di Giordano Bru-
no. Luca Ronconi (dir.),Claudio Longhi(ed.), Piccolo Teatro di Milano, pp. 17-27.
Mani, Aleksandra. 2015. ordano Bruno i komunikacija. Prevoenje ideja. Beograd:
Slubeni glasnik.
Montaldo, Giuliano. 1973. Giordano Bruno. Compagnia Cinematografica Champion /
Les Films Concordia. DVD Cecchi Gori Home Video 2009.
Pappalardo,Claudio. 2003. Fra Giordano Bruno redivivo. Cardinales Generales In-
quisitores. Regia Claudio Pappalardo. Scenografia virtuale Fabio DAmbrosio.
Scenografia Gianni Gangai. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtZiMJy3fg8
[16/11/2015 14:05]
Petkovi, Dejan. 1998. Jedno sentimentalno putovanje sa pozorinim maestrom. In-
tervju: Ljubomir Muci Draki. PRESSING. Akademski asopis. br. 30, novembar.
Ronconi, Luca. 2001. Candelaio di Giordano Bruno. Scenografo Giovanni Montonati.
Musiche Paolo Terni. Produzione Teatro Biondo Stabile di Palermo e Piccolo Tea-
tro di Milano. Palermo: Teatro Bellini. 23 maggio. Patalogo 24. Milano: Ubulibri.
Russo, Tato.1991. Il Candelaio. Tradotto e riscritto da Tato Russo. Regia Tato Russo.
Bellini Editrice, Bellini Home Video.
Taviani, Paolo e Vittorio. 2012. Cesare deve morire. RAI Cinema et al.
Teatro Stabile Torino. 1964. Informazioni per il pubblico. No 2, novembre.
Trionfo, Aldo. 2008. Appunti su Giordano Bruno e sulla messa in scena del Cande-
laio. Siro Ferrone et al. Il teatro del Cinquecento. I luoghi, i testi e gli attori. Con
DVD. Perugia: Morlacchi Editore.
Notes:
1 This paper is a result of research conducted on the Project Cultural Theories of Lit-
erature and Serbian Literary Criticism (178013) financed by the Ministry of Educa-
tion, Science and Technological Development of Republic of Serbia.
2 I use this opportunity to thank Gordana Gonci, dramaturge of Atelje 212, who is
currently working on the reassessment of the archive of the theatre, and kindly made
the graphic material available to me. Besides this material and the booklet, there
seems to be no other sources video materials, press-clippings, etc. kept in the
theater archive.
134 Aleksandra Mani
THE MUSEUM OF THEATRICAL ARTS OF

SERBIA: DIGITAL DATABASE
Ksenija Radulovi
Introduction
In this paper, we present the project of an informational history of theatre in
Serbia, located in the contemporary digital domain, with a presentation of all
its relevant aspects and its hitherto stages and results. The project of creating
a digital information base Theatre in Serbia started at the very beginning
of the 21. century and is being realised by the Museum of Theatrical Arts of
Serbia (Muzej pozorine umetnosti Srbije), in a sustained effort to merge the
activities of an actual and a virtual museum. A unique and unified platform
connects the theatrological and museum data, with search and free access
capabilities. The specific activities of the Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia
(MPUS), or its dual needs on the one hand to perform its basic museum
function, and on the other to create a theatrological database (of theatres and
theatrical personages, with all necessary metadata) created the necessity of
this merger of theatrology and museum practice. Although the main function
of the institution is to be a museum, the theatrological data are of high impor-
tance, since they directly refer to the objects in the museums collections.
The digital theatre collection includes the digital repertoire of all theatres
in Serbia from the beginnings of professional theatre in the country (the XIX
century) to the present moment, a repository of digital collections formed
on the basis of the the Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia collections, and a
portal to showcase the archives and libraries of theatres in Serbia or those in
private ownership. An application covering all types of currently registered
information and content has been developed, showcasing the pieces docu-
menting the theatre life in Serbia and Serbian theatres abroad, and it can be
easily made applicable in the countries of the Balkan region.
The Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia was founded in 1950, the first
of its kind in former Yugoslavia. Since the beginning of the XXI century, the
Museum has been developing a digital theatre art database, unique in the
Serbian context. The project creates an informational history of Serbian the-
136 Ksenija Radulovi
atre in the contemporary digital domain, a kind of merger of a virtual and a

real museum. A unified platform connects the theatrological and museum
data, with search and free access capabilities. The use of new technologies in
the preservation of cultural heritage has proved to be of significance in sev-
eral ways. Changes happening in the contemporary world have been threat-
ening the preservation of cultural assets and the notion of cultural heritage is
no longer connected to the past alone, it is something you live with and that
you leave for the future generations (Stoji 2014: 231).
This paper will not focus on the specific characteristics of notions like
virtual/digital/electronic/ museum without walls (cf. virtual, digital, elec-
tronic library1), but will instead present some of the principal theoretical and
practical experiences and challenges experienced during the creation of this
dual database.
The very term digital nowadays means much more than just discrete
data or the machines that use them (and) speaking of the digital means
using it as a metonymy for an entire network of virtual illusions, mo-
mentary communications, ever-present media and global connection
options, which make up a large chunk of our contemporary experience.
(Gere 2011: 16)
In terms of historical background, the Serbian Ministry of Culture first started
the MISS Museum Information System of Serbia, as the kind of platform for
entering data and creating a network related to cultural heritage preserva-
tion, with the museums in the country having a legal obligation to participate.
The earliest beginnings were in the last decade of the XX century at the Na-
tional Museum of Serbia in Belgrade, as the central museum of the country.
However, the MISS failed to become operational in practice, and since 2000.
some museums (and libraries), with different infrastructural capabilities,
have been creating their own databases.2
The Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia is an unusual museum in that it
has a dual function. On the one hand there is the collection, preservation, and
processing of the museum collection, as its main museum activities, and on
the other there is the work on the necessary theatrological database. The lat-
ter comprises of the list of all theatres in the country and theatre personages
(authors), with all the relevant sub-segments (festivals, guest performanc-
es...), i.e. all the necessary metadata. The connection between the theatro-
logical database and the objects in the museum collections is of particular
importance. Although the main purpose of the institution is to be a museum,
the theatrological data are of high significance since they refer directly to
the objects in the museum collections. For instance, a poster for a play (as
part of the museum collection) is inherently part of the play, and the relevant
knowledge about the play can only be obtained from theatrological data. The
specific differences between the strictly museum and the strictly institute-
type activities are of no crucial importance in practice: besides, there are no

independent theatrical institutes in Serbia, thus making it natural that some
of the work of such an institute would be performed by other institutions.
Moreover, in the XXI century, museology does not mean just strictly exhibit-
ing and collecting national and other heritage, since museums have become
media, spaces of communication. The challenges of museology in this new
context, both at the theoretical and at the practical level, are becoming in-
creasingly important in the creation of contemporary cultural policies (Mc-
Call, Gray 2014).
As mentioned above, some institutions in Serbia didnt choose to wait for
the creation of the National Strategy for the Digitalization of Cultural Heri-
tage. In fact, Serbia had a surprisingly small lag in the digitalization pro-
cess, considering the economic and political situation in the 1990s (Stoki,
Simonovi, Vukovi 2012: 115). For example, the National Library of Serbia
began the creation of a digital library in 2003, and founded a digital centre
with seven resident experts. This library has to date a hundred digital collec-
tions of objects of cultural heritage, with over two million items (Injac 2010:
75).
The Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia3 realized a programme to main-
tain the collection of photographs as a trial version in 2004. After that, they
embarked on the development of more comprehensive software. The basic
platform is a digital theatre art museum which includes the electronic rep-
ertoires of all theatres in Serbia from the beginning of professional theatre
(XIX century) to the present moment, and a repository of digital collections
based on the collections housed in the Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia,
along with a portal which can show the collections of archives and libraries
of Serbian theatres or those of private owners. The archives and libraries in
institutionalized or informal theatres can use the same application to process
and display their own collections, although they still have the original objects
at their sole disposal (this is, naturally, with mutual consent of the museums
and the owners of original collections and with completing training for the
software beforehand). The application that has been developed covers all
kinds of currently registered museum objects and cultural assets recording
the theatre activities in Serbia, including Serbian theatres abroad, and can
be used even in other countries in the region4. The software platform was
developed in line with all national and world standards. It might be called a
pioneering project in a sense, since the database is integrated into the data
cataloguing and processing of museum and library materials in both Cobiss
and Eternitas5. The Museums library, consisting of the book and newspaper
review and article collection, is one of the first two specialized libraries to
have used the Cobiss system.
At the purely practical level, one must bear in mind that the platform
needs to be the kind of open and flexible software that can be added to and
complemented with new segments as necessary in the next stages of de-

velopment. From time to time, it also becomes necessary to replace certain
segments with new versions (i.e. a new version of the Festival segment was
made to add a search-by-date option), or to upgrade the existing software to
accommodate the practical demands of daily work. In broader terms, keeping
continually abreast of new technologies and new needs in this sphere pres-
ents a particular challenge for all digitalization processes (Bradley 2012).
After the basic platform software had been developed, a test was run (the
trial phase), following which commenced the entering of data. The data have
been entered in stages, using a priority criterion. For example, theatres based
in Belgrade first (since they showed the most plays of artistic significance
which were the subject of theoretical and scientific research); the entire col-
lection of newspaper articles related to the theatre from the period between
the First and Second World Wars, and from the end of the Second World War
to the present, with a total of around 20,000 articles (to a considerable degree
also due to the importance of the forms of theatrical reviews for studying a
play, epoch, or author from the past). Entering theatrological data first (and
not the digital collections based on the museum collection) was also due to
the fact that many museum-relevant parameters (i.e. the colour or thickness
of a play poster, its catalogue number in the collection, the date of acquisition,
etc.) are not priority information in theatrological research; the theatrolo-
gist is interested in the information that can be found on the play poster (the
authors, the theatre company, the date the play opened...). In principle, the
best results are obtained when the basic postulates of both museology and
theatrology are followed.
So far, around 100, 000 items have been entered into the Museum of The-
atrical Arts of Serbia (MPUS) database the information on 18, 000 people,
118 theatres, almost 14, 000 plays, including in this number the digitalized
objects 22, 000 photographs, over 40, 000 newspaper reviews and articles,
and over 4, 000 posters6; a large number of prepared documents is awaiting
upload, with new information entered daily. The initial, ,software program-
ming phase, entailed not just the creation of a suitable software package
that would enable connecting and searching through all relevant theatrical
information and the items from the museum collection, but also required re-
solving a number of technical issues. Our practical experience suggests that
this phase is of extreme importance: one needs a highly competent, patient,
and meticulous team of software programmers who also need to learn nu-
merous mechanisms and/or fine details of theatre art and science during
the creation of their software (for example: role alternation, distinguishing
between an adaptation/dramatization of a text and a dramatic text written
in the classic manner, etc.). During this stage the issues of using or convert-
ing the already existent electronic data (in the same or some of the similar
institutions, provided they give their consent for data conversion) must be
addressed, along with the issue of compatibility with similar projects. What
is also an issue for the institution embarking on the creation of a digital
database is the ability to communicate with the software programmers in
a competent fashion regarding numerous technical/software issues. In the
process of digitalizing museum collections, the museum staff will also need
technical training in the area of preservation of digital heritage, keeping in
mind that the process of digitalizing documents is more complex than merely
scanning a document. Although it is not always realistic to expect to achieve
a complete digitalization of a document which entails the transformation
of a scanned document into an electronic image according to accepted pa-
rameters and metadata one must follow as many standard procedures as
possible. There have been certain training programs in these areas in Serbia
in the previous years, which still does not mean that the public can precisely
distinguish between a merely scanned and a digitalized document. One must
also ensure the continued presence of a software programmer consultant,
who will perform the work of database development as necessary. Entering
the theatrological data itself (repertoires, personages), requires a relatively
short and simple kind of training, which means that for that kind of work a
larger number of associates/employees familiar with using a computer can
be gathered, provided that they exhibit the necessary professional qualities
of being responsible and meticulous.
During the creation of your database software, national and interna-
tional standards must be followed sometimes in the form of prescribed
norms, and sometimes as recommendations. A decision must also be made
as to whether the data will be entered only within the local network (MPUS
chose this option) or from the outside as well. The means to verify the infor-
mation that is incomplete or cited differently in different sources must also
be selected.
There are three basic segments (and numerous sub-sections) that make
up the digital database: the repertoires, the personages, and the museum col-
lections. To take a single play as an illustration, this includes all the relevant
information on its performance (the date, venue, authors and collaborators,
newspaper articles, photographs, posters and programmes...) Searching the
database is free, which means free of charge for all users of the museum web-
site or the internet, with clearly defined terms for its use. Although legitimate
arguments to the contrary have been presented (Bokovi, Balog 2007), the
Museum chose the free access to the database method for several reasons:
primarily, because the digital collections of the Museum of Theatrical Arts
were created according to the principles of free access to knowledge and in-
formation, and represent a national cultural asset:
Access to the digital heritage: The purpose of preserving the digital herit-
age is to ensure that it remains accessible to the public. Accordingly, access
to digital heritage materials, especially those in the public domain, should

be free of unreasonable restrictions. At the same time, sensitive and per-
sonal information should be protected from any form of intrusion. Member
States may wish to cooperate with relevant organizations and institutions
in encouraging a legal and practical environment which will maximize ac-
cessibility of the cultural heritage. A fair balance between the legitimate
rights of creators and other rights holders and the interests of the public
to access digital heritage materials should be reaffirmed and promoted, in
accordance with international norms and agreements. (Article 2 Charter
on the Preservation of the Digital Heritage, General Conference of UNESCO,
2003)
At the same time, a web presentation of museum collections can, much more
than exhibitions, printed catalogues, and monographs contribute to bring-
ing a national culture closer to the world and its global trends (Bokovi, Ba-
log 2007; 250).
The documented items can be used free of charge by legal entities and
individuals, solely for the purposes of education, and scientific investigation
and research. The additional legal provisions the users can find on the mu-
seum website, and should the need arise to use some items for commercial
purposes, that can be arranged directly with the Museum. On top of this, the
digital database enables the users to search for information more easily (they
do not need to come to the Museum for certain documents or information, or
contact the custodians directly), and that means that the institution itself can
establish a more rational and efficient model of communication with clients/
visitors. Given that only a part of the collection/materials has been entered
into the digital database, the rest is naturally available only via direct com-
munication of users/visitors with museum representatives. Researchers into
these processes emphasize that for the general public the most important
characteristics of digitally presented cultural heritage are its interactivity
and personalization (Stoji 2014: 232). In connection to this there is also a
new experience of cultural heritage, along with the influence of the context
on the reception and interpretation of cultural heritage (ibid.: 245). Also,
theoretical discourse on cultural heritage and digital media, especially in the
field of museums, could include some specific topics, such as:
digital cultural heritage as a political concept and practise; the representa-
tion and interpretation of cultural heritage such as digital object (including
questions of aura and debates on virtual versus real; issues of mobility
and interactivity both for objects and for consumers of digital heritage;
the relations between communities and heritage institution as mediated
through technology; the reshaping of social, cultural and political power in
relation to cultural organizations made possible through communication
technologies; and the visualization and interpretation of archaeological
sites and historic environments, embracing both digitally based knowledge
management tools and virtual reality. (Cameron, Kenderdine 2007: 2)
A digital database represents an important informational and strategic sup-

port for performance arts (drama, opera, ballet; from the beginning of pro-
fessional theatre life in Serbia to the present moment), while at the same
time performing two important functions in data protection: 1) archiving
theatrological and museological information, and 2) enabling faster and eas-
ier search for information and within collections (informational function).
Owing to this database, the severe problem of space limitations for housing
the museum collection can be partly overcome. And no less importantly, digi-
talization enhances the protection against the inevitable wear of objects in
the museum collections.
Cooperation has been established with some theatres enabling the ar-
chives staff from certain theatres to undergo a short training at the Museum
of Theatre Art of Serbia, after which they can embark on entering the data
for their theatre themselves. This accelerates the data entering process to a
considerable degree. So far this has been a part of the arrangements between
the museum and the theatres themselves, and not a practice regulated by
legislation. Of course, there have been different experiences with different
theatres: from very positive ones in some theatres (the Atelje 212 Theatre,
the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, the Zvezdara Theatre, the National Theatre in
Uice...), to merely average in some others. A rough estimate is that for a the-
atre founded immediately after the Second World War (as is the case with the
majority of theatres across Serbia), and with an average number of new plays
performed annually, it takes around two months (for one theatre employee
working average working hours) for all the theatrological data to be entered.
This means that the additional work will not present a great burden for the
theatre in question, and for a small institution that has to be leader in the cre-
ation of a digital theatrological database for an entire country it also means
considerable help in its work.
Although the issues of copyright are delicate and legally defined, in line
with EU standards, many restrictions can in practice be overcome by means
of a partnership agreement between the institution and the theatre or the
authors, who are most frequently also the authors of digital objects, i.e. copy-
right owners. There have been no negative experiences in this kind of coop-
eration so far both institutions and individuals allowed their materials to be
included in the Museum database with great pleasure.
In addition, in 2006, on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of
Serbian writer, Jovan Sterija Popovi7 (1806-1856-2006), the Museum orga-
nized the first digitalized exhibition about the Serbian theatre in the Serbian
Academy of Sciences and Arts Gallery (the exhibits were digitalized, that is,
the exhibition was without originals no portraits or manuscripts exhib-
ited on the gallery walls). The choice of author was no accident: it was only
right that Jovan Sterija Popovi as the innovative spirit from national history
should get this kind of contemporary approach. One of the segments in the
exhibition authored by Olga Markovi and Ksenija Radulovi was also an in-
stallation of a classroom with screens where visitors could look at series of
digitalized documents from all Sterijas work in the spheres of culture, social,
and political activities (which proved to be especially attractive for pupils of
Belgrade schools). And this was not only the first digitalized exhibition in the
Serbian theatre, but also an innovative moment in the work of the Serbian
Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), since it is an institution mostly in-
clined towards more traditional forms.
Along with classic format exhibitions, the Museum also realizes digital
exhibitions on its website. In the autumn of 2010, the Museum marked its
60th anniversary and instead of a classic celebration it launched the first
public presentation of its digital database.
In the end, given that this is a new and dynamic sphere whose standards
and demands are constantly and dynamically changing, every step towards
the realization of a digital database should also be accompanied by look-
ing a step ahead into the future. It goes without saying that all existing mu-
seum collections continue to be preserved in their original form, and not
just because we have no hope of ever seeing the end of books (Carriere,
Eco 2011), but also because there are still questions that we have no precise
answers for. However, whilst raising the issue of longevity of digital formats,
we should also be asking ourselves about the life span of audio and visual
forms born in the XX century which are all also undergoing digitalization.
And finally, while following the current trends and the development of new
technologies, our own experience and some researchers point to the fact
that our embracing of digitalized materials cannot be a replacement for real-
ity, but merely one of its diverse but realistically necessary modalities in
this day and age.
References:
Bokovi, Dora; Balog, Jelena, 2007, Digitalne baze muzejske grae na webu nunost
dananjice ili gubitak zarade za muzeje / Databases of Museum Resources on
the Web Today s Necessity or Museums Lost Revenues, Muzeologija / Museol-
ogy, No. 41-42, Zagreb, Muzejski dokumentacioni centar / Museum Documenta-
tion Centre.
Bradley, Kevin, 2012, Requirements of a Remote Repository, in UNESCO The Memory of
the World in the Digital Age, Conference Proceedings.
Cameron, Fiona, Kenderdine, Sarah, 2007, Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Crit-
ical Discourse, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London.
Gir, arli/ Gere, Charlie, Digitalna kultura/Digital Culture, 2011, Belgrade, Clio.
Injac, Vesna, 2010, in: Elektronske biblioteke/Electronic libraries, Kultura /Culture,
No. 129, Belgrade, Center for Study in Cultural Development
Karijer, an-Klod, Eko, Umberto/Carriere, Jean-Clode, Eco, Umberto, 2011, Ne nada-
jte se da ete se reiti knjiga / This is Not the End of the Book, aak, Alef, Gradac
Mc Call, Vikki, Gray, Olive, 2014, Museums and the new museology: theory, practice
and organizational change, Museum management and Curatorship, Volume 29
(Number 1), Routledge
Ruk, Riard/Rook, Richard, 2011, Evropski mediji u digitalnom dobu / European me-
dia in digital age, Belgrade, Clio
Stoji, V. Gordana, 2014, Kulturno naslee u digitalnom svetu/Cultural Heritage in the
Digital World, Kultura / Culture, No. 143, Belgrade, Center for Study in Cultural
Development
Stoki Simonovi, Gordana, Vukovi, eljko, 2012, Koliko koristimo digitalne bib-
lioteke/How Much Do We Use Digital Libraries, Kultura /Culture, No. 135, Bel-
grade, Center for Study in Cultural Development
Zlodi, Goran, 2004, Muzejska vizualna dokumentacija u digitalnom obliku / Visual
museum documentation in digital form, Zagreb, Muzeologija /Museology, No. 40,
Muzejski dokumentacioni centar / Museum Documentation Centre
UNESCO/Ubc Vancouver Declaration The Memory od the World in the Digital Age:
Digitization and Preservation
UNESCO The Memory of the World in the Digital Age, Conference Proceedings, 2012.
www.mpus.org.rs
Notes:
1 For more see: Elektronske biblioteke / Electronic libraries, Kultura / Culture, 129,
Belgrade 2010, Zavod za prouavanje kulturnog razvitka / Center for Study in Cul-
tural Development
2 UNESCO/Ubc Vancouver Declaration, The Memory of the World in the Digital Age:
Digitization and Preservation.
Urge professional organizations to: a) cooperate with other professional associations,
international and regional organizations and commercial enterprises, to ensure that
significant born-digital materials are preserved by promoting and advocating for
digital legal deposit laws. b) assist in the development of a cohesive, conceptuale
and practical vision for a digital strategy capable of addressing the management
and preservation of recorded information in all its form in the digital environment.
c) encourage their members to take into consideration the reliability, authenticity,
copyrights ownership and future use of digital and to develop policies for all aspects
of management and preservation of digital materials. d) cooperate with the private
sector for the development of products that facilitate the long-term retention and
preservation of information recorded in a digital format. e) encourage members to
identify and evaluate the specific threats to which their digital information is vulner-
able, and implement appropriate processes and policies to mitigate these threats
(Vancouver 2012).
3 The Serbian National Library is one of the two central heritage protection institu-
tions, according to the number of employees and the size of venue it is one of the
biggest of this kind. Using the same parameters, the Museum of Theatre Art of Serbia
is one of the smallest institutions of this kind.
4 The database can be useful even for researchers outside of Serbia, primarily to those
in the region with common language background, especially bearing in mind the
close theatrical/cultural ties in former Yugoslavia and the current cultural coopera-
tion among the new countries in the region.
5 Cobiss - Cooperative online bibliographical system and services; Eternitas a plat-

form based on latest technology and museology standards, founded by the Museum
Informational System of Serbia.
6 This data is kept regularly up to date and can be seen on the Museum website: www.
mpus.org.rs
7 Jovan Sterija Popovi is one of the most important figures of Serbian culture, a dra-
matist, poet, reformist, and founder of important cultural institutions at the national
level.
THE NEW OLD MEDIA: ARTISTS ARCHIVES

IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Milena Jokanovi
The contemporary world abounds with daily-produced millions of new ob-

jects and different images, with almost unlimited possibilities to keep and
preserve; on the other hand, paradoxically we are living in an era in which
destruction becomes fashion and everything is prone to oblivion. As the cul-
ture and art always keep the pace with the social, political and technologi-
cal changes, it is then interesting to observe how contemporary artists are
becoming collectioners, conservers of the past and the ones to construct
personal museums, palaces of individual memories. It is also interesting to
observe how, in the age of technological development, new media innova-
tion and constant progress, contemporary artists choose to turn to the art
and museum history, observe their predecessors and create works of art with
many hidden or obvious reminiscences to the past artists, museologists,
historians and philosophers. Since the beginning of Modern Age until today,
artists have been more and more explicitly quoting segments of other art-
works, including the segments of their own past, pop and consumer culture.
They are indulging in coquetry with the current value systems, fashion and
culture. In this paper, old baroque Cabinet of Wonder - like settings will be
recognized as existing in contemporary art; at the same time, this wave of
contemporary art will be discussed in historical perspective of art history,
museology and visual culture development.
The Artist as Historian

The inspiration for the above subtitle I found in the segment of the new per-
manent exhibition setting in the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, France,
which itself had been inspired by the Mark Godfreys article in October 2007.
Dealing with the contemporary artistic practice, mostly from the nineteen-
eighties to nowadays, curators of the exhibition have found one common
characteristic for many artists creating in the last three decades. That is, re-
gardless the style and media they use in order to be historians of their own
146 Milena Jokanovi
memories, the past is often being erased from the official narratives and let
to flow in a timeless and valueless limbo waiting for a creative individual to
preserve it (Thompson 1979:19).
As it is explained in the introduction to the setting:
Artists have always taken the major events of contemporary history as the
subject of their practice, and perhaps even more so since the fall of the Ber-
lin Wall in 1989. The stage of artist as a historian has dominated in the art in
the last 30 years. Some artists examine historical documents or undertake
archival research, using installation, film, video or photography to organize
the result of their investigations. Many artists have found their inspiration
in history in the making, the end of Communism in Eastern Europe, in wars
and conflicts, in migration, or in the pernicious effects of globalization.1
The second segment of the same exhibition is even more direct when it
comes to the use of the old media in contemporary art world and it refers to
the Artist as Archivist. The art critic Dieter Roeistraete theorized the growing
presence of the archive in art from the late 1960s with the artist Christian
Boltanskis passion for the archive onward, up to the triumph of virtual and
World Wide Web archiving processes in 1990s. In 2009,
Roeistraete saw the archeological practice of excavation as providing
the model for a new and dominant form of artistic production, in the
development of which the artist of the ex-Communist state of Eastern
Europe had played a major role.2
Later on, it will be discussed how artists in the Serbian, or more precisely,
ex-Yugoslavian contemporary art scene have reacted to the war and political
conflicts of nineties and the afterwards tendency of erasing the heritage of
nineties from the public memory, and how they have become collectioners
of objects from Yugoslavian era, creating art installations out of objects they
have found often on the flea markets.
However, the exhibition in Paris is definitely not the only one dealing
with these topics when presenting contemporary art practice, so most of
the new settings in European museums of contemporary art are dedicating
some part of their space to artists as the preservers of memory and creators
of their own archives and personal museums. For me, the most interesting
thing is that the mentioned objects the artists collect dozens of mass pro-
duced plastic things and piles of different documents are directly becoming
the part of an art installation, similar to the old Cabinets of Wonders, only with
more contemporary and less valuable objects in it.
Cabinet of Wonder at the Venice Biennial Contemporary Art

Exhibitions
When it comes to the one of the most representative examples of contempo-
rary art exhibitions, the Venice Biennale, held every two years, we can also
trace the intentional use of the syntagm Cabinet of Wonder or Wunderkammer.
The setting reminding on this old proto-museum is present in many Biennale
exhibition segments in Venice in the last couple of decades, but is most ex-
plicit in the exhibition named: The Enciclopedic Palace (Il Palazzo Enciclope-
dico) in 2013, as well as in the exhibition of 1986, when for the first time we
note the official inspiration for one segment of the Arte e Scienza setting.
The Venice Biennale Contemporary Art Exhibition held in 1986, one of
the most prominent and the biggest European contemporary art manifes-
tations brings back for the first time in the 20th century the connection of
art and science in one artistic manifestation. Giving the name Arte e Scienza
to the central exhibition, the main curator dedicates the whole segment to
the Wunderkammer and asks a museologist, Adalgisa Lugli, to be the cura-
tor of this segment. The rediscovery of the concept of Wunderkammern, as
Adalgisa Lugli in the preface of the exhibition catalogue notices, appears
in the 20th century with two works made by David Murray and Julius fon
Schlosser, published in four years distance, retrospectively in 1904 and
1908. Both study the phenomenon of Wunderkammern, being forgotten for
more than a century in the whole Europe. A big synthesis of knowledge uni-
fying science and art was put into background in the 19th century, while the
aesthetic value and the impression the work of art made to the observer,
became of crucial importance. Quite shy rediscovery of Wunderkammern at
the beginning of the 20th century will have a greater influence not just on
the museology and curatorial practice until today, but also on artworks. The
rediscovery of wondrous in the first half of century has brought artworks as
Arcimboldos, a magic of representation; the subtle game between materials,
between natural and artificial. Following the Second World War happenings,
the art has also led to discovery of bizarre. All these are just parts of the art
history waiting to be written, as Adalgisa Lugli already suggests 40 years ago,
provoked by a special manner of observation of the past coming from the art-
ists themselves and their use of collection as a medium of art. The first steps
were singular gests of using the cartoons, newspapers and other materials in
order to adjust them to canvas, as Picasso and Braque did with their collages
and papier colls between 1912 and 1914. This was one of the first comings-
out of the painting in third dimension and usage of different materials. Even
though the artist did not accumulate wonders which were characteristic for
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but more the artificial nature, he
was still closer to nature and used physical objects to create artworks, be-
coming simultaneously a true collectionner. It seems that from this moment
148 Milena Jokanovi
on, an artist has been transformed into collectionner who uses object to ex-
press himself, often a collectionner who takes the things other people throw
away and creates ready-mades. Adalgisa will conclude that this is maybe not
the collection of the 16th century, but the collection of all times, the artist
who recognizes the power characteristic for its gesture. He chooses a work
for one collection, animated or not with an innovative spirit, always having a
conscience to steal the time and to conserve it in a way much more profound
(Lugli 1986:35).
The artist acts in a way to recognize an object and introduce it to the
world of art, putting it on the pedestal and making it the part of magical circle
of art. The existence of museum, mostly of the museum in its golden era, in
the 19th century, undoubtfully had an idea of an artist in this sense. The work
of Dadaists and Surrealists functions in a certain moment as a place of accu-
mulation of the objects taken out of everyday life or thrown away, and even
this, Adalgisa recognizes as a type of the Wunderkammer, although not delib-
erate. The art of the twentieth century after the Second World War, from the
sixties to the eighties mostly, as Adalgisa Lugli writes in 1986, has even more
profound stratification in terms of using different materials for artworks and
collectionism (Gnjatovi 2015: 587).
The previously explained theory Adages visualizes through the exhibi-
tion at the Biennale 1986 in the above mentioned segment called Wunderkam-
mern, which combines the objects, being once the real constituent elements
of many famous Wunderkammerns gathered from many worlds museums,
with Picassos and Braques colleagues, Duchamps, Miros and other ready-
mades from many different 20th century artists, to finally stress the accumu-
lating tendency and making of the small universes in the Wunderkammer as
a particular medium of art, visible in Joseph Cornel boxes. His glass-fronted
toys for adults so advertised by his dealer Julien Levy for the American
artists first New York exhibition may have done the most to alert viewers to
broadly creative and personally associative structure of the Wunderschrank
(Stafford, Terpak 2001: 6-20).
As far as we can grasp by now, the historical models of collecting used
in the art practice could be recognized in the modern time, as it was shown
at the previously described exhibition and theory which followed it. Still, it
seems that the new type of artist, recognized as a flaneur of modern times in
the paper of professor Nenad Radi, stroller through the, city who consumes
the windows he passes by and collects many objects without any aesthetic,
economic or some other values but is just being led by subjective and senti-
mental needs, loneliness and feelings of emptiness imposed by consumerist
spirit, is more and more present every day ( 2009: 194). In the time
when many museum settings are dedicated to the concept of artist as archi-
vist and collectionner, the exhibition settings often look completely the same
as the old Wunderkammerns, just having different objects, mostly representa-
tives of consumer culture, photography and documents of the newer history

as elements of the collection. It is not then strange that the Venice Biennale
Contemporary Art Exhibition embodied again the idea of connecting art and
science in the 2013th edition of the central exhibition called Palaco Enciclope-
dico. The main curator, Massimiliano Gionni, inspired with the dream of gath-
ering the knowledge of this world in one place, has again reminded audience
to the theaters of memory and chambers of all the curiosities of the globe.
Many famous artists, and outsiders as well, have exhibited their installations,
particular collections. Behind almost every installation are some personal
histories, individual memories of these objects in the collection artwork
installation stand for as metaphors, semiophoras (Pomian, 1990).
Remembrance as the most important criteria of art

Still, even memorising processes are now quite obvious and explicit in the
observation of contemporary art installations made out of different wasted
objects, it could be necessary to define when and why the artist has started
to use remembrance as the initial inspiration for creation.
In his Saloon 1864 Charles Baudelaire notices: Remembrance is the
most important criteria of art; art is mnemotechnics of beautiful. With this
statement he implies that the great work of artistic tradition must admit
remembrance to its predecessors and base its own roots on that tradition.
However, predecessor mustnt best the new artwork: it must activate the
sublime memories of important images seek out of them, hide away them,
transfigure them. Undertextuality of mnemonic images, which has to be dif-
fered from every pastiche and opened quotations, following Baudelaires
conclusions, creates an artistic tradition, as the giving over and transmission
of potential meanings. In this sense, for Baudelaire, remembrance is a me-
dium of painting (Foster 2006:70).
Still, Hal Foster argues that tradition is not transmitted but always con-
structed and always in a more temporary way than it seems to the observer.
That periodicity has become so characteristic that, while in the modernist
period everyone felt the tradition as a burden, postmodernist man feels it
more as the insupportable easiness of being. The model of the artistic prac-
tice which Baudelaire stands for, as Foster concludes, is art-historical itself,
and it already presents the space of the museum as a structure of mnemonic
ideas, as a palace or place (more imagined then real) where the art tradition
is happening. Consequently, that mnemotechnics of beautiful presumes in-
stitutional transmission between the atelier where the transfigurations are
taking place, and exhibition and museum where these leave the impression
on others. As Foster concludes, in the Baudelaires scheme, painting is the
art of memory and museum is its architecture (ibid. :71).
150 Milena Jokanovi
Not so many years after the above explained intervention by Baudelaire,

a painter, Eduard Manet appeared in the discourse of the artistic memory. As
Michael Fried confirms, Manet had shaken a bit Baudelaires model because
his undertextuality of mnemonic images (which could be seen in Delacroix
and Gericaults paintings) went towards pastiche and non-occulted lines. Ma-
net is a modern painter who, for the first time explicitly quotes, without any
mythical or historical narrative in the background. He turns to the old themes
and painters but in a completely opened and clean manner, and maybe this
is the reason why he can be considered the first modern painter, beginner of
explicit quotations which Picasso and Braque with their colleagues, but also
all the other modern and postmodern artists will follow. The Luncheon on the
Grass (1863) with well-known evocations of renaissance masters such as Ra-
fael (a detail of his lost Judgment of Paris can be read in the central figures po-
sition) and unusual combination of traditional painting genres as Nude, Still
Life, Portrait and Landscape which he transforms to the painting of modern
life. Towards Fried, this pictorial vocabulary and the combination of genres
create sublime unity of painting characteristic for Manet and his followers,
the unity in the painting itself.
Hans Belting (whose theory the Massimiliano Gionni, a curator of the
above mentioned 2013 Venice Biennale exhibition takes as a basic inspira-
tion for the setting) is not that far away from these ideas when he notices
that the art from modern times onwards remembers its own history. Estab-
lishment of a museum he presumes as an irrevocable happening after which
the look at the art has become the look at the art history. He sees collage as
the metaphor of images and memories in our remembrance. Things have
their history and those seem to many artist more real than ideas. Widening
the medium of art from the two-dimensional painting to three-dimensional
installations, Belting extends the history of art to the history of visual culture
(Belting 2010: 205-220).
Following this perspective, we can go even a step further and presume
that if the art is remembering its own history, and museum is that archi-
tecture of memory, then in post-modernism and afterwards, in the time of
visual culture dominance when the idea of the classical museum has been
surpassed, art is remembering also the history of museology. This is how we
can see that the entering of pop-culture and every-day-life objects into the
art world in modern times and extension of the two-dimensional paintings to
the three-dimensional installations is just one step further within the same
process. As Belting is suggesting the end of the classical art history, Danto
(1998) the end of classical art itself at the moment when the ordinary mass
produced objects are entering the Art World and professor ola (1989) in
almost the same period is consequently suggesting also the end of the classi-
cal museums, the modern and post-modern period are maybe developing in
the direction when the artists are becoming aware of all those histories and
ends and use this knowledge, creating works which combine them. Through
this prism, we can observe art installations which remind on, or explicitly use
the Cabinet of Wonder, a predecessor of the modern museum, as a role model
for the setting. Being aware of all the meanings which this Wunderkammern,
a microcosm of its owner, has been carrying within its initial idea of under-
standing the world around and preserving all the contemporary values, art-
ists are coquetting with the present value systems, collecting rubbish objects
and putting them in this kind of installations.
Writing about the cyclical time-passing in the art history when many
styles, movements or apparitions are somehow repeated in different and lin-
early separated ages, art historian, Alexander Nagel, recognizes the installa-
tion of the 20th and 21st century as a medium equal to the museum which is
consequently art medium of the 19th century.
Within the expanded field of artistic practice considered here, installation
art is the norm and easel painting is the aberration. Before the dominance
of the picture gallery, there were works of art, of various media, intervening
in and transfiguring what David Summers calls real spaces for example
in chapels, tomb architecture, and domestic decoration. Rather than see
the easel picture, as something that was extracted from the multimedia
environments, is it possible to envision a longer history of interactivity
whereby art works alternately internalize and project out into their envi-
ronments? To bring into focus this longer history of alternations is to begin
to see the museum as one episode in a larger history of installation and
display? (Nagel 2012: 18)
The same author will remind us in his text in the catalogue for the Biennale
exhibition 2013, that Andre Malraux responded to the modern museum with
his muse imaginaire, nothing less than an extrapolation of the logic of the
museum itself. Museums bring art history into view. The next logical step
was to leave museums walls behind the assemble reproductions of works
from anywhere in the world into an endless series of permutations (Nagel
2013: 84).
Artists as collectioners in Serbia
Contemporary art scene in the ex-Yugoslav countries, as well as in other

countries which were exposed to the war conflicts, frequent changes of the
official public memory proclaimed by ruling leaders and frequent changes of
affinities, fashion and cultural policy have brought the type of artist who is
at the same time critic of social system and preserver of some segments of
forgotten past. Of course that this tendency is not conventional just for the
mentioned areas, and that artists all around the world tend to be patrimonial
regarding their personal memories through different media, but many inves-
152 Milena Jokanovi
tigations show this kind of artistic inspiration and expression through the
use of old and wasted objects characteristic for the post-conflict regions.
In Serbia, there are many artists who become the archivists of the past
by using old photographs, intervening into abandoned spaces, and exploit-
ing the objects which were characteristic for some period of time and, after
bankruptcy of many companies, have never again been produced. Some art-
ists see the objects just as aesthetic materials which they combine in differ-
ent relations, while other invest in the research and try to reveal complex
histories of artifacts they often find on the flea markets.
One of the most complex artists active in the Serbian scene in the last
couple of decades is definitely Vladimir Peri, who, after having many suc-
cessful projects is now dedicated to the creation of the Museum of Childhood.
The complexity of the project itself is obvious the moment you understand
that the logo for the museum itself is his dead baby-child. This event, but also
many different stories the artist associate with his own childhood, but also
events in the last decades which have shaken many childhoods in this area,
he now visualizes with already huge collection of different objects. For Peri,
the goal is to reveal multi-layered history hidden behind each object in the
collection, to catalogue everything, and to finally intervene and use parts of
the collection in many different installations. Being a representative, along
with younger Serbian artist, Milo Tomi, of the Republic of Serbia at the
above mentioned Venice Biennale exhibition in 2013, Peri has completely
responded with his installations to the central topic of the Encyclopedic Pal-
ace given by the main curator.
On the other hand, another, for this subject really interesting artist from
Belgrade is definitely Dragan Papi, famous for his project: The Inner Museum
which is not incidentally called the museum of kitsch. The whole idea has
been derived from his impulse to collect pop-culture and kitsch objects in his
private apartment negating basic principles of traditional museology clear
historical context of every artifact and high quality of the artistic value of the
exposed objects. Although named a Museum or even a Non-Museum by artist,
this collection is actually going back to the type of the setting before the tradi-
tional museum constitution, the baroque Kunst und Wunderkammer, already
mentioned in the paper. The exposed material was definitely not chosen be-
cause of the aesthetic value of objects, nor the formal or material similarity
between them, but following objects purpose and affective lives of people
who used it, as well as the deepness of oblivion which is now covering its old
function. The artist is a narrator through its own exhibition and he opens the
doors of this Inner Museum to audience being a performative museologist.
Consequently, he transmits the material culture to the artistic objects, and
interprets artifacts connecting them with a social history of nineties, current
cultural values and group identity which is encoded in these objects. All the
stories about the collection are interlaced with his personal memories, and
artists own identity is melting into the identity of the narrator in a performa-
tive act (, 2014).
In case of the art or musealization done by Dragan Papi, the conscience
of leaving the memory traces could be noticed throughout the whole Inner
Museum. Through the constant activation of significations of different arti-
facts, with his artistic act, creator of the setting art work, reveals the path
through images and concepts and surpasses the past through the commune
field of relevant unofficial histories, cultures, arts, architectures, languages
and metaphorical experiences (, 2012). The work of this creator, but
also of many other post-modern artists, can be observed as the anti-archive,
the collection of all the rejected, unimportant or to say, forgotten objects
from the recent past. These anti-archives are often criticizing the market and
social reality with its vainness. Nostalgias of rubbish and assemblages of
the Inner Museum are just one example of the art which, in the last decades,
has become the platform for the taste and memory compromise. Todor Kulj
would recognize this kind of act as the critical forgetting of the fake glory of
history. The term critical is maybe crucial in the process of forgetting as it
reveals constant dialog with the past with the intention to accept some mo-
ments from the past (Groys, 1999).
However, as many texts proclaiming the end of art, the end of art history and
the end of museum are already written, maybe we could accept the fact that
the non-linear, but cyclical history is bringing back the old mediums of expres-
sion, cabinets of wonders set by a creative individual. Certainly, the era we
live in is already dragging a heavy burden of the past, complex memories and
unrevealed histories. Having in mind different art and cultural transmissions
over the time, we could undoubtfully conclude that the artist has started to
explicitly quote and remember his predecessors from modern times onwards,
and that the concept of the cabinets of wonders is just the natural extension of
the medium, popular again, after the proto-museum phase, among contempo-
rary artists, not just because of the attractive setting and the use of different
materials, but also because of the artists conscience of the microcosm these
Wunderkammerns have represented at times, leaving the artists the opportu-
nity to play with the value systems and coquette with the consumer culture,
by using the objects found in the flea markets for their collection, while simul-
taneously being aware of the whole history of art and museology.
References:
Baudrillard, ean (1994) The System of Objects, in: The Culture of Collecting, ed. by
John Elsner and Roger Cardinal, London: Reaktion Books.
Belting, Hans (2010) Kraj povjesti umjetnosti, Zagreb: Muzej suvremene umjetnosti,
Croatian translation.
154 Milena Jokanovi
Danto, Arthur (1998) The End of Art in: History and Theory Vol. 37, No. 4, Blackwell
Publishing for Weleyan University, pp. 127-143.
Foster, Hal (2006), Dizajn i zloin (i druge polemike), Zagreb: vbz, Croatian transla-
tion.
Gnjatovi, Milena (2015), Contemporary Art Installations as Historical Models of
Collecting, in: Revisions of Modern Aesthetics, Belgrade: Faculty of Architecture,
University of Belgrade, pp. 583-590.
Groys, Boris (1999), Logic of Collecting, http://www.artmargins.com/index.
php?option=com_content&view=article&id=436:boris-groys-the-logic-of-collec
ting&catid=115:interviews&Itemid=94, accessed on: 3rd of June 2014.
, (2014), NO. 2 http://www.scribd.com/
doc/212411973/Dr-agan-Inner-Museum-UM-Final-Cut-R, accessed on: 4th of
Febrary 2014.
Nagel, Alexander (2012), Medieval Modern: Art Out of Time, London: Thames and
Hudson.
Nagel, Alexander (2013), Imagining the Museum in: The Encyclopedic Palace , Ven-
ice: La Biennale di Venezia.
Pomian, Kszistoph (1990), The Collection: between the Visible and the Invisible, in:
Collectors and Curiosities. Paris and Venice 1500-1800, Cambridge: Polity Press.
, (2009), ,
, :
.
Stafford, Barbara Maria and Terpak, Frances (2001), Devices of Wonder: From the
World in a Box to Images on a Screen, Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute
Publication Program.
ola, Tomislav (1989), Nove tendencije u teoriji i praksi muzeja, Osjeki zbornik XX,
(Osjek), http://dzs.ffzg.unizg.hr/text/sola_nt.htm, accessed on November 17th ,
2015.
Thompson, Michael (1979) Rubbish Theory: the Creation and Destruction of Value, Ox-
ford: Oxford University Press.
, (2014), NO. 2, http://www.scribd.com/
doc/212411973/Dr-agan-Inner-Museum-UM-Final-Cut-R accessed on: 4th of
Febrary 2014.
Notes:
1 Introduction, Centre George Pompidou permanent contemporary art setting, visited
in March 2015
2 Exhibition segment, ibid.
MNEMOTOPE OF BELGRADE:
THEWEBSITENEW DRAMA
Nataa Dela
Introduction
It is necessary to separate a dramatic text from other literary forms, because
its primary role is to be the base for theatrical play. Therefore, the appeal
made by drama and theatre theorists to approach drama from the aspect of
theatrological analysis so that all of the key elements of the main function of
drama can be covered is very significant: a dramatic text needs to have dif-
ferent qualities than a literary text, as it is structured according to different
principles and is, most importantly, written for a completely different me-
dium and type of reception. (Romevi 2004: 8). Observing the drama in this
way, it is possible to make a strong connection between dramatic texts and
media practice.
The website New Drama1 is an open online archive of dramatic texts
which focuses on contemporary drama from Serbia. During the project New
Drama by Milo Krekovi, the website New Drama was created in The
National Theatre in Belgrade in 2005. According to the founder, the promo-
tion of contemporary dramatic expression is the goal of the Nova-drama.org.
rs project. The availability of dramatic texts to a wide audience, as well as
introducing the work of contemporary playwrights to the public, has been
very inspiring and connects creative tendencies of the authors, who belong
to the youngest generation of dramatists, with important social phenomena.
A significant number of works by young authors is to be found in the archives
containing over 70 dramatic texts by over 30 authors. Besides plays writ-
ten in Serbian, there is also a certain number of translated texts on the site,
mainly in English and German. Most of the authors are from Serbia, but there
are also authors from Montenegro, Slovenia and Sweden.
The website New Drama, besides being very significant as a virtual ar-
chive of memories coming from a fictional, dramatic world, is also relevant as
a space where certain truths, memories and remembrances, coming from an
external level, influence the very experience of playwrights. The dramas anal-
156 Nataa Dela
ysed, which are part of the open online archive on the New Drama website,
not only provide an insight into the creative praxis of the authors, but also
allow the expansion and storage of the authors perspectives and memories
which are themselves part of the generation covered in their dramas.
Apart from Milan Markovi, the most prolific authors whose plays are
available on the New Drama website, there are Milena Bogavac2 and Maja
Pelevi3 with eight uploaded plays each, along with the translations of their
plays into different languages4. As the main goal of this work is the research
of the mnemotope function, these authors plays have been chosen for mul-
tiple reasons: both authors were born and grew up in Belgrade, where they
finished dramaturgy studies and achieve significant professional success.
Their relationship with Belgrade allows a unique insight into understanding
their memory of this place, but also the memories of the whole generation,
given the fact that both authors belong to the same generation of playwrights.
According to Svetislav Jovanov and Vesna Jezerki, belonging to one genera-
tion implies that its members are born in the same decade (Jezerki, Jovanov
2006: 5) and they have used this as a parameter in the decision on which
plays to put in the anthology of the newest Serbian drama Death-bed youth
(Predsmrtna mladost)? where they also included plays by the two authors.
According to their explanation, both authors belong to the same generation.
Maja Pelevi was born in 1981 and Milena Bogavac a year later.
The theory of memory and dramatic texts

