Sanjin Selimović

The phenomenon I want to present is the one of “erased history”. Historia magistra vitae est. Except when it is erased. And it has been erased each time when the relationship between the winner and the looser is changed. The relationship between the strong and the weak. Following the key principles of mechanics, every action triggers a reaction. On the other hand, the logic imposes upon us the conclusion that one of the two opposed premises must be wrong. The problem occurs when the equation includes historical fact and new generations. Mathematically, it would be like this: Gavrilo Princip committed the assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke and his pregnant wife, thus liberating the South Slav countries, ergo Gavrilo Princip is a popular hero (+ serving as a catalyst: political turmoil, time distance). Gavrilo Princip committed the assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke and his pregnant wife, thus deprived of life both him, his wife and their unborn baby, ergo Gavrilo Princip is a criminal + new generations >> erased history. Without trying to prove the thesis that the criminal and the hero cannot be one person, at least not for one and the same people, we have to ask ourselves: If one annuls the other, does it mean that Gavrilo Princip does not exist? Is not his significance annulled (irrespective of the light shed on that significance) in history? Could we play like that with history? Would our children ever know about Gavrilo Princip? Did the WWI happen, and if it did, what had initiated it?

Project received for the competition for new monument/artwork in public space in the category  “Interventions on existing monuments/ objects”.