(LAST) THINGS As a final gesture to wrap up the program we propose an online collective session. Its aim is to share some of the individual writing or exercises and receive feedback from tutors and colleagues, as well as to collectively create a poetic text based on the main topics and questions aroused during the course. The meeting is a recurring event with a limitation of 10 participants. Estimated duration: around 2 hrs. To take part subscribe for a proposed time in the table below. Form: Date/ Time (GMT)/ Number of places left/ (organizer provides nearest time/date options and limits the number of attendants) Empty text field: Enter an email to receive a zoom link for the meeting. (user receives a zoom link for a set time) If by any reason you decide to not take part in the online meeting, we can provide you with instructions for individual work. Empty text field: Enter an email to receive an individual task. Online session content: (LAST) THINGS TO BE SAID This session will be led by program initiator Biljana Ciric. Meeting duration: 1 hr. Please prepare and send your selected task from any Block of the program via email wcscd.online@gmail.com . It can be a pdf/word file or a link to video or any multimedia file. A folder with participant’s presentations will be sent to your email for preliminary review. During the session you will have 5 minutes to present and 5 minutes for collective feedback. (LAST) THINGS TO BE WRITTEN This session will be led by Anastasia Albokrinova. Meeting duration: 1 hr. This session will be dedicated to writing a collective poem in relation to educational practice. You don’t need any prior experience in poetry, but be ready to brainstorm and improvise. Please have your tasks done previously for the program nearby. They may be needed.

< Back Stories from the room - Conversation 21 Feb 2022 Jasphy Zheng https://vimeo.com/680478437 Stories from the Room project by Jasphy Zheng has been implemented in many locations including Shanghai, Addis Ababa and Bor among others. Participants and organizers of the project in different locals gathered to reflect on situating the project locally. After this meeting, we continue to work on a permanent home for Stories from the Room achieve in Public Library Bor. Participants in conversation were Jasphy Zheng (artist), Violeta Stojmenovic (Public Library, Bor), Larys Frogier (director Rockbund Art Museum), and Dawit Seto and Sarah Bushra (Contemporary Nights, Addis Ababa) and Biljana Ciric (WCSCD). Previous Next

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Curators: Biljana Ciric, Larys Frogier, Billy Tang < Back Newly commissioned project by RAM Jasphy Zheng: Stories from the Room 7 Nov 2020 Rockbund Art Museum is very pleased to announce our collaboration with Jasphy Zheng on Stories from the Room (Shanghai), 2020 , a newly commissioned project initiated by the artist and supported by RAM CURTAIN New Commissions Series . Invited by Larys Frogier, director of Rockbund Art Museum, Stories from the Room is an ongoing work conceived by Jasphy Zheng, who will present her two-year Stories from the Room project as a temporary installation hosted by the museum. Her project will be occupy the museum building during its temporary closure from 2020.11.07 to 2021.01.03. With the current situation of uncertainty, where we are subjected to varying degrees of isolation, the project is a process to connect various places and people together, beginning with the motivation to archive a growing collection of personal writing responding to lived experiences of the current ‘new normal’. Re-defining the engagement between artist, institution and the audience by going beyond the conventional exhibition structure, Stories from the Room will be extended through the As you go… roads under your feet towards the new future research platform initiated by independent curator Biljana Ciric, and the project will be presented across multiple countries including Japan, Australia, China, Kazakhstan, Serbia and Ethiopia. Initially staged at the CCA Kitakyushu early this year , Stories from the Room was first realized as a response to the outbreak of the pandemic. The project has since expanded as a concept beyond a traditional archival in collaboration with a community of contributors spanning different continents and regions. Through this dialogue, the archive encompasses many different forms and languages through each encounter with a different public space – many of these spaces have faced different degrees of opening and closure that have influenced how the audience is able to engage with her project. Participants have been encouraged to contribute daily to share personal observations, memories, and reflections, with each contributor having a dedicated folder as a permanent part of the archive. In this way, Zheng provides a vital conduit for a diverse collection of voices to convene together in order to express, challenge, or respond to the difficulties of our current situation. Through each iteration, the archive raises different questions, reflecting the divergent realities and experiences of people and places who contribute to the development of this project. In the moment of closure before the Rockbund Art Museum’s renovation, the artist has fabricated a series of delicately-made copper objects to occupy the space for Stories from the Room (Shanghai), 2020 . As custodians of the archive, we will