In order to understand the influence of personal and collective memory on
the generational identity and on the identity of Belgrade, it is necessary to
carry out the mapping and then the analysis of memory figures (Jan Ass-
mann), which appear in the plays Dear Daddy and Tdz or A First three-
pointer by Milena Bogavac and Out of Gear and Children in Formalin
by Maja Pelevi. The subject of the research is the chronotope of Belgrade
during the 1990s and 2000s and its contained in the mentioned dramas.
By mapping and analysing the places and figures of memory, the main char-
acteristics of Belgrade in the period between the 90s and 2000s have been
set out and it has been shown to what extent the memory of this period aids
the creation of a dystopian and post-utopian image of the world. The mem-
ory of Belgrade throughout this period is represented through the memory
of one generation which means a host of reference points from everyday
life which form common social frameworks of individual memories. (Boym
2005: 104) talking about a memory formed at an external level of drama
which relates to the authors memories. The memory of Belgrade didnt only
come from the personal experience of the authors, but also from other col-
lected memories. Each of the characters in the plays is fictional, but is also
inspired by the social reality5. The collision of personal and private, real and
imaginary, universal and public, creates a precondition for the formation of
an individual identity, which is to be implemented in the identity of whole
generation.
A particular attention is paid to the term generation, or rather, the lost
generation. The generation growing up in the 90s is marked by common
characteristics which are the key elements of the period. According to Kulji,
apart from the shared visions of the future, the carriers of same memories
also find the common support in the past (Kulji 2011: 19). What defines
the generation in these dramas in the first place is the common support
in the past, which is based on the expansion of the loss, both material and
spiritual. The second significant element of the generational memory is the
mutual vision of the future, which is not present in the plays showing that
there is no future for this generation. Therefore, besides the insistence on the
significance of the generational memory and identity, in these plays the no-
tion of the lost generation, which refers to people of the same age who didnt
realize their full potential due to social-economical circumstances such as
war, poverty and bombing. Kulji comments on the Dilthey and Mannheim
understanding of the term generation: A generation exists only if people
that were born during the same period share a mutual experience and thus
form a community with similar expectations and perceptions. (Kulji 2009:
165). This kind of understanding of the term generation completes the pre-
vious explanation by Svetislav Jovanov and Vesna Jezerki: apart from ap-
proximately the same age, a shared view of the historic events is also im-
portant (Kulji 2009: 165). Mannheim sees a generation as a community of
people who not only remember the same contents, but also remember them
in the same way (Mannheim according to Kulji 2009: 166), which will be an
established formula according to which the members of the same generation
in the plays understand the past: either idealizing it or denying it.
One of the questions covered in the analysis relates to the difference be-
tween the Halbwachss term images of memory and figures of memory,
which are introduced by Assmann: figures of the memory are complementa-
ry to the first term because they include both pictorial and narrative forms
(Assmann 2007: 37). Figures of memory are created when an experience
takes on symbolic meaning through which it operates in a society before its
integration into memory. According to Assmann in order to be stabilized
in the memory of a group, truth has to be presented in a particular form of
happening, a person or a place. (Assmann 2005: 44). This means that every
truth moves towards concretization and materialization, so it can remain in
the memory of the group; in this case, in the memory of one generation.
Mnemotopia involves the remembrance and memory of a concrete space,
as it is the case with the plays which involve memories of Belgrade. But, when
we include space marks, as well as the time frame in the toponym of Bel-
158 Nataa Dela
grade, it is more accurate to talk about a chronotope. According to Bahtin,

chronotopes represent a substantial correlation of temporal and spatial
relations [...] which literally means time-space (Bahtin 1989: 193). Just
like chronotopes, mnemotopes cannot be concentrated only on the physical
space. Both concepts contain metaphorical, and more often symbolic mean-
ing; Pierre Nora insists on three dimensions of mnemotopia: material, sym-
bolic and functional.
Apart from the importance of determining the similarity between the
chronotope and the mnemotope, equally important is distinction between
the mnemotopes by Pierre Nora, which includes places of remembrance as
the carriers of cultural and/or historical importance (lieux de mmoire) and
memory places (lieux de souvenir), introduced by Aleida Assmann, which
are representing places of remembrance with the characteristics of the pri-
vate and subjective (Assmann 2011: 152). This work also covers places of
remembrance by Pierre Nora, which have historical and cultural significance,
but also the places of remembrance by Aleida Assmann, which can exist only
through personal feelings, and may be individual or collective heritage only
thanks to the personal value that a particular location holds for an individual,
or group.
Dramatic micro world of Milena Bogavac and Maja Pelevi

The focus of the analysed plays is a lost generation that grew up in and
around Belgrade in the period between the 1990s and 2000s, and in this case
the authors have chosen Contemporary stories from the urban milieu, with
young people [...]. (Jezerki, Jovanov 2006: 6). Ana Vujanovi also named
those plays intentional anti-philosophical, i.e. brutally everyday and bare
(Vujanovi 2004); they illustrate the dystopian vision of the world ruled by
vice and hopelessness and may be classified as plays in which the drama-
turgy of blood and sperm is present, which, according to theatrologist San-
ja Nikevi, is known for showing images of the world in which evil is the
normal condition, and violence is the only possible way of communication.
(Nikevi 2007). We also associate them with so-called plays which hit in
the face or In-yer your? -face theatre which deals with the explicit rep-
resentation of violence and sex on stage and all possible taboos, such as mur-
der within the closest family (matricide, patricide, infanticide), incest, rape,
and torture. (Jug, Novak 2014: 2). They are characterizedmainly by simple
narration, the atmosphere of resignation and decadence, the characters who
experience a complete collapse caused by the time of social insecurity. They
often come from the bottom of the social marginsand spend their lives in
idleness and self-destructive behaviour embodied in drug addiction, pros-
titution, crime, violence; the lost generation and individuals within it are in
the foreground, examining the characteristics of generational identity. The

language of the characters is intense, often aggressive and is characterized by
swearing, vulgarity and jargon.
The area of Belgrade covered in the analysed plays is in accordance with
such poetic qualities, so the image of the Serbian capital with high-yielding
culture and value dimensions is lost under the weight of the conditions that
have affected this region. Belgrade is either specified with the help of ste-
reotypical representations, as in the case of Tdz or A First Three-pointer
(Senjak a rich part of the city where well-off citizens live, Dorol part of
the city known for criminals, etc.), or recognizable hallmarks were taken out
of it (toponyms, astionyms names of parts of the city, agronyms names of
the city squares, hodonyms street names, city horonyms names of the city
blocks) as it is the case in the plays Out of Gear, Children in Formalin and
Dear Daddy.
Post-utopian image of Belgrade

The play Tdz or A First Three-pointer by Milena Bogavac is set in the pe-
riod before, during and after the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugo-
slavia and as such, it is a suitable basis for the distinction between then and
now. The past is coloured with the positive and naive on the one hand, which
is presented through motifs of friendship and childrens games, and on the
other hand the present, which reveals the world of crime, drug addiction and
moral hazard. In fact, this drama vividly and accurately opens a window into
the world of post-utopia.
City horonyms, which are bearers of certain stereotypes, have a signifi-
cant place in the play: the main female character is specified by being bob-
bysoxer of Senjak (Bogavac 2012: 3). This designation refers the reader to
the relationship between the character and the region she comes from. Sen-
jak, as a rich part of the capital, points to certain distinctive features of her
character. Also, the most distinctive feature of Nik, which might be provision-
ally called the antagonist, is that he is Dorolac (Bogavac 2012: 3), which
tell us that he comes from Dorol, the oldest part of Belgrade known for petty
criminals and that he himself is the embodiment of such a toponym.
The raft at Ada Ciganlija represents a distinctive mnemotope. In the past,
it was presented as the favourite place to play and create because the chil-
dren gathered around it and spent the days carelessly playing there and the
father of the main character uses it as a painting studio, which confirms its
purpose of an art centre. Later, after the bombing, the toponym becomes a
place of criminal activities, while valuable painting sketches were destroyed,
which undoubtedly highlights the decadence of the main characters, but also
of the city itself. The author used the area to determine the characters and
160 Nataa Dela
their inner states in more detail. Stage directions relating to the stage space
are as follows:
A raft on Ada Ciganlija. Terrace with a wooden fence and a small driveway.
On a large wooden board the name of the raft is inscribed: A Jolly Little Fel-
low. A tree, a weeping willow is on the path which leads to the raft. On the
other side you can see skyscrapers of New Belgrade. The sound of water,
the croaking of frogs. [...] (Bogavac 2012: 3)
This space indicates to the topographical feature of Belgrade in the first place.
Then, mixing rural (water, frogs) and urban (skyscrapers, rafts) and contrast-
ing concepts of a Jolly fellow and a weeping willow, points out a certain
discrepancy between what the characters wanted and what they have expe-
rienced. The weeping willow is mentioned in the play six times and it sym-
bolizes the spiritual state of the individual who grows up in circumstances
described in the play.
The locale is determined through the topes of Belgrade. This is that Bel-
grade which was destroyed under the influence of socialand political circum-
stances. In such Belgrade, criminals thrive, while lack of money, misery, and
indolence rules. Each day passes with the consumption of antidepressants
and narcotics and in idleness, which paints a gloomy picture of the genera-
tion that grew up in Belgrade in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Also, impor-
tant information refers to the image of false patriotism embodied in the de-
molition of ones own city, which we see in Nik and refusing the possibility of
leaving this unhealthy environment and preserving ones own peace, which
we see in Ninas desire to remain on the territory of Belgrade during the war.
Therefore, the space of Belgrade symbolizes a hopeless situation, as well as
destruction and degradation.
The author uses contrasts to present the image of Belgrade in the period
before and after the bombing. The utopian image of heroes when they were
children is presented through childrens games and the vocabulary which is
used in addition to childrens games: hide-and-seek, etc. The speech abounds
in rhyme, rhymed sentence structures, dividing words into syllables, melo-
diousness. In this way the image of Belgrade where children play carefree
and enjoy their childhood is created. It is obvious how nostalgia is used for
constructing images of the past. Here we see that this is a reflexive nostalgia
characterized by regretting the inevitable process of transience and forget-
ting (Boym 2010: 66), which we see in the personal memories of subjects,
but reconstructive nostalgia is also present because of the perceived need to
idealize the image of the past. Svetlana Boym,when dividing nostalgia into
the reflective and reconstructive one, stressed that the two most common
forms of nostalgia are interwoven and function together as it is the case in
this analysis.
Milena Bogavac has, with her drama Dear Daddy, taken on a very pro-
vocative topic, using a girl who insists on her male identity as the main char-
acter introducing the motif of an urban Virgina (Medenica 2006)6. Playing
with her gender identity, the main character points out the difficulties in the
society which she is confronted with, and which are determined by the tra-
ditional gender roles. Her desire to gain male identity is determined by her
need to be untouchable, powerful, violent and thus to protect her nature of
being a vulnerable little girl. The issues of violence, juvenile delinquency and
crime, point out the symptoms of a society which is occupied with wars, poli-
tics and money, and it has neglected its most valuable potential the young.
Suffering a personal tragedy, the female protagonist searches for her father,
her identity, happiness, all presented through the utopian image of her going
to the seaside with her lost father. Her dream to be with her father is not a
reflection of her own wish to find a parent; it is actually a dream of happiness
of which she is certain she had in the past. Delicate memories of her father,
moving conversations and letters in which she refers to him, are contrasted
with the harsh reality in which we can see that happiness is elusive.
The plot of Dear Daddy takes place in the area of Belgrade. As in the
previous play, the author also compares the image of Belgrade before and
after. However, what differs from the previous play, which focuses on a his-
toric event (bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999), in this play the image of before
and after is focused on a personal experience of the past and present (family
matters). In the play Dear Daddy a personal memory of Belgrade is identi-
fied (the protagonist connects it with positive and negative feelings) as well
as an experience of Belgrade from the perspective of the present moment,
which does not include a traditional nuclear family, which symbolizes real
values and positive circumstances.
The mnemotope of Belgrade in the 2000s is covered through series of
locations which at the first sight look nonspecific, general, and yet they cre-
ate an unambiguous image of Belgrades identity of that time the ironic title
sweet home points to the destruction of a family, a bench in a park repre-
sents the devastation and the void, while an empty factory represents the log-
ical consequence of economical and social crisis of that period in Belgrade.
Memories of Belgrade are modified through these figures: complete fam-
ily, harmony, fellowship, beauty, youth, which are represented in the com-
ments by the protagonist, who had a family, and also from the comments
by her mother Marina, who experiences past as an ideal image of her own
prosperity.
Contrary to this, todays image of Belgrade is characterized by the fol-
lowing figures: viciousness, delinquency, crime, lack of money, as well as the
striking symbol which is personalized in the figure of Crni who represents
the domination of darkness and negativity.
162 Nataa Dela
As opposed to the idealization of past, which for the most part comes
from the protagonist, stands her elder brothers monologue:
[...] Dad didnt give a fuck about us. He only loved Marina. While she was
hot. Later on, he didnt give a fuck about her either. He couldnt do anything.
The only thing he was able to do was flying passengers planes. Nothing else.
People went to war and got killed. And he was hiding at home. Cos he was
a cunt. And he left us, too, in the end. I was nineteen, Mali. The place was
fucking bombed, for fucks sake. Marina did the only thing she knew how to
do... (Bogavac 2012: 33)
After this commentary it is established that in the earlier statements of the
protagonist there are series of mnemotehnics which contribute to a twisted
view of the past, told by Aleida Assmann, such as: keeping secrets, oblivion,
imagination, erasure, silence, etc. (Assmann 2011). Dramas Tdz or A First
Three-pointer and Dear Daddy show Belgrade as it used to be, which rep-
resented utopia, although we cannot be sure this is the truth or the experi-
enced history, more a memory which appeared under the influence of mon-
tage, oblivion, repression, which confirms that it is about the constructed
past which is causally connected with nostalgia. So, when we talk about these
two dramas, we think about a post-utopian image of Belgrade.
Dystopian image of Belgrade

Out of Gear a cynical melodrama (Jovanov 2007: 118), in its own title in-
dicates the pointlessness and resignation of its heroes, who belong to a gen-
eration which had its youth in the 2000s. By portraying the characters care-
fully, the author introduces us to the world of apostasy and stagnation. Social
framework of this drama is presented as a world without money bored
and vicious, in which the characters who cannot manage to cope with these
obstacles, are heading for a fall. The characters in this drama are a sadistic
star, an ex-drug addict with writing skills, a masochistic friend (and a fan of
vodka), an ambitious journalist, an under-age attractive sculptress and an in-
fantile hippie. What is common for all of the characters in Out of Gear is an
undisputed potential which they all possess, represented in their love for art,
but the society they were a part of never helped them, so that potential could
never reach its peak. On the contrary, passion and love are replaced with the
indulgence in narcotics, alcohol, sadomasochistic perversions and violence.
Every hope of running away, overcoming the troubles and making the dreams
come true is doomed from the start. Their language is poor, aggressive, with
sexual connotations, with club jargon, but also with a string of linguistic idi-
oms which contribute to the atmosphere of pointlessness and boredom.
In her commentaries, the protagonist depicts the identity of the genera-
tion which resides in Belgrade during those years:
Fuck, every day I wake up Im nauseous [...] if it only made any sense, but it
doesnt everything and this bore, I mean all this just isnt what its sup-
posed to be [...] Its like boredom has come all over me, and somethings
pulling me towards some fun, but every time it is the same, like Im watch-
ing the same movie over and over (Pelevi 2012: 34)
The generation who live out their youth in Belgrade during those years, pos-
sess similar feelings and vision as the protagonist. Most members of this gen-
eration are aware of their own downfall, but they are not motivated enough
to face it and to separate from the space which does not offer perspective and
chance for a change, which indicates the autism and the downfall as one of
the most prominent features of the generation depicted in the play.
The characters of this drama are positioned in Belgrade where we wit-
ness an absence of all the recognizable symbols of the capital. It could be as-
sumed that its actually a different city in which futile values rule. However,
the consequences of the 90s and a recent event the bombing, create social
circumstances that lead to the resignation and downfall of those who live
there. Still, unlike the Belgrade in the works of Milena Bogavac, this Belgrade
does not have a past identity.
The area of Belgrade is presented with a series of figures and symbols
which are associated with spiritual and moral downfalls. One of the most
prominent places is a club called Rupa (The Hole) which reveals Belgrade
as a very gloomy, dark and sinful city.
The same toponym is present in a drama called Children in Formalin,
and it keeps its original meaning. Rupa as an integral part of Belgrade rep-
resents a focal point of the social decadence and downfall of a generation.
This place functions as a memory figure of Belgrade in the period of the early
2000s, and it represents a defeat of the whole generation that lived its youth
in stifling, dark dumps.
As in the other plays, the author of Children in Formalin in the centre
of attention puts a lost generation of youngsters, who, because of their in-
ability to overcome an era of severe social crisis, focus their lives on street
art, vices and self-destruction. In the spotlight, there is a music studio and
the youngsters who would like to be famous and big artists. They connect art
with problematic lives and trying hard to keep an image of being social cases
and renegades. Freestyle and music serve as means to gain acceptance of
their creative potential, but their relationships are built on lies, misogyny, as
well as on the time they spend in leisure, doing drugs, which confirms their
degeneration.
The play Children in formalin is set in Belgrade and through the char-
acters behaviour and the atmosphere of aimlessness we gain insight into the
features of the citys identity, as represented in this play. Belgrade is a source
of the most debasing human passions, regardless whether it is about deviant
sexual drives or abuse of marihuana. Belgrade is a carrier of the identity of
164 Nataa Dela
a city that does not provide a perspective, but inevitable ruin. Even though
the characters are focused on music, their obsession is not instigated by an
inspiration to create, but by a wish to become popular and have an easy way
out. They only want to achieve superficial goals casual sex, power, control
and narcotics. The identity of Belgrade is probably most obviously described
in the statement made by the female protagonist to some other characters:
[...] You are so suspended in space and time, both you and your friends have
turned into objects one can simply place on a shelf. (Pelevi 2012: 60). This
commentary is directly related to the title of the play because it clearly indi-
cates the apathy and lethargy.
Plays such as Out of Gear and Children in Formalin, compared to the
plays from the first group, which speak about the post-utopian Belgrade,
do not include the information about the old Belgrade. Therefore, they only
maintain the image of this worn-down Belgrade without future. Since post-
utopia has to contain the comparative element from the past, which serve to
show the contrast between now and then, dystopia suggests the state com-
pletely opposite to the one of utopia, but doesnt include its previous pres-
ence. This is the reason why, when we are talking about these two plays of
Maja Pelevi, we are not discussing the post-utopian representation of Bel-
grade, but exclusively the dystopian one.
Conclusion
The website New Drama contains dramatic texts with predominately do-
mestic, but with foreign authors as well. Besides numerous plays, the website
contains the biography of every member (author), and it is also possible to
download the contents, including texts and images. Material storage in this
virtual space is significant for the readers, as well as the researchers, because
the plays themselves can be downloaded for free, so that one can learn about
the latest trends in our contemporary drama. In that way, the website offers a
possibility of conducting various studies related to this field, which indicates
the collection, preservation and promotion of the works of contemporary art-
ists in order to achieve mutual benefits for both recipients and authors, as it
is also important that media-literate consumer can understand the present-
ed contents. Therefore, from the standpoint of science, this site is a relevant
research area, or the virtual archive. Considering the content and availability
of this website, we assume that this base is not only important for the recipi-
ent of the present moment, but for all future researchers as evidenced by the
function of New Drama as an archaeological area.
A play as a material trace of the past can serve as an instrument for link-
ing individual and collective memories of Belgrade, both on a fictional level
of the play and on the level of social reality. Though the play world cannot
be equated with a social reality, there is no doubt that a dramatic text has a
function in the formation of the mnemotope and its social contextualization,
which makes it a relevant place to explore memories in.
The analysed mnemotope in the above mentioned plays of Milena Boga-
vac and Maja Pelevi indicates that the memory of Belgrade is formed in
two different ways. The first method involves nostalgia, seen as both recon-
structive and reflective, and affects the comparison of the image of Belgrade
before and after the point of reference in the past. Thus, the notion of the
memory of Belgrade results in the creation of the post-utopian image of the
world. Another way to form memories excludes any kind of consciousness
about Belgrades past, and includes the negatively-valued features of todays
Belgrade. This is the reason why in the other two plays the dystopian image
of Belgrade dominates.
In the first case Belgrade is the opposite of what it once was. Instead of
the idealized image of friendship, creativity, childlike imagination, carefree
thinking, the author presents Belgrade in which there is war and destruction.
Instead of smiling, happy faces, the characters in Belgrade after the bombing
are seen in relationships which are falling apart, nervous breakdowns, and
indulgence in drugs.
In the second case, Belgrade is a wild scope and recipients do not get any
information about what it was like in the past. The only way to create an im-
age of Belgrade in the past is indirectly integrating personal memories and
the memories of the recipients of the former Belgrade. Nevertheless, exam-
ining only the bare information received from the analysed plays, we notice
that the past is omitted, and that the focus is on the new Belgrade in which
sin, resignation and decadence dominate.
As opposed to Thomas Mores country that does not exist, these au-
thors present a place that does. The first two plays (Tdz or a First Three-
pointer and Dear Daddy) contain information about utopia in which there
was a perfect organization within the community, whether it was a commu-
nity of friends or a family from Belgrade, and they explicitly present the post-
utopian image through a series of conflicting motifs. The author points out
the definitive end of ideal living conditions and creates a post-utopian world
the world that follows after the utopia and which contains negative ele-
ments of a society: moral and spiritual stumbling, the dissolution of society.
In the other two plays (Out of Gear and Children in Formalin), there is an
absence of the image of the ideal country with an ideal organization, and it is
assumed that the intentions of the author are to emphasize that utopia never
existed, but that it is certain that the identity of Belgrade in this period is in
contrast with everything positive that utopia represents and it results in the
fact that in the case we are talking about dystopia.
New Drama allows a recipient to access different information it offers.
Although it is a work of fiction, it contains traces of personal memories of the
166 Nataa Dela
author, as well as memories of the young generation who grew up in Belgrade

in the 1990s and early 2000s. The Internet as a hybrid media (Assmann
2011: 316) unites and combines forms of individual and collective memory
and remembrance, but also the imaginary and actual experience, which is
primarily important to enhance the image of certain constructs such as the
mnemotope of Belgrade. The online archive allows its content to be available
to the public, but not only as a product of private memory and remembrance,
but also as a product of the public, because it was Aleida Assmann who said
that everyone who has access to the Internet creates their own public (Ass-
mann 2011: 317). As this case is about structural, thematic and specific on-
line archive which is primarily engaged in storage of plays as an art product,
the question of the truth and history is still more relative than it is the case
with archives which are concentrated on memories and remembrance of a
specific historical social event, person or concept. However, the archive web-
site New Drama can be interpreted according to its specificity, as well as an
even wider and more convenient space to create your own public, which is
created on two different levels: as a result of a memory and remembrance of
the author, and as a result of memory and remembrance of the characters.
References:
Asman, Alajda, 2011, Duga senka prolosti, Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek.
Asman, Jan, 2007, Kultura pamenja, Beograd: Prosveta.
Asman, Jan, 2005, Kulturno pamenje, Zenica: Vrijeme.
Bahtin, Mihail, 1989, O romanu, Beograd: Nolit.
Bogavac, Milena, Dragi tata, Nova drama, https://docs.google.com/document/
d/1EfYRZEcU6n18gL-urngUG2n8xczYL1EiBFOrIZciW_c/edit?pli=1, pristuplje-
no 18. 11. 2012.
Bogavac, Milena, Td ili prva trojka, Nova drama, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0
BxQEaPSsb6jTNmEyZGIyN2YtYWQ5NS00NzVhLTkxZjAtMTlkYThjYzQwMjk3/
view?pli=1, prisupljeno, 18. 11. 2012.
Bojm, Svetlana, 2005, Budunost nostalgije, Beograd: Geopoetika.
Ili, Marija, Ideologija nostalgije u etnolingvistikom intervjuu, 2010, Etnoloko-
antropoloke sveske 15, str. 65-75.
Jezerki V, Jovanov S, (ur.), 2006, Predsmrtna mladost. Antologija najnovije srpske
drame. Novi Sad: Sterijino pozorje.
Jovanov, Svetislav, Tragedija nacrtane aure, Scena asopis za pozorinu umetnost,
br. 3-4, 2007, str. 117-138.
Jug, Stephanie, Novak, Sonja, Antipoetika Ivane Sajko, to ludilo, revolucija i pisanje
imaju zajedniko?, Sic asopis za knjievnost, kulturu i knjievno prevoenje
1/V, 2014, str. 1-25.
Kulji, Todor, 2011, Seanje na titoizam. Beograd: igoja tampa.
Kulji, Todor, 2009, Sociologija generacije, Beograd: igoja tampa.
Medenica, Ivan, Urbana Virdina, Vreme, br. 794, 23. mart, 2006. http://www.vreme.
co.rs/cms/view.php?id=447354, pristupljeno 18. 5. 2014.
Otvorena arhiva nove drame, http://nova-drama.org.rs/sr/, pristupljeno 1. 10. 2015.

Nikevi, Sanja, Pomodna je kontroverznost besmilsena, Vijenac 336, http://www.
matica.hr/vijenac/336/Pomodna%20je%20kontroverznost%20besmislena/,
pristupljeno 11. 6. 2015.
Pelevi, Maja, Deca u formalinu, Nova drama, https://docs.google.com/document/
d/1X-8tlk2SHNFYmBFQuwT-_aCcq8FQtRRzsfTjCsfItGo/edit?pli=12011
[18.11.2012].
Pelevi, Maja, Ler, Nova drama, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YInfAHqU
3q4wYqmkawnDKjHOzivVkiNCvqkDkMe4NvA/edit?pli=12011 [18.11.2012]
Romevi, Neboja, 2004, Rane komedije Jovana Sterije Popovia, Novi Sad: Muzej
pozorine umetnosti Vojvodine.
Vujanovi, Ana, Drama bez scene: hrapave konceptualizacije dramske produkcije
novih autora u Srbiji, Scena 4, Novi Sad, 2004. http://www.pozorje.org.rs/sce-
na/scena404/19.htm, pristupljeno 15. 4. 2013.
Notes:
1 Nova-drama.org.rs
2 Dear Daddy, Red, Ballerina/Gamma Cas, Fairy Taleon Electricity, Pippi Long-
stocking, In Half, North Force, Tdz or First-three pointer.
3 Out of Gear, Belgrade-Berlin, Children in Formalin, Orange Peel, Me or Some-
body Else, Hamlet-Hamlet Eurotrash, Strange Loves, Maybe We Are Mickey
Mouse.
4 Date of accesed: october 2015.
5 Thus, for example. Milena Bogavac in the drama Dear Daddy before the list of dra-
matis personae states: To Srdjan Pantelic for a milion reasons. First of all: he wasnt
afraid of Crni.... This commentary is the authors direct link between personality and
character, reality and fiction
6 Allusion to the transgendered heroine from SrdjanKaranovics film Virgina(1991).
168 Nataa Dela
NANO-SPECTACLE: PLAYING WITH

MONOMYTH
Mirko Stojkovi
A Player in a Monomyth
Fifty years ago, Guy Debord correctly estimated that we would enter the age
of the spectacle (Debord 1994). However, he could not have predicted that
the development of digital technologies would make the spectacle so per-
sonal that we can now talk about the nano-spectacle.
The first requisite for personalizing of the spectacle was made by Melvil
Dewey in the late 19th century a decimal library classification system which
is, in a somewhat altered form, still used in the American Library of Congress,
as well as numerous libraries worldwide.
The system assigns a specific number to each discipline or field of study
that may be the subject of a book. The classification number for video games
is 794.8. All numbers beginning with 7 pertain to the arts and recreation,
meaning that in academic discussions, the Dewey decimal system can be list-
ed as the key argument for recognizing video games as an art form. In that
category, the following number 9 signifies sports, games and entertainment.
Number 4 refers to indoor games of skill nd number 8 to video games.
Today, a much more complex form of the Dewey system is applied in
order to classify people. By monitoring our browsing habits and our physi-
cal movements in the real world, Google, Facebook and Apple have assigned
huge multi-digit numbers to us in order to target us with nano-advertising.
The seventh digit is five? It refers to a girl who is in a relationship. The eighth
digit is one? It means the relationship is heterosexual. The 85th digit is nine?
Shes in her fertile window. The 108th digit is six? She bought wine. And so on,
until Google knows that girl is pregnant before she does.
This has already happened and the New York Times wrote about it sev-
eral years ago1, in an article describing how a statistician, Andrew Pole, cre-
ated an algorithm which discovered that a teenage girl was pregnant even
before she and her family realized it, all of which was uncovered when her
170 Mirko Stojkovi
father objected to the fact that companies were sending her coupons for baby
cribs and strollers.
The second requisite for creating the nano-spectacle was met through
advertising, more precisely by promoting trademarks to brands. A trademark
represents a set of very specific and measurable product features; a brand
comprises all the intangible qualities that become associated with a brand
through various techniques, to such an extent that they seemingly become its
integral features. This maneuver was necessary in order to move the produc-
tion of well-known brands into sweatshops, as thoroughly described by Nao-
mi Klein (Klein 1999), although its application resulted in some even more
radical shifts outside advertising.
In 2005, a factory was built in the Czech Republic, in which the Peugeot
107, the Citroen C1 and the Toyota Aygo were manufactured in the same pro-
duction floors and on the same endless assembly lines.2 Not only were the
three technically identical cars priced differently, but the Toyota had a longer
warranty, because the Japanese manufacturer assessed that the higher costs
of an extended warranty were less important than maintaining the illusion
about the reliability of its cars.
So, what is the future of mimetic arts in a society where, like in the Toy-
ota example, illusion beats reality, while nano-targeting uses total personal-
ization to create a sense of depersonalization? As usual, when it comes to art,
there is no single correct answer. However, at least one of the many answers
lies in the point where three seemingly parallel paths meet.
The first path comes from Aristotle one achieves catharsis by identify-
ing with the hero.
The second path originates from Plato the veneer can corrupt even the
best people, who perceive it as an essence. The third and longest path leads to
the darkness of the caves in which, seeking the answers to the same ques-
tions we ask ourselves today our ancestors had invented the first myths, by
creating a monomyth pattern that would be recognized by Campbell thou-
sands of years later.
All these paths meet in the present, where it is possible to reconcile Plato
and Aristotle, as we live in a world where impressions matter more than facts
and, as Debord put it, In a world that really has been turned on its head,
truth is a moment of falsehood (Debord 1994: 6); thus, mimetic art is no
longer an illusion, but the reality.
It, therefore, comes as no surprise that the following year will be the one
in which the world will finally embrace virtual reality, after several unsuc-
cessful experiments dating from the 1960s (the Sensorama, Headsight or Ul-
timate Display devices), the 1970s (Aspen Movie Map), the 1980s (numerous
VPL Research products), or the 1990s (Sega VR Set). Technology has come
a long way, but more importantly, the world has enabled individuals to de-
velop the ability to experience the illusion they perceive on a highly personal
level through devices planted on their heads, as something more real than
themselves.
The success in creating an impression is no longer limited to the visu-
al component the illusion has become tactile. Among such experiments,
a prominent place is reserved for the works of Ivan Poupyrev, whose Tou-
che (Poupyrev 2012), REVEL (Poupyrev 2012) and Tactile Brush (Poupyrev
2011) help us feel a direct stimulus and move even closer to a customized
suspension of disbelief necessary for a true nano-spectacle.
Oculus will enable dozens of millions of new worlds to be created over-
night. Aristotles and Platos , art and skills alchemically intertwined
with knowledge and technology, which together speak the language that ap-
peals to all our senses, as Artaud demanded in The Theatre and Its Double
(Artud 1958), the book in which the term virtual reality (la ralite vir-
tuelle) was first used, will bring down not only the fourth wall, but the re-
maining three as well.
The modern world has another feature which easily frustrates research-
ers: everything has been done, even Artaud in virtual reality. In 2010, Ste-
phen Schrum and lliot Sheedy did it by using the 3D environment of the
Second Life online video game (Schrum, Sheedy 2012).
However, all of this is removed not only from realty, from its essence,
since technology is usually etymologically linked to the Greek word techne.
This is why our journey to the future of mimetic arts means going back to the
past.
Myth from the past, spectacle from the present, nano targeting from the
future this is the nano-spectacle recipe.
Bloomsday in Belgrade
In 1922 James Joyce published Ulysses. By following the structure of the Od-
yssey, Joyce made Leopold Bloom, the hero of his novel, a reincarnation of
Odysseus, nd early 20th-century Dublin a reincarnation of Ancient Greece.
By creating a hero using an ordinary man in an ordinary world, Joyce had, in
a way, laid the foundation for the modern pop culture.
A quarter of a century later, Joseph Campbell published the book The
Hero with a Thousand Faces, in which he proved that myths from different
civilizations share the same structure. He called the structure monomyth,
a word he borrowed from Joyces Finnegans Wake. Soon, monomyth became
the dramaturgic base for the majority of the films made in Hollywood. Today,
primarily due to its perfect nature that has enabled it to last for thousands
of years, but also thanks to numerous courses in so-called creative writing, it
is visible almost everywhere: from the above-mentioned films, such as Star
Wars, to bestsellers, such as the Harry Potter series.
172 Mirko Stojkovi
Due to the fact that I have studied monomyth throughout my screenwrit-

er career, I have had no trouble detecting it in video games like The Elder
Scrolls V: Skyrim, the fifth part of the RPG Elder Scrolls series.3
Since monomyth and pop culture have been the focus of my art-related
work, in 2010, I acquainted the doctoral studies committee at FDA with my
intention to make the pervasive game that will test my theory that from
writers point of view, pervasive game could be the meeting point of all the
mimetic art forms that are popular today theatre, films and video games (all
of which should be regarded in the broadest possible sense). This is due to
the fact that the story itself can create an illusion of the world that will seem
more realistic than the actual world existing at the same time and place; con-
sequently, the player chooses to disregard it, because the illusion is more real
than reality itself.
After decades of dispute, Joyces Ulysses, with its hermeticism, has fairly
recently acquired enough patina to dismiss the pornography and kitsch
labels and become a regular item on the lists containing the most important
novels in the 20th century. The popularity has lead to an interesting custom
of celebrating June 16th, the day depicted in Ulysses. The festival is called
Bloomsday and has been celebrated annually for decades all around Europe.
By simply putting together all the aspects I find important in the fields
I have been studying, as well as the artistic experiences I feel connected to,
I have decided for my art doctoral project to create a pervasive game which
will enable a single player to experience the journeys of Odysseus and Leo-
pold Bloom on the streets of Belgrade during one day, become a Hero with a
Thousand Faces and feel the strength of the monomyth.
After several years of preparation, the game was played on the 16th of
June, 2015, thus celebrating Bloomsday in Belgrade for the very first time.
The structure of the game

The structure of the game was formed by the very decision to follow Ulysses.
While building my story, I didnt rely on the Odyssey, the precursor to Ulysses,
except in the moments when, due to the occasional hermeticism in Ulysses, I
would be forced to turn to the Odyssey as a source that could shed some light
on Joyces intentions.
This is why the first step was to match Campbells monomyth to the
chapters in Ulysses. At the time when the The Little Review magazine seri-
alized the novel (1918-1920), the chapters had titles that were later mostly
omitted, although Joyce continued using them:
1. TELEMACHUS
2. NESTOR
3. PROTEUS
4. CALYPSO
5. LOTUS EATERS
6. HADES
7. AEOLUS
8. LESTRYGONIANS
9. SCYLLA & CHARYBDIS
10. WANDERING ROCKS
11. SIRENS
12. CYCLOPS
13. NAUSICAA
14. OXEN OF THE SUN
15. CIRCE
16. EUMAEUS
17. ITHACA
18. PENELOPE
I used the edition of the novel published by Geopoetika in 2014, translated

by Zoran Paunovi, as well as the Hero with a Thousand Faces translated by
Branislav Kovaeci and published by Stylos in 2014. The decision to solely
use the Serbian edition stems from my wish to fully adapt the game to the
player which at that stage I knew would be a Serbian player.
The help in navigating through the book was provided by Notes on James
Joyces Ulysses, written by Gerry Carlin and Mair Evans (year not listed).4
There are three reasons why I have chosen to use this particular essay: partly
because of the accurate references to the Odyssey, partly because it facilitates
the alignment with the 17-point monomyth, as described by Joseph Campbell
in the Hero With a Thousand Faces, nd perhaps most importantly, because
there are numerous essays on Ulysses which do not differ almost at all in the
parts I required. Also, after entering the parameters Ulysses, Joyce, chapters
in the Google search, this essay appears on the first page, meaning that a lot
of people were using it as a valuable tool for unlocking Ulysses, which brings
us back to popular culture.
These are the Campbells monomyth stages:
1. The Call to Adventure
2. Refusal of the Call
3. Supernatural Aid
4. Crossing the Threshold
5. Belly of the Whale
6. The Road of Trials
7. The Meeting with the Goddess
8. Woman as Temptress
9. Atonement with the Father
174 Mirko Stojkovi
10. Apotheosis
11. The Ultimate Boon
12. Refusal of the Return
13. The Magic Flight
14. Rescue from Without
15. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
16. Master of Two Worlds
17. Freedom to Live
The 18th chapter in Ulysses introduces us to Molly Blooms stream of con-

sciousness, structurally identical to the placing of closing credits in the mov-
ie, which is why I have treated it in the same fashion in the game.
I replaced Joyces original chapter titles with the titles containing the
most important elements of the chapters. In two cases, I replaced them with
words which trigger the associations I had while reading those chapters. Sub-
sequently, I matched them to the monomyth chapters to create in computer
terms a beta script for the game:
1 Dispossessed son in struggle / The Call to Adventure
2 Old Nestor; pompous and racist beast / Refusal of the Call
3 The God tells of death; changing / Supernatural Aid
4 Advertising salesman; interaction with the world / Crossing the
Threshold
5 Drugs; streets, several errands / Belly of the Whale
6 Hades; death / The Road of Trials
7 Newspaper headlines / The Meeting with the Goddess
8 National library; food and eating / Woman as Temptress
9 Hamlet; anti-semitic and homophobic / Atonement with the Father
10 Recap / Apotheosis
11 Piano blind stripling / The Ultimate Boon
12 Citizen nationalist, epic poetry / Refusal of the Return
13 Cultural myths IamA Reddit / The Magic Flight
14 The Slavo-Serbian language / Rescue from Without
15 Drama; the dead son / The Crossing of the Return Threshold
16 Imposters / Master of Two Worlds
17 Back home (backdoor FDA) / Freedom to Live
18 Ad nauseam / ibid
Adapting to the production requirements

