Yesterday and today in Novi Sad to research and plan my next expeditions.

yesterday i also met a serbian lady Milena who was married with an italian, she insisted on meeting me to conversate in italian. she lived a flamboyant life between the balkans and italy, praised Tito and like many elderly here she misses Tito’s Yugoslavia as a period of prosperity. she gave a different and valuable point of view, being of mixed heritage Macedonian, Serbian and Croatian and having acquired the language and some italian customs.

Being here has made me reconsider my project and also given me more ideas: for example with regards to the work done in Cyprus (the only border that i have extensively explored up to now, as Finland/Russia and Greec/Turkey were very short trips to test my idea): for example there are images of Cyprus which i have not yet uploaded, in which very common elements of everyday life are found near the buffer zone, such as a play area.

As for my residency here at ArtBox, i have another 3 weeks to explore the borders, concentrating on the unexpected elements of these border areas as well as the people i meet. I am looking at the map and planning according to distance from the border, availability of transport…etc etc…i am also considering following the Danube on the other side of the country at the border with Romania, as well as maybe a short trip to Kosovo, where there is a town of Mitrovica, that, like Nicosia is cut in half, with Serbs living north side of the bridge and albanians living in the south part.

Ljiliana and Dragan of Artbox discussing art works at exhibition

An interesting work which ironically takes on the history of the balkans and the ever changing borders

Rules of the game

Playing with borders

As artist in residency at Artbox i visited an exhibition at “Fabrika” gallery, displaying the works of students of Novi Sad University art academy, to see and discuss their work and for me a chance to introduce my own work here. It was a very good exhibition with many intesting works, expecially in photography.

In particular, one piece stood out for me and i had a good discussing on borders with the artist: a board game based on history and political/religious conflicts in the balkan region. The artwork consisted not only of the board game, incredibly well manufactured and with excellent graphic work, but also of 2 players, one dressed as Imam and the other as Orthodox Priest,, playing to destroy and conqueer each other positions. as the artist explained to me, he was little when Nato bombed Novi Sad and as many young people he views past conflicts as something determined by interests of political and religious elites.

i found his artwork very ironic and we had an interesting comparison. Between my photographic project and his views on the region.

Yesterday i returned into Serbia ( arrived too tired to write the blog, sorry!) after being 4 days along the border Following the route Ilok-Vukovar-Dalj-Aljmas-Erdut-Bogojevo.

I crossed back into Serbia near Erdut, walking on a bridge on the Danube. This area is interesting as there is a disused railway that once connected Serbia and Croatia, and along the Danube on both sides there are small fishing boats, small farms and factories. I hope to visit this area again, as i could stay only shortly to catch a train back at 11 am. The train passes once a day, and painfully slowly goes to Novi Sad.

Bogojevo is a bunch of scattered houses, a supermarket that had no electricity, some small shaks inhabited by Roma women ( who yelled angrily at me as soon as they saw the camera…but i was trying to photograph the tacky supermarket sign, not them!), a “strand” beach on the Danube with an half built restaurant, strangely constructed to look like a small size medioeveal castle.

i photographed buildings and people i met, in particular. That the border crossing this very stylish old lady waiting in the sun..i had to photograph quickly as the border guards became angry – genera rule of all borders: photography isnot welcome! – and now i am concerned hoping the images will come out well.

Aljmas sits on the banks of the Danube ( which as i write has overflown and 50 houses are under water)facing Serbia. The town has 500/600 inhabitants and a super-modern church which attracts many pilgrims. It’s really ugly and from far i believed it was a swimming pool or a shopping mall. The old church was destroyed in the war.

I  left Vukovar very early in the morning, got lost, found a lift from a guy who kept yelling words in Serbian which made a funny conversation full of misunderstandings.

in Aljmas the only guesthouse was shut so i sat on a bench not sure of what to do…being Aljmas such a small town my presence was noticed and locals came around trying to speak to me in german till they found an english speaker. A family offered me to stay with them till the guesthouse owner was found, so i spent few hours with them with a much needed breakfast ( i could not thank them enough!). Between them was Zvonimir, who at 16 has learnt an incredibly good english by playing online video games. He was an incredible good source of information, and being born just after the war he perhaps was more open to talk about it.

Primo Levi wrote that “borders are where wars start” which is very much true about this area. Zvominir talks openly about feeling uneasy about the idea that Serbia may also join the EU one day, and says “it would be again like being in Jugoslavia”. He has very doubts about the necessity of the EU existence and says that NATO protected Croatia, not the EU. He also tells me stories of how his mother had to hide along the Danube, as Serbians in nearby villages had blocked the road . His war stories remind me of the stories my grandmother had from WWI and WWII and it is so strange to hear a 16 years old talk about the war.

Yesterday i arrived in Vukovar, river port on the Danube bordering with Croatia. a site important for border history as site of one of the biggest battles in modern day europe . Signs of the shelling  are still visible in the street expecially in the water tower. i am staying with a lady, Zara, who rents rooms: she loves talking and practicing her english and is keen on telling me the story pf the place and taking me around. She shows me tunnells where people hide during the war. She shows me the street with crumbling buildings and signs of shelling and talks a lot. Then all of a sudden she said more quietly ” i am serbian. Our houses also damaged, but because we are serbia no one helps us. Only croatian houses are rebuild. The houses you see crumbling are serbian houses”. She continues by saying she left for a year during the war but returned because the house was the only things she has. There is some resentment in her voice, she says also serbian suffered in the battle of vukovar, and how she is qualified but cannot get a good job because she is serbian. But this place is the only place she belongs to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vukovar

Yesterday an interesting “artist talk” with Dragan and Ljiliana, discussing history of the area and art groups in the region.

i also visited “the strand” Novi Sad beach on the river Danube, which was unfortunatly flooded, i am planning to go back and take shots of the swimmers. Following the Danube is interesting as it forms a natural border between the 2 countries.

today i will head to Vukovar, inCroatia, and for few days i will follow the river along the Vukovar- Erdut route, as these are significan sites of the balkan war.

an article about my work on the website of Croatia’s ministry of culture

http://www.culturenet.hr/default.aspx?id=52809

http://cyprus-mail.com/conspiracy-or-truth-is-the-cyprus-problem-fixed/

an interesting article on the cyprus problem, economics, politics and the EU