continue the work of updating and regularly maintaining the archive as it grows through the iteration that occupies our space in Shanghai. Scattered across the floors of our empty museum building, the metallic objects add a sculptural dimension to the project for audiences to explore freely. This subtle interaction with the museum adds another layer to the project as slowly, long-lasting ties begin to emerge between our staff and the archive. We sincerely welcome you to join this journey, exploring questions related to the boundaries between public and privacy, distance and intimacy during these uncertain times. May we embrace the uncertainties and challenges together. Please note that we do not accept on-site registration, kindly make an appointment before your visit. Access is limited. For more information, please refer to the rules and information available at “Booking Registration” below. Stories from the Room (Shanghai), 2020 is produced with generous support from Longlati Foundation. Booking Registration To visit Stories from the Room (Shanghai), 2020 at the Rockbund Art Museum, contributors to the open call related to this project will need to book in advance through email. Booking requests are subjected to a first come first serve booking process. If unable to attend, these contributors will also receive the ability to transfer the invitation to another person to attend on their behalf. Contributors can contact via email jasphy.opencall@gmail.com for more details related to the reservation procedure. Please note that we do not accept on-site registration. Please contribute in advance and visit the archive in accordance to our guidelines after receiving this confirmation. Appointments are open to RAM members, sponsors and friends. For more information, please inquire 021-63216251. Answering time: Monday to Friday 11:00-18:00. Submission Information If you would like to participate in this ongoing project, please refer to guidance below: Write about your days, thoughts or feelings, at any length and in any language you prefer Ensure your submission includes a name, location and date Send your writings to jasphy.opencall@gmail.com Each contributor will have a dedicated folder in the archive and multiple submissions over time are welcomed Please note that we are unable to include contributions in the form of image only. This open call in collaboration with RAM is a two-year project with the deadline of December 30th, 2022. The archives in the space will continue to expand with successive iterations as the project is displayed around the world. Please note: contributors volunteer free of charge to contribute to this project with the understanding their writing will be visible to different public displays as an on-going project by the artist Jasphy Zheng. Therefore, participants confirm their consent for the reproduction and usage of the content submitted for the display at Rockbund Art Museum, but also including future usages elsewhere as part of a continuous archival project initiated by the artist. Contributors must ensure to avoid the disclosure of private information in the submission. Submissions will not be returned to the contributor and will remain as part of the artwork. Submitted writings will be organized into the archive at Rockbund Art Museum weekly. About the Artist Living between the US and China, Jasphy Zheng is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice most recently explores the inevitable failure of communication, both on an interpersonal and collective level. Using social installations, unannounced performances, sculptural objects, and artist’s books, Zheng constructs situations as public interventions that aim to raise awareness of our social and cultural environment, both in and out of the context of contemporary art. Zheng graduated with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Stories from the Room Project Plan Center for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu, Japan, 2020.05.18 – 2020.09.25 Rockbund Art Museum, China, 2020.11.07 – 2021.01.03 TarraWarra Museum of Art, Australia, 2020.08.30 – 2021.07.11 Ethiopia, October 2020 – ongoing Kazakhstan, End of 2020 – ongoing Serbia, End of 2020 – ongoing CURTAIN As you go… roads under your feet towards the new future Click to read Chinese version Previous Next

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Events Lecture Series Participant Activities Lecture by Dorothea von Hantelmann / The Exhibition. A Lecture Demonstration Saša Tkačenko, Flags from the WCSCD series, 2018. Photo by Ivan Zupanc THE CURATORIAL COURSE WHAT COULD/SHOULD CURATING DO? IS GLAD TO ANNOUNCE A PUBLIC TALK BY Dorothea von Hantelmann The Exhibition. A Lecture Demonstration MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART BELGRADE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 AT 6 PM Art institutions are deeply connected to core socio-economic parameters of their time, which they symbolically cultivate and ritually enact. Looking at art spaces as a series of decisive moments of transformation, I will pose the question if the transformations of our epoch are asking for a new kind of ritual, after that of the exhibition. (The Exhibition. A Lecture Demonstration by Dorothea von Hantelmann) In collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, the second lecture within the series of public programs organized by WCSCD will be presented