Index
A brief overview of Layers How to read this catalog
6 10
- -
9 11
Keyword sources 11 - 19
algae 22 - 25 bridge 26 - 33 cave 24 - 37 debris 38 - 41 diving 42 - 47 edge 48 - 51 humans 52 - 57 neretvablue 59 - 65 neretvagreen 66 - 71 stone 72 - 77 terrace 78 - 83 trash 84 - 87 tree 88 - 93
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A brief overview of layers
Relating to a new space is often aided by the residues of past spaces and the built archive of associations. It is complex and multi-layered. We can mirror this population of layers, or material assemblage, to our conception of memory and creation of narratives. This described memory is essentially an embodied one, it can relate to other layers, but finds meaning in symbiosis to its own environment. The entering of a new space, such as the project location in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the positioning of the body in various sections herein has led to a personal fascination of the interchanging of layers in this location. In contrast to investigation done in Delft before the field research, I witnessed while being in Mostar that the intersections are much more complicated. First the narrative of the border became a foregrounding object of confusion during my stay. The ongoing territorial dispute between the three major ethnicities in Mostar, the Bosniaks, the Bosnian Croats, and the Bosnian Serbs has most certainly not been resolved, not after the Dayton Peace agreement , but it seemed not to be this acute inflammation. There were no barbed wires that prevented movement between people. Rather, it was a subject to be read from more subtle material layers in the environment, known to all who set foot in Mostar and was aware of its history. You could tell the
division from empty spaces, written slogans, littered trash, and unused pathways. Around these layers, life seemed to have sought an equilibrium and stories and opinions have been buried in favor of a main narrative of peace. While placing my body in the unknown environment of Mostar, I moved around and tried to touch as many layers to evoke these buried narratives. My encounters were intimate and intertwined with my body, perceived as female and colored. People have told me things, about their jobs, their childhoods, the best places in town, but where they placed their silences turned out to be as meaningful. I have tried to interact with the earth, the solid rock, the name scratched in with a key, the greenbluewhite cold waters of Neretva, the plastic bag floating to elsewhere as if they are all narrators and evidences. I understood that during our stay we were part of an ethology of life in Mostar. Feeding into this research is thus my body and personal collection of imagery, encounters, and narratives collected from Mostar. On various levels, the movement of layers creates relationships, which add to the memory of the space. The horizontal movement of the layers can be defined as the movement from place to place, carrying and forming connections. The vertical movement of layers can be defined as movements throughout time, introducing the fluidity inherently present in memory. Below I give an outline of the layers present in
6
the location area to be able to further reflect on their importance in the creation of histories or memories. The Stari Most is one of the bridges crossing the Neretva. It is one of the most recognizable and, after the Croat-Bosniak war and its destruction, the most discussed restauration in Bosnia. The original Ottoman bridge was constructed out of stone along with two fortified towers several hundred years ago. Before the war, the main layers of meaning were crossing the bridge to trade or to pass to the other side of the city, to gather in the cafÊ Cardak, to swim underneath or to jump off the arch of the bridge. During the war, the bridge was used to carry victims and goods to safety. The appearance of the bridge changed several times during the war due to impact of the shelling, but also due to the safety needs of the citizens. Citizens placed a cover over the bridge or wrapped car tires around the arch. The bridge became physically layered, aside from its mental layers. Divers have kept on diving off one of the shelled buildings next to the Halabija tower. The Stari Most was ultimately destroyed in 1993 but resurrected in the 2000s with foreign aid and interest. The physical layer of connection was reinstated, but the mental specificity of connecting became tainted by the ethnic separation, which became part of the city’s mental archive. The signifying of the bridge as the restored crossing between two ethnicities is reason for the lack of physical expression of the mental layers, essentially setting in stone a perpetual equilibrium, or fossilization of meaning. This narrative built further on the assumption that this bridge was the border and that with
7