Immediately after this stage, I had to take into account the production re-
quirements. My situation was made easier by the fact that, apart from the
money intended for renting cameras and sound equipment, printing the ma-
terial in a printing shop and hiring taxis for the player, I practically had no
budget and, therefore, did not have to worry about spending it wisely.
Instead of allocating the non-existent resources, I made a list of locations
I could use free of charge, as well as a list of people who had volunteered to
participate in the game. I compared the extended list with the beta script to
create the following list of available and free locations: FDA, the My Name Is
Luk advertising agency, The Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia, the Te-
atroteka club, The Savski venac municipality, the Drvo javorovo caf and the
Opservatorijum gallery. The volunteers I could count on were my students
and friends. The only professional actor participating in the project was Ivan
Tomi.
Since the game was developed as a part of the doctoral art studies at
FDA, it was necessary to present it in its entirety to the public. This meant
recording it in its entirety, as mandated by the doctoral procedure. In order
to avoid the delusive effect of the camera following the player everywhere,
I had decided from the very beginning that the cameraman, Branko Suji, a
colleague from the Camera department, would also play the most important
NPC (non-playing characters) role.
Once the technical rehearsals were under way, it turned out that the Go-
Pro cameras suggested by Branko Suji could not provide the required sound
quality. This meant that throughout the game, a sound operator with a mi-
crophone fishing boom pole would be present. Prior to the presentation of
the game, I had learned that all the members of the committee would be pres-
ent. These two factors affected the level in which the player would emerge in
the character, however, far less than I had expected.
After listing the locations and actors, the next task was to assign the
scenes in the game to specific locations, or vice versa. Since there were few-
er than 18 locations, it was obvious that some would have to cover several
scenes. In order to avoid the situation where the production requirements
would overshadow the natural development of the story, I didnt opt for the
most practical order of the locations, which meant that, in some cases, the
succeeding location was not the nearest one.
In a somewhat simpler form, the original plot of the game was submitted
as the subject of the doctoral thesis in 2013. Exploring the monomyth made
me turn to Slavic mythology nd the intention to apply a realistic approach to
it throughout the game, as well as the desire to have an active, rather than a
passive hero, led to the idea to make the player explore the actions of deities,
rather than be an object of their games. Of course, this boundary, as well as
all the others, would later easily be crossed the player would easily switch
from a hero to an observer, just as the game would instantly switch from be-
ing a show to being a game. At that point, I already knew that my resources
176 Mirko Stojkovi
would be limited and that the only certain locations were FDA premises. Con-
sequently, the students became the main protagonists.
Tailor made experience

A player explores the disappearance of a group of students that have been
preparing a documentary about Crnobog (Black God), the Slavic deity very
similar to the devil as depicted in Christianity. Following the clues left behind
by the students, the player goes deeper into the heart of darkness, encounter-
ing deceptive businessmen, corrupt politicians and haughty TV stars gradu-
ally realizing that they are successful because they serve the dark force of
Crnobog. Eventually, he finds the students, as well as Crnobog, which is why
he must decide whether to join him in exchange for worldly success, or refuse
him and weaken him enough to free the students.
The synopsis is embedded in the Ulysses script and refers to the Odyssey
and, of course, the monomyth. The final stage of the script bears more re-
semblance to a GDD (game design document) than a script, which is natural,
since the goal was not to make a movie, but a game. This means that, along
with the usual scene classification, I incorporated an additional info in order
to explain the tasks of the player in each scene (the tasks are linked to the
progress made in the game; they mostly refer to discovering the clues that
lead to the next location). However, the GDD was not the usual video game
GDD, which was also expected, since I was making a pervasive game that in-
volved the interaction between the player and real people, most of whom
were not actors. So, instead of a dialogue, for most NPCs I had written an
instruction on how their character would act in a certain situation. This fa-
cilitated the improvisation and, more importantly, made the game less de-
pendent on how the amateur actors would cope with the player, the camera,
the microphone fishing boom pole and the five committee members carefully
monitoring every second of the game. In order to apply this principle, it was
necessary to make the dialogues as equally unimportant for the action, as in
any good film. I abandoned this principle only in situations when I required
a stronger literary connection, which I showed very clearly in a scene where,
instead of uttering the line, the actor hands it to the player written down on
a piece of paper.
Example 1, instructions for NPCs (Nestor is disgusting racist character;
Vlada is almost as bad):
INSTRUCTION FOR NESTOR: You are a dissatisfied security guard. Your sal-
ary is low, the people around pretend to be clever and theyre all faggots. If
only you had power for one day in this country, many would suffer, but you
would at least bring order overnight. First, you would deal with the Gypsies
stealing the copper roof at the faculty. Gypsy scum. The only people worse
are the Jews. The Gypsies are filthy and stupid, but the Jews are rotten and
dangerous. They could leave you jobless in a wink. Turn you into a Gypsy.
Thats why there has to be order and thats why nobody sneak around the
offices unannounced. Kick out these old, silly faggots from their offices. But,
be careful: the little one looks like a Gypsy and the one with the big nose is
a Jew for sure. Trick them, let them know youre on to them, and if theyre
not what you think they are, theyll side with you anyway. In the hallway, of
course.
INSTRUCTION FOR VLADA: You own an advertising agency from 97,

you are a thief and a crook. You interrupt everyone because youre
smarter and you know what theyre about to say and you cant be both-
ered to listen to them for free. All that glitters is not gold, but cash is
the real deal. Youre not interested in women, drugs, booze or food. The
only thing you love is money. The player calls you on your cell phone
keeping the line busy, while youre waiting for an important phone call.
It was a mistake to answer the phone, but you realize the best way to
get rid of him is to tell him to come to the agency. You dont think about
whats going to happen if and when he comes like everything else in
life. You think about money.
The final stage in the script resembled a standard script only in one segment:
the one with Ivan Tomi, whom I could present with a serious acting task.
His lines are mostly written by Joyce, apart from some slight modifications
I made, so that the player could have the impression of listening to Tomis
thoughts, rather than the memorized text.
Example 2, Tomis part:
(You are sitting in the Teatroteka club, next to the Museum of theatrical
arts. You are accompanied by one person, find someone you can sit with
until the player arrives. You are eating an assortment of meats and drink-
ing beer. Classic tavern crap. Youre playing a revolting, money-grubbing TV
star in love with himself, who makes shady deals and blackmails people by
talking trash on Bulevar. You think Vui is a top man and that youre on
the same page. Your buddy is stuffing his face and laughing to every word
you say. Hes playing your jester, whereas in fact he is working for police,
following you and gathering info he can use to blackmail you, should you
start spilling the beans. While sitting with the player, he will utter The
player arrives. You ask him if he has brought you something.
If not, you ask him what he wants. He will ask you about a film a film about
some students, some municipality. It rings a bell, but you are not sure.
If he says yes and tries to hand you the money, you refuse to take it in
the tavern, you make a joke about Dai and the suitcase and tell him to
guess where to leave the money.
In both cases, you ask the player if he knows about Hamlet. Then comes
the switch in your character from the bastard you have been playing in
178 Mirko Stojkovi
the last few minutes, you have to become a much smarter guy, a psycho-
pathic opportunist, rather than a stupid one. You launch into a monologue
during which you explain Hamlet to the player, of all things.)
It is this hour of a day in mid June. The flag is up on the playhouse by the
bank side. The bear Sackerson growls in the pit near it, Paris garden. He is
fighting the dogs and entertaining the plebs, he is a star. Like me, today. At
the nearby Globe, canvas climbers who sailed with Drake chew their sau-
sages among the groundlings. The play begins. A player comes on under the
shadow, made up in the castoff mail of a court buck, a well-set man with a
bass voice. It is the ghost, the king, a king and no king. An actor.
Hamlet, I am thy fathers spirit, bidding him list. To a son he speaks,
the son of his soul, the prince, young Hamlet and to the son of his body,
Hamnet.
In that moment, Shakespeare is the father, a father addressing his son.
The son of his soul, Hamlet.
The son of his body, Hamnet.
Did you know that Shakespeares son died at the age of eleven, in Strat-
ford? Do you know what his name was? Hamnet. At the time of the pre-
miere, Hamnet would have been the same age as Hamlet. Here you have
the Theatrical museum, where FDA students sift through books looking for
nonsense like this. Shakespeare. Hamnet. Hamlet. The father, the son and
the ghost.
(Your friends interrupts you. He is talking with his mouth full, chewing the
meat laid out in front of you: Tell me, punk, what happened to the 100 eu-
ros I lent you the last time we were sitting here? You answer while looking
at the player.)
It wasnt me. We weave and unweave our bodies, from day to day, their
molecules shuttled to and fro. And as the mole on my right breast is
where it was when I was born, though all my body has been woven of
new stuff time after time, so through the ghost of the unquiet father
the image of the unliving son looks forth. The same way we see the
son, Hamnet, through the ghost of the father, Shakespeare. One dis-
turbed, the other one deceased. In the intense instant of imagination,
when the mind, Shelley says, is a fading coal, that which I was is that
which I am and that which in possibility I may come to. So in the fu-
ture, the sister of the past, I may see myself as I sit here now but by re-
flection from that which then I shall be. While Im eating these kebabs,
while Vuko is fucking the yellow bunch, I am becoming what I have
been and what I am yet to become: Hamlet, the prince. And Hamnet,
the corpse.
Until then, could I borrow a hundred euros?
(If the player has got the money and falls for your trick, take it and that will
be your fee; otherwise, look at him scornfully and tell him to beat it. You
have told him where to leave the package.)
Although Tomis part is the only one whose form resembles a script, it
is not the only part in which I have used quotations. In the final scene, which
takes place at the Drvo javorovo caf, Crnobog reveals to the player that he
controls the students by making each one of them recite every single line of a
poem by Sava Mrkalj, Jao trista puta (Ouch! Three Hundred Times). I have
chosen this poet because I wanted to make a link, at a rather hidden level
in the story, between Crnobog and other tragic figures in Serbian art, nd
there are fewer more tragic than Sava Mrkalj. He was a reformer of the Ser-
bian language who remained overshadowed by Vuk Karadi, despite the fact
that his quotation write as you speak is incorrectly attributed to Vuk Karadi.
Not long after he was relieved of his monastic duties, he ended up in a men-
tal institution for trying to slaughter a person who had asked him to use his
knowledge of Latin for the mundane purpose of translating a birth certificate.
Even the poem Ouch! Three Hundred Times, along with eleven other poems
(five originals and six translations), was discovered a century after his death
among Vuk Karadis legacy.
The line Are we ever free of evil is whispered in the players ear by a
possessed student at the Drvo javorovo, thus initiating the final scene. In it,
we reveal Crnobog, all the while hidden as the cameraman who has followed
the player, filming a documentary about the game necessary for the doctor-
ate. The decision to make the cameraman Crnobog is one of the decision
that have been made at the beginning of the project, with a clear intention to
make the make the most delusive moment an integral part of the game, this
erasing yet another boundary between the real world and the one created in
the game.
In order to give Crnobog a supernatural quality, the question directed
at the player would he side with him or not was heard from the speakers
in the caf and intended as a natural continuation of the short monologue
uttered by the cameraman, Branko Suji. Without hesitation, the player re-
jected Crnobog, thus setting the students free and through that according
to the Campbell monomyth became the Master of two worlds.
The initial idea was to give this role to the first person who passed
through the so-called rabbit hole. This is a term that authors of pervasive and
alternate reality games have taken from Carrolls Alice in Wonderland Al-
ice enters the world behind the mirror by following the rabbit entering its
hole. It refers to a tiny passage through which one enters a disproportionate
world. ARG: when promoting the album Year Zero, Trent Reznor used an
ARG one entered via the data located on the flash disks scattered in the toilets
at Nine Inch Nail concerts5.
The rabbit hole in Fade Out was supposed to be a postcard of a Serbian
soldier sent just before the outbreak of World War I. The postcard contained
the address of a website written with a fountain pen. The website would
provide the initial information about the game, with the intention to indi-
180 Mirko Stojkovi
rectly introduce the idea of the unnaturally long life of the antagonist. Along
with the other clues, this would lead to the revelation of Crnobog. However, I
abandoned this idea when I decided the game would not be transmedial, and
when I realized that the idea to research the nano-spectacle is much more
exciting than yet another transmedial experiment, found in abundance in the
world of video games.
Since the nano-spectacle relies on adapting the game to the personality
of the player, it was necessary for the player to be a person whom I knew well,
but who didnt know me. The people around me knew that the monomyth had
been an interest of mine for years, they could assume the monomyth would
be the basis of the game. This would significantly lessen the effects I wanted
to examine. Therefore, I offered the role of the player to a member of a discus-
sion forum I had been monitoring for years. Over twenty thousand messages
he had posted enabled me to form a detailed image of his personality and,
consequently, adapt the game to his features and preferences. A favorable cir-
cumstance was the fact that the player worked as a Vice journalist. Having
played the game, he wrote a feature for the Vice website6. The text ends with
the following conclusion, testifies to the results of introducing the monomyth
in pervasive games and, hopefully, to the perspective of the nano-spectacle.
Pervasive games are not similar to LARP, the ultimate nerdity experienced
RPG players often find a bit ridiculous, as it introduces props when one
should engage ones imagination and is often an excuse for being outdoors.
This is serious s**t, here you can experience real hustle when the real
world and the game become intertwined and the boundary between the
story and the city bustle becomes blurred. I want more. (Nenad Kosti, the
player)
References:
Artaud, Antonin, The Theater and Its Double, Grove Press New York, USA, 1958, origi-
nally published as Le Theatre et son double, Gallimard, France, 1938.
Bau, O., Poupyrev, I, REVEL: tactile feedback technology for augmented reality, ACM
SIGGRAPH 2012. Article 89, pp. 11.
Carlin, Gerry, Evans, Mair, Notes on James Joyces Ulysses, (year not listed), http://
home.wlv.ac.uk/~fa1871/joynote.html (1. 2. 2015)
Debord, Guy The Society of the Spectacle, Zone Books, New York, USA, 1994.
Duhigg, Charles, How Companies Learn Your Secrets, The New York Times Magazine,
16. 2. 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-ha-
bits.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (17. 10. 2015)
Foy, Henry Czech carmakers speed ahead but country faces competition, Financial
Times, 7. 10. 2014, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a5e5f94-2f87-11e4-83e4-
00144feabdc0.html#axzz3v35ehwqr (17. 10. 2015)
Israr, A. and Poupyrev, I., Tactile brush: Drawing on skin with a tactile grid display,
ACM CHI 2011. pp. 2019-2028.
Kembel, Dozef, Heroj sa hiljadu lica, prevod Branislav Kovaevi, Stylos, Srbija, 2014,
originally published by Pantheon, New York, USA, 1949.
Klein, Naomi,No Logo, Random House of Canada, 1999.
Michael Paoletta, Raznor adopts unusual Web campaign for new album, Reuters,
2.4.2007, http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/04/02/us-nineinchnails-
idUSN0233620220070402 (21.8.2015)
Sato, M., Poupyrev, I., Harrison, Touch: Enhancing Touch Interaction on Humans,
Screens, Liquids, and Everyday Objects, ACM CHI 2012. pp. 483-492
Schrum, Stephen and Sheedy, lliot , Building a virtual reality model of Artauds the-
atre of cruelty, Metaverse Creativity, 2012.
Stojkovic, Mirko, The Hero With a Thousand Faces: on Narrative Structure of The Elder
Scrolls V: Skyrim, Screenwriting Research Network, 7th International Conference,
Potsdam, Germany, 2014.
Dojs, Dejms Uliks, prevod Zoran Paunovi, Geopoetika, Srbija, 2014, originally pub-
lished as James Joyce Ulysses, Shakespeare and Company, Paris, France, 1922.
Notes:
1 Charles Duhigg, How Companies Learn Your Secrets, The New York Times Maga-
zine, 16. 2. 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-ha-
bits.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (17.10.2015)
2 Henry Foy, Czech carmakers speed ahead but country faces competition, Finan-
cial Times, 7. 10. 2014 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a5e5f94-2f87-11e4-83e4-
00144feabdc0.html#axzz3v35ehwqr (17.10.2015)
3 For more about this, see: Mirko Stojkovi, The Hero With a Thousand Faces: on Nar-
rative Structure of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Screenwriting Research Network, 7th
International Conference, Potsdam, Germany, 2014.
4 See: http://home.wlv.ac.uk/~fa1871/joynote.html.
5 Michael Paoletta, Raznor adopts unusual Web campaign for new album, Reu-
ters, 2.4.2007, http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/04/02/us-nineinchnails-
idUSN0233620220070402 (21. 8. 2015)
6 Nenad Kosti, Ive saved FDA students from the claws of the pagan sect, Vice, 18. 9.
2015 http://www.vice.com/rs/read/spasavao-sam-studente-fdu-iz-kandzi-pagan-
ske-sekte (24. 9. 2015)
182 Mirko Stojkovi
SERIOUSNESS OF PLAY:
VIDEO GAME ART IN SERBIA
Vera Mevorah
Serious business of gaming

Video games have made an important impact on contemporary society, es-
pecially during the last decade. Among the important spheres of production
affected by this phenomenon are global economy, technology development,
Internet and popular culture, media consumption, but also the very world of
high art, affected not only by the steadfast development of new media aes-
thetics in this genre, but also by further erosion of tightly knit borders be-
tween artistic disciplines and slow changing of the very definition of Art
in contemporary context. I will present shortly these discourses that invoke
the signifier of seriousness in video game world, as I attempt to position the
specific appropriative practices of so-called art games or video game art in
global and Serbian context. The reason I put the Serbian in quotation marks
comes from distinguished globalized and virtualized identities of these art
pieces, one that I will present as closely connected to the practice and culture
of Internet art genre.
In 2013, video game industry had an estimated value of over 60 billion
dollars (Zackariasson, Wilson 2012: 1). This vast system of production had
by far outraced film and music industry and shares most of their production
methods, yet in many ways it remains equated to somewhat insignificant and
unrecognized gaming subculture, a favorite pastime of a stereotyped figure
of lone male, sitting in his parents basement or boyhood room doing noth-
ing all day long, but playing video games. The concept of play here is funda-
mentally opposed to what is deemed necessary productive (and serious) be-
havior of one member of society. While playing games in history of Western
and other civilizations has long been considered a social activity intended for
both adults and children and not differentiated in this sense, with evolution
of thinking about child development and pedagogy, playing has slowly come
to be fixated as a thing for children, one that is required to be overgrown with
184 Vera Mevorah
adulthood. Yet, more to the point, we seem to forget that gaming as digital
entertainment did not evolve out of childrens play, but with technological
advances in the eve of Cold War. In those early days of computer technology,
dealing with this kind of equipment was reserved for highly skilled techni-
cians and programmers, who, immerged in the popular culture of the time,
especially science fiction, developed the very first video games, with the
mind set to experimenting with the possibilities of technology. Also, this was
an important period for history of technology because it marked a beginning
of thinking about the usage of computers outside of military and research
goals.1 Video games have always been an important factor in pushing the lim-
its of computer technology, where general hardware and software produc-
tion was often forced to follow the demand of more and more demanding and
complex video game production. Today, it is impossible to separate culture
of personal computing to that of video games. In time, this technological flux
produced a rich and diverse culture.
Gaming today consists of many elements, particularly in its online pro-
duction, with game servers, fan sites, clans, forums etc. Woody Evans in his
study of informational aspects of gaming in 2011 comments on writings of
one Edward Castronova when he writes that [..]Recent developments sug-
gest that all games are going to go online within a very few years. And when
they do, they will all acquire a social dimension (Evans 2011: 24). The devel-
opment and culture of video games have always been connected to the over-
all development of computer science and technology, but have only in recent
part of their history been tied to the Internet, especially with the popular-
ity of Massively multiplayer online role-playing games or MMORPGs such as
World of Warcraft, in the last decade. One could call this culture truly contem-
porary in the sense that it is tightly connected to global capitalistic produc-
tion, uses aggressive marketing and complex production systems and has a
strong communication aspect. Such culture is also present in todays Serbia.
One of the most popular gaming message boards and information platform
in Serbia founded in 1998 KlanRUR has 25.516 members today. There is
a notable gaming community in Serbia, although its production, as well as
visibility, is strongly afflicted by the general economic situation, as well as
social perception of gaming as playing, that is, the opposite of doing anything
serious or important. One of the clear signs that this culture and industry
is set for making society take them serious is string lobbying for so profes-
sional gaming, so called e-sports, that is the campaigning for equalizing the
sporting events in the gaming world to status of other sports. Just recently
here in Belgrade was organized one of many gaming competitions the final
of The World Championship 2015 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tourna-
ment with more than 100.000 dollar reword. Two million people worldwide
watched competition stream online. It is interesting to mention that if you
visit the website of Serbian E-sports Association what you encounter is not
an informative database but a strong visual promotion video defending the

sports status of competitive gaming. Academic investigation into this cul-
ture has opened some new important issues concerning the contemporary
subjectivity as well as deepened the significant cultural investigations of
postmodernism. The questions of immersion, identity, gender, interactivity,
aesthetics, communication, democracy, self-organization and creativity have
moved the international academic community forward in a similar sense as
the video game software moved forward computer hardware technology.
As the discourse diverged, another important battle was waged by the
gaming community, not just winning the status of serious sport activity and
professionalism, but also cultural significance and value, the status of gaming
as Art. It is important to stress that we are not talking about simple dichoto-
my popular/high art here. Todays media culture is much more complex and
overlapping than it was in the middle of the 20th century. I strongly believe
that the question of naming something as Art today is tied not to its struc-
tural elements, seriousness of approach or social value, but to the slow mov-
ing of signifiers in the Art World machinery and assimilation of media objects
in this vast social system. Although video games could be well on their way to
become an art genre, today, it is still mostly considered as the part of popular
art culture (Jenkins 2005) and growing industry. This kind of study specifi-
cally provokes the question of art status of video games, especially since our
thesis introduces video game art not as an aesthetic theory and practice of
gaming, but as a kind of artistic appropriation of this popular genre, one we
connect to contemporary conceptual and new media art discourses.
On the other hand, gaming discourse, especially in the last decade has
developed its own form of moving outside the gaming community with the
idea and development of serious games. This concept that came from Clark
Abt in 1970 (not surprisingly a US laboratory researcher in Cold War period),
that opens up the idea of gamification of fields such as education, urban plan-
ning, military, health etc, that is, the idea of beneficial aspects of applying
gaming in different spheres of human activity (Abt, 1970). Today, this field is
the part of a growing gaming industry as well as widening of the discourse
itself. As they are loosely defined by Baek, Ko and Marsh:
..serious games are games or game-like interactive systems developed with
game technology and design principles for a primary purpose other than
pure entertainment. (Baek, Ko, Marsh 2014: v)
These purposes diverge from government systems and education sector to
healthcare and corporative usage. The military is particularly involved in in-
vesting in this new field giving that its implementation of new technology
and simulations has a long and successful tradition. Gamification of educa-
tion on the other hand has brought forth all the alternative methods of edu-
cation, from interactivity to peer learning. These untraditional educational
186 Vera Mevorah
methods are used to accommodate various forms of learning behavior, as

well as to communicate with digital natives generation. It is not only chil-
dren who have been targeted for this kind of electronic learning. Corpora-
tions are also developing games for personnel training, exactly because more
and more their employees are coming from generation accustomed to video
games. Widening of definition of this new economic field has also resulted
in inclusion of various artistic exploration of games, or video game art as we
discuss it here. The term was popularized by the Serious Games Initiative at
the beginning of 2000s. As David Michael and Sande Chen cite an explanation
of Ben Sawyer, one of the founders of this institution:
...serious in serious games is intended to reflect the purpose of the game,
why it is created, and has no bearing on the content of the game itself.
(Michael, Chen 2006: 23)
These authors present art games together with other forms of political and
social activist and educational projects where the main goal of game produc-
tion is not playing (which they say is sometimes excluded), but the artistic/
political/ideological message that an author intends to convey.
As we have seen, gaming with its diverse culture and production is con-
siderably serious business in its own right and the level of misunderstanding
of its impact in significance in todays world stems greatly from the lack of
understanding of our very technologically saturated societies. There is also a
valid opinion that the mere term serious games is an oxymoron, consider-
ing the deeper understanding of playing in human culture and mind.2 In this
sense, it would be quite natural for artistic endeavors in the world of gam-
ing to follow these trends. But I want to argue that video game art has been
connected to a different discourse than their original counterparts, both in
the sense of digital entertainment and serious games, to that of Internet art
genre and that it is this difference of origin that dominantly characterizes
the genre of video game art and the very meaning of play within it.
Video Game Art as an Internet Art: The Play of Appropriation

In my research, Ive found that there are several categories of artistic explora-
tion in the gaming world. First, we have games specifically designed by art-
ists. This is one of the most widespread forms of the genre and it usually
brings simple graphics and interactivity, focusing mainly on the concept of
the artists. All the examples of game art in Serbia that I will present will fall
under this category. The second category is mods artistic modification or
appropriation of video games. One of the most famous examples of this form
of video game art is work by Brody Condon from 2002 called Velvet Strike.
Created as a response to war on terror proclaimed by US president George
W. Bush, Condon with two others created a modification (a game patch) that
allows the player to spray anti-war graffiti on the walls within the Counter
Strike online game. The third category represents artistic performances
within virtual worlds. Today, we can find many examples of artists being ac-
tive in games like Second Life, creating performances and exhibitions, usually
bringing in them critique of the virtual world itself. Last category presents
the widest context of gaming, and its not closely related to the gaming cul-
ture in the digital world, but exploration of concepts of play and games in
artistic creation and performance.
One of the works by Serbian artists I want to discuss is an Internet art
game called Symbols of Fortune by Katarina Kaplarski. As she explains the
game play:
User formulates her/his question and types it in the white box on the main
page. User pushes the start button and chooses one of the 4 symbols. User
waits for the second cycle to start and chooses another symbol that will
define the answer to her/his question...3
Kaplarski uses the idea of playing referring to our earliest experiences of this
activity - a children's game. But as we will see, for Kaplarski, as well as many
other artists, the idea of playing games is far more serious than a mere child's
play. Presenting us with a paper fortune teller game, the artists invite us to
play through the choices in our lives. There is somewhat inherent need in
people to know their future. That fact is used to point out that what happens
is always about our choice. The artist postulates that these choices can be ei-
ther good or bad framing them in form of symbols we use to represent these
polarities in our societies (symbol for radioactive, biohazard symbol, the Nazi
swastika, Jolly Roger or death symbol, hearth, the symbol of love, smiley face,
yin-yang, peace, male and female symbols, four-leaf clover and five-pointed
star). Paper fortune teller, a popular children game, usually consists of sym-
bols of some kind which when we choose lead us to another choice, then
another, and ultimately to the answer to our question. Kaplarskis fortune
telling brings what on the first glance seems like a feel good message: Hard
work pays off, Do a good deed today, Start saving money for a rainy day,
Your talents will be recognized and reworded, Dont be so sad, Try to look
on the positive side, Something you lost will soon turn up You will be in-
vited to an exciting event etc.. All those messages are nevertheless ironic, be-
cause the artist also gives us a visual message that speaks about the underly-
ing symbolism to our lives and our choices. When you choose the five pointed
star, it gives you a message that Hard work pays off showing a video of
factory production of weaponry in World War II, inviting us to reconsider
whether this message is true in governing systems around the world? Or for
what is our work being used and who gets the payoff? When you choose the
four-leaf clover, the message You will be invited to an exciting event shows
in the background a video of a Nazi general Anton Dostler execution event in
188 Vera Mevorah
Italy, in 1945. The featuring video behind the female symbol answer Your
talents will be recognized and reworded serves as a reminder of yet unequal
woman rights, while the male symbol leads us to a video of male exotic danc-
ers and the message Start saving money for a rainy day.
Another example is the work by Aleksandra Jovanic, titled Over 7 seas &
mountains. This online game again calls up a child in us, a fairytale. She brings
us a playful interactive story about moving through stages in lifes events,
many of which are not pleasant. Jovanic uses the psychological system of
seven stages of grief, an extended version of the well known Kubler-Ross
model, a so-called grief cycle, invented to help dying people come to terms
with their faith. Jovanic, instead of speaking about grief, takes us, level by
level, through seven stages of acceptance: Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining,
Depression, Testing and Acceptance. She uses the most popular old forms
of video games such as puzzle, maze, arcade etc., with Space Invaders game
characters presented as heroes of the game. Not creatures of alien invasion
coming down upon us, but happy and colorful avatars, who make flowers
grow and depression go away. The artist appropriates the formalistic aspects
of video games game levels, and in a sense equates our playing to possible
overcoming of our everyday issues, bringing to light mental health problems
in contemporary society.
The last example is a board game and smart device application game
by Les Miserables trio (Isidora Todorovic, Andrea Palasti and Luka Ranisav-
ljevic) titled Can you feel the spill? As artists explain, the game is conceived
as a turn-based strategy game for two players, which deals with a glocal
ecological issue of offshore oil drillings and its environmental impacts.4 It
explores the specific issue of oilfield in one of UNESCOs World Heritage Sites
Curonian Spit. Two players of the board game are taking up the roles of oil-
field management and respectively environmentalist management. This very
detailed game has the goal similar to Risk game, take all the territories and
eliminate the other player. But for the artists here there is no good and bad
side, because both are equally part of the same corrupt capitalist system. As
Andrea Palasti writes:
In its dense disposition of intricate rules, the game is therefore using an
ironic language to reflect the notions of the capitalistic power formations
and through that, to play around with the players subjectivity.5
The artists use the players subjectivity as a form of performance, inviting
him or her to play as the market does, and to start thinking critically about it.
Game is almost impossible to finish, as they write mostly because of the lack
of concentration and/or interest, where presenting an important environ-
mental issue, artists critically position their work as a game, one even when a
catastrophe is at hand, we rarely have interest to follow and think about. The
online active version is a simple game application for smart devices, mainly
android phones and it uses the clickability or the simple interactivity ele-
ment in a game to make us map out the oil spills in the area of Curonian Spit
giving us along the way the educational messages about environmental dan-
gers of oil drilling.
Video games have been from the start a point of interest for the Internet
artists. Internet art is a specific form of artistic production which uses the
structural elements of technology in order to bring forth the final product.
As one of artistic signifiers of new media aesthetics these pieces are mostly
characterized by interactivity, experimentation with form and strong ideo-
logical positions. These forms are inseparable both from the contexts of their
creation (the Web) and many complex discourses of cyberculture as well as
their status of new media art form. This multifaceted genre emerged from
experimentation in avant-garde and conceptual art practces such as perfor-
mances, pop art, mail art etc., but is also closely related to experimentation
of artists with technology culminating with telematic art of Roy Ascot. Ascot
is also the author of one of the very first Internet art pieces from 1983
La Plissure du Texte: A Planetary Fairy Tale. But, defining of the field came
much later with widespread popularity of World Wide Web in the second half
of the 1990s with the working of artistic community called net.art, among
whom were Vuk Cosic, Heath Bunting, duo JODI, Olia Lialina, Alexei Shulgin
etc.. Most of the pioneers of internet art dabbled in one way or another in the
question of gaming culture. Also, most video game art pieces are using if not
depending completely on the Internet as an operating and spreading mecha-
nism. Anne-Marie Schleiner, American artist and gamer in an interview in
1999 says:
I am interested in the notion of art as culture hacking, art with a critical
agenda that seeps outside the boundaries of prescribed art audiences
and engages itself with a broader public (i.e. the gaming public). Art that
finds cracks in the code and hacks into foreign systems. I also want to in-
vite a cross-pollination of gaming and art strategies by providing artists
with tools and techniques developed by game hackers and exhibiting game
patches created by gamers as art. (cited in: Greene 2004: 146)
Beside some very obvious signifiers of cyberculture like hacking, Schleiner
describes some of the basic aspects of Internet art and its achievements, such
as cross-pollination of discourses, new forms of art public or art for public.
Video game art has maybe most in common with one specific form of Inter-
net art, which today can be defined also as a separate field of artistic produc-
tion, but one that nevertheless shares the same origin and faith as the rest of
technologically mediated artworks software art.
In the very categorization of art games as serious games, we also find
overlapping of artistic striving in game design in general (video games as
art) and artistic experimentation with games (game art), but also the differ-
190 Vera Mevorah
ences between them. Whereas serious in serious games stands for non-enter-
tainment objectives of game, in video game art, the play is about taking seri-
ously the gaming culture itself, bringing questions and applying the concept
of playing to everyday issues. David Parlett in Oxford History of Board Games
writes:
Play validates itself. Its purpose and value are intrinsic. True games serve
no conscious practical purpose beyond that of satisfying an urge to play
which is sometimes regarded as an instinct. (Parlett 1999: 2)
Even though this is somewhat a crude definition of playing games, it points to
a set of differences between games and video game art. I argue that there is a
different form of seriousness in video game art, as well as a different concept
of play than the one we find in the field of serious gaming today. One that is
more connected to the idea of play in Internet art in general than playing as
we know in gaming. In all the pieces we discussed artists use of the context
of games as conceptual critique of games as such, as well as our seemingly
game playing-like activities in the world. Opposed to playing a game, where
the model is almost always a certain set of rules made for completing an ob-
jective, video game art uses this model as a concept to be played with, usually
without any objective other then raising issues and questions. As Aleksandra
Jovanic writes about her piece:
In order to emphasize the fact that this is an art project, rather than a com-
puter game, many of the usual characteristics of classic video game cannot
be found here. Real aspiration for competition is not provoked in a player,
since everybody is able to pass all levels very easily. Points are not accumu-
lated and the goal of the game is not obvious. However, by pretending to be
an artwork, maybe it will provoke some questions and emotions?6
There is a playfulness in Internet art genre that is critical and provoking, seri-
ous and which correlates more with how art games utilizes the concept of
play then how playing has been utilized in serious gaming. It is also impor-
tant to mark, that creation of these artistic game pieces is a very much differ-
ent process than the production of commercial games, serious or otherwise.
Just consider the crew credit of 2004 Halo 2 game Simon Egenfeldt-Nils-
en and his colleagues present in their study:
Project lead: 1 person; Executive producer: 1 person; Engineering leads: 4
people; Design leads: 2 people; Art director: 1 person; Writer, director of
cinematic: 1 person; Composer, audio director: 1 person; Producers: 3 peo-
ple; 3d artists: 4 people; User interface designer: 1 person; Multiplayer and
user-interface lead: 1 person; Engineering: 11 people; Other: more than 80.
(Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, Tosca 2008: 16)
Left mostly to their own devices, artists don't have the means or expertise to
create complex gaming environments, and their projects, usually completed
in collaboration with programmers, mainly serve to question, explore and put

to use form, aesthetic and ideology of gaming. Also, while commercial game
production can team up to 30 programmers, artistic projects are usually done
with one or two individuals. Michel and Chen, when discussing art, political
and religious games, posit that meaning, that crucial element of majority of
contemporary art projects, is becoming an especially significant element of
game design. But where in games visual and other layers of meaning are only
an element, in most video game art pieces it is that central component which
is usually the only one that communicates, where interaction and goals of the
game are completely insignificant and sometimes non-existent.
Serbian context itself is another argument that puts video game art more
naturally with the Internet art discourse than a gaming one. Apart from Ka-
tarina Kaplarski's appropriation of five pointed star symbol, used in many
governments and militaries around the world, a symbol remains a particu-
larly significant for the specific political context of former Yugoslavia as a red
star, a symbol of communism; there aren't any Serbian signifiers beside the
country of origin of the artists themselves in these works. This is one of the
main characteristics of Internet art in Serbia, together with pervasive use of
English language. These pieces are created for a global online/gaming com-
munity and just as other forms of digital interactive art became inseparable
part of the digital media ecology itself, pushing the borders between art and
our widely spreading digital lives.
We are talking about different levels of origin. Even though gaming cul-
ture has always been an important part of new media culture which inserted
many of its values and methods to the very structures of Internet and other
new media interfaces, the direct influence and field of production that gave
birth to video game art is of much later date, and in many ways a rounded
subculture, the same one which birthed Internet art genre. A perspective Im
suggesting here is not a lone one.
In Wolfs encyclopedia of video games Martin Picard writes alongside,
citing some of the important names in Internet art field:
Such software is better categorized in the genre of art games, which are
mostly works of art made by artist from a game engine, or those intended
to be experienced as an artistic (and ludic) interactive encounter. (cited in:
Wolf 2012: 39)
Stephane Natkin writes that these works would better be called art about
games than game art (Natkin 2006: 127). Why is this question important?
Internet art itself is today a conflicted field of study, for some, one that seized
to exist in the middle of the 2000s and that is today more about the overall
influence of cyberculture on young generation of artists, whatever their tech-
nique, than it is about the technologically generated artworks we are discuss-
ing here (post-Internet art). New media practices are particularly prone to
192 Vera Mevorah
diminishing and lessening the tight nit borders of disciplines. One example
of overlapping of gaming and artistic discourses in this context are game
modifications, at the same time an important part of the gaming community
participation in the game development and production, and a popular artis-
tic intervention in the gaming world. Also, some examples of serious games,
especially developed by NGOs and governments out step from what could be
called game like to what seems like any other example of socially engaged
interactive software. It will be interesting to see how games as the possible
Eighth Art would transform the Art World. The experience of other new me-
dia art forms in this sense has showed many difficulties, yet none of them
were such a strong contender, especially considering the magnitude of the in-
dustry. But even though the Art World has begun to slowly explore the impact
of multi-authorship and interactivity, video game art being tightly connected
to the history and practices of Internet art, as I tried to point out shares many
of its aesthetics and ideology, as well as problems of reach, financing and
appreciation. I believe that studying these art forms from the Internet art
discourse, as well as from the gaming one, can prove beneficial in untangling
the complex workings of this marriage between artists and gaming, art and
games, as well as bring us closer to understanding better digital culture that
surrounds us. Perhaps we are witnessing a coming transformation of gam-
ing as an art form, one that would bring new modes, new dimensions of
human experience7; perhaps, the experimentation of the artists with games
will play some role in this new field, but I argue that this form will be very dif-
ferent from the art games we are currently having, those modest and gravely
overseen artistic experiments in contemporary digital culture.
References:
Abt, Clark C., 1970. Serious Games, New York, The Viking Press.
Baek, Youngkyun, Ko, Ryan, Marsh, Tim eds. 2014. Trends and Applications of Serious
Gaming and Social Media, Singapore, Springer.
Art and the Internet. 2013. London, UK. Black Dog Publishing.
Dillon, Roberto. 2011. The Golden Age of Video Games: The Birth of a Multibillion Dol-
lar Industry, Boca Raton, A K Peters/CRC Press.
Djaouti, Damien, Alvarez, Julian, Jessel Jean-Pierre, Rampnoux, Olivier, Origins of Se-
rious Games, http://www.ludoscience.com/files/ressources/origins_of_seri-
ous_games.pdf, 26. 11. 2015, 12:42.
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon, Smith, Jonas Heide, Pajares Tosca, Susana. 2008. Under-
standing Video Games: The Essential Introduction, New York, Rutledge.
Evans, Woody. 2011. Information Dynamics in Virtual Worlds: Gaming and Beyond,
Oxford, UK, Chandos Publishing.
Gere, Charlie. 2002. Digital Culture, London, Reaktion Books.
Goriunova, Olga. 2012. Art Platforms and Cultural Production on the Internet, New
York, London, Routledge.
Greene, Rachel. 2004. Internet Art, London, Thames & Hudson.