by Dorothea von Hantelmann (Professor of Art and Society at Bard College Berlin, A Liberal Arts University gGmbH). The series is designed to offer new and different perspectives on the theories and practices of exhibition-making. An esteemed theorist, scholar, writer, and curator, von Hantelmann’s work is at the forefront of conversations around the rethinking and retooling of exhibition rituals in contemporary art and the cultures of exhibition-making in general. For this occasion, von Hantelmann will deliver a lecture titled The Exhibition. A Lecture Demonstration. As she explains: “We can, and this is the perspective of art history, understand museums and exhibitions as places, as repositories for art objects, which classify and present important treasures of a cultural heritage. Or we can, and this is a more sociological and anthropological approach, see them as institutions that derive their social function from the fact that they carry specific values and concepts into society. My lecture both explores and demonstrates certain aspects of this second perspective. It analyses the cultural format of the museum and the exhibition as a specifically modern ritual in the historical and contemporary context of Western liberalism. Art institutions are deeply connected to core socio-economic parameters of their time, which they symbolically cultivate and ritually enact. Looking at art spaces as a series of decisive moments of transformation, I will pose the question if the transformations of our epoch are asking for a new kind of ritual, after that of the exhibition.” ABOUT THE LECTURER: Dorothea von Hantelmann is Professor of Art and Society at Bard College Berlin. Before taking the position at Bard College Berlin she was documenta Professor at the Art Academy/University of Kassel where she lectured on the history and meaning of documenta and was involved in the constitution of a documenta research institute. Her main fields of research are contemporary art and theory as well as the history and theory of exhibitions. She is the author of How to Do Things with Art, one of the seminal works on performativity within contemporary art; co-editor of The exhibition. Politics of a Ritual; and has written on artists such as Daniel Buren, Jeff Koons, Philippe Parreno, and James Coleman. Her current book project is titled The exhibition: Transformations of a ritual, which explores exhibitions as ritual spaces in which fundamental values and categories of modern, liberal, and market-based societies historically have been, and continue to be, practiced and reflected. Her curatorial work includes such projects and exhibitions as I promise it’s political (Museum Ludwig, Cologne 2002); Elective Affinities (Vienna Festival 1999); and I like Theater & Theater likes me (Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg 2001). She was a co-curator of A Prelude for The Shed, a multidisciplinary arts project that took place in the framework of The Shed, a new institution for the arts in New York City, scheduled to open in 2019. The WCSCD curatorial course and series of public lectures are initiated and organized by Biljana Ciric together with Supervizuelna. The lecture by Niels Van Tomme is made possible with the help of MoCAB and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the additional support of Zepter Museum and Zepter Hotel. Project partners: The Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade; GRAD—European Center for Culture and Debate; EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial, ’Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation and Zepter Museum. The project is supported by: the Goethe Institute in Belgrade; Istituto Italiano di Cultura Belgrado; the Embassy of Sweden; the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the Embassy of Ireland in Greece; the Embassy of Indonesia; the EU Info Centre; Pro Helvetia – Swiss Art Council; and galleries Eugster || Belgrade, HESTIA Art Residency & Exhibitions Bureau, and Zepter Hotel, Royal Inn Hotel and CAR:GO. Media partners: EUNIC Serbia, RTS3. < Mentors Educational Program How to Apply >

Bor Encounters As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future September 15th –September 19th 2022 Press statement from Dragan Stojmenovic, librarian, Bor Public Library, partner cell of the inquiry Sharing Session: As you go… roads under your feet, towards the new future Speakers: Biljana Ciric (interdependent curate), Sinkneh Eshetu (writer), Yabebal Fantasy (astrophysicist and data scientist), Robel Temesgen (artist), Jasphy Zheng (artist). Moderator: Zheng Peihan (Interim Education Manager of Rockbund Art Museum) Stories from the Room in Addis Ababa As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future in collaboration with Rockbund Art Museum Curtain project and Addis Ababa based collective, Contemporary Nights presents you a call for participation of Stories from the Room, a public project by artist Jasphy Zheng. Astrobus Ethiopia 2021 | Omo Valley Southwest Ethiopia We invite you to join us on our journey of learning and unlearning that has already been underway for the past year with Astrobus-Ethiopia through the curatorial inquiry of As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future. A conversation between Yabebal Fantaye, founder of Astrobus, and Biljana Ciric on the initiative. Support mask making for Ethiopia Robel Temesgen one of the