its destruction the citizens were on their furthest point from reconciliation. Currently, the bridge is restored in its original state and being pushed as the restored (tourist) icon of the city and at the same time the icon of peace and reconciliation. The Neretva is the main river flowing through the Bosnian city Mostar, which played an important role, before and during the Croat-Bosniak war, in the lives of Mostar citizens. Personal accounts of citizens have mentioned that the river was used for several leisure activities before the war. The connecting Radobolja River was used for drinking and sanitation. During the war the usage of the Neretva partially shifted to the Radobolja function of sanitation and drinking water. Yet, pictures show that people still used the spots near the Stari Most for leisure. The caves were used as hiding spots from the shelling from the direction of the surrounding mountains. The coasts and dams were used by armies to defend the city. After the war, the Neretva became increasingly touched by the new privatization of Bosnia due to shifting post-war politics. This has resulted into pollution of the river, usage of the river for hydroelectric dams, and disuse of the shores. Still, the mental image of the river has been one of pure natural strength and beauty albeit incongruous with its physical state. The terraces seem to dominate the landscape between Neretva, the old town, Stari Most, and the adjacent neighborhood Ograda. A post-war intervention, the terraces stem from a more naturally formed coast on which roughly the same activities of leisure and spectating were performed by visitors. The terraces topographically
mediate the height difference between the river and the upper located Ograda. Along the separate levels one can find natural borders of green patches, trees, and the water of the Neretva and Radobolja seeping in. Small stone steps intervene between each ascending level of the terrace until a paved road is reached, going up to the debris of the Gojka Vukovića settlement. Littered on several places one can find material evidences of visitors, mainly trash from food packaging and cigarette buds. A special quality of the terraces is the transitioning of the space during higher tides of the Neretva, usually after heavy rainfall. This is due to the specific topography of the location, earlier mentioned. We find the terraces in several, separate modes of accessibility and visibility, creating new spaces when submerged and therefor additional characters of site with their own narrative capabilities. The ruin of the settlement Gojka Vukovića 11, accessible from the main road Gojka Vukovića and from the terraces if not flooded is at first sight a space literally and figuratively opposite from the Stari Most yet connected in several ways to be explained later on. The debris hailing from the Bosnian war is evident, few walls of the originally grand assemblage of complexes are still present. Going inside, the inhabitance of the location is taken over by several bodies, human and nonhuman, each leaving their marks of having been there. We consider examples of these marks the graffiti, the trash (mainly from food and drink packaging, cigarettes, and household objects), the growing of trees, bushes, and weeds, and the excrements and footprints of animals.
In the Stari Most, the terraces, the ruin, and the Neretva River, we can find subtleties of various subject-object dichotomies: fixed-fluid, human-nature, conscious-unconscious, and “actively knowing-subjects and passive objects-thatare-known” (Mol, The Body Multiple). This innate questioning of the stability of a territory relates to one of Cache’s main topics in his seminal work Earth Moves. There the predicament explored is “how to show or create the kind of movement that is prior to the representation of stable objects, and so to introduce a new dynamic conception of both image and architecture”. This movement in territories otherwise perceived as stable proposes “possibilities of seeing”. This powerful concept of transitional, generative quality in movement or otherwise called ‘disruption’ is being explored in this theoretical essay due to its possibilities in transitioning territories of trauma. Where the stone bridge carries the image of stability, eternity, and elevation, the proximity of the river, or waters as material paradoxes this connection by signifying fluidity, carrying information, embodying the process of transitioning. At heart of this being-in-transit are the terrace and the ruin. The “stability” of the firmer parts, “its ability to re-feature in experience from moment to moment, is an enabling condition for the ephemerality of the […]” river and the spaces in-between found at the location of the ruin (Manning and Massumi, A Thought in The Act). The blurred dichotomy can in this way be investigated by highlighting the question of the material assemblage’s horizontal and vertical
8
process of movement; for example, spaces transitioning from debris caused by the shelling of the bridge to a submerged piece of stone and eventually gravel holding on to its position on the river bank. Taken from the essay acompanying this catalog, Transitioning: acts of disrupting a narrative or material assemblage through cataloguing, cutting, and sequencing
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How to read this catalog
The format of this catalog corresponds with a method of archiving tested for the Embodied Archive. The specific aim was to correspond the transitional, generative capability of material layers, which form items in the Embodied Archive. Normally, an archive is especially rigid through the fixed methods used to compile information systematically and scientifically. Here we play with this fixed-fluid dichotomy, also found in the layers in Mostar, to disrupt the system of cataloguing and show through disruption affective relationships between the material layers. We also insert bodies and personal narratives to undo the sterile environment of scientific, historical information, which turn into fixed narratives. We give agency to humans, nonhumans, and their stories alike. This disrupting is done by shuffling items, repeating, and using various, at times conflicting types of layers against the backdrop of categorization in maps, keywords, and metadata.