Jenkins, H. 2005. Games, the New Lively Art in Raessens, J., Goldstein J. (eds.), Hand-
book of Computer Game Studies, Cambridge, The MIT Press.
Ma, Minhua, Oikonomou, Andreas, Jain, Lakhmi C. eds. 2011. Serious Games and
Edutainment Applications, London, Springer.
Michael, David, Chen, Sande. 2006. Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train and
Inform, New York, Thomson Course Technology PTR.
Natkin, Stephane. 2006. Video Games and Interactive Media: A Glimpse at New Digital
Entertainment, Wellesley, MA, A K Peters, Ltd.
Palasti, Andrea. 2013. Playing the critique: The subversive notion of the Can you feel
the spill? board game, http://nidacolony.lt/images/docs/Playing_the_critique.
pdf, 26. 11. 2015, 19:00.
Parlett, David S. 1999. The Oxford History of Board Games, Oxford, UK, Oxford Univer-
sity Press.
Paul, Christiane. 2008. Digital Art, London, Thames & Hudson.
Quaranta, Domenico, Games Aesthetics: How Video Games are Transforming Con-
temporary Art, M. Bittanti, D. Quaranta, eds. 2006. Game Scenes: Art in the Age
of Videogames, Milan, Johan & Levi, pp. 297-308.
Rush, Michael. 2005. New Media in Art, London, Thames & Hudson.
Ryan, Johnny. 2010. A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, London, Reaktion
Books.
Searsmith, Kelly, Digital Arts Media as the Eighth Art?, http://edream.illinois.edu/
blog/digital-arts-media-as-the-eighth-art, 25. 11. 2015, 14:05.
Stallabrass, Julian. 2003. Internet Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce, Lon-
don, Tate Publishing.
Turkle, Sherry. 1997. Life on the Screen, New York, Simon & Schuster.
Wolf, Mark J. P. ed. 2012. Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology and Art
of Gaming, Volume 1, Greenwood, Santa Barbara, California.
Zackariasson, P., Wilson, T. L. eds. 2012. The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present
State, and Future, London, Routledge.
Notes:
1 The first successful video game developed in this period and the one that is often
considered to be the beginning of video games was Spacewar in 1962.
2 Djaouti, Damien, Alvarez, Julian, Jessel Jean-Pierre, Rampnoux, Olivier, Origins of
Serious Games, http://www.ludoscience.com/files/ressources/origins_of_serious_
games.pdf, 26. 11. 2015, 12:42.
3 http://fortunesymbols.com/, 30. 11. 2015., 13:22.
4 http://nidacolony.lt/en/278-can-you-feel-the-spill-project-by-nac-serbian-a-i-r-s,
ac. 30. 11. 2015, 13:55.
5 Palasti, Andrea, 2013, Playing the critique: The subversive notion of the Can you feel
the spill? board game, http://nidacolony.lt/images/docs/Playing_the_critique.pdf,
26. 11. 2015, 19:00.
6 http://www.bajtima8bitova.com/over7seas/, 30. 11. 2015., 19:00.
7 Searsmith, Kelly, Digital Arts Media as the Eighth Art, http://edream.illinois.edu/
blog/digital-arts-media-as-the-eighth-art, 25. 11. 2015, 14:05.
194 Vera Mevorah
DIGITAL MEDIA ARCHIVING PRACTICES

VIDEO GAME TEXTS
Biljana Mitrovi
Introduction
With the development of computer technology, especially due to the rapid
expansion of the Internet and, consequently, World Wide Web, almost all
spheres of life, human labor, creativity and culture have started to partial-
ly or completely take place in the digital environment. Charlie Gere (2008)
points out that digital doesnt mean just simply either discrete data or the
machines that use such data (Gere 2008: 15), which is the basic meaning
and use of the term. Lev Manovich (2001) (re)defines and questions the ex-
pression new media and relativizes the concepts of digital and interactive,
which leads to the problem of usage of these phrases. As an operational term
that will be used in this analysis, I chose a broad definition of digital given by
Charlie Gere, who uses it to denote a wide field in accordance with observa-
tion that the term refers to
[...]metonymically, the whole panoply of virtual simulacra, instantaneous
communication, ubiquitous media and global connectivity that constitutes
much of our contemporary experience. It is to allude to the vast range of
applications and media forms that digital technology has made possible [...]
(Gere 2008: 15)
In the widely defined area of digital forms, video games represent an inter-
esting field of examination, since their creation, playing, impact on many
spheres of culture and society, as well as archiving, takes place in conjunction
with different practices involving the use of computer technology, the Inter-
net and World Wide Web. Although video games in general will be taken into
considerations, special attention will be paid to MMORPG video games.
MMORPG is an acronym for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.
It is a type of role-playing video games or web browser-based games in which
a very large number of players interact with the game and one another with-
196 Biljana Mitrovi
in a virtual world. Game worlds are consistent and they continue to exist and
constantly be changed even when the players are not playing or when they
are signed out of the game.
One of the reasons for dealing with MMORPGs is their popularity: the
best known and most widespread MMORPG is World of Warcraft (2004) with
14.5 million copies sold1, Guild Wars 2 (2012), with about 7 million registered
accounts.2 In October 2010, World of Warcrafts subscriber base exceeded 12
million players worldwide.3 In August 2013 Guild Wars 2 had 460 000 players
online at one time (which is more than entire population of Iceland)4. In 2013
EVE Online had more than 500,000 paying subscribers.5
Publishers are using different categories that is affirmative for them, but
for this analysis, it is important that there is a large number of players who
have the capacity to create significant cultural, media and social phenomena.
Simultaneously, these players are a focused and relatively small, but signifi-
cant interest group that creates and uses the archives.
MMORPG video games have been chosen as the subject of this study
because, in addition to the features that other video games also have, they
include the aforementioned large number of players that simultaneously ac-
cess the game world via the Internet, putting into focus the online aspect of
the digital environment as well as the here-and-now aspect, the ability to
create a variety of content through collective playing cooperation or com-
petition. Another important feature lies in the fact that many MMORPG video
games are often updated after the first publication publishers are adding
new content, new parts of the virtual world or game elements are significant-
ly changed, rules and features of the game are changed and updated. These
activities and changes are interesting material for archiving.
Finally, in this paper archiving is perceived as the collecting and storage
of data. In the context of video games, archiving can be related to the strate-
gies for the storage and sorting of hardware machines and technical re-
sources that have, from the video game development, been used to play them
(coin-operated entertainment machines, consoles, computer components),
software, game mechanics, gameplay and rules, followed by the artistic ele-
ments that include creative concepts, graphic design, narrative and perfor-
mative practices, as well as records of the gaming experience. In contrast to
the typical collection and storage of physical objects (hardware), software
and other digital components can be stored and presented in the form of da-
tabases of programs, codes, scripts, visual solutions and concepts etc.
One of the first exhibitions of computer game archaeology is Videotpia
travelling museum exhibition of video arcade machines and game consoles,
organized by the group Electronic Conservancy6 (Ernst 2013: 227). This ex-
hibition is focused on the physical aspects of video games; it is a collection
of objects or, rather, an archive of hardware the medium carrier. When it
comes to software archiving, Wolfgang Ernst notes that the storage of soft-
ware programs is performed in two ways, which include conflicting practic-

es: copyrights and software piracy. Piracy is seen as a way for creating an-
archical archive, an anarchive of otherwise abandoned software as cultural
evidence (2013: 115). Multimedia archives, which are in the focus of this
analysis connect (stored) past and (illusion of) the present and thus is more
than just an extension or remapping of well-known archival practices. (Ernst
2013: 137).
Due to its ubiquity and direct or indirect focus of various user activities
on the creation of archives, Ernst refers to the archiving practices on the In-
ternet as archival phantasms in cyberspace (2013: 115), evoking Derridas
remark archive fever, a fever that, given the World Wide Webs digital stor-
age capacities, is not likely to cool any time soon.8 (Jacques Derrida in Ernst
2013: 115).
While the architecture of the archives was previously based on the clas-
sification and cataloging in the passive storage space7, digital archives are
organized on the principle of dynamic approach (ibid: 29). The Internet is a
dynamic archive whose main characteristic is constant updating, where the
old notion of the archival space adopts a new dimension. Internet archives
and knowledge bases (i.e. Wikipedia) imply constant re-writing or addition
(ibid: 84-85). In the context of the study of memory in the filed of Internet
archives, Ernst notes:
for the new kind of memory there are no longer fixed lieux de mmoire, not
in the sense of institutions, but rather in the sense of rhizomes within the net
itself. There are no lieux de memoire; rather, there are addresses. (ibid: 138)
At the same time, as cultural memory in the digital age, Jussi Parikka in his
book What is Media Archaeology? (2012) emphasizes the importance of the
role of the user in the process of curating and archiving: [] much of the
debate in digital cultural heritage has revolved around user experience [] as
well as the new possibilities afforded by participatory, collaborative involve-
ment in the cultural heritage (Parikka 2012: 122), which is the main focus of
this paper, applied to the selected media case study.
Archiving of gaming experience by players

As stated previously, this paper focuses on the gaming experience and ar-
chiving by players due to the particularly participatory (Jenkins 2006) fea-
tures of these games and the use of numerous, mostly Internet platforms.
Most of the archiving practices of the gaming experience have distinct
DIY characteristics these practices are implemented by the players, using a
variety of tools and procedures offered in the game (screenshots are directly
placed into predefined folders related to the games), game play recording ap-
plications (recording on the content displayed on screen as the player sees it
198 Biljana Mitrovi
while playing) and then posting such content on YouTube or social networks.
These practices are reflected in: Creating personal archives of game screen-
shots or video clips; Recording of personal individual or collective gaming
experience in mastering the game (so-called PvE mode) or in different vari-
ants of the competition against other players (PvP mode).
Those archives often remain stored on players computers in the form
of personal archives, albums and reminders of fun or a free time spent play-
ing with friends in the game, but the more interesting and significant is the
use of those archives by sharing them with other players on the Internet and
relevance of these archives in participatory culture.
Archiving of video material most commonly refers to the capture of
gameplay itself and posting it on the Internet, usually on YouTube. For ex-
ample, players have their own YouTube channels, that are often specialized
for some aspects of gameplay. In Guild Wars, one of the players has weekly
updated his YouTube channel Treys Weekly GW Tutorials.8 His videos have
always had the same form, thus representing a sort of a TV show format:
introductory credits consisting of parts, excerpts from previous so-called
episodes. This practice is similar to the TV series opening credits that rep-
resent a kind of an archive, or a reminder of what had happened in previous
episodes, and it contains certain music and the title of the series, which in-
troduces viewers to the already expected format of that instruction. Videos
begin with the player/author sitting at his computer; he welcomes viewers
and gives a brief introduction to the game task set for the current week. Then
the recording of his playing is presented and it shows an effective way of
solving the task.
The other example that can be set aside as specific, comes from a com-
pletely different perspective: the players create what is in the theory of oral
tradition and folklore called the epic character biography (Mitrovi 2015:
339): his history, accomplishments and list of achievements which represent
the players competence. There are a few ways to represent that biography:
by literary expression posted on forums or blogs or audio-visual representa-
tion on YouTube through video capture compilation portraying his achieve-
ments throughout his virtual heroic life.9
Those biographies of the players characters follow a similar structure
of already described instructions to play. Thanks to these archives, players
stand out from the playing community. At the time of creating an archive,
they become recognizable in the game, and later, when the game becomes
outdated, remain as prominent individuals and thanks to the archives the
gaming community remembers them.
Producing and uploading those videos result in creation of online da-
tabases, archives of gaming experience, which at the same time are a video
blog, archive of changes in the game, transfer of know-how. The author dem-
onstrates their playing competence, skill for making videos, content creation,
maintaining contact with the audience, who are usually other players. The
creator of the archives usually continues to interact with other players/audi-
ence using comments to keep and encourage his/her audience to continue
following the channel.
So, for this procedure, media competency and certain media knowledge
is necessary in order to provide first and foremost playing games, then cre-
ation, and finally, the usage of the archives. Viewers of those clips are almost
exclusively other players and game developers. They use that content as guide
for their own playing or indication of reception of the game. However, their
position is changing they are viewers, users (of the instructions), authors of
comments and players of video-related content. By using download options
or creating bookmarks, they can make their own archive as selection of the
available archives. They also participate in commenting on the video clips
and thus, in the ideal case, they supplement, alter or enrich the archives and
update information for other users (who thus become the archivists them-
selves in multiple ways).
Authors often shorten or speed up the recorded material using simple
editing tools available in the basic programs and applications so creation of
archives is about effective handling of data, in attempt to compress and show
the most important or most interesting data in the shortest time or the least
space possible.
On the other hand, Ernst points out that media storage is increasingly
intertwined with the emergence of streaming media. An example of stream-
ing media in the context of video games the most prominent example is
Twitch10 (in addition to the streaming options available on YouTube). It is
designed to be a platform for video game-related content, including e-sports
tournaments, personal streams of individual players, and gaming-related
talk shows. Although Twitch has redefined its politics of saving and archiving
video material (by limiting the length of the archived video or material stor-
age duration), streamed videos are a rich source of material for other types of
archives. That confirms Ernsts argument that borders between transmission
media and storage media become blurred (Ernst 2013: 100).
On forums, blogs, social media pages or even official game web pages,
similar to the particles of handling video material on YouTube, the comments
that follow videos or screenshots from the game are included in the archive,
so that future viewers/users/players who read texts or view images can read
comments as addition. In them, they can find instructions for playing or sup-
plements to memories of initial set of materials. Potentially, this archive will
eventually be complemented with comments or different images and clips of
other users and that will represent a dynamic structure.
Those practices usually use the format of a written text that describes
gameplay either as a walkthrough, or as a trace of playing, proving the play-
ers competence. The image or video can be added only as an illustration of
200 Biljana Mitrovi
written text, or the text is only accompanying explanation that follows the
video / picture.
In addition to the material relating to the gaming experience created by
the players themselves, official (and only) releases and data presented by
game developers and publishers, who use these channels to approach the
players, can be found on blogs and forums. At the same time these platforms
become the only places where one can find statistics such as the number of
players, or news about changes in the game.
Machinima as potential archive

The term machinima was originally used in the form machinema (machine
+ cinema). The machinima form has emerged as a compound of machine ani-
mation or machinimation (Lowood 2005: 10) and is defined as a 3D game-
based filmmaking.
Machinima is the practice of the creation of video materials by in-game
recording and processing through editing procedures and combining various
formats with game performance (Nitsche 2015: 111-112).
Within the existing features of the game (space, equipment, possibilities
of movement, fighting and other forms of interaction), the authors, usually
players, realize prearranged or improvised scenarios, or several players co-
ordinate to perform certain content that they created themselves. The point
of view and camera positions are also a matter of choice of the author of the
content, within the capabilities of the particular game. Through the editing
procedures, these recordings are then shaped into particular forms (music
videos, talk show programs etc.).
Machinima indicate the state of development and possibilities of tech-
nology used to create, record or utilize 3D animation and requires advanced
technical capabilities, sophisticated gaming skills, as well as the abillity to
use and process the recorded material and present it to the audience.
In addition to amateur DIY creations which are often present on the Inter-
net, where players (authors) use characters that are created for the occasion
or those that are already being used for playing, this practice is used in film
and television, where it is blended together with other animated content.
The South Park episode Make Love Not Warcraft (2006) is among the
most famous pop-culture examples of machinima about half of the material
in the episode was filmed in the game.
The game publisher, Blizzard Entertainment, helped the creators to re-
cord this material by providing space in the game world, practically a virtual
setting for filming.11 In addition to the episodes satirical manner of deal-
ing with the social and psychological phenomena and stereotypes that are
associated with the MMO gaming culture, authentic footage from the game
contributes to authenticity of the animated series and in the same time rep-
resents a record and preserves many features of the game at the time.
Although the archiving potential is only a secondary result of this prac-
tice, machinima is significant in terms of archiving because its results can
potentially reach larger number of viewers than regular video gameplay re-
cordings that are posted on YouTube or other platforms. In this way, a wider
range of audiences come in contact with elements of the games (film and
TV audience) and game features are saved using means other than the most
common DIY methods and individual presentation on Internet platforms.
Archives between the real and virtual world

One particular example of the interweaving of multiple levels of gaming ex-
perience, archiving of the virtual world phenomena, different platforms of
new media and overlaping with the events of the real world is the circum-
stances of the death of Sean Smith, the officer with the United States For-
eign Service, who was killed during the attack on US embassy in Benghazi
(Libya) on September 11, 2012.12 During his career in the US army, he was
stationed in Iraq and Libya. From these places he played EVE Online or, in the
absence of technical capabilities, participated in the content related to the
game through specialized chat channels or forums and blogs. The reports of
his death included his last words written in-game as an important element.
During a chat session, Smith described to another player circumstances and
the possibility of an attack, as well as the beginning of the action, as he has
done several times before. This extreme example of an overlap of the virtual
and the real world, as a result of the simultaneous presence in digital envi-
ronment, indicates the possibility of using the material recorded in the vir-
tual environment as documents of the events in the real world.
This case also caused other phenomena and reactions in the virtual world
that can be seen as archives and forms of memory and remembrance: in the
game, players honored late player in various ways: by naming the different
elements of the game after him, or by in-game gatherings and performances
in his honor.13 When these actions (videos, screeshots, texts...) are recorded,
a new layer of archives emerges news about the events in the digital world
are linked with official announcements thus creating a rhizome structure.
Conclusion
The analyzed specialized digital archives can be classified according to:
forms (images, videos, with or without text), purpose (playing instructions,
explanations, recording of personal and collective success and actions as
memories, creative practice, traces of the technical and artistic development
202 Biljana Mitrovi
of games or changes within a particular game over time), use of recorded ma-
terial (unedited, raw material, then, in the editing process, the condensed
forms that make the video more interesting to the viewer and facilitate fol-
lowing and, finally, machinima as remedialized visual aesthetic form). Such
products mark another division: the DIY works shown online and profession-
al mainstream media television and film products.
Interdependences and interactions between the real world and the vir-
tual world create a permeable membrane between the recordings of events
from both enviroments that are supplementing one another.
Digital archives require more and more diverse forms of transmission,
streaming, saving, organizing, and sorting of archived materials. These prac-
tices contain distinct components of participatory culture and tendencies for
spreading to different media platforms. Due to the constant recording process
and the increasing need for archiving of technological and creative aspects of
the digital environment (in the form of a knowledge bases or as important fac-
tors in the processes of remembrance and memory), users/authors/players
acquire a new role the role of permanent archivists of the digital media.
References:
Ernst, Wolfgang. 2013. Digital Memory and the Archive, Minneapolis, London: Univer-
sity of Minnesota Press
Gere, Charlie 2008. Digital Culture, London: Reaktion Books Ltd.
Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Convergence Culture, New York: New York University Press
Manovich, Lev. 2001. The Language of New Media, Cambridge MA & London: The MIT
Press
Mitrovi, Biljana. 2015. Medijska (ne)pismenost i (ne)pismenost u medijima: sluaj
MMO videoigara in: Medijski dijalozi, asopis za istraivanje medija i drutva,
No. 22, year VIII. Podgorica: Istraivaki medijski centar. pp. 337-349
Nitsche, Michael 2015. Machinimas potential in Films and Games in: Films and
Games, interactions, (eds. Lenhardt, Eva and Rauscher, Andreas), Frankfurt am
Mein: Deutsches Filmmuseum pp. 107-113
Parikka, Jussi. 2012. What is Media Archaeology? Cambridge and Malden Polity Press
Parikka, Jussi. 2013. Archival Media Theory: An Introduction to Wolfgang Ernsts
Media Archaeology in Ernst, Wolfgang. Digital Memory and the Archive, Min-
neapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press pp. 1-22
Webography:
Blizzard Entertainment Press Releases, World Of Warcraft Subscriber Base Reach-
es 12 Million Worldwide http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/press/press-
releases.html?id=2847881 Accessed: January 5th 2016.
Blizzard Entertainment Statistics Statistic Brain. Research Date: January 1st, 2016
http://www.statisticbrain.com/blizzard-entertainment-statistics/ Accessed:
January 5th 2016.
CNN, Ex-SEALs, online gaming maven among Benghazi dead, By Matt Smith, Updated
September 14, 2012 http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/13/us/benghazi-vic-
tims/ Accessed: December 14th 2015
EVE Online Passes Half a Million Subscribers, IGN, February 28. 2013. http://www.
ign.com/articles/2013/02/28/eve-online-passes-half-a-million-subscribers
Accessed: January 5th 2016.
EVE Online: Vile Rat Cyno Vigil Tribute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzBGH
NzGi8M&feature=youtu.be Accessed: December 14th 2015
Guild Wars 2 Hits 7 Million Players as Expansion Launches, October 23. 2015. http://
www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/23/guild-wars-2-hits-7-million-players-as-
expansion-launches Accessed: January 5th 2016.
Guild Wars 2, Guild Wars 2: The First Year, Mike OBrien, August 27, 2013 https://www.
guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-the-first-year/ Accessed: January 5th
2016.
Machinima Inc. http://web.archive.org/web/20070519205936/http://www.machinima.
com/article.php?article=459
Oro Neyishi, Laela Blackbird, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hge-Sx9gxVY Ac-
cessed: 16th December 2015.
Treys Weekly GW Tutorials https://www.youtube.com/user/WeeklyNickGiftFarms/
videos?shelf_id=1&sort=dd&view=0 Accessed: 15th December 2016
Twitch http://www.twitch.tv/ Accesed: 10th December 2015
Videotopia http://www.videotopia.com Accessed: 22nd December 2015
Notes:
1 Blizzard Entertainment Statistics Statistic Brain. Research Date: January 1st, 2016
http://www.statisticbrain.com/blizzard-entertainment-statistics/ Accessed: Janu-
ary 5th 2016.
2 Guild Wars 2 Hits 7 Million Players as Expansion Launches, October 23. 2015. http://
www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/23/guild-wars-2-hits-7-million-players-as-expan-
sion-launches Accessed: January 5th 2016.
3 Blizzard Entertainment Press Releases, World Of Warcraft Subscriber Base Reach-
es 12 Million Worldwide http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/press/pressre-
leases.html?id=2847881 Accessed: January 5th 2016.
4 Guild Wars 2, Guild Wars 2: The First Year, Mike OBrien, August 27, 2013 https://
www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-the-first-year/ Accessed: January 5th
2016.
5 EVE Online Passes Half a Million Subscribers, IGN, February 28. 2013. http://www.
ign.com/articles/2013/02/28/eve-online-passes-half-a-million-subscribers Ac-
cessed: January 5th 2016.
6 Videotopia http://www.videotopia.com Accessed: December 22nd 2015.
7 Parikka draws attention to Foucaults understanding of meaning transition of the
archives from the space to conditions of knowledge (2013: 4).
8 Treys Weekly GW Tutorials https://www.youtube.com/user/WeeklyNickGift-
Farms/videos?shelf_id=1&sort=dd&view=0 Accessed: December 15th 2015.
9 Oro Neyishi, Laela Blackbird, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hge-Sx9gxVY Ac-
cessed: December 16th 2015.
10 Twitch http://www.twitch.tv/ Accesed: 10th December 2015
204 Biljana Mitrovi
11 Machinima, Inc. http://web.archive.org/web/20070519205936/http://www.ma-

chinima.com/article.php?article=459 Accessed: December 16th 2015
12 CNN, Ex-SEALs, online gaming maven among Benghazi dead, By Matt Smith, Updated
September 14, 2012 http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/13/us/benghazi-victims/
Accessed: December 14th 2015
13 EVE Online: Vile Rat Cyno Vigil Tribute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzBGH
NzGi8M&feature=youtu.be Accessed: December 14th 2015
III
Production and Politics of
Memory: Culture, Media and
ArtsPractices
Proizvodnja i politika seanja:

kultura, mediji i umetnike prakse
MEDIATING THE PAST: MONUMENT

POLICIES & PRACTICES OF DISSENT
Milena Dragievi ei
Introduction1
Although it seems that, for memory policies, the only important are national
cultural memory spheres everything what is conceptualized and developed
in the public realm (involving political, educational and cultural institutional
system) a specific interplay between individual (private), social (communi-
cative) and cultural memories (Assmann, J. 2001, 2008) is contributing and
influencing memory and monument policies and practices in the Balkans.
This paper deals with the history of countermonuments in the Balkans with
artistic memory practices that are part of the vanguard artistic movement
from one side, and part of the culture of dissent on the other. Countermon-
ument is a specific artistic media, often created through participation, but
even more within crucial social debates, responding both to official memory
politics and to politics of forgetting.
This contextual and historical approach will open paths toward under-
standing contemporary countermonuments and practices of dissent. As, ac-
cording to Assmann (1995), the memory is three-generational, the brief
presentation will concern three generations of artists belonging to culture of
dissent, but the focus will be on contemporary practices analysed through 5
case studies.
Vanguard movements, Poetry and Countermonuments
It was immediately after WWI that the countermonuments appeared within

the vanguard arts that flourished in Belgrade and Zagreb, around the art jour-
nal Zenit and within surrealist movements. Zenit was the first to publish a
Tatlin drawing for the Monument to the 3rd International on its front page2.
Tatlin Monument came back in Belgrade during exhibition the Breaking
Step (Museum of Contemporary arts, Belgrade 2007) when the group, Henry
208 Milena Dragievi ei
the VIIIs Wives, realized Belgrade part of the project: Tatlins Tower and the
World. They plan to use different opportunities around the world to produce a
piece of Tatlins monument so that one day Tatlins Tower Monument to the
3rd International could be erected. This whole process from Tatlins drawing,
through the use of its reproductions in Zenit and other vanguard journals and
its different models on visual art exhibitions, till its contemporary participa-
tory and sequential realisation is in a sense a real counter-monument prac-
tice, directly opposing monument conventions and usual monument policies.
The first Yugoslav artistic counter-monument was erected by a vanguard
poet Rastko Petrovi3, closely linked to surrealist movement. Thus, sporadic
moments of culture of dissent (Dragievi ei 2012b) started against official
monument policy immediately after WWI in the prophetic intervention of Ras-
tko Petrovi (died in exile after WWII) in his Monument to Roads, published in
the review Putevi/Roads, 1922. This poem in itself is a vanguard monument,
using montage and collage as two main ways of constructing. The Orthodox
Church, provoked by this poem, wanted to organize a special meeting of Saint
Synod devoted to contemporary Serbian poetry and to excommunicate Rastko
Petrovi from the Orthodox Church. He prevented this by publicly declaring
that my verse with Christ has nothing to do with the Orthodox Church Christ.
Here the word Christ has meaning of divinity and mightiness, in a strictly ar-
tistic sense. The whole paragraph relates to the description of one of many
African fetishes: from mahogany, with roundish white eyes, with erected sex
(as a mystical characteristic), in an exotic landscape. As I am religious per-
son myself, it is strange to use my verses for blasphemous interpretations4.
The culture of dissent was continuing through poetry in a next generation.
In the 1960s Duan Radovi, the most famous poet-intellectual of his genera-
tion, has written many ironic short poems, among them the one devoted to
the cult of dead linked to the creation of specific memorial cemeteries.
Our graveyards are great and honourable as our life.
It is nice to live here, and it is awful to die.
There are reasons to live and to die.
Everything is expensive here both life and death.5
However, the light irony in the verses has not prevented Memorial Centre
umarice (Kragujevac), to print this poem on its postcards.
To this tradition of vanguard arts of dissent joins Milena Markovi
(Pesme 2006: 8-9), with her poem: History, jus, salami.
There are people like you
They are mourning the monument
They are mourning the grave
Injustice, misery, woe
Me, I mourn for
Salami.6
It is obvious that these three poems represent three generations of dissent

against official memory policies that saw in monuments the principal way of
mourning and honouring.
Culture of memory and counter-monuments after WWII

The monument policy in socialism (Dragievi ei, 2012a; Karge 2014) was
non-populist as it was using a vocabulary of contemporary arts, far beyond
expectations & understanding of concerned (local) communities. Enlighten
socialist as well as dissident elites (leftist and nationalistic, but both antifas-
cist) have never put in question those socialist, celebratory, abstract (sym-
bolic) monuments. Short films of Duan Makavejev Seal (1955), Monuments
should not be trusted (1958)7 together with Parade (1962) announced his
future style and poetic, ironical approach to established values, in a subtle
way questioning official politics of memorialization and celebration repre-
senting dissident, Countermonument art form.
The Sixties were the years of opening: in this atmosphere and especially
after student riots of 1968, conceptual artists started to act in public space,
but also in recently created students cultural centers. Thus, the projects such
as the actions of art group A3 in Belgrade (Dragievi ei 2012c: 22, 53),
Red Peristyle project in Split, action-monuments (Triglav) of OHO group in
Slovenia, or different actions of Braco Dimitrijevi throughout the world have
happened (Dragievi ei 2016). On the other side, Marina Abramovi and
Belgrade conceptual artists developed numerous performances abroad and
in Yugoslavia, mostly in students cultural centers, which were privileged
platforms of free speech8, in which they questioned memory symbols of Yu-
goslav common antifascist past (like Red Star, Yugoslav passport9, etc.). Their
bodies mostly have erected symbolic, ephemeral counter-monuments to past
and present memory culture, seen with different eyes.
However, there are many types of artistic practices that cannot easily be
named, such as a long performative action of Miroslav Mandi The Rose of
Wandering (Rua lutanja), which might be considered as a monument in the
process. The project was conceived as a pilgrimage from one monument to
poet to another one, linking spaces of symbolic value in Europe by a simple
walk of the artist (p. 147). Mandi has been wandering and making virtual,
symbolic monuments since 1978 when he did Vojvodina Circle. In 1984, he
performed First Walk for Poetry, linking the Monument to poet Radievi
with monuments to Njego & Preern; in 1987 his Second walk for Poetry,
linked Preern and Hlderlin graves; his Third walk for poetry (1988) linked
Hlderlin and Rimbaud; His Forth walk for Poetry (1990), connected Rim-
baud and Blake. All these walks inspired the artist to create a new ten-year
pan-European project: The Rose of Wandering (1991-2001). 10
Was this effort a specific Monument to poetry? Was his walk equal to
a standing Monument to art that DeStil Markovi executed in front of a Stu-
dents Cultural Center in April 1981? It is interesting to consider why Yugo-
slav artists since early seventies were organizing radical art/anti-art projects
such as Antiart, First international strikes of the artists11, Last futuristic exhibi-
tion12, seminal work of Raa Todosijevi, Edinburg Charter: Who makes profit
from art and who gains from it honestly? (1975), the anti-pedestalization of
Braco Dimitrijevi who brought on European squares and museums numer-
ous sculptures and photos of incidental passers-by, etc.
Why alternative artists with very different social and educational back-
grounds, but with the strong commitment and determination to face contro-
versial issues, were making efforts to construct performative monuments,
even those which demanded personal dedication and enormous physical
strength? This include those like Miroslav Mandi who are mostly known
in the Region (the Rose of Wandering) but also those who achieved a huge
international career, such as Marina Abramovi, who instead of making a
sculpture of her father War hero on a white horse was re-enacting this mo-
ment personally leaving behind video and photo documentation of this per-
formative event. The political and historical burden is such that humor and
distance were and are necessary, as well as invention and the testing of new
formats. The major characteristic of the New Art Practice was its conten-
tious consciousness (Peji 1998). Their wish to stay on unique artistic path,
outside of art world systems, but also outside of socio-political circles and
ideologies, prompted artists to create their own ideological routes, to wor-
ship their own monuments, to go outside of their ethnicities and nations, to
create Monuments to art, monuments that were ephemeral and positioned
on secure and isolated public spaces (or abroad), as was the position of art
and artists in socialist society13. Bojana Peji in her lectures often relates to
Communist Body, Revolutionary Body, Revolted Body, Suffering Body, Undisci-
plinated Body (in: Blaevi, 2008:78) that Yugoslav artistic practice used in
monument and counter-monument representations. Thus, as much as offi-
cial monument policies avoided body representation using abstract forms,
counter-monument practices used artistic bodies to represent a new culture
of dissent, culture of irony and sarcasm, culture that was above any nation-
alistic and national representations, and went even above representation of
Yugoslavhood, choosing arts as a nation, as the only identity.
Memorialization of recent events - the counter-monuments of

our time (case studies)
None of the states in the region is forced, as Germany once was, to remem-
ber the suffering and devastation it once caused in the name of its people
(Young 1992: 270) its negative past. This policy of taking responsibility for
negative past is only part of the civil society process of reconciliation, where
numerous artists have worked together with civil society movements in cre-
ating their response to the official politics of forgetting. Five case studies are
significant to understand the scope and results of those endeavours.
1. De/construction of monument (2004-2007)

Soros Center for Contemporary Arts (SCCA), Sarajevo
The organization behind this initiative has been extremely important not
only for the contemporary radical art practices in Bosnia and Hercegovina,
but also wider in a region, as this Center was one of the many spin-offs of
Soros Contemporary Arts Centers but the one who continued to work with
success on the civil society scene till today (other centers in many new de-
mocracies, like in Baltic countries and in Belgrade, have been recuperated
by public museums of contemporary arts).14
The De/construction of monument, a seminal project of the SCCA (Black-
wood 2015) was realized through different artistic and cultural forms: semi-
nars, exhibitions, panel discussions, presentations, lectures, debates, film and
video screenings, art actions in the city and finally through competition for
the counter-monument project. Inviting historians (Olga Manojlovi-Pintar,
Olivera Milosavljevi...) philosophers (Ugo Vlaisavljevi, arko Puhovski) art
historians (Bojana Peji, Barbara Bori, Nena Dimitrijevi, Natasa Ili, Bran-
islav Dimitrijevi et al.), artists (Jochen Gerz, Sanja Ivekovi, Kurt&Plasto)
and numerous others theoreticians, journalists and cultural activists, the
project discussed policies of representation of values in socialist Yugoslavia
and today.
Monument was interpreted and presented in its multiple formats and
meanings, as the producer of revolutionary body (Bojana Peji) as repre-
sentation of gender identity and memory (Sanja Ivekovi) as a mother of the
nation (a new mother for a new society), etc. Exposing the fate of the social-
ist monuments through artistic works (like Softly does the Sutjeska flow by
Goranka Mati, or Heros by Neboja eri oba), the project went much fur-
ther bringing Jochen Gerz15 in person to discuss its relation toward the neg-
ative past and his numerous participative projects, as well as Sanja Ivekovi
whose preoccupations with a position of women in history and with public
space, enabled focusing on her important project Lady Rosa of Luxembourg
done for 1997 Manifesta in Luxembourg.
Thus, the project connected European artists (Jochen Gerz), internation-
ally acknowledged regional artists (Braca Dimitrijevi, Sanja Ivekovic, etc)
with the new emerging regional and specifically Bosnian artists who got the
chance to contextualize and theorize their ideas using counter-monument
method as developed in the practice of Jochen Gerz and other conceptual art-
ists from the region. In its dimensions and in its results, it was one of the most
influential and effective trans-disciplinary cultural projects. More than 30
artists and art groups created proposals for the counter-monument competi-
tion, out of whom 3 has been selected by an international jury (all of them in
a form of pedestal): Braco Dimitrijevi, Nermina Omerbegovi & Aida Pai,
and Neboja eri oba.
Braco Dimitrijevis Monument to the Victims of War and Cold War is a
pedestal stone with the text: Under this stone there is a monument to the
victims of the war and Cold war (in three languages). Omerbegovi & Pai
pedestal in Eglen Park carries words: I see, I think, I speak, inviting passers-
by to use it as a corner stone for speakers. Neboja eri obas dark humour
monument was erected in a form of a can symbolizing humanitarian aid sent
to the inhabitants of Sarajevo during the siege. It still today raises contra-
dictory feelings not only related toward the past but mostly toward the in-
appropriateness of present Western policies of humanitarian aid regarding
numerous world crises (Dragievi ei 2016).
Besides those three permanent counter-monuments, Sarajevo has seen
temporary installations of many others, but every project proposal is still ac-
cessible on the web site of SCCA.
2. Milica Tomi and the Monument Group art in critical confrontation

The re-enactment action Belgrade Remembers of Milica Tomi realized in
2001 for the October issue of the magazine Prestup was one of her actions that
marked her new artistic orientation from present political and war events to-
ward discussion of politics and culture of memory. Thus, she staged a photo
of herself on the Belgrade Terazije Square, hanging from a lamppost in the
very center of the city, center that is full of history, but it celebrates only its
consumerist and entertaining present. This was a significant act targeting
citizens of Belgrade, showing their lack of empathy and lack of respect to its
own memory site. At that very place in 1941, German Nazi troops hanged five
anti-fascist activists for sabotage and for an attack on the German army per-
sonnel. Although socialist Yugoslavia celebrated and memorized antifascist
movements, the monument for those victims was raised only in 1983, and,
in spite of its grandeur, it quickly went to oblivion. This oblivion cannot be
explained by seven Connerton types of forgetting (2008), thus one more has
to be added forgetting as a shameful silence. Shameful silence, as it was part
of suppressed memory, that Belgrade lived normally, with restaurant gardens
full overlooking those hanged bodies for days.
Milica Tomi saw the re-enactment of that event, hanging at the Terazije
Square, as an act of establishing continuity with the anti-fascist liberation
movement in the territory of Yugoslavia during the Second World War. Anti-
fascist heroes, such as those hanged on Terazije, are disappearing from his-
tory and memory (this story is not any more in school manuals), so this
act revived interest for the reconstruction of the existing but non-visible
monument, and gave impulse to civic organizations to engage further. She
dedicated this act to the re-discovering of the emancipatory politics of social-
ism, engaging herself with the past to confront present mainstream policy of
lowering of the socialist achievements, followed by historical revisionism
and restoration (Tomi 2012). All of that now is in focus of her exploratory
projects.
Very important is her work within Monument Group and Group Four
Faces of Omarska - which acts as trans-disciplinary reflection and debate
groups, always questioning the most dissonant facts of culture of memory
and war heritage, heritage of violence. Provoked by numerous unsuccessful
competitions launched by City of Belgrade to erect the Monument dedicated
to wars on the territory of former Yugoslavia in 1990 Monument Group and
Milica Tomi publicly deconstructed lack of any ideology behind those ap-
peals that would like to honor at the same time the real victims and perpetra-
tors as ideology of nationalism, ethnicization of victims and heroes was the
only reason for those competitions. Workshops, debates and different kind
of installations, printed journals and discussions, make process of work of
those two groups similar to Gerz participative counter-monument practices,
as both resulted often in invisible monuments, monuments known only to
those who participated or who had a chance to receive information through
different forms of mediation. As group members are also philosophers and
theoreticians, theory here is a tool for expressing and mediating their artistic
message.
3. Ivan Grubanov Studies for a Memorial

In his artistic process Ivan Grubanov deals with numerous issues related to
politicality and to memory, opposing conventional approaches and official
practices. In 2012, he developed a project: Studies to a memorial, trying to de-
fine his poetics and politics, confirming his artistic work as a political work.
What is then a memorial proposed by an individual, if not an act of re-
bellion against the existing order of the visible? 16 It is in its essence the
warning memorial, as the artist is taking the responsibility to speak about
unspoken, to feel what is rejected to be felt.
The urge to visualize the unrepresented and the unpresentable is the
need to deploy means of righting the wrong that lurks from omissions, the
wrong that occurs when the omitted from the symbolic and representa-
tive protrudes in the Real as a violent rupture. Studies for a Memorial
design a model that establishes visibility and the politicalness of the oth-
er, the abstract and the unseen. A painted and drawn picture is always an
other, a distant and an abstract that accumulates meaning through the
refusal of the representative space to hold it accountable. The Evil of the
Evil Painter aims at disclosing the presence and relevance of the unac-
counted and inaccessible, by signifying that it is out there, it pleads for its
consideration.17
His last project Dead flags, is dealing with peripherals of power, flags of
countries that do not exist anymore, Yugoslavian flags, flags of its constitutive
republics: Socialist Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia; flags of Communist party, Work-
ers trade-unions Those flags, recuperated on the flea markets, refurbished,
repainted, stand as memory markers of the times gone by, of countries that
were destroyed but whose legacy is still important today. Created in Ser-
bian Pavilion in Venice, this project was a monument to the forgotten and
rejected history,
4. Mrdjan Baji Working Class is going to heaven!

The most important art project that memorized Yugoslavia in a virtual re-
ality, was a Yugomuseum of Mrdjan Baji which comprises more than 100
pieces. The approach to history of Yugoslavia and its famous symbols and
artefacts is cynical, deconstructing and distorting, but the museum as such is
subversive in its critical message both to the past and to the present. It shows
how history interfered in our private lives, how ideology was embedded even
in consumerism, how it was imposed, used and misused through media, cul-
tural and sport systems. Thus, museum artefacts are done combining and
collaging objects, different materials, photographs, names of institutions,
possible sponsors and donors.
Everything is there musealized, the types of used materials are listed;
height, length & depth proper artefacts dimensions. And all personalities are
there cartoon heroes of our childhood, Tito working at the lathe, the flower
taken from the hair of Mira Markovi (Slobodan Miloevis wife), football
match Zvezda Hajduk and crying footballers, typewriting machine, relays
carried for Titos birthday and all the slogans: The bright future; Brother-
hood and unity and, Tatlin Monument to the 3rd International. There are also
many bizarre artefacts, like Miloevis suit that he wore the last time he had
been in Kosovo, quotations of the bishop Nikolaj Velimirovi (anti-Semite
whose importance for spiritual life in Serbia is today over-exaggerated, and
whose texts became mantra of the contemporary rock stars), etc.
Mrdjan Baji has participated in numerous competitions offered by the
authorities for new monuments, but he also created a lot of projects of his
style that Lidija Merenik named a sculptotecture (Merenik 2007: 25). Al-
though sometimes getting first prices in the monument competitions, his

projects were rarely implemented, obviously evaluated as subversive if sit-
uated in public space. There they become more dangerous than his monu-
ments in virtual space are, where Yugomuseum lives its peaceful life.
The recent Bajics work relates to the destruction of the working class18.
Its disappearance from the public realm, but also from city life, inspired sev-
eral of his monument-sculptures, collage-objects positioned in public squares
in front of cultural institutions. In Italy he built the sculpture-monument as
a collage with bicycles as symbols of traditional Italian working class (ref-
erence to De Sicas film), while in Kragujevac and in Zagreb the monument
was built on the most popular Yugoslav car produced in factory Zastava-
Kragujevac since 60, and to whom the whole Yugoslavia was babbling Fio.
The exhibition opening was organized as the last farewell of/for the working
class in front of the monument, symbolically at noon, during the day break of
workers, and after factory sirens have announced it.
Those sculpture-monuments are understandable to everyone, to every
citizen of Yugoslavia in their precise statement. Baji had entered the lab-
yrinth of the historical flows (Lrnd Hegy in: Bogdanovi 2013:151), but
understanding the impact of those flows to the present issues and values
even from personal experience. As an artist, he had a chance to live and work
in factories as it was the practice for sculptors in former Yugoslavia. Nearly
every company linked to machine building, metal production, glass, ceram-
ics etc. organized art residencies and workshops. Now, factories are closed,
working class dispersed or removed, monumental art works in factory spac-
es disappeared or destroyed thus Bajics sculptotecture Working Class
is going to Heaven, is visiting former industrial cities, reminding its citizens
on lost identity during transitional negative past, having the true role of a
Countermonument.
5. Ana Vilenicas History Lesson performative counter-monuments

Ana Vilenica alone, or working with Saa Stojanovi and other young artists,
represents most recent generation of artivists, whose numerous happenings
and performative actions against new official national memory productions,
are marking contemporary art scene. Their works are especially significant
regarding State and Cultural Diplomacy projects. Paradigmatic was their
action against the monument to Heydar Alyev erected in Tamajdan park
with the money from Azerbeijan Government. Stating that dominating pub-
lic space is fundamental source of social power in everyday life (Vilenica,
2011), Ana Vilenica with Saa Stojanovi realized performance before erect-
ing the sculpture on pedestal, making sarcastic comments on this culture of
gratefulness which is in reality culture of corruption.
Destruction of existing and creation of new places of memory official

memory production, inspired work of Ana Vilenica in Panevo, but also The
History Lesson, art action in front of House of Youth (26 February 2011). Ana
and Saa used empty marble plaque to emphasize House of Youth politics
of forgetting, erasure of its own socialist past, denial of their original mis-
sion. According to Connerton (2008), this memory politics would belong to
structural amnesia, as it seems that there is no will to remember any more
Yugoslav socialist past and its achievements19, as they are not part of the so-
cially desirable values. Thus, on this empty marble they put a poster with a
text: On this place with financial means of the USA Government, City Hall
and Agency for Investments, the history was erased (Ana Vilenica, Saa
Stojanovi & Aleksa Golijanin). It clearly criticized new memory policies, try-
ing to re-mediate forgotten history of socialist cultural endeavours.
Conclusions
The forgotten negative past prevents questioning of crimes committed in

the name of the nation/people. Intellectuals, activists and artists in the Bal-
kans in dissent to the official ideologies, are linked to the demystification of
nationalism, deconstruction and disclosure of populist policies (Dragievi
ei 2010). Topics such as (anti)nationalism, cosmopolitanism, new in-
ternationalism, on the one side, and guilt, shame and responsibility on the
other, which usually embedded counter-monument proposals, were never
debated.
Deliberate political, ethnical & ethical blindness of the ruling regional
elites leaves the space for an empty dialogue, sporadically taken by civil so-
ciety groups and fourth sector (Boese, Busch, Dragievi ei, 2006) artists
and individuals. Counter-monument artists and intellectuals have gone be-
yond the pure project logic they have introduced new objectives and new
methods within regional dialogue. However, they have not raised their agen-
da that high to ask for an Etats Generaux of the culture of memory, and
memory and monument politics dealing with common history.
The role of artists in contemporary social and cultural movements has to
be re-examined. They are not experts, nor anti-expert experts, no prophets,
no fellow-travellers, no alibis for the lack of public memory policy. They are
inspirators, provocateurs, as their role is to shake conventions and oblivion
complots developed through complicity of dominant political classes. And
their task is even more important, as Neboja Jovanovi proclaimed: better a
utopia than a context! Art and politics should not give in to context, to a game
of given coordinates, but should change the coordinates themselves and
strive for an imagination which, for those inside boundaries of the context,
necessarily seems utopian and impossible (Blaevi et al. 2008: 114).
Counter-monuments, although relating to context, are shaking its coor-

dinates, changing its values and parameters, bringing different imagination
in public policies and practices.
In conclusion, the raise of Counter-monument can be seen as a part of a
vanguard artistic scene, as a part of civil society efforts, but also as a fourth
sector practice in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, where sev-
eral generations of contemporary artists had contributed to its development.
From Monument to Roads of Rastko Petrovi in the 20s, performances of the
group OHO, Marina Abramovi, and specifically with counter-monument
works of Braco Dimitrijevi in the 60s and the 70s (context-specific interven-
tions in form of memorial plaques; pedestals and even obelisk; sculptures &
photographs in public space, etc.), re-tested in the 80s by DeStil Markovi,
Goran Djordjevi and many others; its peaks was reached in the 90s with
Rosa of Luxemburg of Sanja Ivekovi20 and Yugomuseum of Mrdjan Baji. How-
ever, counter-monuments specifically dealing with negative past started ap-
pearing only from 2000 onwards, achieving its best results with the projects
realized within De/construction of monument project in Sarajevo and through
work of Monument group and Milica Tomi in Belgrade.
References:
Assmann, J. (1995) Collective Memory and Cultural Identity. New German Critique 65
(spring/summer), 125-133.
Assmann, J. (2001) Kultura pamenja. Beograd: Prosveta.
Assmann, J., Erll, A. & Nnning A. (H. g.), Cultural Memory Studies. An International
and Interdisciplinary Handbook, Berlin, New York 2008, S. 109-118, http://ar-
chiv.ub.uniheidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/1774/1/Assmann_Communicative_
and_cultural_memory_2008.pdf
Baji M.. www.bajicmrdjan.net
Blackwood J, Introduction to Contemporary Art in B&H, Duplex100m2, Sarajevo, 2015
Blackwood, J (2010), Richard Demarco and the Yugoslav Art World in the 1970s, in
McArthur, E & Watson, A (eds.), Ten Dialogues: Richard Demarco and the Euro-
pean Avant-Garde, Edinburgh: Royal Scottish Academy
Blaevi D. et al. (2008) De/Construction of monuments, Sarajevo: Centar za savre-
menu umjetnost
Boese M, Busch B. And Dragicevic ei M. 2006, Despite and Beyond Cultural Pol-
icy: Third and Fourth Sector Practices and Strategies in Vienna and Belgrade
in: Transcultural Europe, eds. Ulrike H. Meinhof & A. Triandafilidou, London:
Palgrave, pp. 131-157
Bogdanovi A. (2013), Skulptotektura Mrdjan Bajic, Beograd: Vujii kolekcija.
Connerton, P. (2008) Seven types of forgetting, Memory Studies vol. 1 no. 1, pp. 59-
71.
Despotovi J. Tatljinov Spomenik III internacionali, 3+4, a, Journal of the students of
Art History, Odelenje za Istoriju umetnosti Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu, str.
26-31, Beograd, 1978
Dragievi ei, M. (2010), Cultural Policy, nationalism and European Integrations,