participants of the project with his friends initiated mask making for communities that can’t afford it. Open Call for Maritime Portal Residency A collaborative initiative of All the Way South x As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future. It bridges many understandings of the south that only overlap partially with the geographical South and engages the histories and realities emerged from long lines of maritime mapping and entanglement. Announcement: Ash Moniz's Research on Cartographies of Solidarity is Selected for Maritime Portal Residency in 2021 The MPR is a collaborative initiative of All the Way South x As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future. It bridges many understandings of the south that only overlap partially with the geographical South and engages the histories and realities emerged from long lines of maritime mapping and entanglement. As you go… roads under your feet, towards the new future | Symposium Dates: March 22nd to 31st 2021 | Time: 11am Ljubljana time / 9pm Melbourne time / Addis Ababa 1pm / Shanghai, Guangzhou 6pm / Astana 4pm Livestream via WCSCD / Moderna Galerija / Artcom Platform / Rockbund Art Museum / Facebook / Youtube As you go… roads under your feet, towards the new future | Film Program Symposium presenters: What Could Should Curating Do and Moderna galerija , Ljubljana, Slovenia Duration: 22 – 31 March 2021 Приче између зидова у Народној библиотеци Бор Новембар 2020 – Шта би кустосирање могло/требало да буде (What Could/ Should Curating Do – WC/SCD), кроз пројекат Новим путевима у будућност (As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future), у сарадњи са Народном библиотеком Бор, позива вас на учешће у јавном пројекту уметнице Џесфи Џенг (Jasphy Zheng) Приче између зидова (Stories from the Room). Preface February 4th 2020 2pm – 8pm Guramayne Art Center Addis Ababa. Organized in collaboration with Biljana Ciric & Guramayne Art Center < Cells Curatorial Inquiries Online Journal >

< Back Bicycle Uprising Against Authoritarianism 20 July 2020 Tjaša Pureber Three months of protests in Slovenia Culture is a guardian of sleep of the middle class. Graffiti on the wall of Ministry of Culture, May 2020. On March 12, 2020, Slovenia went into a lockdown after declaring the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic. A day later, right-wing Prime Minister Janez Janša, took over the government. What followed were three months of repressive measures, often disguised as anti-pandemic laws, which made already existing contradictions within society even more visible and dire. Government policies were met with massive self-organized resistance, and the Slovenians’ mass protests on bicycles were one of the first attempts in the world to explore what it means to fight against social injustice on a massive scale, whilst maintaining social solidarity within a pandemic. Cultural workers and creative actions played an important role in the still ongoing wave of unrest that has redefined the notion of collectivity in a time when the individualization of our lives has become mandatory. The following is a short summary of what has happened. Prelude: from the uprising of 2012/2013 to the protests of 2020 The last time Janez Janša was in power, he was met with six months of uprisings in the winter and spring of 2012/2013, which eventually led to his resignation. This was the biggest continuous social and political unrest the country had seen since its fight for independence in 1991. It was marked by massive direct action, while the diverse movement itself was self-organized by various anti-capitalist and other initiatives, within which cultural workers played a visible role. The protests were also marked by anti-corruption and anti-austerity topics, as well as a general distrust in the political class. In the years since, Slovenia was ruled by what can only be described as governments of extreme center. They introduced several laws that increased the authority of military and police to be used against the civil population, installed barbed wire on the southern border, and maintained extremely restrictive immigration policies. In many ways, those characteristics set the stage for more ideologically far right policies, immediately introduced by the new right-wing government. Once the pandemic of COVID-19 hit Slovenia, most civil society actors and institutions, largely dependent on state funding, were met with the new reality – lockdown, lack of funding, an uncertain employment future; all mixed with restrictive, authoritarian governmental policies, and a new style of ruling largely marked by hate speech, character assassinations in the press, and the spread of fake news through government owned and controlled media. # stayathome was quickly adopted by the people as the only way to remain in solidarity, often forgetting it only applies to the financially stable and educated, middle class populace. Meanwhile, industrial production continued undisturbed, often in risky health conditions, while cities and states closed down support structures for the homeless, thus leaving a vulnerable part of the population in even more precarious situations. From the very beginning of the pandemic, it was the self-organized social movements who offered a different vision of social solidarity, aimed at supporting those cut off from state-led welfare structures (such as the elderly, homeless, and