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keyword sources maps · books
Location
Ulica Kujundziluk a
Ulica
Ulic
a St
Onescukova
ari
Dizdarev
Mos
t
ska
Kalhan
Ulica
Ulica
vina
a
Ulic
Juso
Ulica
Ulica
Ramica
ca
Uli a
fic
Se
Ulica
ce
Bra
Ulica
ca
Uli
Juso vina
Cem
alev
ica
ca
Uli
Go
jka
M
ars
ala
Krese eta
Ism Ulica
Tita
ca
Uli
Bore Vuko vica
13
Stari Most and Neretva
Stari Most Halabija
Tara
14
Pre-war activities along Neretva
ming swim g athin sunb
in g div
d llowe
a eing fore b ost e b s pot t Stari M ing s a f 4 div diving o e n o
mm swi
mm swi
i ng
swim ing to ic n learn ic and p bbq
ing
im sw mi ng im sw
diving
mi ng an bbq
15
d pic
nic
War activities along Neretva
d
Ha
c jili za
. ul
battling around Bunur
series of hiding places in caves
clothes sniper shot lady while washing water
carrying goods and bodies
battling around Lucki
C
Si n
ov iM
ah
ale
a Tekij
SR
spring used for washing/drinking
Most Hasana Brkića
16
Post-war activities along Neretva
tle lids
picnic place bbq construction waste beer bot
thesfimeslly waterfall hpaerme built n th
old bridge foundations s on training spot divers ati d n ou ef g d i ls br fal ter old a w all sewage pipes sm chilling weed
p sup
felled tree res c tu stru ort smelly spring pipes
st y rof o
am
let
l re lau
foo dtr ays
r te wa ste a w
bottles and trash po walnuts ol trash kak cave itrees fish canal angr in ga ing y old rden man of abandoned orchard c
bro on ke stru n m ct arb ion le wa
t ou
ru te wa ste wa
m
er nd
qu os
e
ste
food
kay akin
gc
ase
party trash tourists MO bottles ST AR cigs Id te
ivi
was
pre ss
ive
ure
re e
r
coo ke
rm anu
al
fruit tree garden
pr es su fo re bo am co ttle n ok ew er sp ap er
it kiw
fru it t
int or
r r te ea ciga sw
re e
ka ki
ng
bridge remains aste ion w
ct
ru const
tree ranateranate tree pomeg pomeg
open playground
mosque
bridge remains open playground bench
broken bridge open museum
area beacpohols
a rock neretv
open playground
17
diving platform
Literary keywords along Neretva
troubled
lig
d rri ho
big
ht rogckoslden
aves roar binwdw eed
emerald
ep
w llo yeue bl
paradise gardens
ling babber wat
dy tiful la beau
y young bo
rocks
bu
sharp
old marcanof the new moon
fl e ng r kli on rs r e e r in o m v e s w av di pp ve br o lea oath c
sky
de
a sw w o l wil
wild
sands breath e v ff i ca ingcl sh walking
y errfling t t busoa
wave smashed blackberry thorns
s e et lu -b ck cri een reen gr ilky g ears t m
wa te caring mother rfal
l
waves m foa
l
il
c
e
ky ds rie y
h c
ering
m shim
n
io t
canyon E
ID W F O L W
songs
to the sea 18
Used literature
19
keyword metadata
algae
7 images · ISO 40 · ISO 160 · 1 book
20181023_114139
20181023_114149
20181025_143301
23
20181023_114143
20181023_114833
20181023_114435
20181023_114254
24
The river is green emerald because of the algae growing here.
25
Of algae, the genera Nitella and Chara are common
bridge
18 images · ISO 40 · ISO 400 · 3 books
2
20181021_123407
20181025_151243
20181027_132223
img006
img035
img037
img062
img112
27
img063
img113
img064
img144
img065
img145
img038
img082
IMG_6970
28
29
Gdje je most?
