The Distance View
Leisure and Defence on the Adriatic Coast
Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo
20 Jun 2023 – 01 Sep 2023
Exhibition views
Exhibition closing conference: programme and speakers
Curated by Anamarija Batista and Antonia Dika
Exhibition coordination HMBH, Sarajevo: Elma Hodžić
Exhibition and display concept by Anamarija Batista and Antonia Dika
Exhibition architecture: Antonia Dika
Graphic design: DailyDialogue
Texts: Anamarija Batista, Antonia Dika, Elma Hodžić
Translation and proofreading: Lidija Toman
Exhibition setup: Elmedin Bajramović, Admir Mutapčić
Technical support: Željko Bašković
Technical support HMBH: Sanel Gluhović i Elvir Porić
Collaborator: Julia Ebner
Collaborators HMBH: Emina Čalija, Naida Đulić i Svjetlana Hadžirović
Artists / works by:
Đorđe Andrejević Kun
Anamarija Batista
Ante Brkan
Tošo Dabac
Antonia Dika
Vojo Dimitrijević
Marina Fortunato Ercegović
Nataša Karamatijević
Emir Kulačić
Ferdinand Kulmer
Vladko Lozić
Edo Murtić
Zora Nikolić
Olaf Osten
Daniel Ozmo
Zara Pfeifer
Zvonimir Pliskovac
Arthur Summereder
Goran Škofić
Branko Šotra
Ernest Tomašević
Željko Vukušić
The Distance View
Leisure and Defence on the Adriatic Coast
The sound of waves blends with the smell of pine trees, and the echoes of a military boot melds with the voices of tourists from hotel terraces. The Adriatic coast – Yugoslavia. In the public perception, the Adriatic islands are experiencing a tourism boom, but at the same time they are turning into important elements of the country’ military infrastructure. In the period following World War II, the Adriatic was becoming in the public eye an emerging symbol of the future tourist prosperity of Yugoslavia, while simultaneously, the Adriatic islands saw the build-up of the state apparatus that Yugoslavia was so well known for, namely, the military infrastructure.
This exhibition deals with the overlaps and intertwining of historical, social and political frameworks with the social roles of the individual on the Adriatic. The coastal areas and islands are changing under the influence of politics and state strategies, but they are also undergoing transformations which are utterly natural and occur with the arrival of domestic and foreign tourists. The organization of space and work is changing as well, creating new frameworks of movement, access and modernization of the environment. By bringing together two important industrial sectors of the Adriatic coast, both in economic and ideological terms, the exhibition aims to encourage reflection on the analogies, continuities and paradoxes of a time. In a symbiosis of scientific and artistic research, the exhibition examines the phenomena of tourism and military, including their impact on the Adriatic coast and the life of the local population. The research was based on six exemplary case studies: the islands of Brijuni, Mali Lošinj, Vis, Lastovo and the coastal areas of Kumbor and Šepurine. With filmic images, interviews, archival research, collages and specially developed and repeatedly redrawn mappings, the exhibition attempts to connect the past and the present, as well as official data and personal stories.
Numerous regional archives and museum collections were opened thanks to this, which allowed for meetings and collaboration with museum institutions from the entire region. The exhibition at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the space that houses artifacts related to different phases and topics of World War II and socialist Yugoslavia, is showing for the first time the results of this research, translated into the museum discourse. This is an opportunity for the museum to present the material from its collections (works of art, photographs, publications), which would hopefully help change the deep-seated, clichéd notions of the history of Yugoslavia. In the central exhibition area, we have arranged a comfortable space where you can explore the materials and works of art, but also have a rest, and engage in reflections and conversations. Enjoy and share your impressions with us!
(Elma Hodžić, Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The exhibition was realised as part of the project „Collective Utopias of Post-War Modernism: The Adriatic Coast as a Leisure and Defence Paradise“ funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): AR 482-G24 and TCS 114-G, as a cooperation between Kunstuniversität Linz and Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien.
The exhibition was kindly supported by the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina to which we want to express our special gratitude.
We would also like to thank the MMSU Rijeka, the MSU Zagreb, the City of Zagreb and the Museum of Yugoslavia for the loans from their collections as well as to the Croatian State Archives for their kind permission to show the material from their archives in the exhibition. Many thanks also to Lastovo Islands Nature Park for the permission to make a replica of the aerial photograph from their office.