the poor). They offered a vision of direct social care as an answer to state imposed quarantine, which accommodates only those who can afford it. These attempts coincided with the need to address the question of political protests and building a collective experience of dissent in times of imposed individualization. State responses to the pandemic marked a return to the patriarchal society – limiting social interactions to the immediate family members, combined with the oppressive language of the “dangerous and dirty Other,” who spreads the virus. The only safe environment became the notion of home, while everything else posed a risk. This created a claustrophobic atmosphere, in which authoritarian measures, such as the attempt to use the military to monitor and control migration flows, were unable to be met with dissent on the streets. Anti-authoritarian, mostly anarchist social movements in the country, recognized this as the first attempt from the new government to establish authoritarian rule in Slovenia. This created the need to form a collective response which would still be able to protect people in struggle from the dangers of the pandemic, whilst offering a platform to express anger over the political measurements. At beginning of April, roughly three weeks after the introduction of quarantine, an alliance of different anti-authoritarian, anarchist and autonomous initiatives created a decentralized call for sound demonstrations on balconies. Urging people to visibly mark and transform their home space into political territories (such as with banners, slogans etc), it was an attempt to break the cycle of re-patriarchalisation. To radicalize traditional patriarchic spaces in which we live, whilst creating a tool for neighborhoods to connect in a common, yet safe action. Meanwhile, people were also finding creative ways of expression on the streets. While the state prohibited collective gatherings in public space (limited to only people you live with, even merely for recreation), people from all walks of life were discovering ways in which they could do solo political actions. Walls in the city center were densely covered by political graffiti, people were filming themselves jogging with political banners, and the square in the front of the parliament became plastered with black crosses, thus marking the 1.5 meter social distance that would still allow protesting, while people set up pictures of their feet in front of the parliament in a similar fashion. On April 24, a week before May Day, the anti-authoritarian initiative that had at that point been doing sound demonstrations on balconies for almost a month, called for the first bicycle demonstration in the city center. Bicycles were chosen because they allowed social distancing as well as social solidarity against the virus for those who needed it, all while allowing the presence of a collective body in dissent. Several hundreds of people joined the call to protest authoritarian policies, militarization, and capitalism, creating one of the biggest protests in the world during the COVID-19 lockdown. This marked the beginning of numerous protests all over the world against authoritarian measurements of states, and against repression of dissent under the pretense of fighting the pandemic, while many parts of the world continued to fail in protecting the people against the spread of the virus. The stage in Slovenia was now set for new things to come. Creative direct action The May Day demonstration on bikes attracted wide support, and self-organized protests gathered close to ten thousand people who completely blocked the city center and around major crossroads with bicycles, creating traffic chaos. Messages were anti-authoritarian, in solidarity with nature, and against militarization and capitalism. Soon afterward, the first assembly in the autonomous cultural center of Metelkova followed, marking the beginning of three mutually supporting blocs – anti-capitalist, cultural, and environmental – that has since initiated action on the streets. Every week the routes of cyclists changed: from Ministry of Culture, to Ministry of Environment; from Parliament to public television; from the main hospital to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Protests were met with unprecedented policing – hundreds of people were either detained or had their information taken for breach of quarantine and are still in process of receiving penalties. Soon, the public discourse and protests themselves became geared toward an anti-police sentiment, addressing both repressions abroad (in front of US Embassy) and at home. It became clear that the battle here was larger than against the mere subduing of one particular protest, but rather, against a government trying to impose new limits of dissent in public spaces. Protesting against the fence around Parliament and against policing therefore became the symbolic point of struggle for free expression of dissent in public space. Looking back at the protests in 2012/13, it is often discussed among activists that part of the demobilization was also caused by the culturalization of protests – considered here is the introduction of creative communication actions that often only served as a spectacle, but were not challenging the existing relations of power. This was one of the arguments about being careful in introducing exclusively creative actions within