To be from/out: redefining European cultural identity of Serbia, Beograd: Kul-
turklamer, pp. 254-273.
Dragievi ei, M. (2012a) Memory Policies and Monument Building in Southeast-
ern Europe, in: Memory of the city, ed. Dusica Drazic, Slavica Radisic & Marijana
Simu, Kulturklamer, Beograd, ISBN 978-86-912137-2-5, PP.70-95
Dragievi ei, M. (2012b). The Culture of Dissent independent Art scene in Ser-
bia, in: This is not a report (Cultural exchange Sweden/Serbia 2009-2012, He-
lene Larsson, ed., Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade, pp. 32-43
Dragievi ei M. (2012c) Umetnost i alternativa (Art and alternative), Belgrade:
FDU & CLIO.
Karge Hajke, (2014) Seanje u kamenu okamenjeno seanje?, Beograd: XX vek
Markovi M. Crna kaika (2006), Beograd: Lom.
Mecthild, M. & Vickery J. (2016) The Art of the Multitude: Jochen Gerz Participation
and the European Experience, Goethe Institute & Campus Verlag, Frankfurt
Merenik L, Mrdjan Baji, ili godine insomnije, in: V. Velikovi et al., Mrdjan Baji:
reset: Serbian pavilion, Cicero, Beograd 2007,
Open Society Foundations (2011), Building Open Society in the Western Balkans
1991-2011, OSF, New York
Peji, B. (1998) Body based Art: Serbia and Montenegro in The Body and the East
from the 1960s to the Present, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana,
Tomi M., 2012 http://www.z2ogalleria.it/1/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Milica_
Tomic1.pdf, accessed 1 July 2016.
Vilenica A. (2011) Spomenici napolje iz parka! (Monuments, out from the Park!),
http://procedura.net1zen.com/?p=6090, accessed 15 January 2016.
Young J. The Counter-Monument: Memory against Itself in Germany Today, in Critical
Inquiry, Vol. 18. No 2 (Winter 1992). pp. 267-296.
Notes:
1 This text was written within project n. 178012 Identity and Memory: transcultural
texts of drama arts and media, financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of
the Republic of Serbia.
2 In 1918, Tatlin sent to Sovnarkom the plan for monumental propaganda with a
draft for future competition criteria for future monument projects. The Document
was approved and published as Government Act that precisely define forms of ar-
tistic approach. The problem of implementation of its idea and program, Tatlin has
seen in the fact that speed will counteract artistic dimension. But, as the State should
not be initiator and promotor of bad taste, the only way is to attract young and fresh
artistic forces; rejecting all prizes just to give to an artist necessary materials and
money for his work; abolish juries and committees and offer to people and com-
munity (in adequate places) possibilities to discuss the proposed works. General
peoples opinion would define which of suggested proposals should be realized in
hard material: bronze, marble, granite (Despotovi 1978).
Immediately, Tatlin started to design a monument in honour to the October Revolu-
tion, but during his work he renamed it as the Monument to the 3rd International,
conceptualized as antithesis to insignificant monuments that could not give a mean-
ing to cities and its public spaces. It was supposed to be in absolutely new architec-
tural form and 400 meters high (Tour Eiffel is 300 m high) and to host major institu-
tions of Soviet society.
3 His sister Nadeda, the most famous Serbian painter of that time, died as a nurse in
the front in 1915. Nadeda Petrovi was also a South Slavic cultural activist: in 1904,
she created the First South Slavic exhibition in Belgrade, and in 1905 first South
Slavic art residency in Sievo, Ni. Both actions continued till her death in WWI. How-
ever, in Kingdom of Yugoslavia, monuments were not meant for women, even if war
heroes.
4 https://novosadskoubrojcavanje.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/sinod-srpske-pra-
voslavne-crkve-i-avangardna-poezija-1922/, accessed 1 July 2016 (my translation)
5 Naa su groblja velika i asna/ kao i na ivot./ Kod nas je lepo iveti i strano um-
reti./ Ima se zato i iveti i umreti./ Sve je kod nas skupo i ivot i smrt. D. Radovi
6 Istorija, sok, salama: Ima ljudi kao ti/ ale za spomenikom/ grobom/ nepravdom,
jadom/ ja eto alim za/ salamom. (M. Markovi 2006:8-9)
7 The film presents erotic approach of a young girl toward monumental sculpture
Tired warrior (Toma Rosandi, erected in 1935) in public park Kalemegdan in Bel-
grade, while Parade shows preparation for celebration of 1st May in Belgrade. The
most complex film is the first one, Seal, representing in a form of silent movie with
inter-titles (title cards) in Esperanto, the life of a man, from hise birth to his death in
front of the faceless totalitarian governance that sealed every moment of life.
8 Especially important were April Meetings:Extended Media that lasted from 1972-77
in Students Cultural Center in Belgrade.
9 In the exhibition ASPECT 75 (Edinburgh Fruitmarket gallery) Richard de Marco
gave as full a picture as was possible then of art practice in Yugoslavia () The cata-
logue, featuring a blown up image of a Yugoslav passport with its iconic coat of arms
in gold, still stands today (Blackwood J. 2010)
10 http://miroslavmandic.name/autobiografija accessed on 15th August 2015.
11 The invitation letter from the Belgrade artist, Goran Djordjevi: Would you take
part in an International strike of artists? as a protest against art systems unbroken
repression of the artist and the alienation from the results of his practice. It would
be very important to demonstrate a possibility of coordinating activity independ-
ent from art institutions, and organise an international strike of artists. This strike
should represent a boycott of art system in a period of several months. Duration, the
exact date of beginning and forms of boycott will be worked out on the completion
of the list of enrolled artists and propositions. Please give notice of this to the artists
you know. The deadline for applications/suggestions is 15/05/79. (Casopis Stude-
nata Istorije Umetnosti 3/4, Yugoslavia 1980, https://www.stewarthomesociety.org/
features/artstrik26.htm, accessed, 20 August 2015.
12 Goran Djordjevi, Kazimir Malevich: Last Futurist Exhibition 0,10, Ljubljana, March
1986., http://monoskop.org/Goran_%C4%90or%C4%91evi%C4%87
13 Marina Abramovi project: Art must be beautiful Artist must be beautiful (Copenha-
gen 1975) can be a paradigmatic for other performative, body countermonuments to
art in that period.
14 Dunja Blaevi, a director of SCCA Sarajevo, was the director of the Students Cultural
Center in Belgrade that introduced new art practices and conceptual art together
with similar centres in Zagreb and Ljubljana. In the 80s she initiated TV gallery
within TV Belgrade (production and exhibition of video-art works) and a TV maga-
zine Friday at 10 pm, the cult magazine of innovative radical arts and popular culture.
Dunja Blaevi returned from Paris exile to Sarajevo in 1996 and immediately organ-
ized the art scene known as the art of defiance, which a year after Dayton were
gone toward apathy and exhaustion (Blaevi, in Open Society Foundations, 2011:
64).
15 About Jochen Gerz, as the creator of counter-monument concept, see: Mecthild &
Vickery 2016; Dragievi ei 2016.
16 https://grubanov.wordpress.com/studies-for-a-memorial/ accessed 23 August
2015.
17 Ibid.
18 In Croatia, the artists Igor Grubi, Sanja Ivekovi and Andrea Kulundi are dealing
with the issue, and in Serbia Milena Markovi, Oleg Novkovi, Mina uki, etc.
19 The House of Youth was renovated with USA money, and a new memorial plaque was
attached indicating renovation days and donors, while old marble memorial plaque
indicating date of construction and opening of the House of Youth was removed.
20 Although seen as blasphemy by Luxembourgeois.
HISTORICAL THEMES IN PRINT MEDIA IN

SERBIA: SRPSKI/KNJIEVNI LIST
Sofija Boi & Duan R. Bajagi
Knjievni list (Literary Paper), a newsletter for literature, culture and social
issues, was launched after the cleavage that had occurred in the Association
of Writers of Serbia in 2001, when the previous editorial board of Knjievne
novine (Literary newspaper), the organ of the Association, with the support
of the permanent contributors, readers, subscribers and part cultural public
came up with an idea to establish a Club that would publish a new literary
magazine based on the tradition of Knjievne novine. At the Assembly, ap-
pointed by the Initiative Board, held on 24 April 2001, a club of associates
and donors was established, whose members were prominent Serbian intel-
lectuals.1 Ivo Tartalja was elected for the president of the Club; a Statute was
adopted, Administrative Committee and the Supervisory Board were elected
and the conclusion was reached that the new bulletin should preserve the
basic values on which the conception of the Knjievne novine rested; at the
same time, in maintaining continuity with those values, a new bulletin should
build a free literary world.2 At the meeting of the Administrative Committee
and Supervisory Board on 16 May 2001, there was made a decision on the
establishment of the Knjievni list, and as the editor-in-chief was elected the
recent editor of the Knjievne novine, Petar Cvetkovi.3 The title - Knjievni list
was used until the end of 2012, when a new one was created, by adding the
prefix Serbian. The magazine, as planned, was published monthly, but due
to the lack of financial resources that rhythm could not last long; after a few
years printing of double, triple or even quadruple issues had begun.
Besides literary prose and poetry, the Srpski/Knjievni list has also pub-
lished works in the field of fine arts, music, theater and film art, architecture,
philosophy, religion, psychology, archeology, history, politics, then critics and
book reviews, interviews with prominent authors and many others. Histori-
cal themes are present, in different ways, in almost every issue of Srpski/
Knjievni list, usually as a result of special studies on specific problems, partly
through thematic editions dedicated to certain important issues in Serbian
history, through criticism and reviews of new works within the field of his-
222 Sofija Boi & Duan R. Bajagi
toriography and through the popular science texts. Their authors are profes-
sional historians, and also historians of other fields, journalists, writers and
publicists.
Among all thematic issues, the issue dedicated to one of the most signifi-
cant events in recent Serbian history, the First Serbian Uprising, stands out.
The bicentenary of the beginning of the Serbian revolution and the creation
of a new Serbian state was marked by, among other things, the publication of
interesting texts written by contemporary writers (Sima Milutinovi Sarajlija,
Jovan Sterija Popovi, Gerasim Georgijevi and others); the folk epic poetry
(The Beginning of the Revolt against the Dahijas) and the number of articles
which points out: 1) the conditions that led to the outbreak of the uprising
(a state of ultimate existential misery of the Serbian people in the Belgrade
Pashadom, and the atmosphere of hopelessness and despair among Serbs,
military experience that the Serbs gained waging war against the sultan at
the Austrian volunteer corps and against rebels from the central Ottoman
authorities and religious homogeneity of Belgrade Pashadom); 2) the rebels'
ideas about the future territorial scope of Serbia (Bosnia and Old Serbia);
3) the way to achieve the set objective for the creation of an independent
Serbian state (war);4 4) the all-Serbian importance of the Uprising (the role
of Serbian Piedmont was awarded to Belgrade Pashadom by those who lived
outside of it) and its role at the beginnings of modernization of Serbia (rebel
assembly in Ostruznica the first Parliament as the first step towards estab-
lishing the national state institutions, especially the Dositej`s Great school
where teaching was based on the European patterns, that had served as a
basis upon which was to be built the system of Serbian education);5 6) on
its leaders,6 and the process of building the basic state institutions from the
beginning to the end of the Serbian revolution in 1835, when the Sretenje
Constitution was adopted and when feudalism in Serbia was abolished.7 The
uprising, and especially the character of Karadjordje, were illuminated from
the perspective of literary8 and also from the perspective of art,9 film10 and
dramatic arts.11
The next great theme of Serbian history that, in the framework of the
Jubilee, has a specific place on the pages of the Srpski/Knjievni list, are the
Balkan Wars of 19121913.12 The articles which were written with regard
to the centenary of the beginning of the Balkan wars, were talking about the
position of the Serbian people in Kosovo Vilayet in the previous decades, and
about the activities of Serbia (political, religious, educational, diplomatic),
starting from the Congress of Berlin, to protect Serbs from that area,13 about
the war operations,14 about the attitude of both France and its intellectuals
toward the events in the Balkans,15 about the individuals which distinguished
themselves in the battles against the Turks and Bulgarians.16 It was written
about the Balkan wars once again in the Srpski Knjievni list in 2013, on the
centenary of the Second Balkan War. Historians and other authors discussed
the question of the relation of the moral strength of the people and of the
success in the Balkan wars,17 the destiny of Duke Petar Bojovi, the winner in
Kumanovo and Bregalnica battle;18 they were also intereseted in the field of
culture, and their interest resulted with several texts about the construction
of cultural and scientific institutions in the liberated areas19 and about the
Ilustrovana ratna hronika, a popular journal that has published in Novi Sad,
under the editorship of Kamenko Suboti, offering to a Serbian public exten-
sive information on the liberated territories and population of Old Serbia and
Macedonia.20
The next anniversary, the centenary of the beginning of the Great War,21
did not get a special thematic issue or thematic unity within single issue, but,
instead of articles of general application which would be illuminating, for ex-
ample, the reasons for the outbreak of the war, the course of the war, the
suffering of Serbs, the role of Serbian intellectuals in achieving the war goals
of Serbia and other important topics from the time of the great epic period
for the Serbian people, a few articles were published on some narrow topics,
such as the exile of one Serbian family,22 a portrait of one of the assassins of
Franz Ferdinand,23 and also, one critically intoned article about the lack of
programs created by Serbian state, marking the centenary of the First World
War, in contrast to the European Union countries, that have prepared the cel-
ebration very seriously, not allowing the history and traditions to be left to
negligence and oblivion.24
Except on the anniversaries, which demanded special attention, about
the Great War, the Serbian revolution and the Balkan wars, were also writ-
ten in other numbers of Srpski/Knjievni list, without any intention that such
contributions serve the purpose of marking the jubilee.
Most of the texts in the Srpski/Knjievni list dealing with historical topics
were the result of particular researches, and it seems that they have not been
published according to schedule that was planned in advance, but the edito-
rial board accepted those articles that the associates could offer at a given
time. Allowing the authors complete freedom in the choice of the topics, the
editors provided a variety of content in the magazine, covering different his-
torical periods, from antiquity to the present day. However, when it comes
to the ancient past, historical texts in the strict sense are rare; instead, one
can find texts of the past that are allude about past in terms of archeology,
art history, architecture or other discipline. When we look at the epoch of
the Middle Ages, we notice that, as it could be expected, the greatest interest
was for the first Serbian archbishop and educator St. Sava,25 but also, that,
in general, the history of the Middle Ages, compared to the recent history, is
poorly represented. With the exception of the articles about the Bogomils26
and about the Byzantinology as an interdisciplinary branch of the humani-
ties studied at the Serbian educational and scientific institutions,27 historical
texts, in the strict sense of the medieval theme, are almost non-existent.
Moving further back in time, we come to an article about the Grand Vi-
zier Mehmed Pasha Sokolovi, a Serb who rose to the highest positions in
the Ottoman Empire, but never forgot his origins and homeland, showing it
by raising the magnificent bridge on the Drina.28 Futher again, we come to
the text about the beginning and the end of the Austrian occupation of Bel-
grade and Serbia in the 18th century,29 and to the two texts referring to the
same period, about the death of the General Doxat de Dmoret, who was the
builder of the Belgrade Fortress.30
Unlike previous periods, the 19th and 20th century are represented in
the Knjievni list in much larger number of articles. Besides the struggle for
liberation from the Turks, the Balkan wars and the First World War, as al-
ready mentioned, authors are showing the most interest for Serbian dynas-
ties and rulers, individuals from Serbian history, political parties, ideologies,
Serbs' attitude towards the West and the East, World War II, genocide, the
creation of Yugoslavia and its destruction, Serbo-Croatian relations, Serbs in
the Habsburg Monarchy and in the Ottoman Empire, education, science, cul-
ture. Some of these topics are also popular currently, often causing contro-
versy and deep divisions in contemporary Serbian society.
Serbs had two dynasties in recent history Obrenovi dynasty and the
Karaorevi dynasty, who had several significant rulers. The focus of the
historians who have written for the Srpski/Knjievni list was on the origin of
Karaorevi dynasty, and their homeland,31 and, in particular, on the vozd
Karaore, who was portrayed as a man of flesh and blood, with all his vir-
tues and weaknesses, its appearance, personal characteristics, behavior and
acts, with an emphasis on the heroic dimension Karaore`s personality and
his role of the creator of the state resurrectionist of the renewed Serbia.32
About Prince Milo, the other main leader of the Serbian Uprising, however,
there were no serious analytical texts, but only popular articles which re-
sembled some interesting episodes from the time of Prince's rule. The an-
niversary of the murder of Prince Mihailo was the reason for reprinting one
of the previously publicized article which was written by the writer Milo
Crnjanski, about prince's trip to Paris in 1867, with an accompanying text
with basic biographical information about Mihailo Obrenovi.33 King Milan
is represented in the Srpski/Knjievni list in a specific way, through remind-
ing on the caricatures that have been published about him in the contempo-
rary satirical newspapers, such as Zmaj, Brka, Geda and Vra pogaa.34 Still,
there are articles about the latest members of the Obrenovi dynasty and
their politics in the Knjievni list that have been written on the basis of new
archival material, and they could be considered as original scientific papers.
One of those articles is about dynasty Obrenovi and Russia at the end of the
19th and early 20th century, which shows the relationship of Russia toward
Serbian dynasty Obrenovi, which was, in that period, created solely upon
the interests of Russia in the Balkans.35
Epoch of the last Obrenovi dynasty members is illuminated through the

research of the ideas and actions of the individual figures in prominent politi-
cal positions, such as edomilj Mijatovi, who played a key role in concluding
the Peace treaty with Bulgaria after the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885,36 Milan
Piroanac, who was the supporter of an independent, modern and cultural
Serbian state that will not adhere to any of the great power, nor Russia nor
Austria-Hungary, and that will find a place in the European family of nations,
and who was the supporter of the reorganization of the Balkans on the federal
principle,37 Vladan orevi, a person of trust of both, father and son, Milan
and Aleksandar Obrenovi, Minister and the Prime Minister, who tried to ini-
tiate economic development of Serbia and strengthen its military power,38 or
Stojan Novakovi, the originator of the new methods in national propaganda
work in exile, in order to save the Serbian people in the Ottoman Empire.39
When we leave the 19th century, a new, important chapter in the history
of the Serbian people opens up; it began with the formation of the Yugoslav
state, and ended with her disappearance from the political map of Europe
and the world. This country was built on the foundations of the Yugoslav idea,
which also represents one of the great themes of our science and society, and
which had found the place on the pages of the Knjievni list. About Yugoslav-
ism it is said that it is very changeable category, and that throughout his-
tory, there were several types of Yugoslavism; that Ilirism and Yugoslavism
of Racki and Strossmayer were two phases of the development of the Croa-
tian political thought, that they were not incurred as a result of awareness
that the Croats and the Serbs were the same nation and that they should live
united in one joint state, but as the fruit of knowledge that Croatia, Slavonia
and Dalmatia, with its long narrow territory of very low depth, which ex-
tended in two directions, could acquire basic conditions for existence only
if Bosnia and Herzegovina join them. So, it is about the Croatian integration
movements that had the ambitions for the Greater Croatia and that, for the
realization of such conquering aspirations, had tried to attract the Serbs with
neutral Illyrian or Yugoslav name. Also, in the early 20th century, the coali-
tion of Yugoslavism was mentioned, which was, unlike Strossmayer`s Yu-
goslavism, constructed on the basis of Croatian state and historic law, and
did not accept the national and political individuality of the Serbs, and what
Serbs had identified as the essence of assimilation, managed to attract the
Serbs to join the alliance in the fight against the German Drang nach Osten,
with the formula that in Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia lived two tribes of the
same nation.40
In this manner of Yugoslavism upon which the common state was built,
and which was supposed to serve as a transit area to get to the real goal of
the independent Croatian state, the authors of the Srpski/Knjievni list saw
the reasons why Yugoslavia was not meant to survive, thereby advising that
instead of the accepted term, that was not correct, disintegration of Yugo-
slavia, which blured and distorted what actually happened, the phrase de-
struction of Yugoslavia should be used, which more accurately described the
destiny of the Yugoslav state.41
From such interpretation of the history of the Serbian people and the
Yugoslav state in the 20th century, the conclusion has been drawn that the
Serbs were the biggest losers of Yugoslavia that was created by the will of the
Serbian factor, in which the other nations were found primarily by force of
circumstances. As the strongest argument in favor of this conclusion stands
out the genocide against Serbs in Croatia in World War II, during which still
undetermined number of the Orthodox Serbs perished, along with the de-
struction of Serbian cultural heritage, that made immeasurable and irrepa-
rable cultural and historical damage.42
Aside with the genocide theme, Serbs from Croatia are present in the
Srpski/Knjievni list also through other events from their distant and recent
past, like the social and the political situation after the First World War in
the new Yugoslav state,43 characters from cultural history, such as the bishop
Simeon Konarevi44 and Bishop Dionisije Novakovi,45 the history of old Du-
brovnik,46 the citizenry,47 destiny of ministers after the Second World War,48
the nineties-war in 20th century,49 periodicals,50 literature.51 Of particular
importance is the text on the main causes of misunderstandings between
Croats and Serbs, in which the disputes between the immigrated Orthodox
population on one hand, and Croatian spiritual and secular feudal lords on
the other were shown, that is, between the Serbs and the upper echelons
of society in Croatia and Slavonia, and not between the two nations. These
disputes have occurred, as the one of the leading experts on the problems of
Serbo-Croatian relations testifies for Knjievni list, since the beginning of the
most intense Serbian migrations and settlement in areas in which the Austri-
an imperial and military authorities formed the Military Frontier in the 16th
and 17th century, because the government excluded Serbs from the jurisdic-
tion of the Croatian Parliament and the Croatian ban, and the area that they
inhabited turned into a special military frontier territory. Frontier soldiers,
under military obligation, were personally free, which is why they suffered a
lot of pressure from the feudal lords who were trying to turn them into serfs
and to bound them legally, economically, and socially. Since they have not suc-
ceeded, the Frontier soldiers (krajisnici), primarily the Orthodox Serbs, were
treated as interlopers, and this attitude passed on through the generations
for centuries, as a legacy to Croatian society, even after the collapse of feu-
dalism in the mid of the 19th century, to be continued in these new circum-
stances. The second stated fundamental reason for tensions between Croats
and Serbs, was the Croatian state and historical right that underpinned the
theory of a single, Croatian political or constituent nation, that is, pointing
out that all the other nations were part of this Croatian political nation.
Beyond this point of view, which Croatian politicians took in the sixties of the
19th century, was hiding the intention of assimilation of minority nations by

the majority and the construction of an ethnically pure Croatian state, which
could not pass without confrontation and conflict.52
When it comes to the Second World War, the authors of Knjievni list
were inspired by the personality of General Dragoljub Draa Mihailovi,
whom they saw as an innocent victim of the victorious communist authori-
ties, that denied the right to the general to a fair trial, and after the set-up
process they took his life circumventing legal procedure. The fact that Draa
Mihailovi was declared a traitor and fascist collaborator only out of ideologi-
cal reasons, not because he was really to be blamed, the authors of Knjievni
list confirmed with historical facts, recalling that the commander of the Yu-
goslav Army in the Homeland uprised against the occupying forces in Serbia
in 1941, that he was considered as one of the greatest enemies of the Third
Reich in the Balkans almost until the end of the war, that his troops rescued
hundreds of American pilots and destroyed dozens of bridges and hundreds
of compositions and that the US president, after the war, awarded Mihailovi
with high medal.53
Draa Mihailovi was not the only victim of the new, communist authori-
ties. The totalitarian regime that was established after the war, had no un-
derstanding even for the most ingenious Serbs, so it condemned one of the
greatest among them, Professor Slobodan Jovanovi. For Srpski/Knjievni list,
Jovanovi is almost a cult figure, the largest Serbian intellectual, the pride of
the Serbian people, as it is said in the title of one of the articles dedicated to
him.54
Besides all these, very important topics from the political history of the
Serbian people, Srpski/Knjievni list, during the previous, almost fifteen-year
period of publishing, published articles on social history, which illuminated
the way of life, everyday life and private life. For example, the articles about
old pubs in Serbia or about the building of the hotel Moscow and about its
importance for the social life of Belgrade.55
An important section of the Srpski/Knjievni list consists of various re-
views and critiques, which inform us about the topics that the Serbian his-
toriography is dealing with, but also about the manner in which these topics
are processed and about the results that are achieved, at least in the major
outlines. In this section books about the family in Serbia in the 19th century,56
about Tomo Vucic,57 about the modernization of education,58 about Draza
Mihailovic,59 about the cultural history of Metohija Serbs,60 about Byzantine
themes,61 about the largest Serbian river Morava and about the historical
events and processes in the Morava region (Pomoravlje) from ancient times
to the 20th century;62 about Serbian Royal Academy;63 about Serbian-Amer-
ican relations;64 about Aleksandar Obrenovic;65 about Jovan Tomic;66 about
Serbs in Hungary,67 were presented etc. Besides the books by local authors,
there are also the works of foreign authors, both dealing with topics of gen-
eral history and methodology of historical science, and those that are study-
ing Serbian history. The most provocative book of some foreign historian was
the Istorija Srbije od 19. do 21. veka, written by Holm Sundhaussen, that ap-
peared in 2008 and provoked strong reactions in the entire Serbian scien-
tific community.68 Istorija Srbije... has been given a place in the Knjievni list,
especially regarding to Sundhaussen`s uncritical acceptance of the Radomir
Konstantinovics thesis on the provincial spirit of the Serbs, the thesis that
contradicts the well-known science fact that Serbia was open to all types of
European influences since the second half of the 19th century, and the thesis
that is created without any comparison with the people in the region, where
only the Serbs were attributed with the provincial spirit.69 There was also the
reaction of another German author, historian Marie-Janine Calic, Istorija Ju-
goslavije u 20. veku, or, more precisely, by a feuilleton based on this work that
was printed in the Belgrade newspaper Politika right before the publishing
of the book. The writer of the feuilleton review have noticed two completely
unsubstantiated allegations of M. Janine Calic. The first is that Kosovo is one
of the seven successor states of Yugoslavia, although, according to the last
Yugoslav constitution, the right to self-determination and to secession be-
longed only to the people of Yugoslavia, and not to the ethnic groups or to
the republics and provinces, and the second is that foreign factors are not
to blame for the war in the second Yugoslavia, with what, as stated in this
review, the German historian seriously reduced the participants, the causes/
causers, sponsors and profiteers of bloody events of the nineties.70 When the
whole book Istorija Jugoslavije u 20. veku have been translated into Serbian,
the same author appeared in the Srpski knjievni list, with new observations.
Primarily, he had identified a series of factual errors that this work is full of:
that Josip Broz Tito was appointed for general secretary of the Communist
Party of Yugoslavia in 1937, although this has occurred only in 1940, that
Tito's army in 1943. numbered more than 300 000 people, even though, at
the end of that year, there were only about 5060 000, or, according to other
sources, 90 000 soldiers, that Draa Mihailovi wrote a memorandum Ho-
mogenous Serbia in June 1941, although that document was compiled by
attorney Stevan Moljevi, who met Mihailovi for the first time in May 1942,
that communism in Yugoslavia won with its own forces, although bringing
Tito to power in the fall of 1944, had been attended by 414 000 Soviet and
around 40 000 Yugoslav soldiers, that the short-lived war in Yugoslavia at
the end of June 1991 occurred when the Slovenians intended to determine
an international border with Croatia, although the reason for the interven-
tion of the Yugoslav People`s Army was the occupation of the border cross-
ings on the Yugoslav-Austrian and Yugoslav-Italian border by the Slovenians,
and others. What most bothered the critic, certainly was the nonobjectivity of
the German historian, who in many places rightly mentioned Serbian crimes
in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the nineties of the 20th century, but who did
not mention not even one crime against the Serbs, who did not mention that
Alija Izetbegovi withdrew his signature from the Cutileiro Peace Plan, and,
in March 1992, chose the war instead of peace, who did not mentioned that in
the Croatian operations Flash and Storm, apart from the exiled civilians,
there were approximately 1,500 Serbian civilians killed, nor he mentioned
how many Serbs and other non-Albanian population in 1999 had to leave
Kosovo and Metohija. He also did not mention that one of the main demands
of protesters in Kosovo in 1981 was to annex Kosovo to Albania etc. Critics
either did not let unnoticed that the book M. Janine-Calic was written only on
the basis of the existing literature, or as a compilation, without relying on any
primary unpublished archival source.71
It is noticeable that the Srpski/Knjievni list pointed to some incorrect
information on the various events in history, data that are publicly accepted
as true, although they have no basis in fact. For example, it was pointed to
the fact that Alexander Ler, a commander of Hitler's Air Forces that bombed
Belgrade, was not noble, and that is wrong to add to his name the title von,
which is widely accepted in the press and other media;72 or that the claim
that Hitler awarded Bishop Nikolai Velimirovi with the Order of the Iron
Cross is pure forgery, since it is a medal that is awarded exclusively to mili-
tary persons for military merits; on the other hand, he was awarded with the
Cross for the special merit with the ribbon, because, before World War II,
he took care of the German military cemetery in Bitola, where the soldiers,
killed in the First World War, were buried.73
Besides about the events, processes and characters of the past, in the
Srpski/Knjievni list the readers can also read about the writers of history.
There are special articles, necrologies, dedicated to some of the largest Ser-
bian figures in the field of historical science. One of these texts, inspiring and
warm, about Andrej Mitrovi, professor on the Faculty of Philosophy and cor-
responding member of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, is not a ne-
crology in the classical sense, appropriate and sterile inscription composed
by duty, only to meet the form, like customary necrologies. On the contrary,
it is the text written by a sincere admirer and friend, filled with memories
of working together and of enjoyable friendship, from the pen of one of his
student and then, colleague. He talks about meeting with the professor, about
the first contacts and the beginnings of cooperation, about the way in which
Andrej Mitrovi became a mentor and grew into a true spiritual father of
many of the younger historians. And, above all, he represents him as a man
with a great spirit, simple, warm-hearted, open-minded, always ready to help
those who need assistance and support.74
In, so far, more than hundred printed numbers of Srpski/Knjievni list,
the Serbian historians and other intellectuals gathered around the literary
journal, voiced, as we can see from above mentioned, the essential results of
their research and their views of the many questions/issues from the Serbian
past, even those that are current in our time as well, often causing disquisi-
tions and deep divisions in contemporary Serbian society. Since that the pub-
lication with such a broad and diverse content in the fields of history cannot
be analyzed in all details and shades in one article only (and since that so
far the Srpski/Knjievni list has not been the subject of separate studies), we
tried to present it only in summary, following the main directions of interests,
maybe keeping attention a little bit more on the issues that are still alive and
about which there is no consensus neither in science, nor in public. One thing,
however, is certain. Through the Srpski/Knjievni list, the readers in Serbia
in the previous period could be informed about the historical controversies
and about the approach towards them by the experts. At the same time, they
could reach relevant information and knowlege on the past, primarily the
past of their country and people, through reliable, systematic and dedicated
work of a number of competent authors.
Sources:
Srpski/Knjievni list (20022015)
References:
1912/1913: . 2013. (. ,
). : ,
.
Bozic, Sofija. 2015. History of Serbia from 19th to 21st Century of Holm Sundhaussen
and its Reception in the Serbian Scientific Community. , year
XII, no. 26, 155172.
, . 2013. . :
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, . 2013. : 1941
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, , , . 2014. 19141918:
. : .
, . 2014. 2014. :
, .
: 18041815. 2004. (. ). :
.
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.
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, .
, . 2015. , 19031914: .
(. ). : , 143152.
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.
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: .
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. : , .
, . 2015. . :
.
, . 2004. . (. ). :
.
. 2015. (. ). :
.
1912. . 2007.
(. ). : .
19121913:
. 2015. (. ). : .
1912/1913. :
( 1912), 12.
2013. ( ). : .
Prvi srpski ustanak i stvaranje moderne srpske drave 18041835. 2004. (prir. Miodrag
D. Peri, Radia Dragojevi). Petrovac na Mlavi: Kulturno-prosvetni centar.
, , . 2015. (. ,
). : ,
.
90 . 2011. (. ).
: .
. 2014. (. ,
, ) , , :
, , .
19141918. 2015. (. . ).
: .
, . 2007. : .
: .
, . 2004. 18041813: .
: - .
, . 2014. , : 1914
2009. : .
, . 2012.
. : .
, . 2015. :
19051915. : .
Notes:
1 Ivo Tartalja, Djordje Trifunovic, Dragoslav Mihailovic, Bata Mihailovic, Branimir
Zivojinovic, Jovan Hristic, Danilo N. Basta, Ljubomir Gligorijevi, Maks Erenrajh, Leon
Kojen, Biserka Rajcic, Miodrag Perisic, Aleksandar Ilic, Dusan T. Batakovic, Svetis-
lav Basara, Lidija Subotin, Slobodan Samardic, Milica Micic-Dimovska, Slobodan
Nenadovic, Ranko Radovic, Djordjije Vukovic, Predrag Protic, Gojko Tesic, Predrag
Petrovic, Srdjan Vucinic.
2 In the Administrative Committee were: Biserka Rajcic (Chairman), Ivan Rastego-

rac (Deputy Chairman), Aleksandra Grubor, Petar Cvetkovic, Dusko Novakovic and
Srdjan Vucinic, and in the Supervisory committee were: Djordje Trifunovic, Milinko
Djordjevic and Nenad Milosevic.
3 [] [], , (further: , or
), . 1, 1. 2002, 2.
4 , , , .
18, 1. 2. 2004, 1.
5 , , ,
. 18, 1. 2. 2004, 2.
6 , : , , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 3;
, , , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 4.
7 . , , , . 18, 1.
2. 2004, 1, 1617; . ,
, , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 8; , 1835. -
( ), , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 9. More about
the First Serbian Uprising: 2013; : 18041815
2004; Prvi srpski ustanak i stvaranje moderne srpske drave 18041835, 2004;
2004.
8 , , , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 5; , -

, , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 15; ,
, , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 20.
9 , , , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 67.
10 , , , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 15.
11 . , , , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 19.
12 For more information about Balkan wars see: 1912/1913:
2013; 19121913: -
2015;
1912/1913. : ( -
1912), 12 2013;
1912. 2007.
13 . ,
18771912, , . 2/107, 2012, 4.
14 , , , . 2/107, -
2012, 2.
15 , ,
(19121913), , . 2/107, 2012, 3.
16 , . (18871918), , . 2/107, -
2012, 22.
17 , , , .
3/108, 2013, 13.
18 , : , , .
3/108, 2013, 45.
19 ,
, , . 3/108, 2013, 3.
20 , , ,
. 3/108, 2013, 2021.
21 See: 2015; , 2014; 2014; ,
, 2015; 19141918 2015;
2015;
2014; 2014; 90 2011.
22 , 1915.
1918, , . 9/114, , , 2014, 30.
23 , , , . 9/114, , , -
2014, 19. The article is an excerpt from the book: 2014.
24 . , , , 8/113, , ,
2014, 2.
25 , , , . 104, 1.
, 1. , 1. 2012, 2; . ,
, , . 13, 1. 2003, 45; .
, , , . 15/16, 1. 1. -
2003, 1, 3.
26 . , -
XV , , . 3, 1. 2003, 17; , . 5/6, 1.
12. 2002 1. 01. 2003, 2021; . ,
XV (2), , . 7/8, 1.
1. 2003, 2021.
27 , , , . 1. 2006, 1, 13.
28 , , , . 58, 1. 2007, 22.
29 , -
(17171739), , . 5/6, 1. 12. 2002 1. 01. 2003, 11.
30 , , ,
. 46, 1. 2006, 3; ,
18. . , , . 66, 1. 2008, 16.
31 , , , . 2/107, -
2012, 23.
32 , : , , . 18, 1. 2. 2004, 3. See also:
2003.
33 , 1867 -
, , , . 6869, 1. 1.
2008, 12.
34 , , , . 45, 1. 2006, 1, 14.
35 , 19. 20. ,
, . 100, 1. , 1. 1. 2011, 3435.
36 . ,
, , . 3536, 1. 1. 2005, 18; . -
, , , . 37, 1. 2005, 1617. See
also: 2006.
37 , , ,
. 64, 1. 2007, 1819. See also: 2004.
38 , , , . 29, 1. 2005, 18
19; , , , . 30, 1. 2005, 1819. See also:
2007.
39 , , , . 4/109,
2013, 6; , , , . 13/118, -
, 2015, 45. See also: 2012; 2015.
40 , , , . 55, 1. 2007,
34. See also: 2015; 1998.
41 . , , , . 1, 1. 2002, 4.
42 , Genocid totalis, , . 102, 1. 1. 2011,

23. See also: 2013.
43 , , , . 8183, 1. 1. 2009, 17;
, , , . 63, 1 2007,
1617.
44 , , , . 17, 1.
2004, 7.
45 , , , . 5960, 1. 1.
2007, 16.
46 , , , . 73, 1. 2008, 1819; -
, , , . 7980, 1. 1. 2009, 8;
, , , . 9798, 1. 1.
2010, 8.
47 , , , . 31, 1. 2005, 15.
48 , , , . 13, 1. -
2003, 3.
49 , , , . 43, 1. 2006, 17;
, , , . 37, 1. 2005, 2.
50 , - , , . 64, 1. 2007, 13.
51 , , , . 39, 2005, 18.
52 , , , . 58, 1.
2007, 5. See also: 1997.
53 , , , . 104, 1. , 1. 1. 2012, 4;
. , , ,
. 104, 1. , 1. 1. 2012, 5.
54 , , , . 66, 1. 2008, 2.
55 , , , . 6869, 1.
1. 2008, 1213.
56 , : ,
19. , 2002, 221, , . 56, 1. 12. 2002 1. 01. 2003, 89.
57 , : . -
, , , ,
2003, , . 2324, 1. 1. 2004, 15.
58 , : , -
19051914, , -
2004, , . 40, 1. 2005, 8.
59 , : ; , -
, , , 2005, ,
. 44, 1 2006, 7.
60 . , , : -
. , , , 2007, , . 5960, 1. 1.
2007, 8.
61 . , : , ,
, , 2006, , . 63, 1. 2007, 8.
62 , : , , -
, 2006, , . 54, 1. 2007, 7.
63 , - , , . 9596, 1.
1. 2010, 11.
64 . , :
. , . --
18781920. , , , 2010, , . 9596, 1.
1. 2010, 4.
65 , : ,
. ,
, , 2011, , . 100, 1. , 1. , 1. 2011, 15.
66 . , -
: , . , -
2007, , . 99, 1. 1. 2011, 16.
67 , : . ,
17901918, , , 2013, , . 8/113, , ,
2014, 13.
68 See: Boi 2015.
69 , , , . 8183, 1. 1. 2009,
2.
70 ,
, , . 4/109, 2013, 2.
71 , , , . 6/111, ,
2013, 11.
72 , , , . 55, 1.
2007, 5.
73 Ibid.
74 , : (19372001),
, . 4/109, 2013, 2223.

