STROKES AND INCISIONS

2020

Three limestone objects, each 140 × 260 × 40 cm; line drawing carved into and painted onto the surface of the limestone; renovated boules court.

Permanent installation, Brseč, HR
 
The small village of Brseč on the Istrian peninsula overlooks the sea and with its beautiful beach and historical center is an attraction for visitors. The work consisting of three large stone blocks is placed at the entrance of the village, in a small park which is also the site of the local boules court. Boules is traditionally played all over Croatia, and the local boules courts are often central meeting points in the villages.
The small public school of the village was closed in 2018 after 175 years. Located in the center of the village, above the water reservoir, it constituted the heart of the community. The school and its closure were a central topic of the project.
Next to the school there is a wall where people, probably both tourists and locals, have been scratching graffiti for decades—names, dates, random scratches. The pattern of these lines, combined with writings and drawings taken from notebooks of the last few generations of school children, form the basis of the line drawings in the limestone.
 
The lines in the stones preserve some ephemeral and mostly unnoticed traces of villagers and visitors in a permanent material. At the same time the stones serve as benches near the boules court. The court had been relatively unused over the last decade, but was renovated in the course of the project, and the park was revitalized.
 
Exhibition:
Lungomare Flagship, group show, Rijeka 2020, HR