the movement this time around. One of the strongest moments from this wave of protests, was the coexistence and mutual support between different forms of action, from more militant direct action to more symbolic ones. When Prime Minister and government controlled media attacked the anti-capitalist bloc and antifa as terrorist, other blocs, namely cultural, publicly defended them. It became clear that mutual solidarity creates an environment in which protests are far less controllable. If only limited to militant direct action, they are bound to be subdued by repression, and if only limited to symbolic mass action they are limited to self-neutralization. Together, the combination of both approaches creates a more incisive social unrest and edginess. Friday protests were full of creative actions. From climbing and pushing the fence around the Parliament, to displaying different placards of messages against the government and dropping banners of revolt from bridges. The Ministry of Culture was marked by a banner saying “We refuse to give up art for cultural mess” , that later became the slogan of the cultural bloc’s future protests. Almost all actions were met with heavy police repression, resulting in a spontaneous demonstration in front of the police station, until all protesters were released. Besides smaller and more socio-politically oriented assemblies in autonomous spaces (three so far), experiments with direct democracy also took place in a bigger setting as part of one of the Friday protests. During one of them in July, several thousand protesters gathered to discuss topics which included new alternative political models, health, street action, environment, and culture. Outside of the Friday mass protests, smaller actions and forms of dissent continued through the following months. Environmental actions mostly took place in front of the Ministry of Environment, including sit-ins and protests, as well as the symbolic mass walking that occurred around the river Sava. Journalists protested the new media law, which was supported by other blocs. The Ministry of Culture saw five smaller protests of a few hundred people. These addressed the systemic problems within the current cultural model, which was leaving people in precarious and perilous situations. These were the first continuous large-scale protests in front of the Ministry in the history of independent Slovenia. Actions in front of the Ministry included plastering the outside of the building with all of unanswered memos of cultural organizations during the pandemic to improve the situation of the artists; lying on the street in silence for several minutes; sitting on the chairs in the streets; watching the Ministry’s lack of response at the police violence against artists during the Friday protests; dropping tools of artistic work in front of the building; and reading in front of the ministry, amplifying the dissent of voices. Nearby, the Museum of Contemporary Art also expressed solidarity with activists by showing artwork on the building’s exterior during the protest. Other smaller actions continued throughout the city expressing concern for other pressing issues such as rape, women’s rights, migration, repression, militarization, and notably, antifascism (critically after Neo-Nazis appeared on the streets, though only drawing an extremely small crowd). New terrain of struggle The composition of these protests is extremely diverse, and often conflictual in ideas between themselves. Despite a glaring rejection of political parties on the streets, it is clear that both the opposition and the current governmental parties seek to gain something from the protests, whether it be legitimization for more repressive measurements or support for elections. It would however, be wrong to assume that protests can be reduced to only desiring a change of current government, since a large part of the movement rejects current political and capitalist systems while actively seeking alternative political modes of horizontal self-organization and anti-authoritarianism, combined with a clear anti-fascist positioning against all forms of oppression. The challenge now posing itself to the majority of protesters has become complex. It is clear that we no longer live in times when mobilization lasted for a short period to be followed by long periods of assumed social peace. As the historical compromise with the working class is coming to an end, it is becoming clearer that the states, especially led by right and/or far right political parties, are willing to use violent means of repression to maintain the illusion of the security of a welfare state. As a consequence of new forms of government, and experiences of this year’s mobilization, it is becoming evident that we are looking at new forms of social movements. In them, weeks, months or even years of ongoing social protest will be the enduring form of dissent on the streets. Therefore, the question for the movement that remains is how to maintain the strength, attention and constant mobilization, while avoiding activist burnouts. Of how to create a common space in which a diversity of tactics is possible, and how to keep the struggle open for different forms of expression and topics to be addressed. But importantly, how to maintain unpredictability, within a constant reinvention of what political conflict means. Tjaša Pureber is a political scientist, cultural worker and activist. Previous Next