Where is the bridge?
Možda je most namjerno zatražio skrivalište zaronivši o modru rijeku da ne vidi i ne čuje naše sramotno zavadene narode
Perhaps, intentionally The Bridge sought shelter When it dove into The dark blue river Not to see and hear Our shamefully Confronted nations
Možda je preselio u Raj i tamo čeka nadahnute mostare. Koliko če dugo potrajati da se dogodi preporod?
Perhaps it has moved to the Heaven And there it awaits Inspired bridge-keepers. How long will it be Before the rebirth commences?
Željka Hohnjec Kakarigi Zagreb, 1993
Željka Hohnjec Kakarigi Zagreb, 1993
30
And here, where you are sitting now, here sat Franz Ferdinand. Really.
Only the crazy people come up here. Between the Earth and the Sky.
31
32
33
Kameni most ponovo nad rijekom simbol trajanja
Stone bridge again over the river symbol of duration
-
-
Sunce pozlati krst na zvoniku stare crkve
The sun glints cross on the bell tower old church
-
-
Praznično jutro Obasjava stari grad bijela svetlost
Festive morning The old castle dies white light
-
-
Glas mujezina sa džamijske šerefe u susret zori
Muezzin’s voice from the mosque’s sheriff to meet dawn
Vesna Oborina Mostar, 2005
Vesna Oborina Mostar, 2005
cave
7 images · ISO 40 · ISO 200
img077
35
img051
img023
img042
img080
img130
img138
We used to hide (here)
36
In the Summer we come around here and swim, dance...have fun.
37
debris
6 images · ISO 40 · ISO 400 · 1 book
20181021_123407
20181025_142822
img005
20181025_143343
img060
img110
39
40
Excerpt from The Poet From Mostar There are birds on the useless telephone wires and children below in the yard of my former building. The gap echoes and glares. There was the caved-in roof, the blackened apartments, the crumbling staircase. Vedran Husić, 2014
41
diving
11 images · ISO 40 · ISO 400
2
img063
43
img064
20181027_132223
20181029_141012
img035
img037
img038
img105
img113
IMG_6970
44
I wanted to become a diver. How? You let people know, people who know the divers. It’s a small city, word spreads, and then you train. It’s a hard job, you need to be ready to dive. 365 days.
It’s not only a physical training, to dive, but the soul is tested as well. We only accept good people.
The divers watch the bridge. We keep the visitors safe.
45
46
47
Neretva
Neretva
Nada mnom, u bašti, mašu breskve pune Zelenih lepeza i prvog zarutka; Pripilo se sunce i u lisne krune Kao da bi htjelo sve zlato da utka.
Above me, in the garden, the peaches are waving full Of green fans and the first blushes; The sun is clinging to the leafy crowns As if it wants to weave in all its gold.
Ja, naslonjen na zid, prekrštenih ruka, Gledam kako doli, o hridinu šuplju, Neretva se lomi, a s visokih kuka Naga djeca skaču i s vikom se kuplju,
I, leaning against the wall, with crossed arms I watch as, down on shallow rocks The Neretva breaks down, And from high points, Naked children dive and joyfully swim...
Dok najmanje jedno po prudu se valja Galebovi kruže. Nekoliko pralja Pratljačama mlate, i o greben greda
While at least one of the ponds is good Seagulls circle. Several women washing Trackers are milling, and on the beam of the beam
Razbija se eho, mre. Rijeka čista, Prepuna smaragda, putuje i blista, I red bliskih kuća u njoj se ogleda.
Smashing the echo, the net. The clean river, Full of emeralds, it travels and shines, And the row of close houses reflects in it.