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9 -

252
EXHIBITING THE BALKANS IMAGINED:

ANEXCESS IN MEDIATING (TRANS)
NATIONAL MEMORIES
Vinja Kisi
Last decade has witnessed a transnational and transcultural turn in memory

studies (Erll 2011; Assmann and Conrad 2010; Crete 2011; Cesari and Rigney
2014), moving away from the focus on national frameworks in researching
collective memory (Halbwachs and Coser 1992) and places of memory (Nora
1984-92). This new recognition of memory being in movement which cuts
across different localities resists the reductive bounds of the nation state and
methodological nationalism (Wimmer and Glick Schiller 2002) and works
with the increasingly global circulation of memory across cultures and
nations.
The transnational or transcultural memory is understood as having the
potential of collapsing binary narratives of national singular truths about the
past and bringing multiple disparate histories together under one critical
umbrella. The nation is not anymore understood as the natural container of
memory debates (Assmann and Conrad 2010) and the benefit of the trans-
national perspective is that transnationality signifies forms of life and prac-
tice that replace the national either/or with a co-national both/and (Beck
2006:62). Furthermore, the global, the international, and the national also
imply transnational aspects.
Even though most of cases in researching transnational memories have
been focused on the topics of migrations, globalization processes, individual
and communal networked memories, subaltern groups, I argue that trans-
nationalism in memory studies can and should be applied to national sites
and memory institutions. Moving away from the methodological national-
ism when understanding national heritage sites and museums uncovers a
range of artifacts and stories which can be interpreted through transnational
memory frameworks and thus create intercultural understanding. Therefore,
the challenge to the national memory frameworks should not be just a mat-
ter of civil and supranational actors and parallel memory works, but can be
254 Vinja Kisi
addressed through methodological transnationalism in deconstructing sin-

gular national narratives.
The region of South-East Europe is particularly interesting when think-
ing about transnational memory as a lot of culturalized conflicts within the
region, and that are rooted in ethno-nationalistic memory narratives. The
narratives connected to the longevity of particular ethno-national identity
and the territorial claims connected to it often overlap and contest with the
similar claims of neighboring countries. For this reason, the region has been
described as lingering in conflict-time a period in which conflict is not
absent, but rather transformed into war by proxy played out through com-
petitive heritage interpretations, antagonistic memorialization and memory
wars (Baillie-Warren 2012). Because of being naturalized within discours-
es of ethnicity and nation, national museums and sites are often an invisible
basis for cultural violence within the region, that is, the aspects of culture
that make direct and structural violence look, even feel right or at least not
wrong (Galtung 1990: 291).
This paper focuses on a case of the exhibition Imagining the Balkans:
Identities and Memory in the Long 19th Century, created in the period from
2010-2013, in order to analyze the process of mediation of conflicting na-
tional memories among twelve nation states in South-East Europe in creating
a regional historical narrative.1 The initiative for a joint exhibition came from
a supranational intergovernmental body, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sci-
ence and Culture in Europe in Venice, Italy, that coordinated, facilitated and
co-financed it. As a part of the implicit politics of reconciliation in SEE pushed
forward by international community, this specific project aimed not only to
enhance cooperation and dialogue among national history museums in the
region, but to pursue a more ambitious task of placing national histories in
a global context, comparing disputed narratives and reviving shared memo-
ries (UNESCO website, 03.04.2013). This case is exemplary in showing the
tensions between national and transnational memory frameworks, and well
as the tensions between agenda of ethno-national unity pursued through na-
tional museums and the agenda of intercultural dialogue and reconciliation
pushed forward by the international community.
Through this case I aim to shed light on how the newly created space for
cooperation which positioned participants outside their exclusively national
frameworks, contributed to the creation of a supranational narrative about
the 19th century history in the SEE. Furthermore, I aim to show that despite
of the new regional memory arena created through this project, the national
interests, historiographies and established narratives have not been erased
or neutralized during and through the exhibition process. On the contrary,
they were constantly competing, impeding and limiting the transnational po-
tential of both the process and the final outcome.
In doing so, I rely upon the interpretative constructionist approach and

analyze project documents, meeting reports, public announcements and ex-
hibition itself. These tangible outputs of the project are then complemented
by in-depth interviews with representatives from UNESCO, participating mu-
seums and international experts, in order to understand how the participants
reflect upon the process and where they see the tensions and limitations in
creating a transnational narrative of the SEE region.
Promises and ambitions:

Setting the tone for conceptualizing the exhibition
Named after the book The Imagining the Balkans (Todorova 1997), the exhi-
bition was created from 2010-2013, through five meetings and extensive on-
line correspondence. Besides representatives from twelve museums of his-
tory, UNESCO involved key international organizations2, each giving specific
know-how and legitimizing the process. Composed of objects on loan from
all 11 participating museums and imagined to travel to 11 countries crossing
EU/non-EU borders, the exhibition has been a highly complex project orga-
nization wise.3 Besides, the most sensitive aspect of the exhibition was its
aim to interpret the long 19th Century in SEE (Hobsbowm 1962; 1975; 1987),
the very period of creation of the nation states, the period highly contested
among national historiographies.
The project was a part of UNESCO Office in Venice attempts to foster
dialogue and reconciliation in the SEE, and one of the few projects which fo-
cused on difficult heritage.4 From the first glimpses at the reports from the
meetings and press releases of this exhibition, it is apparent that the exhibi-
tion was imagined as a tool to address disputed national narratives, divisions
and conflicts in SEE.
The project started in 2010 with the appointment of one representative
from each of the twelve national history museums in SEE to participate at the
UNESCO conference in Thessaloniki National History Museums in Southeast
Europe: learning history, building shared memories. This was the first time
that representatives from these museums came together. Already at the con-
ference, both UNESCO and participating museums expressed the interest to-
wards a joint exhibition, with a primary goal to cooperate and create bridges
among museums.
UNESCOs intention to encourage the questioning of the construction
of nations, heritages and identities, was reflected not only in the choice of
participating museums, but also in the choice of the topics and exhibitions
around which next two meetings took place. The second group meeting en-
titled Best practices in museum management: dealing with difficult heri-
tage, educating on history took place in Berlin Historical Museum in January
256 Vinja Kisi
2011, and was formed around the study visit to the exhibition Hitler and the
Germans, Nation and Crime, focusing on topics of difficult heritage and in-
tercultural dialogue. The third group meeting entitled History, memory and
dialogue in South-East Europe: Exploring the identity of Nations took place
in Turin in October 2011, at the National Museum of the Italian Risorgimen-
to, and included a study visit to the exhibition Making Italians. 150 years of
Italian history.
If the topics of the meeting in Berlin aimed to inspire discussion on deal-
ing with difficult heritage, exhibition in Turin was a good example of talking
about construction of national narratives and identities. All three meetings
were formed around topics that challenged traditional displays and narra-
tives within national history museums. As examples which aimed to re-con-
struct and change unquestioned national discourses they have set a specific
tone for what would be a desirable approach for the common project.
Reading the exhibition:

creating a common narrative for the Southeast Europe
Despite the ambitions to talk both about similarities and contested topics,
the exhibition as an end result, tells a story about the common processes
of change from the pre-national world to national modern states in the SEE
during the 19th century. Structured around 10 themes it presents shared pro-
cesses, common features and historical interactions, rather than contested
national histories and narratives.
It starts with a theme of Coffee culture, a shared practice of 19th century
throughout the Balkans, which had a different character in two different em-
pires, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman, which ruled the Balkans throughout
19th century. The second theme, Living in the Old World, presents the context
and culture of pre-national societies where identities were linked to religion,
while next two themes, Traveling, Communicating; and A New Social Order
and the Rise of the Middle Class interpret the social, technical and economic
aspects of modernization and democratization which paralleled the process
of nation building.
Next five themes Creating and Disseminating Knowledge; Mapping; Us-
ing History, Making Heroes; Public Celebrations and The Image of the Nation
are the bravest themes at the exhibition, which underline the thesis that
nations did not exist since ever, but were constructed and shaped through
the number of private, public, educational and symbolic practices, as well
as by the extensive use, modification and manipulation of history, ethnogra-
phy and language. These five texts are particularly strong in communicating
the message that all the nations in the Balkans were formed through similar
practices, strategies and processes, all of which tried to define its unique and
pre-mordial identity, in order to create cohesion among members of the new

national community and demark them from the others.
Even though these themes were cracking the established storyline of na-
tional narratives, the interpretation and contextualization of artifacts did not
further explore, dialogue or exemplify the themes. The treatment of artifacts
was kept on the level of seemingly objective description, serving merely as
the image, illustration or representation of the processes discussed in the-
matic panels. In treating the artifacts, exhibition was fearful of interpretation
and silent about how layers of meanings of an artifact relate to the topic. It
left the visitor to intuitively guess and read between the lines.
The final theme Whose is this song? is represented by a single object
a documentary movie Whose is this song? the only object that explicitly
exemplifies how common folklore practice can become a matter of multiple
ownership claims and disputes. It serves to highlight the exhibition message
that new national social orders and their exclusive narratives have masked
the commonalities among peoples in the SEE:
So, whose is this song? Dont we, after all share a common past, a common
tradition, a common culture? Having become overwhelmed by our differ-
ences we have forgotten our closeness. (The text from the final exhibition
label)
These few explanatory sentences, directed towards the visitor, frame and re-
solve the interplay of commonalities and differences of this movie and the
whole exhibition in a particular cohesive manner. Through its interpreta-
tive strategies, exhibition did challenge and restructure exclusive national
narratives, and in doing so created a temporary transnational narrative of
the Balkans around the concept of shared heritage and shared memory.
How comes that after some of the announcements about this project,
which were clearly referring to disputed narratives and conflicting histo-
ries, the exhibition was so consensual, and as a matter of fact silent about
the conflicting and interrelating aspects of collective memories in the South-
East Europe? How comes that, apart from the 10 thematic panels, most of
the captions and labels for specific objects did not make any explicit con-
nections or explorations of the themes, did not compare or contrast and did
not make visible to the audiences the incredible amount of latent dissonance
the surplus of meanings that was managed through the extensive nego-
tiations among curatorial teams? What were the turning points in framing
the concept of the exhibition and crafting its meanings? What tensions arose
between dialoguing and presenting, between differing and commonalities,
between raising difficult questions and creating a new common narrative for
SEE region, between representational and critical approach?
258 Vinja Kisi
Working out cohesive transnational memory:

from critical to consensual
From the interviews with participants of the projects, it became clear that
the hints and attempts to compare, de-construct or reveal mutually exclusive
national narratives of participating museums did not get as easily accepted
within the group. Already during the meeting in Turin, there were strong
voices for presenting commonalities and avoiding conflicting narratives. The
joint cooperation coordinated by UNESCO was obviously outside the comfort
zone of participants in relation to participants previous knowledge, the
discourses and practices of their institutions, the official collective memory
and historiography, as well as their curatorial and diplomatic responsibility.
What happened in Turin is an evident clash between those participants
who wanted to take a more post-modernist stand and reveal the mechanisms
of creation nation states, including the conflicting issues that this processes
caused, and those who wanted to make things less political, avoid conflicting
themes and talking affirmatively about common heritage. This second group,
wanted to diverge from the idea of dealing with history towards the idea of
ethnographic overview of everyday common culture, in order to avoid politi-
cal implications. As opposed to curators who wanted to reflect the tensions
created by construction of national narratives, the curators who wanted to
skip this, implicitly positioned their own museum practices as apolitical and
positioned the talk about everyday culture as apolitical as well.
Both approaches were legitimate and had their pros and cons for the
enhancement of dialogue in the region. The first one thought that conflict-
ing narratives should be made visible, deconstructed and dialogued not in
order to make the revision of the historical truths, but in order to create
the critical awareness and understanding of the manipulative aspects of na-
tional historiographies. The other approach strongly felt that the compari-
son and display of the conflicting narratives might become problematic to
participants, museums, participating states and citizens, and give incentive
to the arousal of the new conflicts. Therefore it advocated for the creation of
an alternative narrative which capitalizes the concept of shared history and
shared heritage.
In the framework of such a multilateral cooperation mediated by UNES-
CO, it was impossible to try out the first approach, if someone in the group
did not feel comfortable with it. The most important goal for UNESCO as a
mediator was not to cause additional political conflicts, but to try to make
everyone feel willing to cooperate within the group. If individual participants
have been bound by the imagined or imposed political interests of their na-
tion states, UNESCO as organization was bound not to offend the interest of
its main stock-holders, the nation states. Therefore, despite of its authority
and potential to put all these sides on the same table, UNESCO was limited
by the sum of the interests appearing around that table. Therefore, UNESCOs
representative calmed things down by proposing lighter topics education,
industrialization, celebrations all following the discourse of modernization
in the region. Importantly, instead of dialoguing and theoretizing about the
concept of the exhibition from a blank slate, he proposed each museum to se-
lect 10 objects from their collections which would cover some of the agreed
topics.
The presentations of the 10 selected objects from each museum at the
next meeting in March 2012 in Ljubljana, once again showed a conceptual di-
vide. From the selection of the objects, it was evident that three different ap-
proaches and readings of the objects appeared, which had very different atti-
tude towards museums, national identity and politics. One group approached
artifacts from the perspective of economic and social history recognizing the
process of construction of the national identities, myths and heroes; the oth-
er from ethnographic everyday common culture; while the third presented
its nation in a celebratory way.
After the presentations of 10 objects by each museum, a sort of self-ad-
justment took place - some participants changed some of the artifacts to re-
late the selection to the other countries in the region, while some participants
removed the artifacts that directly clashed with the history of the neighbor-
ing country. Based on these objects, concrete themes have been outlined and
the project group worked together online to make final selection of the ob-
jects and to write and review texts. Reviewing all labels and texts by everyone
meant that anything disturbing for any of the partners would be discussed
and left out of the texts creating a new narrative par excellence.
Back stage processes of creating Imagining the Balkans even if not inten-
tionally focused on selecting and interpreting artifacts in a way that would
make dissonance visible, had developed a way of engineering and arbitrating
the interpretations of each artifact in order to reach a unanimous consensus.
In the exhibition, heritage dissonances could be presented or avoided both
through the selection and the interpretation of selected artifacts. Working
in the spirit of cohesion, as one of the interviewees referred to this process,
meant that contested or interrelated personalities, events, myths and sym-
bols were either not selected, or were not interpreted as such. If someone
was against something he/she found disturbing or unsuitable, or wanted
something to be removed from the text, the approach from UNESCO would
be to put the benchmark down so that it fits the framework that does not
disturb anyone. Indicative example of this process is the proposal to talk
about heroes and anti-heroes, which was overruled in the last phase of the
preparations.
Another challenge was the topic of heroes and anti-heroes. We did not want
to get into the celebration and national pride, and it was evident that a hero
260 Vinja Kisi
in Serbia is anti-hero in Turkey...this was situation in all countries. However,

this has been understood by the others as pushing too far the boundaries,
and being too post-modernistic. (Project Coordinator)
This statement indicates that there was a persistent effort of one part of the
team to display at least some basic level of contradictory meanings through
the interpretation of the artifacts as the meaning attached to a specific histor-
ical person or event obviously differed in national narratives. Secondly, it also
tells that a part of the group had perceived any attempt to acknowledge this
multi-perspectivity as going beyond the boundaries linking these mean-
ings to either pride or shame. The issue about being too post-modernist for
a historical exhibition was further illuminated throughout interviews, giv-
ing a hint about different philosophical and methodological approach to the
museum objects, in which some curators were or were not equipped with
post-modern constructivist theories to be able to use them in museum space.
The clash, therefore, was not only about the conflicting national historiogra-
phies, or those who are ready to deconstruct the evilness of the nationalism
and those who are protecting nationalist narratives. It was also about profes-
sional standpoint and understanding of the history, memory and heritage
authorized and inclusive (Kisi 2015) - resulting from the background and
education of participants.
National memories strike back! Drop-offs, diplomatic

disputes and audience reactions
Despite of all the cautiousness and revisions of texts, the exhibition did not
pass without disputes, tensions and political backlashes. Turkey had stepped
out of the project a month before the opening. This is no surprise, as the na-
tional narratives of all the Balkan states were created simultaneously with
the gaining of independence from the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule.
In this process, the image of a bloodthirsty Turks promoted the idea that Ot-
tomans are the bearers of an essentially different civilization and the cause
of backwardness of the Balkans (Todorova 2006: 63-64). Despite of all the
compromises and efforts, this widespread anti-Ottoman sentiment in the na-
tional narratives positioned Turkey on the other side of the common trans-
national memory of the 19th century Balkans.
The second tension happened few months after the opening in Ljublja-
na, just before the exhibition was to be opened in Belgrade. The Bulgarian
National History Museum complained about the contents of two captions of
artefacts selected by the Museum of Macedonia, related to disputed heritage
between the two nations the hero Goce Delev and the uprising of Kruevo.
The affair went outside of the scope of backstage agreements among partici-
pants and outside any examination of the historical validity, and was raised
on the level of the press, the Ministries of Culture and UNESCO headquarters.
The solution has been negotiated on highest political level with replacement
of two captions and printing of a new version of exhibition catalogue, while
exhibition never travelled to Bulgaria (Mazarakis 2015).
The third public scandal around the exhibition aroused in Athens, not
about specific objects, but about the very fact that the name of Museum of
Macedonia has been written on the labels within the Greek National History
Museum. The incident happened on one of the first guided tours, when a lady,
seeing the label stating Museum of Macedonia started shouting on curator,
outraged because of the title. Soon after this, the International Association
of Greek Macedonian Ladies directed the official protest letter towards the
populist press in Greece, Minister of Culture, the Hellenic National Commit-
tee for UNESCO and all Members of the Parliament, forcing Museum to make
a public announcement in its defense (Mazarakis, 2015). Finally, the outrage
of some visitors has been reflected in both the direct complaints and in nega-
tive comments in impression book calling the exhibition treason.
Finally, for nominally financial and organizational reasons the exhibition
will not be hosted in Nicosia, Tirana and Zagreb. These funding issues how-
ever, speak of the unwillingness of the Ministries to support this kind of re-
gional cooperation as a political priority. These backlashes created the need
among UNESCO Venice representatives to dissociate from a critical approach,
underlining that them as an organization are not dealing with contested is-
sues or dissonant heritage, and painting the conversation with the universal-
ist shared heritage concept. These claims are indicative of the UNESCOs
cautiousness to back up its involvement and mandate in dealing with con-
tested heritage in the SEE region, particularly having in mind that Imagining
the Balkans was not the only project of this problematic kind that has been
started and coordinated by UNESCO Office in Venice.5 This tension between
idealism, good cause, philosophical ideas on one hand, and power relations
within concrete programs on the other, makes UNESCO bound and limited by
the nation states membership and structure.
Exhibition as an excess6 in mediating (trans)national

memories
Despite having a flavor of a joyful reunion of schoolchildren as one of inter-
viewees referred to the exhibition, this project is a positive excess a devia-
tion that usurps the rules in establishing a transnational narrative among
national memory actors. Conceptually, the project combined the policy ideals
of reconciliation and intercultural dialogue with the cutting-edge academic
and museological knowledge, tested in very few museums around the world
up to now. It went to the core ideological public institutions that keep the
262 Vinja Kisi
holy grail of national narratives institutions that are directly financed by the
governments; that have directors elected from the governments; that consist
of curators trained to manage collections in objective apolitical way, often
blind to the biases of their own national historiography; and that are visited
by audiences educated on exclusive national narratives who visit national
museums mainly to get the sense of national pride, belonging and identity7.
Meaning and messages formed within the exhibition are also a positive
excess because, for this one occasion, they intruded and changed the struc-
turing and the focus of historical narratives present in usual displays of the
participating museums. The exhibition moved away from the political his-
tory of wars, heroes and fights over territories throughout the long 19th cen-
tury. The reading of selected phenomena was done in a way that made visible
common space and common phenomena that societies and national elites
around the Balkans thought in similar terms, used same mechanisms and
strategies, fought same politics.
In terms of treatment of identities and contested topics, the exhibition
could be criticized for creating transnational narrative par excellence, us-
ing very selective memory and leaving all the surpluses of meanings under
the carpet. If the displays of each of participating national history museum
frame national identity through heritage, this exhibition acted towards fram-
ing transnational identity of the whole region. As with other, more technical
instruments for framing SEE through international cooperation and EU en-
largement process, this cultural framing was equally politically driven, con-
structed and selective.
Finally, this project shows why it is important to challenge national
memory frameworks by applying methodological transnationalism in work-
ing with and researching national memory institutions. It is exactly these
attempts of overcoming methodological nationalism of memory politics
that reveal the tensions and interactions of the national and transnational
frameworks. The tensions, limitations, political backlashes and public out-
rage caused by this exhibition showed the how the forces of national frame-
works continue to perpetuate hegemonic national memory. But these forces
and tensions also indicate the importance of addressing exclusions, divisions
and symbolic conflicts related to the uses of normalized aspects of collec-
tive memory and heritage, particularly those related to national and ethnic
identities.
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264 Vinja Kisi
Notes:
1 Participating museums were: National History Museum, Albania; Museum of the
Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina; National History Museum, Bulgaria;
Croatian History Museum, Croatia; Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, Cyprus;
German Historical Museum, Germany; National Historical Museum, Greece; National
Museum of Montenegro, Montenegro; National History Museum of Romania, Roma-
nia; Historical Museum of Serbia, Serbia; National Museum of Slovenia, Slovenia;
Museum of Macedonia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Not all partici-
pating museums are purely historical museums, as some of the selected national mu-
seums have mainly archaeological and art collections. Also, some of them cannot be
called national institutions in all-encompassing sense, but were chosen as the best
alternative to a proper national institution. (Mazarakis, 2015)
2 the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the ICOM International Committee
for Exhibitions and Exchange (ICEE), Council of Europe, International Association
of Museums of History, Eunamus/European National Museums network, Euroclio,
German History Museum and Museum of Italian Risorgimento.
3 It has so far reached Belgrade, Bucharest, Skopje, Athens and Cetinje and is about to
go to Banja Luka, while due to diverse financial, organizational and political reasons
it has not been to Sofia, and will not go to Zagreb, Tirana or Nicosia.
4 Imagining the Balkans exhibition was a part of a specific component for SEE region
entitled Heritage and Dialogue of the global UNESCOs conceptual framework of
Culture: a Bridge to Development which seeks to develop innovative and creative
approaches to heritage safeguarding and culture-sensitive development projects as
powerful tools for the enhancement of dialogue and reconciliation in the South-East
European region (UNESCO website, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/venice/cul-
ture/culture-a-bridge-to-development/).
5 A similar project as Imagining the Balkans has been started already before the inau-
guration of the Imagining the Balkans exhibition in Ljubljana, replicating the same
method. It brings together 6 countries from ex-Yugoslavia in effort to reopen a com-
mon pavilion in of Yugoslavia Auschwitz.
6 The word excess is used here to refer to something that is more than permitted or
desirable, a deviation that usurps the rules. (from Latin excessus)
7 Research by EUNAMUS showed that 97% of audiences at the Greek National History
Museum come because they want to find the truth about their nation and the roots
of their identity (Bounia et al. 2012)
SUSTAINABLE DIGITISATION MODELS

OF ARCHIVAL CONTENTS OF
PUBLICTELEVISION
Franjo Maleti, Blago Markota
Introduction
The man of the 21st century is fascinated with media; they permeate his ev-
eryday communication, gradually changing and rebuilding, or replacing the
picture of the world. Due to media omnipresence, but also peoples depen-
dence on them, human consciousness has become a prisoner of media.
We are faced with abundance of information, we live in a community that is
defined by the culture as the sum of spiritual, moral, social and production
activities, which is reproduced as collective memory through the process of
communication. Digitisation will be one of the initiators of different reflec-
tion in understanding media. Simpler forms of digitisation through the text
or image will be the beginning of a new media era. Orwellian 1984 came af-
ter Apple had launched a computer with a built-in graphical user interface.
Since then, nothing has been the same in the media world.
Rapid development of media and media technology will contribute to
daily questioning of the social role of media and communication processes,
defining new theoretical insights, as well as pragmatic questioning of how
to preserve old media records and make them operable in the future me-
dia transformation. Digitisation has undoubtedly been the most important
and crucial driving force in media development in recent years, which was, at
its very beginning, recognized only as a technical innovation. Its multi-func-
tionality, adaptability to preserve old and create new, has led to numerous
changes in all aspects of media production, distribution, commercialisation,
use of old analogue records and creation of new media content. The ability
of digitisation to in the value-added chain of creating a media product in
a very important moment when the interest in the old media is on the de-
cline increase the creative influence on the old media content by redesign-
ing the old analogue records into a new platform, with the primary function
266 Franjo Maleti, Blago Markota
of conservation and protection of media artefacts, is undoubtedly its most

important value.
Therefore, the digitisation paves the way for changes in the mutual rela-
tionships between traditional media forms. Media technology, especially dur-
ing the 19th and 20th centuries, contributed to the technology of recording
the cultural heritage and its preservation, and thus it became a forerunner of
the digitising we recognize today. No new technology has completely ruled
out the old technology, despite the persistent efforts of the new to sub-
stitute the old. But the old survives, and the new prevails (Lesk 2005:375,
Maleti 2014:195); understanding the new establishes new paradigms in the
broader context of information and communication science. Digitisation has
also, without any doubt, multiplied the amount of information in unthinkable
proportions (Palfrey 2008: 225 ff) because, nowadays, its volume has been
increasing every day by 2.5 quintillion bytes (one trillion gigabytes), which
corresponds to the memory record of all the words spoken from the begin-
ning of time until today.
The term convergence, which is often used in this context by which
we mean a fusion of technical communication infrastructures, media content,
terminals as well as the telecommunication and media sector1 a trend that
marks the present and the foreseeable future from the technological aspect.
Yet, it would be wrong to conclude that all these technological innovations are
more important than the media content. According to Nielsen (2000:100),
the content remains the number one and its protection is the fundamen-
tal question of todays digitisation process in all media institutions or those
that preserve some of the media artefacts. Although public television systems
in all South Eastern European countries are facing the same issues, experi-
ences are different, because they depend on the national media systems and
policies, differently developed markets, the degree of computerisation and
digitisation of the media, but also on the degree of media literacy of the con-
sumers of public television.
As far as media sphere is concerned, the media themselves are continu-
ally changing their shape, material and social effects, thanks to the develop-
ment of technology. The media sphere long ago ceased to contribute to the
development of the national culture only. Splichal (2012) warns that its role
is increasingly linked to the formation of a transnational culture. In the devel-
oped and globalized world, the media sphere is increasingly shaping global
awareness, global communications, global media activism in which digitisa-
tion is more than just a new platform.
Benjamin very early observed that the forms of reproduction of audio-
visual material, then film and image, were facing the phenomenon of me-
chanical reproduction as changing the shape that affects the authenticity,
the original. Photography and film can, by enlarging a picture or slow motion
recording, cover those aspects or details that the human eye cannot. Todays
world of digital form is again faced with the important issue of authenticity
which begins with the possibility of mechanical reproduction, and ends with
todays digitalisation and the challenges of remix interpretation. Thanks to
the digitisation, which opens the previously mentioned issue of authentic-
ity of the original work of art, new technologies affect the changes of media
content, which are the consequences of the previously unknown process of
design, multimedia. A large number of features enabled by digitisation, push-
es the boundaries of cultural creation, but also opens the already mentioned
consideration of the original work as a digital record.
Today when talking about analogue media records of public media insti-
tutions, the focus is put on the changes that will result on the one hand in the
area of production, on the other hand in the field of communication. Techno-
logical innovation affects many relationships that we face when approaching
digitisation and its effects from administrative-regulatory changes to those
in the sphere of understanding mass communication (individual, social,
political communication and other forms of communication). Jussi Parikka
(2012) offers a good overview of the connections between physical and so-
cial aspects of media and technology.
Digitised information becomes easily available, expanding rapidly. It is
multifunctional, interactive, networked. Media record carriers are becom-
ing irrelevant, broadband networks assume the role of transmitters, store-
keepers and guards. A number of socio-cultural changes and economic im-
pacts (Maleti 2014:204), on the other hand, are only partially recognised
in national strategies or plans adopted by the institutions that own digital
collections.
The authors of this paper analysed the current practice, public policy
the digitalisation strategies, relationships of national strategies and the
EU strategy with the aim of creating a sustainable model of digitisation. The
authors further analyse, on the examples of national public service media
national public televisions, the digitisation process, the reasons for slow
activities compared to western public television services, various national
strategies for preserving archival materials and the consequences arising
from national strategies. The resources, material and technological basis for
the acceptance of digitisation, as well as the potential consequences of non-
digitisation of archives of public television services are also analysed.
Available data of the public television systems in Serbia, Bosnia and Her-
zegovina, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and
Croatia, which own the concerned materials, show that digitisation is faced
with many obstacles. Among these obstacles are national policies and ap-
proaches to the protection of national cultural heritage and the efforts to re-
vive the Digital Agenda of the EU. This Agenda is one of the seven pillars of
the development strategy defined by the document Europe 2020 Strategy,
which defines the future growth targets of the EU. The objectives of the EU
digital agenda complement the national interests of preserving cultural heri-

tage, especially encouraging the creation of a single digital market. Namely,
the public tends to make material cultural heritage available as public goods,
and public televisions are determined as co-responsible for handling the ar-
chival materials, as well as co-responsible for making the access to audio-
video and film cultural heritage public.
The archival material of the public television services of the mentioned
countries is currently estimated as a record of more than one million hours
of production. The volume of this media record could be shown by the fact
that its reproduction would last for more than 114 years on a 24-hour TV
programme. The experience of todays exploitation of archives in the new
digital production shows that when shaping the daily production of a pub-
lic media system it is often reached for archival material with the intention
of improving the production content, thereby saving numerous resources.
The above mentioned use of material is insufficient due to non-digitisation
and inadequate metadata as basic information for search, selection and
newuse.
EU Strategy in the field of protection of Audio Visual Cultural

Heritage
The importance of preserving the audio visual heritage today in the Euro-
pean area can be seen from the fact that the EU, when defining the Europe
2020 Strategy2, among its seven core activities included the European Digi-
tal Agenda3. European strategic concept which supports the digitisation of
cultural heritage can be identified from the most important recommenda-
tions of the European Digital Agenda and its amending acts, which defines it
as a precondition for adoption of national programs. The following EU direc-
tions should be hereby mentioned:
consolidation of the strategies and targets for digitisation of cultural

content;
consolidation of the organisation of digitisation and provision of funding
for digitisation, including the promotion of public-private partnerships;
improving the conditions for online accessibility and use of cultural
content;
contribution to further development of Europeana;
ensuring long-term digital protection.
The Association of European Cinmathques4 in 2010 estimated that 21%

of films stored in film archives did not have the regulated rights, which was
a serious obstacle for mass digitisation. 60% of these are the films over 60
years old, which implies a high degree of risk of destruction or serious dam-
age. Further estimates show that 40% of the British library fund and 90% of
the British Library photographic fund, i.e. institutions, is in the orphan5 cat-
egory. For the protection of that part of the cultural heritage, on 25 October
2012 the European Parliament brought Directive 2012/28/EU and adopted
the recommendations for regulating the use of archive materials for which
there are no clearly defined user rights.
Comit des Sages6 in the report to the European Parliament from 2011
concluded that the institutions that manage the archives necessarily need to
do the following:
1. Ensure the availability and facilitate the use of the public content in digital
form, stimulate the digitisation and online availability of the material.
2. Reinforce the Europeana portal7.
3. Guarantee the sustainability of the digitised content.
4. Ensure sustainable financing for digitisation and Europeana.
5. Complement the public funding with public-private partnerships for
digitisation.
Table 1 Estimated amounts of archival material in

the audio visual archives of the EU8
Description - Estimated total number of hours Quantity Measurement

AUDIO content in EU cultural institutions 10.81 million hrs
VIDEO content in EU cultural institutions 12.14 million hrs
FILM content in EU cultural institutions 1.04 million hrs
A/V content in EU cultural institutions 23.99 million hrs
Source: Report of the Comit Des Sages, 2011, European Commission
Research - Digitisation in the countries of South Eastern

Europe
The main goal of this research9 was to determine the condition and quantity
of audio visual material in the archives as well as other relevant knowledge
required for the assessment of the situation in digitisation initiatives as a
process. Radio Television Serbia - RTS, Bulgarian National Television BNT,
Macedonian Radio Television MKRTV, Radio-Television of Bosnia and Her-
zegovina BHRT, Radio Television of Montenegro RTCG, Radio Television of
Romania - RTV, Radio Television of Kosovo RTK, Radio Television of Albania
RTSH and Croatian Radio Television HRT have been included in the study.
To meet the goal of the research, the questionnaire consisting of 14 chapters
and 140 questions was used. The chapters were the following:
1. general information on the subject, 2. information on the organization, 3.

information on the collection, 4. information on the process of digitisation,
5. information on the processing technology, 6. information on the storage
systems, 7 information on the archival acquisition, 8. information on the
management of content, 9. information on metadata, 10. information on
the rights management, 11. information about how to access the material,
12. information about how to exchange materials, 13. information on the
priorities, 14. information on the collection analytics.
National strategies of digitisation of the Public television

archival material
Croatia HRT10
The proposal Strategy for digitisation of cultural heritage of the Republic of
Croatia 202011 is a document currently being prepared, and the last inter-
ventions carried out by the working group of the Ministry of Culture in June
2013 are linked to the project Strategy for protection, conservation and sus-
tainable economic use of the cultural heritage of the Republic of Croatia for
the period 2011-201512.
In the period to 2020, Croatia intends to develop regulatory and infra-
structural framework for the digitisation of cultural heritage that will allow
and encourage the wide availability, use and exchange of cultural content,
facilitate the access to and presentation of digital cultural heritage, create
new digital content and services based on modern information technologies,
interoperability, long-term conservation, efficiency and sustainability, and
involvement in European and national policies and strategies for building a
digital society.
The contract between the Croatian Government and HRT (2013) stip-
ulates that the digitisation of the archive`s fund will be financed in accor-
dance with the practices of other European public broadcasting services.
The digitisation project should be financed in collaboration with the Croatian
Government from specific national funds or EU funds13. HRT has adopted the
digitisation project with a defined project task estimated to be finalized until
2026.
Bulgaria BNT14
At the national level there is no overall strategy and plan for digitisation and
digitisation of audio visual material and other forms of cultural heritage.
However, there is a number of official statements on the recommendations of
the European Union, political and standard reports, academic research and
published studies of potential digitisation holders. The cooperation with the
EU institutions in the field of digitisation is on the upward course.
Serbia - RTS15
The digitisation plan at the national level and the digitisation of audio vi-
sual material and other forms of cultural heritage has not been adopted, and
as a framework for action the general development strategy of the country
is used, which shows the absence of the specific plans of digitisation of the
public television AV materials. However, there is a number of official recom-
mendations and observations based on the recommendations of the Euro-
pean Union, through political and standard reports, academic research and
the research published by the entities concerned. The process is furthermore
being empowered by scientific conferences (International Scientific Confer-
ence: MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY). The cooperation with the EU institutions on
this issue has also been realised. Foreign trusts and funds also support and
promote the idea of digitisation (Open Society Foundations).
Romania TVR16
A comprehensive strategy of digitisation at the national level has been ad-
opted, but there is no precise plan of digitisation of AV materials as part of
the cultural heritage of the public television. The value of general digitisa-
tion and its prosperous impact on the economy and development as a whole
has been recognised. There are a lot of official analyses based on the rec-
ommendations of the European Union, and broad aims of the digitisation of
cultural heritage have been defined. There are academic and professional
studies of the parties concerned. The National Library, a subject repository,
has been recognised as a model. There is an intensive cooperation with the
EU institutions regarding digitising. The national strategy Digital Agenda
for Romania (2014) was brought by the Romanian Ministry of Information.
The strategy accurately and comprehensively covers the complexity of the
digitisation process.
Macedonia MTV17
There is no comprehensive strategy and plan on digitisation or the digitiza-
tion of audio visual materials as part of the cultural heritage at the national
level. There are official assessments of the situation and recommendations
based on the recommendations of the European Union and UNESCO. There
are also some academic and professional studies. Cooperation with the EU
institutions is on the rise, and support of trusts and funds should be also
mentioned (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Open Society Foundations).
Albania RTSH18
There is no comprehensive strategy and plan on digitisation or the digitiza-
tion of audio visual materials of public television AV materials as part of the
cultural heritage at the national level. There are several initiatives for the
official assessment of the situation, academic research based on the recom-
mendations of the European Union. The cooperation with the EU institutions
is on the rise. The Law on Audio visual Media in Albania, adopted in 2010 is
the only official document. Activities of foreign foundations and funds pro-
mote the need of digitisation (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Open Society
Foundations).
Bosnia and Herzegovinia BHRT19

There is no comprehensive strategy on the digitisation of audio visual mate-
rial and other forms of cultural heritage at the national level. However, there
is a number of official statements based on the recommendations of the Eu-
ropean Union and UNESCO, academic research and published professional
studies. The cooperation with the EU institutions is on the rise. Foreign trusts
and funds support and promote the idea of digitising (Friedrich-Ebert-Stif-
tung and the Open Society Foundations). In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the digi-
tisation initiative is burdened by the problem20 of still completely undefined
relationships in the process of transformation of the federal TV in the public
service.
Montenegro RTCG21
There is no comprehensive strategy and plan on the digitisation of audio vi-
sual materials and other forms of cultural heritage at the national level. How-
ever, there are a number of official assessments of the situation and recom-
mendations based on the recommendations of the European Union, policies
and standard reports, academic research and published studies. The coop-
eration with the EU institutions is on the rise. There are three documents ad-
opted by the government agencies or ministries related to the digital society,
culture and telecommunications.
Kosovo RTK22
There is a number of documents in Kosovo that can support strategic plan-
ning and the process of digitisation of audio visual and other archival mate-
rial. Some updates and settlements are still being recommended. There are
also official situation assessments based on the recommendations of the Eu-
ropean Union, as well as standard reports, academic research and published
studies. The cooperation with the EU institutions is on the rise.
Table 2 Results of the study on the existence of national strategies for

digitisation of AV heritage
Assessment of the
National Digitisation of AV AV
beginning of the
Country digitisation material of public digitisation
digitisation of AV
strategy TV systems model
materials
Croatia No No No Yes
Bulgaria No No No No
Serbia No No No No
Romania Yes No Yes No
Macedonia No No No No
Albania No No No No
Bosnia and
No No No No
Herzegovina
Montenegro No No No No
Kosovo No No No No
Source: Maleti, Markota: Research of the National Strategy for Digitisation, 2015
Metadata and Digitisation

For the digitisation project to be successful, wider social and political sup-
port is primarily needed. Social support is not questionable because of the
clear and positive public impact. Political support is needed for a quick ad-
ministrative adaptation and implementation of legislation with the highest
professional standards, and it is a prerequisite for accessing funds and other
potential sources of financing for long-term sustainable implementation of
the project of digitising and metadata optimisation.
Metadata is simplified and informally defined as data about data or
data associated with an information object. Priscilla Caplan generally de-
fines metadata as structured information on any information object on any
medium or in any format (2003: 3). So, it is not necessarily an electronic in-
formation object, or the electronic format of metadata, but the emphasis is on
the structure and function of metadata in the identification, description, man-
agement and use of an information object. Therefore, this definition is useful

for the heritage institutions that create metadata for various information ob-
jects collections, funds and material units, in conventional and digital form.
Metadata scheme is a collection of metadata elements and rules for their
use, defined for a particular purpose (Ibid.). The ability to search and find
the content is provided by high quality and professional descriptive metadata
that describe the content, visually and tonally. The technical and descriptive
parts together make a necessary whole that will ensure the expected output
of every future request. Conducting the digitisation project, with simultane-
ously neglecting the state of metadata, is sub-optimal solution.
A particularly important aspect of preserving the audio visual content is
defined by the implementation of appropriate standards of metadata, techni-
cal, descriptive, legal and archival. For metadata management Croatian Radio
Television uses the Meridio system, and is planning to improve it in order to
meet the expectations of todays users and maximize the fulfilment of inter-
nal and external requirements.
Figure 1 The most requested keywords, HRT Meridio (27/ 03/2003 16/01/2015)
Source: Maleti, Markota, 2015
The existing digital metadata repositories of the AV materials holders of the

public televisions concerned are based on various archival standards. Analy-
sis of the Croatian example shows that, on the basis of todays queries from
the existing metadata, relatively little material can be identified. The iden-
tification therefore requires increased use of resources of time and implies
physical check of metadata. Digital recording will allow expansion of meta-
data and record the entire speech. Translation of metadata in multiple lan-
guages will greatly expand the interest of the audience for the AV material
and its further commercialisation. Figure 2 shows a high level of historical
discontinuity of the quality of metadata, which is not sustainable in the long
run and requires changes.
Figure 2 Quality of metadata by TV genre 1956 2015
Source: Maleti, Markota 2015
The next parameter to be taken into consideration is the ability of techni-

cal and human internal capacity to implement all the operational require-
ments set by the digitisation. The key parameters in the digitisation project
are certainly time, money and quality. The goal is to complete the digitisation
in the shortest possible time, with minimal costs while improving the qual-
ity of content as well as the final product of digitisation. How will all this be
achieved? Answers to this question and other questions that arise from it are
the same, no matter which country you are in. Digitisation is based on the
same technology, the same work routines and procedures, universal knowl-
edge and tools.
Select the Audio-visual material for Digitisation

or Digitise it all
Bart Ooghe and Dries Moreels (2009)23 propose six main groups of criteria
with corresponding sub-criteria, which were noted and systematised dur-
ing the study as the most important criteria when selecting the material for
digitisation. These are the viewpoints based on the 2009 survey. The analysis
shows that the selection as an issue preceding the digitisation is less and less
mentioned in todays digitisation policy of South Eastern European countries.
Actually, in such a way it has been realised that any interference in the selec-
tion would mean a kind of a specific form of censorship over the AV archival
material. Given the circumstances of the origin of the material (it is about
the countries of the former communist-socialist bloc) and that the selection
had already been made with the selection of topics (censorship of acceptable
topics), the selection approach might create another problem. For Ooghe and
Moreels the selection motives in the above circumstances may have been po-
tentially useful, but the AV material in the mentioned countries was marked
by another criterion. In all public television stations in the region today only
the final product is generally kept. There are almost no complete produc-
tion records to give the final, because of saving on carriers and storage space
these records, being the precursors, were deleted from the carrier.
But, all this does not diminish the value of Ooghea and Moreels fra-
mework; moreover, the framework designed in such a way is necessarily
needed to design the digitisation and commercialisation model, adding it a
national specificity, but it is less acceptable for the selection of the material
Figure 3 Sustainable model of digitisation

Source: Maleti, Markota 2015
planned for digitisation. New scientific and technological program guidelines

or public policies complement the basic scale for example, there are more
and more talks about the dynamic metadata and the static metadata, and the
model on which Ooghe and Moreels base their framework is being abando-
ned. In the area of institutional framework the issue of the original is still
undefined, as well as the rights of the generators of digital collections etc.
Sustainable model of digitisation of audio visual materials of

public services
Sustainable model of digitisation is based on the perceived attitudes and
thinking about what to digitise and how to access the digitalisation resulting
from the above research. It refers to the countries that partly shared the his-
tory of creating the audio visual materials or heritage and its similar socio-
political framework.
Conclusion
A diversity of approaches in transformation of state television services on
the way to a model of public television is observed through the prism of the
historical heritage of the communist system. Negative impacts of the public
television model, through the phase of the influence of nationalocracy with
a shift to more liberal, moderate influence on the media to the adopted Eu-
ropean standard models of public television intended for serving the public,
affects the digitisation policies.
Digitisation as a concept, a policy of shaping initiatives, lags behind dif-
ferent needs and interests of the media public of the 21st century. From the
consumers perspective it is difficult to accept that the digitalisation as in-
novation is approached with a large time lag. For the holders of the national
cultural heritage in South Eastern European countries, opening of archives
of public services is not only a question of protecting cultural heritage, it is
primarily a political issue of opening the material which was for the mostly
created in totalitarian regimes.
When it comes to the digitisation of AV materials, a significant part of all
activities in the observed countries is still only an initiative. The documents
of public policies on digitisation are still in the process of formation. Those
which are already drawn up and adopted have not accepted the digitisation
of public service materials. Moreover, a specific relationship to such material
has not been recognised. The estimate that the digitisation of this material
is a relatively expensive project, that adequate technological infrastructure
does not exist or that the professional staff for its implementation is under-
qualified, cannot be accepted as the reasons for the absence and delay, be-
cause it is not sustainable. It could be argued that the process of digitisation

is in the initiative phase for other reasons, such as: digitisation is not recogn-
ised as an income, but as an expense; digitisation is an important link of the
new creativity, not only transfer of the files onto a new carrier; the process
of digitisation is long due to the amount of the material and the threaten-
ing condition, so the expected effects will not be immediately achievable, but
they will be recognised over a longer period. The protocols for technical and
technological level are defined, but those which should provide the answers
to who will tomorrow own the newly created media types and who will to-
morrow manage and monitor the use of the new materials created on the
national AV structure of public service media, are not.
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files/30297/11942616973cultural_stat_EN.pdf/cultural_stat_EN.pdf.
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Notes:
1 Comp. individual view of specific effects of digitisation and convergence on the tra-
ditional media, industry of terminals and interfaces in the HBI Expertise (Hans-Bre-
dow-Institut), pp. 260-269.
2 http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/documents/related-document-type/index_
en.htm
3 Digital Agenda for Europe, http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/
4 Association of 42 national and regional European film archives
5 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:299:0005:0012
:EN:PDF
6 The European Commission on 23 April 2010 established a working group with the
aim of making estimates of the cost of digitisation of European cultural collections
and technical supervision of the Europeana project.
7 http://europeana.eu/
8 The estimate from the year 2011, without the Republic of Croatia.
9 The survey started on 19 January 2015, ended on March 16, 2015. The research is
supported by professional European Broadcasting Union, Geneva, Switzerland, a
professional association of public television services in Europe.
10 Digitisation initiative based on the so far adopted recommendations and general
guidelines.
11 http://www.min-kulture.hr/default.aspx?id=8637:
12 http://www.min-kulture.hr/userdocsimages/bastina/STRATEGIJA_BASTINE_VRH.
pdf
13 Contract between the HRT and the Croatian Government for the period 2013-2017.
guidelines.
guidelines.
16 Digitisation is based on the national strategy.
guidelines.
guidelines.
guidelines.
20 Miroslav Vasilj: Belgian and Swiss experience as a guideline for the organization of
public RTV service of B&H, Medianali, Vol. 6 (2012), No. 12
guidelines.
guidelines.
KREIRANJE ALTERNATIVNOG MEDIJSKOG