< Back BOR 28 June 2020 Hu Yun It’s been only a bit over a year since I visited Bor, a Serbian town for the first time. However, the global outbreak of the virus for the past few months has redefined my perception of “time”. Sitting by my desk in the southern hemisphere as I try to write something down about my several short visits to Bor during last year, I feel like I’m describing a trip during which I’ve constantly moved in and out of the same dream. My first visit to Bor was a 2 days trip occurred in February 2019, right after I have learned about several Chinese investments in the Balkans as parts of Belt and Road Initiative [1] . The reason for choosing Bor issimply that I have never been to a mining field, and as a Chinese, I am very curious about the Belt and Road project, which has become one of the hottest topics globally, but at the same time so little information can be traced domestically. Therefore, I chose Bor as a study case, to follow the coming changes of the city and its surrounding area. Throughout the year 2019, I have made another two visits to the place, which I am going to write about in the coming texts, all together making a series of ongoing field notes published by the As you go… journal. Infection (a drawing based on the map of Bor 2020), ink on paper, Hu Yun, 2020 I Public Square Departing from Belgrade, it was a 3.5-hour journey towards the southeast by coach. The road was flat most of the time, and scenery along the way was dull enough to hypnotize people. But before we reached the border of Bor, the coach had to cross over several mountains, which shook up the few passengers on board. My companion, K, is a Belgrade-based curator who is from Bor. As it wasn’t completely dark when we got off the coach, K took me to a mining pit nearby. It was the first open-air copper mine extracted on a large scale in Bor at the beginning of the 20th century [2] . As mine extraction gradually expanded towards surrounding areas and went underground, the pit is no longer in use, and has been gradually backfilled by tailings from surrounding mining areas. Adjacent to the south side of the pit, there were arrays of houses, most of which were built while the mine was first extracted. The houses, together with whole mining area, as well as the town of Bor that took shape afterwards, were all planned and constructed by a French mining company back in 1904. The matchmaker who facilitated all these to happen was George Weifert [3] , whose portrait is on the banknote of 1,000 Serbian dinars (and the main road connecting the mining area and the downtown is also named after him). The term of the lease signed with the French lasted 99 years. Known as “Tilva Roš” (In Vlachian [4] it means The Red Hill ) by the locals, the area was home to red hills rich in minerals, which could still be seen in colour photos taken in the 1940s. However, after one hundred years of extraction, not only were the red hills removed but also a negative form of the hills was created out of thin air. The city of Bor, taking the mining area as a starting point, gradually expands southwards. K took me for a walk through the abandoned houses around the pit, so deftly as if she had a map of the place in mind. Looking around, there was no fence whatsoever around the vast pit. As long as you are bold enough, you can do as Stefan did at the beginning of the movie Tilva Roš [ 5] : to ride a skateboard all the way down to the bottom of the pit. K told me anyone who was born and raised in Bor, more or less would have some memory related to the pit. The north side of the pit was close to RTB mining area and there was even a sightseeing platform there. K didn’t quite remember in which year it was built. But the location used to be a major “gathering point”. Especially in summer, as long as there was no wind (sandstones blown up by the wind around the pit were formidable), people liked to go there to have some fun. Seen from the platform, the man-made landscape was indeed spectacular under the setting sun. What laid in between me and the town on the other side was the vast pit, or say, void. Whether scenes of the performing band at the abandoned house around the pit (which remained the same) in Good Luck [6] (Ben Russell, 2017) or those of the workers’ chorus shot beside it (where now the sightseeing platform is located) in Beli Beli Svet [7] (White White World, 2010), the city was always shown as if it was surrounded by a vast black hole, drawing people inside. If every modern city must have a public square, for Bor, that would be the pit – the void that connects everyone who lives here. Smoke The next day K’s father took the role of a guide. He worked at the cable factory (like almost all the other factories in the city, the cable factory was affiliated to RTB Group [8] , which after being taken over by Zijin Mining Group [9] was temporarily shut down, waiting for further arrangements from Zijin [10] ). And he was also a hunter. He tried to explain to me how things went on in the factory, and even brought me there. However, “hunter” seemed to me a more suitable description of him after the short time we spent together. Standing at a commanding height of the city early in the morning, one could take an overview over the entire Zeleni Bulevar (which is one of the few main streets running through north and south). The pit was still an