Programme
Vered Dror
Israel
HIDDEN CITY
action
5 - 15 May 2008
Old town, Rokov perivoj and church of St. Rok, Utrine - underground passageway under Dubrovnik avenue, Cvjetni Square, Mocvara cultural center, Primary school "Kralja Tomislava" - Nova cesta 92, Tresnjevka market, Zapadni kolodvor (West train station) 
In my language the word Regret (HARATA) and the word Engraving (HARITA) have the same root. Regrets engrave us, draw lines in our souls, scratch our bodies, and narrow our movements.
A few years ago, just outside Zagreb, I saw a building perforated with bullet holes all over its empty walls, like souvenirs from the last war. It made me think that if we took all the engraved bullet holes and turned them up side down, it would create small rounds we could touch. If a blind person would touch those rounds, perhaps he could read them like Braille, and the stories of all that have happened in this building would be revealed.
Mouse-over the dots on the map! Click on the dots for more!
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Old town
- Have you seen the swastika?
- I haven't seen a thing. -
Old town
- Where are we going?
- Trust me, I will show you the way. -
Rokov perivoj
- Have you seen the swastika?
- We haven't seen a thing. -
Utrine - underground passageway
- Where are you? Can you see me?
Is there anyone there?
- Touch me. -
Cvjetni Square
- Have you seen the swastika?
- I haven't seen a thing. -
Mocvara cultural centere
- Have you seen the swastika?
- We haven't seen a thing. -
Primary school "Kralja Tomislava"
- Have you seen the swastika?
- We haven't seen a thing. -
Tresnjevka market
- Have you seen the swastika?
- We haven't seen a thing. -
Zapadni kolodvor (West train station)
- Have you seen the swastika?
- We haven't seen a thing.
AT WORK (click to magnify):
In my language the word Regret (HARATA) and the word Engraving (HARITA) have the same root. Regrets engrave us, draw lines in our souls, scratch our bodies, and narrow our movements.
A few years ago, just outside Zagreb, I saw a building perforated with bullet holes all over its empty walls, like souvenirs from the last war. It made me think that if we took all the engraved bullet holes and turned them up side down, it would create small rounds we could touch. If a blind person would touch those rounds, perhaps he could read them like Braille, and the stories of all that have happened in this building would be revealed.
An ad was published in the local newspapers inviting people to tell stories of all that is hidden in Zagreb, of all that is preferred to not be looked at. The stories varied, from a story about the fear of loosing the first cinema of Zagreb that is planned to be turned into a garage place; to a story about an old, poor man who tried to eat leftovers of food in a restaurant and was thrown out, humiliated; to a story of a woman that, during second world war, found her self naked in public as her house was torn down by a bomb while she was taking a shower.
In continuing to the stories that were told to me by the people of Zagreb, there were hidden stories I found by my self. The strongest of all was realizing that Nazism is live and kicking in Zagreb. I was amazed to see the amount of Swastika's everywhere in Zagreb, and the indifferent attitude to it from the people of Zagreb, as if it was just like any other symbol and not the symbol if the biggest death machine created by humans. If to speak of regret, I found Croatia's past as a fascist pro Nazi independent country, its biggest regret and fear.
I decided to build the work in a form of question and answer between two blind people, trying to find their way in their darkness. Taking the image from both Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" and from Saramago's "Blindness".
The question and answer are written in Braille, can be touched and can be understood, as a chart of the Croatian Braille alphabet was put under every sentence.
I chose 3 main spots for placing my work, referring to the 3 parts of society who are responsible for Croatia's future: The government, the church and the people.
Over all, 4000 dots creating 75 sentences were stamped around Zagreb.
People take parts of the Braille, perhaps as souvenirs. The writing on the wall slowly disappears. Perhaps different things will now be read there.