PROSTORA: PROJEKAT RADIO BROD
Ana Martinoli
Alternativni mediji kao oblik drutvenog aktivizma
Savremeno medijsko okruenje, zahvaljujui nikada otvorenijem pristupu

alatima i kanalima komunikacije, redefinie dosadanje, tradicionalne podele
medija, jaajui alternativne medijske inicijative, alternativne oblike medij
ske produkcije.1 Oznaavajue karakteristike alternativnih medija mogu se
pronai u njihovom nainu proizvodnje i distribucije sadraja, nainu organi
zacije rada, misiji i viziji, programskim ciljevima. Alternativni mediji se ozna
avaju najee kao suprotnost, protivtea strogo hijerarhijski ustrojenim,
konglomerizovanim medijskim sistemima koji u fokus stavljaju komercijalni
interes, profit, smanjujui programsko bogatstvo, raznovrsnost miljenja, sta
vova, broj izvora informacija. Meutim, vrlo est povod, motiv za pokretanje
alternativnih medija je i suprostavljanje ideoloki motivisanim, jednostranim
medijima koji nisu dominantno orijentisani ka trinim ciljevima, ve su u
slubi propagiranja politikih programa, ciljeva, ideja.
Alternativni mediji mogu biti uspostavljeni kao lokalni, regionalni ili na
cion alni, a za njihovo pokretanje mogu biti odgovorni amateri i profesionalci,
neformalne ili formalno i institucionalno definisane grupe.
Jedna od estih asocijacija na alternativne medije jeste neka vrsta kon
trakulturnih underground dnevnih novina, a publici su poznati i bilteni (eng.
newsletters), leci, niskobudetni literarni magazini, digitalne radio stanice
posveene marginalizovanim muzikim stilovima, tampani mediji koje po
kreu radikalne politike partije, vebsajt pokrenut od strane grupa za za
titu ivotne sredine, amaterski punk fanzin, feministiki radio program na
lokalnoj community radio stanici (Waltz 2005: 2). Ono to ovakve medije i
medijske inicijative definie kao alternativne jeste bavljenje, izvetavanje o
temama koje nisu svakodnevni fokus mainstream, najdostupnijih tampanih
i elektronskih medija, smatra Volc (Waltz), i nastavlja da, ipak, mali broj njih
moe da se uklopi u definiciju alternativnih medija koja obuhvata i kreira
282 Ana Martinoli
nje i distribuciju na naine koji su radikalno drugaiji od mainstream biznis

praksi.
Radio Brod kao alternativni medijski projekat

Radio Brod je, organizaciono i produkcion o, bio ustrojen kao tradicionalni
medijski projekat, kompletna priprema i emitovanje programa su se odvijali
u skladu sa uobiajenim praksama rada novinskih, medijskih redakcija. Nje
gova alternativnost se, meutim, jasno ogledala u izboru tema, programskom,
politikom i kulturolokom angamanu, programskoj orijentaciji i funkcija
ma stanice. Radio Brod tako tretiramo kao alternativni medij imajui u vidu
njegove namere, efekte i procese, pre nego vezu sa mainstream medijima
(Rodriguez, prema Waltz 2005: 3).
Radio Brod je kao medijski projekat nagovestio mogunosti koje je sa
sobom donela digitalna era, u kojoj su pokretanje radio programa, nesputa
nost dravnim granicama, medijski aktivizam postali jo jednostavniji, jefti
niji, efikasniji, produkcion
o manje zahtevni. Emitujui sa broda, oivljavajui
ideal i rane faze piratskog radija u Velikoj Britaniji, Radio Brod bi se, na pr
vi pogled, mogao smestiti u ovu grupu alternativnih medija, dok je, zapravo,
njegov formalni status, bio zakonski regulisan.
Cammaerts, Carpentier i Baileys (2008: 7) definiu etiri teorijska pristu
pa izuavanju alternativnih medija, pri emu dva svrstavaju u medijacentri
ne - slue zajednici i alternativa su mainstream medijima, a dva u socio-dru
tveno centrine deo su civilnog drutva i rizomi su. Ukoliko se oslonimo na
navedenu kategorizaciju alternativnih medija u etiri kategorije, Radio Brod
je najblii grupi alternativnih medija kao alternativi mainstream medijima.
Objanjavajui ovu poziciju, autori se oslanjaju na Dauninga (Downing 2001:
v prema Bailey, Carpentier i Cammaerts 2008: 15) koji alternativno ili pre,
radikalno opisuje kao generalno malih razmera i izraavanje vizije suprot
stavljene dominantnim politikama, prior itetima, perspektivama.
Ono to ini posebnim poziciju Radio Broda jeste njegovo delovanje kon
tra svim nacion alnim, zvaninim medijskim kanalima, koji su, svaki za sebe,
promovisali odreenu politiku ideologiju, emitovali nacionalistiki, pristra
san i neobjektivan program.
U sluaju Radio Broda, pojam zajednice je vezan za geografsko podruje,
podruje bive SFRJ, ali i etnicitet, nacion
alnost publike kojoj se stanica obra
ala stanovnicima nekadanje Jugoslavije koja je nestajala u ratu.
Konano, analiza naina organizacije, produkcije i programskih ciljeva
Radio Broda daje za pravo ovom projektu da bude tretiran kao alternativni,
na osnovu karakteristika alternativnih medija koje daju Cammaerts, Carpen
tier i Baileys (2008: 19), a to su:
odbacivanje komercijalnih motiva kao glavnog pokretaa;

opozicija strukturama moi;
izgradnja podrke, solidarnosti i mree;
odbijanje komercijalnih sredstava za oglaavanje;
nezavisnost i sloboda;
supervizija odreenih institucija;
viestrukost kriterijuma prilikom izbora vesti;
dopuna ili kontra dominantnim diskursima ili reprezentacijama;
izraavanje alternativne vizije dominantnim politikama, prioritetima,
perspektivama;
demokratizacija komunikacije i
diverzitet i multiplicitet.
Moe se rei da je, s obzirom na organizacione, produkcione i programske

karakteristike, pripadao kategoriji alternativnih medija kada su oni na ovim
prostorima bili retki.
Radio Brod poetak emitovanja programa

Iako e Radio Brod, kasnije tokom svog rada, formalizovati (na dosta krea
tivan nain) svoje funkcion isanje, na samom poetku misija, organizacija i
nain postojanja su najvie podseali na piratske stanice, koje su svoju re
nesansu doivele 60-ih godina prolog veka u Velikoj Britaniji. uvena Radio
Karolina, kao uzor i simbol moi, snage piratskog radija, ostaje inspiracija i za
Radio Brod, a osnivai projekta su ak kontaktirali rukovodstvo nekadanjeg
britanskog piratskog giganta za pomo i podrku.
Operacijom je, organizaciono i finansijski, upravljala francuska organi
zacija koju su podrale Evropska Unija i UNESCO2. Ukljuenost visokih po
litikih struktura moda donekle sugerie i politiku pozadinu, politiki in
teres projekta Radio Brod, to meutim ne umanjuje njegovu informativnu
vanost, revolucionarnost i znaaj u medijskom sukobu koji je pratio ratna
deavanja u vreme raspada SFRJ.
Radio Brod3 se na more otisnuo 31. marta 1993. iz Marseja, a 9. aprila
iste godine zapoeo je emitovanje svog programa. Kao datum zvaninog po
etka rada i celodnevnog emitovanja programa navodi se 1. jun, 1993. godine.
Bez izuzetka, sve tri zaraene strane u bivoj Jugoslaviji ele da Brod presta
ne sa emitovanjem programa, a rad stanice se ometa na svaki mogui nain.
Meunarodna telekomunikaciona unija (ITU) ubrzo prima prve pritube na
rad ove stanice od strane srpskih zvaninika koji tvrde da off shore stanica
emituje na ilegalnoj frekvenciji koja je originalno dodeljena Jugoslaviji i da se
frekvencija Radio Broda mea sa crnogorskim dravnim radiom. Nedugo po
poetku emitovanja, 28. juna 1993, Radio Brod je prinuen da privremeno
284 Ana Martinoli
obustavi emitovanje, to je posledica pritubi koje je Srbija iznela na nain

emitovanja programa, konkretno na krenje zakona koji zabranjuju emitova
nje iz meunarodnih voda. Jak pritisak spoljnopolitikih uesnika ovog pro
jekta ipak rezultira odlukom ITU da promeni odluku o zaustavljanju rada Ra
dio Broda on biva registrovan pod zastavom karipskih ostrva Sent Vinsent
i Grenadina (St. Vincent and Grenadines), privremeno na 3 meseca; ostrva su
tada bila jedina drava voljna da registruje radio stanicu koja emituje s mora.
Radio Brod 29. jula 1993. nastavlja 24-asovno emitovanje programa.
U opisu formata programa navodi se da je stanica usmerena ka objek
tivnim vestima, kulturi, muzici (meavina klasine, rock i folk), i ohrabrenju
(Off Shore Radio Museum). Svoj program emitovala je na srednjim talasima
(AM), 720 kHz, kao i na 90 Mhz FM.
Obraajui se donedavno graanima jedne iste zemlje koja je sada razo
rena ratom, sluaoc ima u potrazi za informacijama koje nisu obojene nacio
nalistikom, ratnom propagandom i ideologijom koja je dominirala televizij
skim centrima u glavnim gradovima bivih republika, Radio Brod je svojim
praktinim delovanjem predstavljao konkretan oblik traganja za istinom. Re
dakcija u poetku funkcion ie sa 16 saradnika, novinara, tonskih realizatora i
autor programa smetenih na samom brodu i sa neto vie od 30 dopisnika.
Inostrane novinske agencije su vaan izvor informacija takoe. Svojom ka
drovskom strukturom Radio Brod je ogledalo Jugoslavije; njegova redakcija je
oliavala etniki diverzitet suprotstavljenih grupa u zemlji koja je nestajala.
Drutveno-politiko i medijsko okruenje u trenutku

pokretanja Radio Broda
Da bi se razum eo kontekst i znaaj projekat Radio Brod, neohodno je raz
umeti medijsko okruenje, drutveni i politiki trenutak kada on zapoinje
sa emitovanjem programa. Nakon sukoba u Sloveniji i Hrvatskoj, rat i raspad
Jugoslavije ulaze u svoju najkrvaviju fazu, pa se tako vreme priprem i po
etak emitovanja programa Radio Broda poklopio sa trajanjem rata u Bosni
i Hercegovini. Rat se nije vodio samo na terenu, ve uveliko i u medijskom
prostoru. Dok su se medijski centri radikalno ustrojili kao nacionalistiki,
prostor za objektivne i nezavisne informacije, ostaju radio talasi i servisi pre
svega inostranih novinskih agencija. Od poetka 1991. godine i poetka rata,
bilans je bio preko 200.000 ubijenih ljudi, a rat je proizveo 3.9 miliona izbe
glica. Iza rata na terenu odvijao se drugi, medijski rat svaki centar pokuava
da kontrolie medijski prostor, radio i televizijske frekvencije postaju prostor
novog rata. Krivci se prepoznaju samo na jednoj, neprijateljskoj strani, tako
da publika u svakoj bivoj republici dobija skuenu, jednostranu, politiki i
ideol oki obojenu stranu ratne prie. Mrnja se dodatno pojaava izmeu su
protstavljenih etnikih i nacionalnih grupa.
Pokretanju Radio Broda prethodio je odlazak brojnih novinara nekada

nje Jugoslavije iz zvaninih radio i televizijskih stanica, kao i dnevnih novina,
koje su u toku ratnih zbivanja postale servis zvanine politike i sredstvo ratne
propagande, krei osnovne principe novinarske profesije.
Jedan broj ovih novinara angaovanih u realizaciji programa Radio Broda,
iz skoro svih bivih republika SFRJ, stupa u kontakt sa francuskim humanitar
nim organizacijama i ubrzo se formira ideja o pokretanju nezavisnog medij
skog servisa, radio stanice, koja e za celu teritoriju bive SFRJ obezbeivati
objektivne i nezavisne informacije i vesti. Sa ciljem da obezbedi informacije
sa lica mesta, uravnoteene i proverene izvetaje koji e biti namenjeni svim
etnikim i nacion alnim zajednicama na prostoru bive SFRJ, dolazi se do ideje
pokretanja nezavisne radio stanice, kao najef ikasnijeg i tehniko-tehnoloki
najzahvalnijeg reenja.
O medijskom okruenju u trenutku pokretanja Radio Broda govore sea
nja njegovih prvih urednika i direktora:
Funkcija jugoslovenskih medija svela se na ratnu i nacion alistiku pro
pagandu. Francuska asocijacija Droit de Parole je u toj situac iji ponudila
Evropskoj uniji projekat Radio Broda, s namjerom da iz internacionalnih
voda Jadranskog mora emituje informativni program koji e pripremati no
vinari iz svih republika bive Jugoslavije, to na brodu, to kao dopisnici.
(Devad Sabljakovi, glavni i odgovorni urednik Radio Broda)
Mediji su imali runu ulogu u svemu tome, oni su bili dolivali ulje na vatru,
dodatno stvarali tenziju i to je najcrnji medijski period na ovim prostorima.
(Dragica Ponorac, direktorka Radio Broda)
Jedno od pitanja koje se namee, imajui u vidu da je redakcija, po strukturi,
preslikavala etniko i nacionalno bogatstvo zemlje koja se raspadala, jeste i
da li je Radio Brod pokuavao da ponovo stvori, ouva ili oivi jugoslovenski
medijski prostor.
Nisam tako razumjela ambiciju Radio Broda, jer je za mene, nakon to sam
kao novinarka, ratna reporterka vidjela fiziko uruavanje bive drave pu
tem rata, za mene ta zemlja jednostavno bila gotova, ve je bila prolost, rat
ju je za mene delegitimizirao. Ali retrospektivno gledajui, vjerojatno to jest
bila ambicija. (Ines Sabali, novinarka)
Radio Brod nikada nije imao intenciju da kreira jugoslovenski medijski pro
stor niti da uradi bilo ta u vezi za obnavljanjem tog prostora. Kada smo
krenuli u operaciju pravljenja Radio Broda Jugoslavija vie nije postojala.
Mi smo izgubili, graanska opcija je izgubila i pobedili su nacion alisti... pro
jekat nije krenuo sa kreiranjem male Jugoslavije. Ni u jednom obliku nije
bilo ideje o kreiranju jugoslovenskog prostora ili medija koji je imao zada
tak mirenja, obnavljanja Jugoslavije, Jugoslavija vie nije postojala, to je bila
realnost. (Dragica Ponorac)
286 Ana Martinoli
...na zadatak nije bio da re-kreir amo jugoslavenski prostor... Ono to se

spominjalo od samog poetka je bilo razbijanje medijske blokade. Dakle, da
omoguimo onima na drugoj strani da uju (dobiju) informaciju o nekom
dogaaju iz drugog (u ovom sluaju nezavisnog od lokalnih vlasti) izvora.
Kada je rije o medijskom okruenju, njega je na prostoru bive SFRJ ka
rakterizirala razbijenost, nemogunost dobivanja drugih i drugaijih infor
macija, kontrola kljunih medija. U takvom ambijentu, mislim da nikome
nije padalo na pamet obnavljanje jedinstvenog medijskog prostora. (Pero
Juriin, novinar)
Tako se kao osnovna, glavna pokretaka misija Radio Broda, iz perspektive
njegovih stvaralaca, jasno izdvaja elja za ouvanjem novinarske profesije,
njenih etikih i profesionalnih standarda i principa, u trenutku kada oni odla
ze na marginu nacionalnih medijskih servisa. Ono to je Radio Brod ponudio
bila je proverena, precizna, izbalansirana informacija publici uhvaenoj u vr
tlog medijske ratne propagande i izloene brojnim manipulacijama. Dogaaji
su prikazivani onako kako su zaista na terenu i izgledali, a najvaniji uslov da
se o nekom dogaaju izvesti u programu Radio Broda bila je istina.
Radio Brod je elio promovirati, kako smo to tada zvali, neutralno izvjeta
vanje. Pitanje je da li je to bilo mogue? Kakve su to neut ralne informacije?
Oslanjali smo se na dopisnike za koje smo procjenjivali da e dati sliku oslo
boenu ideol ogije. Dakle, Brod je kao medij poivao na naem novinarskom
ugledu.(Ines Sabali)
Ideja Broda jeste da u tom moru medija koji su bili na neijoj strani, medija
koji su bili pristrasni, hukaki nastrojeni, kreir ati medij koji bi imao druga
iji, nepristrasni pristup, koji je promovisao toleranciju i mir, bio namenjen
stiavanju. Oito to je svima smetalo, i jednoj i drugoj strani, i doekan je
estokom reakcijom. Najvee zadovoljstvo je bilo kada bismo dobili pismo,
poruku, nekoga ko je napustio dom, ko je zahvaljujui Radio Brodu naao
lanove porodice koji su bili u logoru. Osnovna misija je bila humanitarna i
da u moru dezinformacija i ratnohukakih medija se osnuje medij koji bi
irio glas tolerancije i pokuao da doprinese profesion alnom novinarstvu.
(Dragica Ponorac)
[Kada govorimo o Radio Brodu] Tu je re o izrazito graanski, demokrat
ski usmerenom informisanju. Nije imalo propagandni karakter po svom sa
draju, ali je imalo propagandni karakter na osnovu izbora materijala. Svi
ljudi koje smo birali da informiemo, bili su prominentni pripadnici jedne
kole miljenja. Bilo je objektivno, ali nije bilo nepristrasno. (Lazar Stojano
vi, novinar i autor emisija iz kulture)
Re koja bi najbolje opisala strukturu redakcije Radio Broda, osim visoke
alnosti, bila je multinacionalno. Istovremeno, uspostavljaju se ne
profesion
ki novi odnosi prema pojmovima Jugoslavija i jugoslovenski identitet.
Multinacionalno. udna rije za ono doba, nismo je jo upotrebljavali. Imali
smo blisku zajedniku prolost, tako da mi rije multinacion
alno nije pada
la na pamet. Da, bili smo iz razliitih, ali posve novih zemalja, tono. Mislim
da su politiki uglavnom moje dragi kolege s Broda bili Jugoslaveni, da se
to mnogima inilo za najkorektniju poziciju, najum jereniju, s koje se rela
tivno neoteeno i neutralno moe promatrati ludilo rata, neman rata. Pa i
mi smo tamo, mi predstavnici tih novih drava, prolazili odreen proces
separacije, kidanja starih veza i stvaranja novih identiteta. (Ines Sabali)
Programski i produkcioni aspekti Radio Broda

Funkcija Radio Broda ustrojenog kao drutveno-politiki projekat nadilazi
osnovne funkcije medija. Njegova misija je ukrstila politiku dimenziju aktu
elnog trenutka, elju za afirmacijom novinarske profesije, pomeranje granica
u produkcion
om smislu, ali i humanitarni angaman, personalizaciju, bliskost
sa publikom. Tako seanja o misiji Radio Broda pokazuju svu kompleksnost
ovog projekta i otkrivaju njegovu pozadinu iz perspektive novinara, politia
ra, nekadanjih Jugoslovena.
Pravo na re je ono za ta smo se borili, pravo da se govori iz neke pozicije
koja nije pozicija jedne drave. (Lazar Stojanovi)
Dati distancirane, objektivne, nepristrasne informacije o zbivanjima na

podruju bive Jugoslavije, amortizovati medijski rat, doprinositi usposta
vljanju mira. (Devad Sabljakovi)
Ljudska misija. Eksperiment u tome da li usred rata, oni koji se bave iz
vjetavanjem, opisivanjem, posredovanjem rata javnosti, mogu zajedno na
praviti program, i da mogu zajedno ivjeti. Bili smo zais ta zatvoreni, nas
nekoliko, razliitih karaktera i ivotnih iskustava, generacija, karijera, na
prostoru iz kojeg nismo mogli izai van. Bili smo u svemu upueni jedni na
druge. Nismo imali to drugo raditi nego meusobno razgovarati. Bilo sva
ati se, bilo razgovarati.(Ines Sabali)
Misija Radio Broda je oigledno izlazila iz okvira isto medijskih, ne samo
uspostavljanja profesionalizma u medijskom prostoru nego je imao druge
domete. Ideja izbora samog Broda, Radio Broda, jeste da se skrene panja,
jer je to bio medij negde na terenu, zapravo nigde ne terenu. Oito takav
kakav jeste, radio koji nije bio u slubi propagande, nije bio poeljan na tim
prostorima. (Dragica Ponorac)
To je bio jedan prometejski pokuaj da se u zagaenu scenu unese drugaiji
glas. Mislim da je re prometejski prava re, ne moete od toga oekivati
neke velike efekte, ne funkcionie. (Lazar Stojanovi)
Iako za mnoge do danas prepoznat pre svega kao politiki, a potom kao me
dijski projekat, nezanemarljive su kulturna, umetnika programska funkcija
Radio Broda. Muzika je bila takoe alat za slanje poruke, kulturoloke, estet
ske, drutveno angaovane. Ipak, i kroz muzike programe su se prelamala
politika deavanja na terenu4.
288 Ana Martinoli
Ono to projekat Radio Broda problematizuje je pitanje odrivosti, op

stanka, same mogunosti da ovakva inicijativa bude pokrenuta i opstane bez
jasne politike odluke, volje i konkretne politike i finansijske podrke.
to se tie glavne misije, ona je bila definirana onda kada je netko u Parizu
donio odluku o pokretanju tog projekta. Tu bi trebalo ii visoko. ak do Ku
nera, a moda i pokojnog Miterana. Naim e, postoji pria da je za politiko
plasiranje Kunera trebala jedna zvuna akcija, vjerojatno najbolje humani
tarnog karaktera (treba se sjetiti njegovih posjeta Dubrovniku i Sarajevu).
Cijeli projekt je potom financiran iz EU fonda za izbjeglice. (Pero Juriin)
Ambivalencija u planovima, ambicijama samih osnivaa i pokretaa Radio
Broda ogleda se delimino i u injenici da program stanice zapravo nikad nije
emitovan na irem prostoru nekadanje SFRJ, da je domet programa bio vrlo
ogranien, sa smetnjama, i da se u njegovu dostupnost skoro i nije ulagalo.
Imajui to u vidu, otvara se pitanje realnog uticaja Radio Broda kao izvora in
formacija na teritoriji SFRJ, kao i strukture publike, slualaca, koji su program
stanice pratili.
Radio Brod se mogao uti na dobrom dijelu bive Jugoslavije, otprilike u po
lukrugu od Istre preko Slavonije i Vojvodine, pa sve do Makedonije. Sluao
se i u ratnom Sarajevu, i u Beogradu i u Zagrebu, ponajbolje u Dalmaciji i u
Crnoj Gori. ujnost nije bila podjednaka i bila je prilino hirovita. Dobijali
smo poruku da nas odlino uju u Norvekoj i Kanadi, a veom a slabo u Ze
nici ili Valjevu. Povezivali smo u specijalnim emisijama ljude sa sukobljenih
strana, prenosili poruke, obnavljali veze, uivo kontaktirali sluaoc e i omo
guavali njihove meusobne razgovore. Mislim da je i u tome bila znaajna
funkcija naeg radija. (Devad Sabljakovi)
....Ponekad mi se inilo da govorim u prazno, u crnu rupu. Onda, godinama

poslije, tu i tamo netko bi mi se javio i rekao da je sluao Radio Brod i da
mu je bio vaan. To mi je predstavljalo veliko veselje... Ne, nije bio utjeca
jan. Njegov je utjecaj bio simbolian. Premali je bio, premala logistika.(Ines
Sabali)
Znam da je bilo pisama i bilo je slualaca koji su pisali i javljali se i kazali

da smo zraak nade, svetlost. Upravo u tom haos u gledate identine slike,
fotografije i onda zavisi na ijoj ste strani, krivac je uvek na tuoj strani, a
materijal je identian, prikazivan na obe strane. Bilo je slualaca koji su se
javljali i to je bilo najdragocenije. Kad ste avangardni, to je uvek tako, kad
radite neto novo, kad probijate puteve, vi nemate veinu za sobom. Jer vi
utirete put. Mi smo bili pre svog vremena. (Dragica Ponorac)
utnja domaih medija je obavijala priu o RB. utnja, kao metoda ignori
ranja je ipak pokazivala da RB smeta, ma koliko bio mali. Slubene politike
ipak nisu voljele nikakve remetilake faktore. Kako je uz dalmatinsku oba
lu bio smjeten velik broj izbjeglica, moe se rei da su oni bili najvjerniji
sluatelji, kao i izbjeglice diljem svijeta. Kod onih koji su uli i koliko toliko
redovno sluali RB mislim da je bilo izgraeno odreeno povjerenje... Radio

Brod je pravi bum (malo pretenciozno reeno) doivio u zadnjem kvarta
lu 1993. i poetkom 1994. godine, kada se ve proulo za njegovo postoja
nje i emitiranje. (Pero Juriin)
Nakon prestanka emitovanja programa Radio Broda jedan broj novinara svo
je karijere nastavlja u redakcijama junoslovenskog servisa Radio Free Euro
pe, BBC redakcijama koje su se fokusirale na nekadanje republike SFRJ. U
tom smislu, Radio Brod je zanimljiv i kao projekat koji je nagovestio potrebu
za medijskim servisima koji e ujedinjavati razliite nacionalne teritorije i
moe se analizirati i kao pretea i nagovetaj dananjih regionalnih medij
skih projekata.
Te radio stanice i redakcije su postojale i prije Radio Broda. Pozvan sam da
uestvujem u ovom projektu kao dopisnik RFI iz ratnog Sarajeva, gdje sam
se zatekao nakon to se poetkom rata ugasio Yutel, prva nezavisna televi
zija u bivoj Jugoslaviji. Kao i Radio Brod, svi ti mediji, u koje treba ubrojati i
Deutsche Welle (DW), ugasili su se ili se gase. Ratovi su se zavrili, Slovenija
i Hrvatska su ule u Evropsku uniju, otvorena je perspektiva i za Srbiju. Oni
koji su finansirali te projekte smatraju da je sve manje razloga da ih odra
vaju. Mislim da ih u bliskoj budunosti nee ni biti. Zamjenjuju ih projekti
na ex-Yu prostoru, kao to su televizije Al Jazeera i CNN. Mislim da je prola
epoha takvih medija, posebno radija, kakvi su bili ti o kojima razgovaramo.
(Devad Sabljakovi)
Postoji li u tom smislu potreba za medijskim servisima koji ce se obraati

ex-Yu prostoru teko je rei, ali uoavajui velik broj internetskih portala
koji veim ili manjim dijelom tretiraju informacije sa prostora bive Jugosla
vije, koji komemorijaju odlazak osoba koje su bili vani za vrijeme naeg
zajednikog ivljenja (u sportu, kulturi, umjetnosti, knjievnosti, novinar
stvu, politici), koji uporedno obrauju teme iz aktualnog ivot (kriminal,
korupcija, religija, sport, umjetnost, politika.) gdje se uoavaju znaajne
slinosti, kako u procesima tako ak i u pojedinim zbivanjima, oito je da
postoji publika za takvo tivo. U tom smislu, mislim da su radio stanice ta
kvog tipa, ali i smirivanje stanja te demokratizacija drutva doprinijeli da se
u mejnstrim medijima provuku takve informacije i prilozi5. (Pero Juriin)
Objektivnost, proverenost svih informacija, autentinost, bili su neprikosno
veni u profesion
alnom radu Radio Broda. Programska raznovrsnost, razliita
programska usmerenja i zadaci programa su bili neke od osnovnih smernica
i ambicija. Sam obim programa je bio na nivou rezultata rada mnogo ire re
dakcije.
Pripremali smo dva dnevnika i desetinu emisija vijesti. Imali smo specijal
ne emisije o izbjeglicama i povezivanju ljudi koji su bili na suprotstavljenim
stranama u sukobu. Imali smo i emisije iz kulture i jako bogat i moderan
muziki program. Zbog toga smo bili jako sluani i u susjednoj Italiji. (De
vad Sabljakovi)
290 Ana Martinoli
Dogaaji su bili ti koji su krojili program. Vijest je bila svetinja. Ljudi su

ve bili dugogodinji novinari, iskusni u izvjetavanju i imali su izgraen
refleks. Zato i nije trebala neka naredba odozgo da Branka Vujnovi trzne
Predraga Matvejevia koji je u etar izgovorio predivni esej u povodu rue
nja Starog mosta. (Pero Juriin)
Radio Brod misija, vizija i lekcija, 20 godina kasnije

Kompleksna misija, fokusiranost na ouvanje profesionalnog novinarstva, iz
vetavanje na vrhuncu rata, raznovrsnost programa i programskih funkcija
sve su potencijalne perspektive iz kojih se mogu analizirati najvee vrednosti
projekta Radio Brod, sa vremenske distance due od dve decenije.
[Osnovna misija bi bila] u pokuaju da se daju objektivne i nepristrasne in
formacije, u zajednikom radu novinara svih nacion
alnosti koji ne gaje ne
povjerenje i mrnju prema drugim narodima, a kritini su i prema establi
mentu i voama sopstvenog naroda i to usred rata. (Devad Sabljakovi)
Tu se mijeaju osobne emocije, sa objektivizacijom onoga to je uraeno.

Moda je najvea vrijednost tog projekta to je uope postojao. to su na
njemu neki ljudi razliiti po mnogo emu, ali ne po uvjerenjima, pokazali da
se moe zajedno uspjeno, asno i poteno raditi posao unato svim teko
ama. to smo nekim drugim ljudima, makar na tren, pruili priliku da vide
da svi u tom ratnom ludilu nisu isti. Da razum i ljudskost mogu i trebaju
nadvladati. to smo pokuali govoriti istinu. to smo nekima omoguili da
saznaju da su njihovi najblii ivi i da su izbjegli pakao i smrt. to bi ovjek
vie mogao poeljeti u svom poslu. (Pero Juriin)
Izvesno je da Radio Broda kao projekta ne bi bilo da nije bilo politike volje
za njegovim pokretanjem, kao i politike podrke. To, ipak, ne umanjuje nje
govu vrednost kao medija koji je pomerio programske i produkcione granice,
ouvao novinarsku profesiju i njene vrednosti, ostvario kopu sa sluaocima
irom vie Jugoslavije.
Nije bio dugog vijeka i nije bilo ni predvieno da e dugo trajati. Uao je u
istoriju svjetskog radija iskljuivo kao ekskluzivan medij. U jednoj francu
skoj istoriji radija, ijeg autora se ne mogu sjetiti, navedeno je da je prije
Radio Broda postojalo nekoliko radija koji su emitovali program sa mora,
to jest sa broda, ali taj program je pravljen na kopnu i upakovan samo se
emitovao sa broda. Radio Brod je u istoriji jedina radio stanica, koja je ima
la novinare i redakciju na brodu i iji program je stvaran na samom brodu.
Poslije 21 godinu, kako je Radio Brod emitovao posljednji put svoju picu,
koju je komponovao poznati pjeva i muziar Darko Rundek (pola godine
bio je i muziki urednik), to je jedino to e ostati u istoriji radija i novinar
stva uopte. (Devad Sabljakovi)
Prije politiki (projekat). Ali, pokazao je koliko se visoko dralo do medija.

Dobro, bilo je to doba kad je novinarstvo, i kao industrija i kao profesija, bi
lo izuzetno vano.(Ines Sabali)
Bila je medijska uloga, ali u situaciji u kojoj smo radili politike konsekven
ce jesu bile, to moda ne bi bilo tako da smo radili u mirnodopskim uslovi
ma, jer zapravo, ako ste instrument za toleranciju i mir, vi ste instrument za
mirno reavanje krize. (Dragica Ponorac)
Moe se kazati da je Radio Brod bio i medijski i politiki projekt, jer, koji
medijski projekt nije politiki Ukoliko je dakle, tenja za vjerodostojnim
novinarstvom i suprotstavljanje govoru mrnje i ratnohukakoj propagan
di politika, onda da: mi se jesmo bavili politikom! (Pero Juriin)
Kao velika medijska lekcija, Radio Brod savremenim medijima alje jasnu po
ruku. Zahvaljujui novim tehnologijama, nije nikada bilo lake pokrenuti pro
dukciju i distribuciju medijskih sadraja. Na savremenom medijskom tritu
kojim dominiraju komercijalno orijentisani projekti ovo moe biti prostor za
pokretanje medijskih inicijativa koje e u fokusu imati specifine interese za
jednice i javni interes publike.
Pokazao je put. Danas se tehnologija promenila, a naroito drutvene mre
e, da bi takva akcija koja ne mora da bude brod sa antenom koji plovi, nego
jedan tim bila mogua Mi sa Radio Brodom imamo formulu novinarskog,
medijskog funkcionisanja, gde nije glavni akcenat na tehnici, nego na zajed
nikom funkcion isanju. (Lazar Stojanovi)
Ja mislim da je glavna poruka koju smo slali, osim poruke mira i tolerancije,
da radio nije radio, radio je poruka, sadraj. Ja se nadam da nema potrebe
vie za Radio Brodom. Ja ne elim da bude vie. Ne zato to je to bila rat
na situacija, potpuno ratna situacija. Radio Brod je radio u ratnoj situac iji
gde se sve gura do ekstrema i iskreno se nadam da vie nee biti potrebe
za takvim medijima, koji moraju da sputaju ton, smiruju strasti. (Dragica
Ponorac)
Reference:
Droit de Parole, URL: http://www.broadcasting-fleet.com/brod.htm
Guedes Bailey, O, Cammaerts, B & Carpentier, N. 2008. Understanding Alternative Me
dia, Berkshire: Open University Press
Lecteur, D. 2010. Droit de Parole, le dernier grand bateau-radio du 20e sicle, URL:
https://scribium.com/daniel-lesueur/a/droit-de-parole-le-dernier-grand-ba
teau-radio-du-20e-siecle/, pristupljeno 15. septembra 2015.
OffShore Radio Museum - Radio Brod, URL: http://www.offshoreradiomuseum.
co.uk/page579.html, pristupljeno 12. avgusta 2015.
Radio Brod - Key Dates, URL: http://www.offshoreradiom useum.co.uk/page583.
html, pristupljeno 12. avgusta 2015.
Waltz, M. 2005. Alternative and Activist Media, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press.
292 Ana Martinoli
Notes:
1 Tekst je nastao u okviru rada na projektu Identitet i seanje: transkulturni tekstovi
dramskih umetnosti i medija (Srbija 1989-2015), projekat broj 178012 koji reali-
zuje Fakultet dramskih umetnosti u Beogradu, a koji je finansiran od strane Ministar-
stva prosvete, nauke i tehnolokog razvoja RS.
2 Radio Brod je emitovao iz Jadranskog mora sve do 28. februara 1994. godine, uz in-
tenzivnu finansijsku podrku Evropske Komisije i Emergency Humanitarian Aid Of-
fice. Kao vlasnik ovog projekta navodi se Evropska Komisija i nekoliko organizacija
koja su u fokusu imala zatitu ljudskih prava, iz razliitih delova Evrope.
3 Brod Fort Reliance je sagraen 1986. godine u luci Glazgov, duine 220 stopa i 43
stope irok, bio je dobro opremljen i ojaan, prilagoen uslovima rada i ivota na
Antarktiku. Za potrebe Radio Broda otkupila ga je Compagnie Nationale de Naviga-
tion (CNN), po ceni od 7.000 funti dnevno. U Marseju je opremljen tako da moe da
obavlja emitovanje programa. Antena na jarbolu podignuta je na visinu od 28 metara,
a brod je preimenovan u Droit de Parole (Sloboda Govora).
4 U poetku smo imali tzv. neutralnu muziku. Radio Brod je bio opskrbljen velikim
brojem (da tako kaem) afro muzike, iz francuskih izvora, vjerojatno doniranih od
tamonjih NVO-a. Bilo je i filmske, te popularne i rok muzike. Nakon mog dolaska,
vjerojatno je i situacija bila dozrela, nakon nekoliko razgovora, odlueno je da se
ipak pone putati naa muzika. Glede toga, nije postojao posebni urednik, koji bi
odluivao tko e to putati u eter. Naa razmiljanja su bila s tim u vezi podudarna.
Tako, ako se dobro sjeam, nikada nije putena svirka Riblje orbe, iako nitko nije os-
poravao ono to je taj sastav napravio 80-ih. Dapae. Kroz nevezane razgovore, mo-
glo se zakljuiti da su kolege ocijenili kako bi bilo neumjesno pustiti (makar i najbolje
uratke R, uz koje smo i sami stasavali), s obzirom na tragediju koja se dogaala i
politiki obznanjene stavove Bore orbe. Tako je u biti djelovala autocenzura kao
izraz visoke svijesti novinara, koji su u tom smislu pokazali visoku svijest i golemo
razumijevanje onoga to se dogaalo na terenu. (Pero Juriin)
REPREZENTACIJA POZORINOG FESTIVALA

U ELEKTRONSKIM MEDIJIMA BITEF
Maja Risti
U postmodernom svetu, stil i povrinski slojevi postaju vani,

pa tako dolazi do specifine dizajn idelogije.
Harvi D. The Conditions of Postmodernism
Uvod
Kolika je danas mo predstavljanja kulturnih sadraja putem medija, prven
stveno televizije? Da li kulturni sadraji, pozorini festivali mogu da budu re
prezentovani javnosti, recepijentima: atraktivno, brzo, jednostavnim jezikom,
razumljivo, zanimljivo kako to zahtevaju kanoni savremenih medija? Da
li emisija Hronika Bitef-a vri arhiviranje i prezentovanje sadraja festivala?
Pitanje koje takoe treba istraiti je da li njeni medijski sadraji arhiviraju
programe BITEF-a stvarajui istorijsko svedoanstvo, ne samo o razvoju me
dija, televizije, njene tehnike, prezentacionih formi, ve stvaraju i bazu koja
moe buduim generacijama da prui sliku kako je festival izgledao. Medijsko
arhiviranje nadoknauje efemernost pozorita, ali i televizijske emisije. Me
dijsko arhiviranje spaja prolost, postoji u sadanjosti i predstavlja ulaganje
u budunost. Ono titi kulturne sadraje od zaborava. I evo, ve na poetku
teksta moemo da postavimo pitanje koje problematizuje tradicionalne vred
nosti i rui humanistike vrednosti tradicionalne uene kulture, iji cilj
je da edukuje. Da li je, u eri novih tehnologija, potroakog stila ivota kao
primarnog modela ponaanja, uopte potrebno da postoji emisija koja e se
baviti kulturom, koja e prezentovati kulturni sadraj jednog od najznaajni
jih pozorinih festivala u Srbiji BITEF-a. Odgovor je: Da! Iz vizure ouvanja
i reprezentacije programa festivala, emisija produava trajanje festivala, ali
ona je, istovremeno, i nezavisna medijska forma, koja egzistira nezavisno od
festivala. Ipak, pitanje je koliki je njen znaaj, uticaj na gledaoce i gledanost
u svetlu potpune komercijalizacije i vulgarizacije medija sadrajima poput:
rijaliti programa, ou-programa, zabavnih popodnevnih magazina kolanog
294 Maja Risti
tipa, politikih emisija, vesti i kvizova. Ukoliko Hronika reperezentuje pro

grame BITEF-a na jedan korektan, objektivan nain sa tendencijom da prene
se: avangardnost, neprikosnovenu estetsku i umetnikofilozofsku vrednost
predstava, osnovno istraivako pitanje, koje treba da istraimo i postavimo
je da li ona to radi u skladu sa estetikom savremene televizije ili autori te
e da zadre poznate modele interpretacije i reprezentacije sadraja (prikaz
predstave, dugi razgovori sa rediteljima i akterima predstave, miljenje kriti
ke..) pisanja, snimanja, reprodukovanja priloga.
Osnovni cilj rada je da istrai na koji nain emisija Hronika BITEF-a pri
kazuje i reprezentuje: zastupa, zamenjuje, predstavlja drutvenoj i kulturnoj
javnosti sadraje i programe ovog festivala. Reprezentovati znai: neto opi
sati ili nacrtati ga, stati iza neega, biti uzorak ili zamena. Reprezentacija je
produkovanje znaenja koncepata u naim mislima putem jezika (Hol/Holl
2007: 16)
U radu e biti analiziran: form at, jezik, vizuelno i idejno znaenje i iz
gled emisije. Nezavisno od injenice i teze da emisije iz kulture, kako na
glaava Stanko Crnobrnja u knjizi Estetika televizije i novih medija, gube na
popularnosti, u radu elimo da pokaemo da je medijsko arhiviranje sadr
aja pozorinog festivala BITEF svrsishodno za ouvanje kulturnog identiteta
i kulturne mape Srbije.
Postoji mnogo dokaza koji ukazuju na to da su nove tehnologije, jednostav
no neophodne i neizostavne u ivotu savremenog oveka. Najvie zbog toga
to nude velike tehnike i ekonomske prednosti irom opsega industrijskih
delatnosti i usluga. Kao to je naslutio Harold Ins, u centru tehnolokog na
pretka uvek stoje tehnologije komunikacije. Ta neminovnost uticala je na
pojavu veoma snane teorijske struje, zasnovane na tehnolokom determi
nizmu, u nekim sluajevima ak na nekoj vrsti tehnolokog apsolutizma.
Veliki broj teoretiara koji zastupaju ovakve stavove smatra da e u obli
kovanju budunosti oveka volja biti manje znaajna od snage tehnologije.
(Crnobrnja 2010: 283)
Na osnovu ovakvog stanovita zakljuujemo da je transformacija umetno
sti pozorinog festivala u drugi medij televizijski sadraj jedini mogui
spoj, sinteza pozorita i tehnologije, koji festivalu omoguava produeno tra
janje, beleenje, kreir anje novog proizvoda, medijske jedinice na osnovu
ivog izvoenja pozorine predstave, koje je neponovljivo i uvek jedinstveno.
U radu emo pokuati da dokaemo hipotezu da autori Hronike ne koriste
prednosti novih medija (pogotovo Interneta), kao ni mogunosti savremenog
novinarstva i domete i mogunosti kreativnog izraavanja koju omoguava
televizijska montaa slike i zvuka.
Drugi ugao, iz kojeg e u radu biti analizirana emisija Hronika BITEF-a je
teorija kulture seanja, jer uvanje i arhiviranje programa BITEF-a namee
i odnos prema prolosti, subjektivnim priama, koje nastaju kada se festival
zavri, a emisija prekine emitovanje do naredne godine. Rad stoga ima za cilj
da analizira koliko ova emisija, koja se emituje na drugom programu Radio
televizije Srbije, avangardni, ali meinstrim festival uva od prolaznosti, za
borava u ivotima gledalaca. Kolika je mo reprezentovanog sadraja? Da li je
njegov sadraj arhiviran i da li je dostupan nakon emitovanja emisije? Ulogu
ouvanja ovog festivala od prolaznosti analiziraemo kroz teorije nostalgije
Svetlane Bojm, jer je odnos prema prolosti iskrivljen, ideal izovan. Ukoliko
pogledamo kataloge festivala, primetiemo da su tekstovi o Miri Trailovi
osnivau festivala ili najveim rediteljima koji su gostovali u Beogradu pisani
afirmativno, to je i cilj svakog biltena, ali ipak u tekstovima prepoznajemo i
utopistiki i nostalgini odnos prema prolosti. Evo kako Natalija Vagapova
( ), autorka knjige: Bitef: pozorite, festival, ivot opisuje
kabinet Mire Trailovi: Upravniki kabinet Mire Trailovi u Ateljeu postao
je tih ezdesetih godina svojevrsni kulturni klub. U njemu su se sastajali naj
zanimljiviji ljudi tadanje jugoslovenske prestonice. Tu su se razmenjivale
umetnike ideje, utisci sa putovanja (Vagapova/ 2010: 29). Sline
najave moemo zapaziti i u Hronici BITEF-a. Rei poput: najznaajniji, najvei
festival u Srbiji i ire..festival koji obogauje nau kulturu predstavljaju deo
sadraja emisije. esto u emisiji izostaje kritika ili analitika dimenzija.
Da li Hronika uva BITEF od zaborava?