Aleksa Šantić Mostar, 1912
Aleksa Šantić Mostar, 1912
edge
10 images 路 ISO 40 路 ISO 200 路 ISO 400 路 1 book
20181024_172820
20181025_143523
img010
img024
img061 img023
img063
49
img105
img144
img145
50
Most of his poems are about the past: two lovers illuminated by the milky glow of a lamp on Lucki Bridge; an impromptu family picnic on the pebbled bank of the Neretva; an aproned baker on Fejić passing loaf after loaf to a blueuniformed delivery man. Prof.Abdić says that the nature of memory and time is like the nature of darkness and water and I don’t quite know what he means. Vedran Husić, 2014
51
humans
21 images 路 ISO 40 路 ISO 200 路 ISO 400 路 1 book
20181025_143523
20181027_132223
img016
53
img063
img064
img136
img145
20181023_114833
20181024_172820
20181029_140906
20181029_141012
img058
20181027_132339
20181023_132344
20181027_132639
img035
img038
img105
img113
img030
img087
I was born in 1964. In Mostar. Five years ago, I came back here. Civilization is when you respect nature. Other beings. Do you understand, my darling?
54
Want some? Where are you from? Ah... We come here often, to relax. Life can be busy, you know How does the water feel like? Cold?
55
56
57
Excerpt from Nikada nećeš razumjeti, Zašto sam Zaljubljen u mostar
Excerpt from Nikada nećeš razumjeti, Zašto sam Zaljubljen u mostar
Možeš povjerovati švedskom Neskladu i hladnoći mojoj švedskoj Dvojniku mome koji je uzaludno Nagovara da me počinješ Zaboravljati samo Nikada Nikada nećeš razumjeti Zašto sam zaljubljen u Mostar
I can not believe the Swedish disharmony and the coldness of my Sweden Mimicking my futility The urges you start to Forget me just Never You will never understand Why I am in love with Mostar
Meho Baraković Mostar, 2004
Meho Baraković Mostar, 2004
neretvablue
21 images 路 ISO 40 路 ISO 200 路 ISO 400 路 3 books
20181023_114149
img058
59
1
20181023_113727
20181024_172820
20181025_151243
img012
img017
img024
img078
img080
img089
img110
img114
img129
img131
IMG_6970
20181023_113941
20181023_114254
20181025_161229
img051
60
And I can remember sometime when the Neretva was not blue or green, but somewhat purple, even yellow. I swear to God!
61
62
63
Ja Uputiteljica
I, the Traveler
U vrelo Života
The heat Life
U svijetle Plamenove
The light Flames
U djetel Livade
The child Meadows
U sutone Tajane
The morning Secrets
U isteke Neretve
The expiry Neretva
Opačine sve Nestadoše
All wickedness It’s gone
U Gorama Mojim
In the mountains Of my own
Rad prisustva
A labor is present
Moga
Of mine
Mila Vlasic Mostar, 1999
Mila Vlasic Mostar, 1999
64
65
neretvagreen
21 images · ISO 40 · ISO 160 · ISO 200 · ISO 400 · 8 books
20181023_114139
20181023_114143
20181025_142954
20181025_143301
20181027_132339
67
20181023_114833
20181023_114435
20181025_142231
20181023_132344
20181027_132639
img005
img015
img016
img023
img061
img077
img105
img110
img118
img119
img141
68
69
Excerpt from U dosluhu rijeke i mosta Uskoro su iskakivali iz vode sa nevjericom na licu. Jedan od starijih kupača pokazivao je na ivicu Malog Sokola, tamo gdje prozirna zelenkasta ždrebica Radobolja nestaje u tajnovitom zelenilu Neretve. Salko Selimović, Mostar, 1981 Excerpt from U dosluhu rijeke i mosta Soon they were coming out of the water with disbelief on their faces. One of the older swimmers pointed out at the edge of Little Hawk, where the transparent greenish filly Radobolja disappears in the mysterious emerald Neretva. Salko Selimović, Mostar, 1981
70
Stone crescent that reconciles the blue sky with the green river
71
stone
19 images 路 ISO 40 路 ISO 200 路 ISO 400 路 6 books
20181021_123407
20181024_144827
20181025_142608
20181025_142822
20181025_144050
73
20181025_142822
20181025_143343
20181025_154706
20181025_161229
img005
img010
img024
img042
img057
img060
img110
img118
img119
img130
74
75
Dah Života Zemlje Hercegovine Ja Sam i ritam kamenjara od iskona ja sam ja, bijelo djetinjstvo bijelo djetinjstvo, ljubav svijetla misao ja, pčelinja košnica plodno zrnje iz ambara kadulja neiskorijenjena ja, potomak gange i prela pripjev, miris duhana čuvarka ognjišta pradjedova ja, trpko vino neispijeno ja, nikada izrečena ja, Neretva neistočena živodarna ustajem s izlaskom Sunca kao i preci moji iz prastarih vremena nosim u sebi sunčevinu i osmijeh za sutrašnji dan Mila Vlasic Mostar, 1999
The Breath of Life on Herzegovina ground, I am and the rhythm of the rocky stones I am I, white childhood white childhood, love bright ideas I, bee hives fertile grain from the barn unused sage I, a descendant of gangs and princes a chorus, smell of tobacco guardian of the hearth of the fathers I, a bitter wine unnoticed I, unpronounced I, an unequipped Neretva I get up with the rising of the Sun as well as my ancestors from ancient times I carry the sun and a smile for tomorrow’s day Mila Vlasic Mostar, 1999
76
77
Vejtar bez sna
Wind with no dream
Mjesec silazi niz oštre litice, sav u Neretvi.