Kroz realizaciju, a potom arhiviranje emisije Hronika Bitefa, na delu je elek
tronsko uvanje BITEF festivala kao aktivnosti na ouvanju kulture seanja,
a televizija je, pri tom, medij za afirmisanje tradicion
alnih estetskih vredno
sti. Takav postupak podrazumeva i fragmentarno uvanje umetnikog, pozo
rinog dela, i izazivanje kod gledaoca doivljaja lepog, to jest, provociranje
kritike misli, te upoznavanje sa novim rediteljskim, glumakim stilovima.
Medijsko arhiviranje festivala takoe omoguava gledaocu angaman na pla
nu kognicije.
Iako je kultura danas deo komercijalnog trita, iako se njena autenti
nost i originalnost meri novcem (u pozoritu, brojem prodatih ulaznica, u
bios kopu, brojem filmskih projekcija, kao i brojem gledalaca, a u knjievnoj
produkciji, koliinom prodatih knjiga), njeni stvaraoci pruaju publici, kul
turnoj javnosti kritiku drutvenih okolnosti. Kultura je neoph odna kako bi
se preispitale vrednosti jedne sredine, problematizovali stavovi, stvarale mo
gunosti i okolnosti za intelektualni napredak svakog pojedinca.
Kultura seanja prou ava mehanizme drutvenog prenoenja, oblikovanja,
odravanja i prerade prolosti i razvija pristupe za prouavanje kolektivnih
i individualnih slika prolosti koje ljudi i grupe u odreenim situac ijama
koje zatiu stvaraju, da bi uz pomo prolosti rastumaili sadanjost i stvo
rili viziju budueg razvoja. (Kulji 2006: 11)
296 Maja Risti
Dakle, Hronike BITEF-a otvaraju mogunost za ouvanjem drutvenih, uni

verzalnih vrednosti. Emisija belei kulturne sadraje izvan kia i jedno
stavnog podilaenja publici banalnim i povrnim sadrajima, a s druge
strane, prua gledaoc u informacije i umetniki doivljaj. Ako kulture po
smatramo kao skladite i nosioce seanja (Kulji 2006: 11), onda je sva
ko snimanje kulturnih sadraja znaajno za ouvanje nacionalne i svetske
kulture.
Kultura na televiziji, koliko god bila skrajnuta (emisija Hronika BITEF-a
se emituje oko ponoi kada je gledanost mala) ipak predstavlja deo programa
koji javni servis ini drutveno odgovornim. Ovakvu tezu moemo da obra
zloimo jedino ako kulturu posmatramo u ideal istikom ili utopistikom kon
tekstu, kako naglaava Todor Kulji,
(...) analiza kulture se uspostavlja kao otkrivanje i opisivanje, u ivotima i
delima, onih vrednosti za koje se moe smatrati da ine jedan vanvremen
ski poredak ili da su od trajne vrednosti za univerzalnu ljudsku sudbinu.
(Kulji 2006:14)
Medijski tekstovi i prilozi utiu na na svakodnevni ivot, poimanje stvarno

sti, ojaavanje svesti, informisanje i neku vrstu edukacije. Medijski sadraji
nude kritiki stav, objanjavaju pojave i stoga je neoph odno postojanje sadr
aja iz kulture u medijima. Svakako da forme kojima se prilozi piu treba
da budu u skladu sa novom estetikom televizije, ali ipak, presudna funkcija
televizije i kulturnih sadraja na televiziji je informisanje.
Informativna funkcija medija ivi na dogaaju. Publika medija eli da sa
zna ta se dogodilo, gde se dogodilo, ta se jo moe dogoditi [...] Nije lako
ostvariti nezavisnost, objektivnost i istovremeno ekskluzivnost i zanimlji
vost informacija u uslovima nedovoljno izgraenog demokratskog drutva.
(Udovii 2011: 226)
I glavna urednica Hronike BITEF-a, Olivera Miloevi naglaava da je prven

stvena uloga ove emisije informativna. Njen osnovni cilj je da publiku informie o
predstavama koje se izvode, akterima, rediteljima, trupama koje dolaze na Bitef,
ali i da prenese umetniki doivljaj snimanjem delova postavki.1 U studiji Mo
medija, francuski istraiva Fransis Bal naglaava da je svetski fenomen koji se
tie medija i njihovih gledalaca preterana informacija. Preterana informisanost
je iznedrila dezinformaciju i ostavlja utisak nejasnosti i zbrke [...] Suoavanje sa
preobiljem udarnih vesti, spektakularno stavljenih u prvi plan, omoguava razli
kovanje glavnog od sporednog. Panja poputa... Pri tome se zna da e dananja
udarna vest, ve prekosutra biti najverovatnije zaboravljena ili e se, u najboljem
sluaju, tek spomenuti. (Bal 1996: 50, 51)
Od televizije se danas zahteva prikazivanje dogaaja (politikih, kul
turnih, sportskih, estradnih) veom a kratkih i upeatljivih informacija. Alek
sandar Crkvenjakov u studiji Estetika televizije i novih medija, naglaava da
televizijske emisije, kako bi bile gledane, treba da prikazuju svakodnevicu,

obine ljude, slike i reportae sa ulica.
Medijsko predstavljanje kulture donekle uproava umetnike sadra
je, ali ih promovie javnosti. Oni postaju vidljivi. Tomas Bauer (Thomas Ba
uer) medije vidi kao jedinstvo: tehnologije, kulture i organizacije (Udovii
2011: 227).
I svakako, koliko god emisija koja prati programe BITEF-a govori jezi
kom jednog ekskluzivnog umetnikog festivala, njen izraz mora da putem
montae priloga koji pokazuju ivot aktera i pozorita iza scene, pokua da
zainteresuje publiku savremenih medija, publiku popularne kulture (Udovi
i 2011: 277).
Hronika s jedne strane uva festival od zaborava, vraa publiku u pro
lost, pojaava njegovu drutveno-javnu vidljivost, a opet pojednostavljuje
njegove sadraje, postajui delom popularne kulture. Hronika je komunika
cijska sprega izmeu realnog dogaaja, subjektivnog elektronskog prikaza
i recepijenta. umova u komunikaciji ima svakako, kao i subjektivnosti u izra
avanju autora novinara. Ali to je neminovnost, jer autor interpretira doga
aje onako kako ih je zapamtio. U celini uzev pamenje se sve vie posmatra
kao stvaralaki proces, a ne samo kao aktivnost koja uva obavetenja (Kuji
2006: 54). Stvaralatvo je uvek deo habitusa pojedinca i nikada nije apso
lutno istinito i realno.
BITEF kultura seanja i nostalgije

Korienjem metodolokog okvira kojim se istrauje kultura seanja u kobi
naciji sa teor ijom nostalgije (Bojm) pokuaemo da se upustimo u analizu Bi
tef festivala i emisiju koja ga podrava iz godine u godinu. BITEF je festival
sa tradicijom, mitskim slikama i festival na kome su se predstavili najzna
ajniji svetski i domai reditelji. BITEF je najznaajniji festival u Srbiji: kon
troverzan, istraivaki, eksperimentalan (avangardni i postmoderni anrovi,
nove tendencije u pogledu reije, ambijentalni prostori, nekonvencionalan
odnos prema publici). Za pozorinu javnost, umetniko trite, on predsta
vlja znaajan segment drutvenih i umetnikih promena u naoj zemlji, prvo
velikoj Jugoslaviji, ali i Srbiji danas.
Ako je BITEF deo kolektivnog pamenja, onda moemo da zakljuimo da
slike prolosti redukuju nepreglednost prolih deavanja razdvajanjem va
nih od nevanih deavanja, one grade kritrerije tradicije za generacije, ali
lako postoji i emotivna osnova poreenja prolosti i sadanjosti ime se bu
di oseanje zadovoljstva ili nezadovoljstva sa postojeim. (Kuji 2006: 10)
Odnos prema prolosti je relativan i moe se analizirati sa organizacionokul
turolokog i neurolokopsiholokog aspekta. Kognicija pojedinca je razlii
ta, kao to je sagledavanje prolosti iskrivljeno, poet ino shvaeno i uglav
298 Maja Risti
nom interpetirano sa dozom ulepavanja dogaaja i informacija. Pamenje2

je sloeno i stoga kulturi seanja namee dvoznani smisao.
To je zbirni pojam za oznaku sveukupne javne upotrebe prolosti; meu
granska nauna disciplina koja se bavi tumaenjem i objanjenjem razliitih
oblika uvanja i iskrivljivanja prolosti. Kultura seanja je bliska ideol o
kom posmatranju prolosti kao drutvenog konstrukta. (Kuji 2006: 18)
Seanja koja ostaju sauvana zahvaljujui emisijama Hronika Bitefa mogu se
odnositi na pozorine predstave, pojedine programe BITEF-a, linosti, sim
bole i narative. Svako posmatranje prolosti vezano je za vreme i prostor. Sa
gledavanje prolosti nam pomae da ivimo u sadanjosti i da projektujemo
bolju budunost. Danas, u eri vizuelnoelektronskog pamenja, tehnika nam
omoguava da simbole, poruke brzo prenosimo. Ne postoje granice koje jed
na informacija ili dogaaj ne moe da dosegne preskoi. Televizija, a zatim
Internet, omoguili su demokratski pristup informacijama. Svaka prolost
brzo postaje sadanjost, ali isto tako brzo je i zaboravljena.
Treba bez okolianja dodati da je savremena kultura seanja birokrat
ski i komercijalno organizovana i politiki instrumentalizovana pro
lost. (Kuji 2006: 36)
Globalizacija, otvoreno trite kulture, brz tempo ivota uslovili su da popu
larna kultura bude iluzija i beg iz svakidanjice problema. Ljubavne teme,
nostalgine, kako naglaava Svetlana Bojm omoguavaju oveku nove civili
zacije, civilizacije neizvesnosti, fragmentarnosti i egzistencijalne nesigurno
sti, da pronae utoite u oseanjima i sadrajima kulture koji izazivaju e
nju koja dobija ulogu odbrambenog mehanizma (Bojm 2005: 17).
Ovo sveobuhvatno oseanje proima popularnu kulturu dvadesetog veka
i dvadesetprvog veka, u kojoj se tehnoloka dostignua i specijalni efekti
esto koriste da bi se oivele vizije prolosti. Na neki udan nain, umesto
da izlei nostalgiju, progres ju je samo pojaao, upravo onako kao to je glo
balizacija osnaila lokalpatriotizam. (ibid.)
udnja za prolou je u stvari enja za zajednitvom koja je danas pojaa
na, upravo zbog nagomilanog oseanja otuenosti i stalnih pretnji: pretnja
siromatvom, novim ratovima, kataklizmom. Vraanje u prolost je spas za
kulturu, novi sadraj. Nostalgija3 kao deo popularne kulture omoguava stva
raocima da rade bez oseaja krivice, da ostanu neutralni u odnosu na zastra
ujue dogaaje sadanjosti.
Nostalgija nije tek izraz lokalne enje, ve rezultat novog shvatanja vre
mena i prostora zbog koga je podela na lokalno i univerzalno uopte
postalo mogue. (id, str. 19)
Da bismo osetili nostalgiju ili sadraje kulture povezali sa ovim pojmom
potrebno je neto izgubuti predmet elje. Izgubiti cilj pravac. Nostalgija se
primenjuje onda kada treba izgladiti razlike, lokalne izraze, ponaanje. Kao
i pamenje oseaj nostalgije je subjektivan i teko ga objanjavaju i psiholo
gija, filozofija i sociol ogija. Nostalgija je utopija, dok nostalgino seanje ne
predstavlja realnu sliku prolosti. Nostalgija je vezana za virtuelnu stvarnost
ljudske svesti koja se ne moe uhvatiti ni najnaprednijim tehnolokim spra
vama (id, str. 508). Nostalgija slabi snagu kulture i zato je danas arhiviranje
njenih proizvoda od posebnog znaaja.
Hronika BITEF- a i uvanje pozorine umetnosti od zaborava

Emisija Hronika BITEFa, koja se emituje jo od osnivanja BITEF festivala,
uva najznaajniji prvo jugoslovenski pa srpski pozorini festival od zabo
rava. Hronika zamiljena kao informativna, ali i analitina umetnika televi
zijska forma, u trajanju od trideset minuta, afirmativno, bez kritike dimen
zije priala je prie o najznaajnijim rediteljima dananjice: Piteru Bruku,
Jei Grotovskom, Tomasu Ostermajeru, Robertu Vilsonu, Tomiju Janeiu,
Oliveru Frljiu. Svake godine sadraj Hronike je prilagoen temama, sloganu
i konceptu BITEF festivala. Pred poetak pisanja kouljice, urednici (Olivera
Miloevi, Selina Lovren Aksenti) sastaju se sa PR timom BITEF festivala i
ugovaraju goste u emisiji, lokacije za snimanje i definiu mogunosti za bele
enje predstava. Hronika je jedina emisija koja sistematino i analitiki prati
svaku bitefovsku predstavu. Druge informativne i emisije iz kulture RTS-a:
Kulturni dnevnik, Beok ult, Metropolis, jednom reportaom u emisiji (nedelj
no emitovanje) belee poetak festivala i obavetavaju gledaoce o nagrae
nim predstavama. Koncept hronike Bitefa-a u poslednjih desetak godina se
nije menjao. Sadraj ine najava urednika o sadraju emisije i deavanjima
na BITEF-u, zatim prikaz predstava koje su emitovane, kratki intervjui sa re
diteljem i autorom predstave, zatim slede rubrike: Re kritike, ili anketa sa
publikom. Emisija traje trideset minuta, to je prema reima urednice Olivere
Miloevi krak vremenski okvir kako bi se ispratili svi sadraji na festiva
lu.4 Ipak, ovakav koncept u vremenima kada je televizija postala brz medij,
medij atraktivne slike, informacije koja je napisana jednostavnim, direktnim
i slikovitim jezikom, a to je svakako obeleje popularne kulture ini se da je
neprilagoen dostignuima savremenog televizijskog izraza.
Programi iz kulture, kako naglaava Stanko Crnobrnja, gube na vanosti
i gledanosti. Ali to ne znai da emisija iz kulture, poput Hronike BITEF-a, ne
treba da ouva svoj visoki drutveni znaaj, a u formi bude originalna, sa
vremenija, bra, prilagoena novom vremenu. Zabavna forma donosi no
vu publiku, njenu edukaciju, makar informisanost. Urednica Hronike, Olivera
Miloevi, tako iz godine u godinu pokuava da emisiju izreira u montai:
kreativnije, zanimljivije, senzibilnije u odnosu na ukuse gledalaca dvadeset
prvog veka. Prilozi ne prelaze tri do pet minuta, govorni i vizuelni sadraji se
300 Maja Risti
brzo menjaju. Svaki prilog prikazuje igrae u ekspresivnim pokretima, glum

ce pod maskama, atmosferu pred poetak festivala. Emisija se snima u za
nimljivim prostorima pozorita ili na ulicama grada; Hronike zadovoljavaju
osnovna polazita produkcije emisije iz kulture.
Praenje s jedne strane elitnog kulturnog sadraja, sadraja pozorinog
festivala i njegovo transformisanje u kratke informacije, brze slike, upeatlji
ve izjave predstavlja spoj elitne i popularne kulture. A hibridizacija kulturnih
sadraja je danas jedino pravilo i revolucija. Ako uzmemo u obzir da se Hro
nika BITEF-a emituje posle ponoi na drugom programu javnog servisa, mo
emo da zakljuimo da ona ne moe da dosegne do publike koja u udarnim
veernjim terminima prati zabavne ou programe, politike emisije ili rijaliti
programe. Emisija se emituje tano kako se zavri festivalsko vee i svakako
je najreperezentativniji nain medijskog uvanja sadraja BITEF-a. Prema
reima urednice, kreiranje sadraja emisije umnogome zavisi i od broja sa
radnika.
to vie ljudi na terenu snima priloge, emisija izgleda bolje, govor je razno
vrsniji, prilozi su efektniji i svaki autor: pojavom, glasom i pristupom daje
subjektivni pogled na programe BITEF-a, svoju viziju, dok se u montai pri
lozi logiki povezuju.5
U periodu od 20022005 najzapaenija rubrika ove emisije je Iza kulisa ko
ja je demistifikovala itav proces produkcije festivala; BITEF, dakle, nije bio
samo snimljen kao festival na kome se prikazuju najznaajnije predstave iz
sveta, ili predstave sa avangardnim umetnikim pristupom koje esto zbune
publiku; ve je ona prikazivala i glumce tokom procesa pripreme za ulogu.
Prilog je obuh vatao i ilustrovao glumce kako se minkaju, stavljaju perike,
kao i njihove prostore u kojima provode vreme koncentriu se pred izlazak
na scenu i suoavanje sa prvim reakcijama publike: garderobe. Demistifikaci
jom, teatrolokim renikom reeno, Hronika je jo vie prikazivala pozorinu
iluziju, simulaciju ivota koje pozorite stvara. Usled smanjenja broja novina
ra koji realizuju Hronike, rubrike se smanjuju, a sadraji ulaze u neku vrstu
stereot ipnog ponavljanja priloga: prikaza, intervjua i komentara, reportaa,
analize kritiara, koji se teko prate i razumeju, ukoliko nisu ispresecani za
nimljivim ilustracijama. Dugi govorni sadraji, pogotovo izgovoreni strunim
jezikom, zbunjuju gledaoc a i odbijaju od emisije i istovremeno festivala.
Poslednji BITEF festival, etrdeset deveti po redu, bio je posveen premi
nulom koosnivau, dugogodinjem selektoru ovog Festivala Jovanu irilo
vu. Pratei sadraje festivala programe BITEF polifonije koji su bili direktno
inspirisani pesnikom zbirkom irilova: Putovanje po granici Hronike su
sauvale od zaborava seanja, razmiljanja i analize profesionalne biografije,
ali i ive prie o Jovanu irilovu o kome su govorili njegovi saradnici i pri
jatelji (Anja Sua, Borka Pavievi, Miod rag Miki Manojlovi, Mira Banjac...).
Ovaj veliki gubitak za srpsku kulturu i nemili dogaaj, uinio je da Hronika
BITEFa objedini i informativnu, umetniku ulogu, ali i sauva od zaborava (i u

materijalnom smislu) seanja, prie, biog rafiju i nepresuni rad Jovana irilo
va putujueg selektora i velikog entuzijastu srpske kulture. Sve to je Svetla
na Bojm napisala o nostalgiji, kao iracion alnoj, iluzion
istikoj prii o neemu
to se dogodilo, a ostalo je samo u seanjima ljudi, ostvareno je na BITEF-u
2015. godine i emisiji koja je posveenja njegovoj prezentaciji.
Zakljuak Hronike BITEF-a i budunost
Iako je znaaj Hronike BITEF-a, emisije iz kulture, neosporan u pogledu in

formisanja televizjskog gledaoca o programima, uesnicima, najprestinijeg
pozorinog festivala u Srbiji i regionu, na osnovu analize sadraja emisije i
pregleda arhive Radio televizije Srbije, moemo da zakljuimo da je emisija
hermetina: sadrinski, estetski, kao i da je vie usmerena na promovisanje
novinarskih autorskih tekstova, nego sadraja festivala. Ovu tezu moemo
da dokaemo injenicom da svaka emisija poinje prikazom predstave, koju
novinar ita iz off-a, dok tekst pokriva snimak predstave (uglavnom je to
poetak predstave, jer organizatori festivala zabranjuju snimanje i reprodu
kovanje predstava u celini). Gledalac, koji danas od medija trai autentinost,
originalnost po svaku cenu, ekskluzivnost informacije, atraktivnost i visok
kvalitet slike, estetski doivljaj, brzu i kvalitetnu informaciju teko da moe
da bude zainteresovan za ovakav starovremenski pristup. Hronika bi treba
lo da bude usmerenija na reditelje, glumce, njihove prie, pojednostavljene i
prilagoene masovnoj publici, to u emisiji izostaje. Autori najave snimaju u
pasivnim pozama, to je nedopustivo u kratkim televizijskim formama, ko
je se pri tom snimaju na terenu NGO ekipom. Hronika prikazuje ambijente
pozorita, praznog gledalita, ali su razgovori snimani neplanski: u hodnici
ma pozorita, holovima; s druge strane, bolja organizacija snimanja, odabir
lokacija ulica, trgova... odabir proba predstava, bili bi u skladu s duhom fe
stivala, ali i ciljevima moderne estetike. Televizija kao medij poseduje jednu
veliku zamku: objektiv kamere otkriva sve: linost autora novinara, dikci
ju, pogled, raspoloenje. I same izgovorene rei poseduju vei znaaj kada ih
prati slika. Line procene gledalaca presudne su i dominatne kad je u pitanju
popularnost sadraja programa.6 To je jedna velika zamka televizije, o kojoj
bi sadanji autori trebalo da razmisle i unaprede svoje kretanje i govor uine
slikovitijim i zanimljivijim. Danas dobra pria prodaje dogaaj. Od loeg do
gaaja moete da napravite fantastinu priu, ako govorite jasno, duhovito,
spontano.
Zatim, emisija se emituje premijerno, sa repriznim terminom sledeeg
dana u popodnevnim asovima. U tehnikom smislu, festival se uva od za
borava u beta form atu u arhivi RTS-a. Na You tube Internet stranici, ne po
stoji izdanje koje ureuje Olivera Miloevi. Objavljena je samo jedna emisi
302 Maja Risti
ja koju je ureivao Slobodan Savi. Imajui u vidu da veina tradicionalnih

medija sadraje promovie i putem Interneta besplatno, navedeno znaajno
umanjuje vidljivost emisije i samim tim prezentaciju festivala. Pojedine emi
sije mogu se pogledati na Fejsbuk (Facebook) stranici autorke, ali broj pregle
da je ogranien samo na prijatelje vlasnika profila.
Stoga, stari mediji treba da se usavre u nainima korienja Interneta i
na taj nain se prilagode novim tehnologijama. Pojavljivanje novina online
je prva reakcija prilagoavanja ovog tradicion
alnog medija na pojavu Inter
neta. (Brakus 2015: 261)
ini se da iako se autori emisije Hronika BITEF-a staraju da svake godine
emisiju prilagode sadrajima i tematici festivala, koriste kreativne moguno
sti montae, ubrzaju promene kadrova, oni ne uviaju da je televizija danas i
marketinko sredstvo za promociju razliitih proizvoda, te i kulturnih. Uko
liko autori emisija iz kulture budu imali za cilj samo predstavljanje jezikom
televizije programa Festivala, emisija nee uspeti i da dosegne ni popularnost
bilo kog zabavnog programa, niti e se BITEF prezentovati novoj publici. Sve
e ostati status quo: tradicionalno, u loem smislu rei, sporo i mrtvo. Kao
to BITEF festival u budunosti treba da doivi brojne transformacije: idejno-
konceptualne, anrovske, selektorske, tako i emisija koja je deo prateeg
BITEF programa i najbolja njegova prezentacija, sadrajem i formom, treba
da konstruktivno koristi mo i viedimenzionalnu izraajnost televizije, i
me bi doprinela jo veoj afirmaciji ovako znaajnog festivala.
Reference:
Bal, Fransis (1996), Mo medija, Clio, Beograd.
Bojm, Svetlana (2005) Budunost nostalgije, Beog rad, Geopoetika.
Brakus, Aleksandra (2015) Budunost medija, Zbornik radova, Budunost medija
(ured. Sead Ali, Divna Vuksanovi, Marin Milkovi), Sveu ilite Sjever i Centar
za filozofiju i medioloko istraivanje, Beograd, Zagreb, str. 259269.
Crnobrnja, Stanko, (2010), Estetika televizije i novih medija, Clio, Beog rad.
Kulji, Todor (2006), Kultura seanja, igoja tampa, Beograd.
uki, Andrija (2007), Televizija, Izdanje autora, Beog rad.
Hol, Stjuart (2013), Mediji i mo, Karpus, Loznica.
Udvii, Radenko (2011), Medijski trendovi i kreiranje svesti, asopis Kultura savre
meni urnalizam, (priredili dr Veselin Kljaji, dr Zoran Jevtovi) broj 132. Zavod
za prouavanje kulturnog razvitka, Beograd, str. 209226.
Vagapova, Natalija (2010) Bitef: pozorite, festival, ivot, Slubeni glasnik, Beog rad.
Notes:
1 Intervju sa novinarkom Oliverom Miloevi, autorkom emisije Hronika BITEF-a, ok-
tobar 2015.
2 Organizovano pamenje razvija se od usmenog prenoenja, preko tampane kn-

jige do dananjih elektronskih posrednika. Istorija pamenja zavisi kako od tehni-
ka optenja, tako i od tehnika vladanja. Premda je sadrinski ira, kultura seanja
odreuje istorijsku kulturu. Najoptije govorei, istorijska kultura je nain na koji
drutvo opaa vlastitu prolost. To je idejna celina u kojoj je prisutno istorijsko znan-
je o jednom drutvu. To je zbirna oznaka za krajnje raznovrsne obrasce predstavl-
janja prolosti koji se dopunjuju i proimaju. (Kuji 2006: 17)
3 Nostalgija je pseudogrka re. vajcarski lekar Johanes Hofer (Johanes Hofer) je
prvi upotrebio ovaj pojam u svojoj disertaciji 1688 godine. On je smatrao da nos-
talgoju moemo definisati kao tuno raspoloenje koje stvara elja za povratkom u
otadbinu. Dakle, nasuprot naoj intuiciji, re nostalgija potie iz medicinskih nauka,
a ne iz poezije, politike ili filozofije.
tobar 2015.
tobar 2015.
6 Videti vie: uki Andrija, Televizija, Beograd, 2007, str. 307.
304 Maja Risti
Biographies / Biografije
Duan R. Bajagi holds a PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Bel-
grade. He is Research Associate at the Institute for Recent History of Serbia in
Belgrade. His primary research interest is history of Yugoslavia. It spans political
system and public administration of the Kingdom of SCS/Yugoslavia, WWII oc-
cupation and collaboration, and Cold War international position of Yugoslavia.
His current research focus is the political life and society in Kingdom of SCS/
Yugoslavia. His most representative book is Upravljanje Ministarstvom prosvete
Kraljevine Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca (Managing the Ministry of Education of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, INIS Belgrade, 2009). This book repre-
sents the case study on the matter of the organization and functioning of the
executive powers in the Kingdom of SCS/Yugoslavia.
Sofija Boi, senior research fellow at the Institute for Recent History of Serbia,
accomplished her BA/BS, MA and PhD studies at Belgrade University, History De-
partment. At this point she is the manager of the project Serbs and Serbia in Yu-
goslav and International Context: Internal Development and Place in European/
Global Community. She is a member of the Committee for the History of Serbs
in Croatia of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, member of the editorial
board of the Proceedings of the Serbs in Croatia published by SASA, a member of
the Department of Social Sciences of Matica srpska, a member of the Board of
Economic History, a member of the editorial board of Serbian encyclopedia. Her
affiliation deals with history of the Serbs in Croatia and Serbian-Croatian rela-
tions, in the broader context of the social and political history of Serbian people
in the 19th and 20th century. Her most representative book is Srbi u Hrvatskoj i
jugoslovenska drava 19181929 (Belgrade, 2015).
Nevena Dakovi, PhD, is professor of Film Theory/Film Studies (Dept. of Theory

and History, FDA) and the Chair of Interdisciplinary PhD Art and Media Studies
(UoA). She holds a PhD in Film and Media Studies (University of Arts, Belgrade),
and masters degree in Comparative Literature (University of Belgrade). She is
the author of 7 books ( Balkan as (film) genre: image, text, nation, 2008; Film
Studies: Essays in Film Texts of Memory, 2014, etc) and editor of many others
(Gender and Media, 1995, Media(ted) Identities, 2001; Art, Media and Education
in EU Integration Processes 2, 2010) etc. Nevena Dakovic publishes widely in
306 Biographies / Biografije
the national and international framework ( UK, Turkey, Slovakia, Italy, Austria,
France, USA), participates at the conferences and is committee member of na-
tional and international project groups (COST and TEMPUS projects) and guest
lecturer at European and American Universities. She is member of the Academia
Europaeas section on Film, Media and Visual Studies. Main research themes: na-
tion, gender, representation, Shoah, cultural memory.
Nataa Dela, M.A. in Theory of Dramatic Arts, Media and Culture is a Ph.D. can-
didate at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (Belgrade). Her research interests are re-
lated to contemporary Serbian drama, theory of memory and gender studies. She
has published in relevant Serbian and international journals and participates in
many national and international conferences.
Milena Dragievi-ei, Director of the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and

Management at the University of Arts in Belgrade, and the former president of
the University of Arts in Belgrade; holds a PhD in Sociology of Culture (University
of Belgrade) and masters degrees in Theatre Studies (Paris VIII), and Cultural
policy (University of Arts Belgrade). She is an expert in cultural policy and man-
agement for the EU, European Cultural Foundation, Council of Europe, UNESCO, a
guest lecturer at universities worldwide (Lyon, Grenoble, Moscow, Budapest, Kra-
kow, CUNY and Columbia University NY, University of Buffalo, Jyvaskyla, Lasalle
Singapore), the author of 16 books and 150 essays, translated in 17 languages,
and editor of international journals and book series. She has been a Member of
National Council of Science (2006-2010), Member of Advisory Boards of Inter-
university Centre, Dubrovnik asn European Diploma in Cultural Project Manage-
ment, Brussels, and holds the Commandeur dans l`Ordre des Palmes Academiques,
from the Ministry of National Education and Research of France.
Dr Aleksandar S. Jankovi je profesor FDU na predmetima Istorija svetskog,

Istorija srpskog filma i Pop kultura. Doktorirao je disertacijom Bitlsi kao kultur-
ni artefakt (2007). Objavljivao je i izlagao je vie puta u zemlji i inostranstvu. Ve
25 godina radi i kao filmski i rok kritiar u medijima u zemlji i inostranstvu.
Milena Jokanovi is a PhD student of Art History and Museology at the Faculty of
Philosophy, University of Belgrade. She has finished master studies of Museology
and Heritology at the same faculty, as well as at the UNESCO Chair for Cultural
Policy and Management. Her research interests therefore span the cultural heri-
tage management, museology, theories of memory and art history. Her current
research focus is the use of historical models of collecting in the contemporary
art practice.
Vinja Kisi, PhD in Museum and Heritage Studies, BA Art History, MA Cultural
Policy and Management, is researching and lecturing at the Center for Museology
and Heritology at the University of Belgrade and UNESCO Chair MA in Cultural
Policy and Management University of Arts Belgrade. She works as a trainer and
consultant in heritage related projects and professional capacity building pro-

grams for heritage professionals in SEE region - including Europa Nostra, ICOM
Serbia, European Heritage Association, Cultural Heritage without Borders, SEE
Heritage Network, Balkan Museum Network, Regional Council for Cooperation,
Cooperation and Development Network SEE and Heritage Site Management
Plans training.
Franjo Maleti, Doc. PhD of Information and Communication Sciences, college

professor, Head of department at the University of North Varadin/Koprivnica.
He graduated in Law at the University of Zagreb whereupon he took further sup-
plemental education at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb and the Faculty of
Economics in Split. He attended the postgraduate doctoral studies at the Faculty
of Law and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of
Zagreb, where he received his doctoral title. He participated at numerous con-
ferences on media at home and abroad. He was employed on the affairs of man-
agement of media productions, in Croatia and abroad by the companies likethe
GMTK, Veernji list and Vjesnik. He is the author and co-author of many books,
manuals and numerous scientific articles and papers in the fields of media, me-
dia education and media literacy.
Aleksandra Mani, PhD in Translation Studies, senior Research Associate at

the Institute for Literature and Art, head of the project Cultural Theories of Lit-
erature and Serbian Literary Criticism. Her principal work focuses on the com-
plex interconnections between poetics, politics, metaphysics, and history, prob-
lems of intercultural communication, translation and cultural exchange between
Serbian culture and Mediterranean cultures in the Early Modern Era.
Blago Markota, PhD candidate and mag.oec. at the University of Zagreb where he
graduated in Business Economy and International trade. He has been the head of
Archive and Program Content at HRT, the Croatian public broadcaster. At Univer-
sity North in Croatia, he is lecturing Media industries of EU and Introduction to
Radio and Television. He is part of EBU`s (European Broadcasting Union, Geneva,
Switzerland) regional team and a member of the Working group for national ar-
chive regulation established by Ministry of Culture of Croati, as well as member of
team responsible for national project Digitization Strategy of Cultural Heritage
2020. He is an elected member of the Executive Council of FIAT/IFTA.
Dr Ana Martinoli, vanredna profesorka Fakulteta dramskih umetnosti i preda-

va na UNESCO MA Chair in Cultural Policy and Management pri Univerzitetu
umetnosti u Beogradu. Angaovana je kao istraiva na projektu Identitet i se-
anje: transkulturni tekstovi dramskih umetnosti i medija (Srbija 1989-2014)
podranog od Ministarstva za prosvetu, nauku i tehnoloki razvoj RS. Njen na-
uno-istraivaki rad je fokusiran na oblasti teorije medije, medijsku produkciju,
digitalne medije i medijsku publiku.
Dr Ivan Medenica, pozorini kritiar i teatrolog, vanredni profesor na Fakultetu

dramskih umetnosti u Beogradu na Katedri za teoriju i istoriju, predmet Istorija
svetskog pozorita i drame. Diplomirao je dramaturgiju na FDU u Beogradu, ma-
gistrirao je na istom fakultetu 2002, a doktorirao 2006. godine. Za svoje diserta-
cije sprovodio je istraivanja u Parizu, Nova Sorbona, Pariz Tri. Od 2015. godine
Medenica je umetniki direktor BITEF-a, a prethodno je bio umetniki direktor i
selektor festivala Sterijino pozorje. Za svoj kritiarski rad pet puta je dobio Steri-
jinu nagradu. Koncipirao je nekoliko meunarodnih naunih konferencija iz obla-
sti pozorita i predsedavo im, a s izlaganjima uestvovao i na mnogim drugim.
Predavanja o srpskom pozoritu drao je na univerzitetima Yale, Freie (Berlin),
Humbolt. Trenutno je lan Izvrnog odbora Meunarodne asocijacije pozorinih
kritiara i direktor konferencija ovog udruenja, a i Predsednik je Udruenja po-
zorinih kritiara i teatrologa Srbije.
Vera Mevorah holds a PhD in Art and Media Theory from University of Arts in
Belgrade. Her thesis is a pioneer study of Internet and art in Serbia. She was en-
gaged at the Faculty of Music Belgrade as a TA on two courses: Applied Aesthetics
1 and Theory and Practice of Media in Musicology. She has published papers in
local academic journals and had participated in academic conferences and proj-
ects. Her research interests include: art theory, new media, Internet, digital hu-
manities, new musicology, Holocaust studies and post-colonialism.
Aleksandra Milovanovi, PhD, is assistant professor at the Department of Theo-

ry and History of Cinema at Faculty of Drama Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade,
Serbia. She published a book Imaginary Field of Film Image, Cognition and In-
terpretation (2011), a number of teoretical papers in national and interantional
jurnals and participated in many international conferences. She is a member of
NECS European Network for Cinema and Media Studies. Her research interests
are related to film theory, cultural memory, television series, transmediality, new
media, digital archives, documentary films and archival footage.
Biljana Mitrovi, holds a master in Philology Serbian Literature and Language

& Comparative Literature (University of Belgrade, Serbia) and is a PhD candidate
in Theory of Dramatic Arts, Media and Culture (Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Bel-
grade). In 2014 she was a visiting lecturer at University of Skvde, Sweden. She
has participated in several conferences in Serbia and abroad. She is the author
of papers published in proceedings and the co-author with prof. Nevena Dakovi
of papers published in special editions of Institute for Balkanology (SASA). Her
fields of interest include: digital media, narratology, transmediality, intertextual-
ity, game studies.
Dr Marina Mualo izvanredna je profesorica na Fakultetu politikih znanosti u

Zagrebu, na Odsjeku za novinarstvo i odnose s javnou. Diplomirala je 1986. na
Pravnom fakultetu Sveuilita u Zagrebu. Magistrirala je 1997, a doktorirala 2000.
godine. Dobitnica je Zlatnog pera Hrvatskog novinarskog drutva (1990) i Godinje
nagrade Hrvatskog radija (1993). Bila je lanica Vijea za radio i televiziju (2000-
2004) i Programskog vijea HRT-a (2013-2015) te proelnica Odsjeka za novinar-
stvo i odnose s javnou FPZg-a (2004-2008). Podruje interesa su joj elektroniki
mediji, osobito radio. Dosad je objavila tri knjige i 20-tak znanstvenih radova.
Mirjana Nikoli, PhD, is full professor at Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDA) in Bel-
grade, Head of Department of Management and Production in Theatre, Radio and
Culture, Head of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Drama Arts, and Director
of the Institute for Theatre, Film, Radio and Television FDA. The main areas of
her interest are Media studies, Management of media, and Media ethics. She has
published three books: Ether over Belgrade (1999), Radio in Serbia - 1924 1941
(2006) and Broadcasting in Serbia during the Second World War (2009), and over
thirty scientific and professional articles for national and international journals.
She is the editor in chief of the peer review journal Anthology of Essays of FDA,
and has been a co-editor of a number of thematic monographs.
Jelica Novakovi-Lopuina, PhD, is full professor of Netherlandic Studies,

founder and head of the Dutch Department at the Faculty of Philology (Belgrade
University). Her fields of interest are imagology, cultural history, Dutch literature
and lexicography. She is also known for her literary publications (some of them
together with Sven Peeters) an for her translations of Dutch literature.
Sven Peeters holds a master in English and Dutch literature (Antwerp Univer-
sity). He is teaching Dutch language to foreign adults. As a PEN board member he
is the director of the Writers Residence of PEN Dutch Speaking Belgium. He is a
freelance writer with main topics such as literature (writers under threat) and
the former Yugoslavia. He keeps a digital library (with reviews) on balkanboek-
en.blogspot.com. Together with Jelica Novakovi he is the co-author of the alter-
native guide to Belgrade The Kafana Tribunal (Clio, Belgrade, 2006, in Dutch)
and What came out of a shot? (Vrijdag, Antwerp, 2015, in Dutch & Clio, Belgrade,
2015, in Serbian) dealing with 100 years of Gavrilo Princip interpretations in
Dutch press and literature. He lived in Trieste and Belgrade.
Boris Petrovi, PhD, Universit Paris IV Sorbonne - Paris IV, where he obtained
Masters in comparative literature He graduated Literature and Theory of Litera-
ture at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. He writes on propaganda in literature
and film, and is engaged in the same analysis in other media.
Ksenija Radulovi holds a PhD in Theatre Studies at the Faculty od Dramatic

Arts, Belgrade (University of Arts in Belgrade) and is an Assistant Professor at
the FDA, teaching The History of Theatre and Drama. She graduated Dramaturgy
at the FDA. She was Director of the Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia (2001-
1012) and Artistic Director of Sterijino pozorje festival. Her research interests
are on drama, theatre studies, new museology, and the fields of expertise: direct-
ing/redefining classics and re-interpreting classical texts.
Dr Maja Risti doktorilala je sa temom istraivanja pozorine publike Muzi-

kog pozorita u Beogradu (Pozorite na Terazijama i Opera i teatar Madlenianum
2000 2009) na Fakultetu dramskih umetnosti u Beogradu 2010. godine. U zva-
nju vanrednog profesora na FDU ona predaje predmete iz oblasti menadmenta
pozorita i pozorine produkcije na osnovnim, master i doktorskim studijama.
Njena nauna istraivanja i tekstovi vezani su za oblast menadmenta pozori-
ta (teorije odluivanja, PR pozorita) istraivanja i analizu stilova ivota i uloge
pozorine publike u pozoritu, recepciju pozorine predstave, nastanak i razvoj
najznaajnijih pozorita u Beogradu. Objavila je knjigu Publika mjuzikla.
Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi, PhD, is research associate at the Institute for Theatre,
Film, Radio and Television Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, and lecturer at
master and doctoral studies at the University of Arts in Belgrade. Her main the-
matic focus of research includes: culture and politics, culture and sustainability,
culture and communication, culture and memory, culture and knowledge pro-
duction. She has published a book Cultural diplomacy and the identity of Serbia
(in Serbian), and co-edited a proceedings Culture and Sustainable Development,
as well as over fifty papers in national and international scientific journals. She
has been a member of national research projects and participated at numerous
conferences. She has an extensive professional experience in strategic communi-
cations and public relations.
Mirko Stojkovi is Doctor of Arts with twenty years of professional experience

in the old and new media and an associate professor of Dramaturgy at the Fac-
ulty of Dramatic Arts (University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia). He is a member of
Serbian screenwriters association, Screenwriting Research Network and IETM
International network for contemporary performing arts.
,
. (1981),
(1989) (1995) .
a ( , -, -
, -

) 100 -
. 2005. 2011.
, 2001-2003. -
.
MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY: Memory, Media and Culture in the Digital Age
MEDIJSKA ARHEOLOGIJA: Seanje, mediji i kultura u digitalnom dobu
Edited by / Uredile
dr Nevena Dakovi, dr Mirjana Nikoli, dr Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi
Publisher / Izdava
Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Institute for Theatre, Film, Radio and Television
Fakultet dramskih umetnosti, Institut za pozorite, film, radio i televiziju
Bulevar umetnosti 20, Novi Beograd, Srbija
institutfdu@yahoo.com
For Publisher / Za izdavaa

mr Zoran Popovi, Dean, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Proofreading / Lektura i korektura

mr Dragana Kitanovi
mr Aleksandra Protulipac
mr Gorana Vencl
Cover design / Dizajn korice

mr Ksenija Markovi-Boovi
Prepress / Priprema za tampu

Dejan Tasi
Print / tampa
Grafo San 96, Beograd
Circulation / Tira
300
ISBN 978-86-82101-61-1
CIP - -
,
316.7:159.953(082)
316.774(082)
MEDIA Archaeology : memory, media and

culture in the digital age = Medijska arheologija :
seanje, mediji i kultura u digitalnom dobu /
edited by, uredile Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana
Nikoli, Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi. - Belgrade :
Faculty of Dramatic Arts = Beograd : Fakultet
dramskih umetnosti, 2016 (Beograd : Grafo San
96). - 310 str. : tabele, graf. prikazi ; 25 cm
Radovi na srp., hrv. i engl. jeziku. - Radovi ir. i

lat. - Tira 300. -
Str. 9-13: Introduction / Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana
Nikoli and Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi = Uvod /
Nevena Dakovi, Mirjana Nikoli i Ljiljana Roga
Mijatovi. - Biographies ; Biografije: str. 305-310.
- Napomene i bibliografske reference uz radove.
ISBN 978-86-82101-61-1
a) - b) -
- c)
-
COBISS.SR-ID 224887820

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/
Mirjana Nikoli
Nevena Dakovi
Edited by/Uredile
Ljiljana Roga Mijatovi

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MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY

Memory, Media and Culture in the Digital Age

Belgrade / Beograd, 2016.

Academic Committee / Akademski odbor

Jelica Novakovi-Lopuina & Sven Peeters

Sofija Boi, Duan R. Bajagi

Franjo Maleti, Blago Markota

Biographies / Biografije . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Promotion of Science of the Republic of Serbia and Discourse organization

Archaeology significantly expand, the methodological patterns modify, and

Novi mediji i niz fenomena koji se vezuju za Internet i telekomunikacije uneli

su teoretiari iz razliitih oblasti (Zielinski 1999; Zielinski & Custance 2008;

filozofije, studija naslea, umetnosti i istorije, itd. To potvruju i sami tek-

specifine arhive, digitalne video zapise postavki komedije Svear ordana

ski postulati ija funkcija nije samo teoretizacija, ve i izgradnja kategorikih

Arheologija narativa seanja i

To the memory of my beloved father

The archive manages to maintain order through heavy investment of

tory. The TV narrative is approached through palimpsest de-construction

History, Memory, Archive

The appearances of typical, anonymous Chetniks have longer and more

Kansteiner, Wulf. 2002. Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of

Film i televizijski formati, posebno oni igrane strukture dramski i

sti procenjene su i reprezentovane na, za to vreme, eljeni i opteprihvaen

Televizijske serije (re)interpretacija i oivljavanje prolosti

Savremene studije televizije, osim to se bave njenim ekspresivnim mogu

manje senzibilisana u smislu provere i procene manipulacije koje nose ovi

Ideol ogija, politika, sport serije Vie od igre (1976) i

serija Vie od ige ne referira direktno na narodnooslobodilaku borbu, Drugi

Seanje na Prvi svetski rat

mladog fudbalera Aleksandra Tirnania Tirketa, iji otac je poginuo u ratu.

medijske tekstove uspostave novi i drugaiji modeli seanja. Kroz scenario,

DIGGING UP PRINCIP: FROM ARCHIVE

Different kinds of sources

Im satisfied with a handshake

the hours pass by along this caf slowly

in the distance a sledge is rumbling

like a black bird that settles

Pictures and images. It is no surprise that Princip inspired illustrators and

Processing the sources

Ideologically. Every Princip reference is consciously or unconsciously written

Reinventing literary non-fiction

Les petites histoires

The result: the 20th century in slices

cip stands for an interpretation, a time segment, an ideology, a quotation. In

Ideologies and external & internal antagonisms

Flanders versus Belgium. In 1934, the Serbian King Aleksandar of Yugoslavia

The eternal tribunal: an act of terror or an act of freedom? In a striking chap-

Three slices of Death of a Schoolboy. In 1974, the Dutch-American journalist

Princips latest incarnations

Terrorism. Jejoen Bontinck is a worldfamous Belgian ex-fighter in Syria. His

BUILDING THE NATION THROUGH THE WAR

This notion is very important. Constructing or using an already made na-

age of symbols or archetypical nature, it is to be assured not only that these

signifying chain, constricting the free play of the signifier to a spuriously

narratives or sometimes entire stories) from other narratives, even if they

MEDIJSKO PAMENJE ISTORIJSKOG

Fenomen pamenja/seanja/arheologije u izvoakim umetnostima u ovom

Osim Brehtovih stihova, i scenska akcija koja se odvijala na platou ispred

analiza (Erika Fischer-Lichte 2014: 48). Pri tome je metodoloki svejedno da

pitanju, mogue napraviti gradaciju, znaaj reakcija publike za realizaciju

Ako na ovaj nain pristupimo analizi dvaju navedenih svedoanstava o pona-

U veini tih tekstova, bilo da je re o kritikama ili novinskim izvetajima