The Moon is descending down the sharp rocks, whole in Neretva
-
-
Posrće, pada diže se, pada – kozle na kamenjaru.
Stumbling, falling getting up, falling - a kid on the rocky paths.
-
-
Huči Neretva. Vrbe u prvim resama šeću obalom.
The roaring of Neretva. Willows in their first fringes walking along the river-side.
Mirsad Denjo Mostar, 1995
Mirsad Denjo Mostar, 1995
terrace
14 images 路 ISO 40 路 ISO 200 路 ISO 400 路 1 book
20181025_143523
20181025_143343
20181027_132639
img005
img110
79
img016
img111
img030
img074
80
81
82
83
Tvoja Neretva
Your Neretva
Biće zapisano da si i Mrtav da si i divno mrtav bio Zagledan i Zaljubljen do besvjesti zaljubljen u vodu u Vodu zaljubljen u Neretvu koja teče u Neretvu koja kroz nas otiče u Jadransko more u naše Kretnje Otiče
It will be written that you are Dead that you are beautifully dead I was Watchful and In Love senselessly stuck in the water in the water in love in the Neretva that flows in the Neretva which goes through us to the Adriatic Sea in our Gestures Go
Zaljubljeni držeći se čvrsto za ruke sa Mosta gledali su vodu bojeći se da ne prepoznaju Sebe u Nekome Drugome u Vodi koja otiče
In love holding hands tightly from the Sea, they watched the water fearing they do not recognize themselves in Someone else in the Water that flows
Šta si tražio na dnu vode nikada niko neće Saznati niti Sluhom niti Ranjivošću dotaknuti
What were you looking for at the bottom of the water? No one will ever Find out nor Hear about it nor touch it with Vulnerability
Mišo Marić Mostar, 2006
Mišo Marić Mostar, 2006
trash
23 images · ISO 40 · ISO 200 · ISO 400
20181025_141906
20181025_141921
20181025_142005
20181025_142022
20181025_142104
20181025_142148
20181025_142231
20181025_142345
20181025_142538
20181025_142608
20181025_142822
20181025_142910
20181025_142921
20181025_142954
20181025_150124
img014
img015
img017
img018
img029
img131
img143
img061
85
86
87
tree
12 images 路 ISO 40 路 ISO 200 路 ISO 400 路 1 book
img057
89
1
2
img012
img034
20181025_150124
20181027_131913
img051
img073
img074
img140
img141
footsteps snapping twigs branches dried leaves I can barely see the river roaring behind the trees
90
91
Coffee? There is a filter now, since 4 years. Previously everything would wash in, from the hospital. Everything. I will show you when we go out in a bit. They built a big dam, several cities make use of it. I will show you the filter. What do you do? They built dams, the Neretva produces electricity now. When I was young, the Neretva was very beautiful. There were not many houses, there was no hospital, there were no factories along the river. We used to spend each holiday at the Neretva. Bosnia was part of Yugoslavia. We used a tributary of Radobolja for drinking water. For the past 10 years the Neretva has been unsuitable to swim in.
92
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