overwhelming presence in the background. But what shocked me more this time was the massive clouds of white smoke that appeared from different parts of the city from time to time. “The mining areas run 24/7 and become the clock for Bor. No matter where you are, you’d hear the bell indicating (day/night) shifting of duty of the miners. As to these chimneys, the processing of ores [11] could be roughly deduced from the gases emitted from them at different locations. The whole process is quite a routine. On windy days, you can tell time by the smell of smoke without even looking up.” While he was talking, the hunter pointed to the different chimneys to explain to me the smelting process of copper. [12] He seemed extremely calm during the whole conversation. It was me, a visitor from one of the most polluted countries, who secretly regretted that I hadn’t brought a N95 mask [13] with me. I learned from Deana Jovanović’s article that “ Borski dim ” (Bor’s smoke) was a specialty of Bor [14] . Local friends of hers suggested that “one should light a cigarette to ‘wash off the lungs’ with the cigarette smoke, which she usually did if she encountered the smoke in the streets.” Like K’s family, all those who live in Bor have some kind connection with the mining area. RTB and its peripheral industries function as the only source of livelihood for most people there. Hence, the implications of “smog” [15] to this place are more complicated. Environmental issues have emerged in people’s conversations more frequently than before. But when Bor was initially established, and even today, “smog” remains an intuitive image of production / life ongoing. Forest The hunter suggested bringing me to take a look at the Bor River. Along the way we passed by the house of K’s grandma, which was located at a serene village no different from other Serbian villages I have visited, with a church in the center, surrounded by a school, a post and a Chinese cheap goods store. A brook beside the church merged into the Bor River not far away. We parked by the brook, and the hunter brought out a thermo jug from the trunk, pouring me a cup of herbal tea he brewed in the morning. It was high noon with the warm sunshine of early spring, the fragrance of the hot tea effectively drove my doziness away. Walking alongside the brook, apart from the herbal fragrance, I also smelt bursts of unnatural sourness. I took a closer look: a weird touch of peacock blue could be perceived from within the gurgling brook. As we approached the Bor River, we witnessed more unusual scenes. The hunter took me to a mire, where used to be his “pond” to catch wild ducks. There was indeed a pool of water here, but in unusually gorgeous color. By the side of it there were several branches continuously merging into the pond, which were in bright orange color. The middle part of the pond was in pure royal blue. And there were a few barren slopes nearby. It’s one of the disposal points of the tailings. As I’d guessed, it appeared in many sci-fi movies in the past few years. No single filter effect in my phone could create such a gorgeous palette. Appearing side by side with these “spectacles” were farmlands and village houses. We kept walking southward, and climbed up a hill. At this point, we were far far away from the pit at the north. The forests around were the hunting area for K’s father. Since about twenty years ago, mining and exploration companies from Canada and the Netherlands came to detect the area, certainly not only for copper. “They found several points of extraction in the forests, for gold.” The hunter pointed into the distance and said. Is this why Zijin took over RTB Mining Group? Will they further expand the extraction area in Bor? Will the forests disappear? Perhaps it was because of the heavy wind on top of the hill, neither of us talked anymore. (written by Hu Yun and translated by Wu Chenyun) Click to read Chinese version Hu Yun is an artist based in Melbourne. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bor,_Serbia [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90or%C4%91e_Vajfert [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlachs [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilva_ Roš [6] https://www.documenta14.de/en/artists/8548/ben-russell [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_White_World [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zijin_Bor_Copper [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zijin_Mining [10] The final agreement was signed in December 2018 [11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ore#:~:text=Ore%20is%20natural%20rock%20or,the%20valuable%20metals%20or%20minerals.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ore#:~:text=Ore%20is%20natural%20rock%20or,the%20valuable%20metals%20or%20minerals . [12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smelting [13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N95_mask [14] Deana Jovanović (2016) Prosperous Pollutants: Bargaining with Risks and Forging Hopes in an Industrial Town in Eastern Serbia, Ethnos, 83:3, 489-504, DOI: 10.1080/00141844.2016.1169205 [15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smog Previous Next

< Back As you go... Journal Special Issue April 2021 10 Apr 2021 Biljana Ciric Throughout the first year of inquiry, As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future , most of the research has dealt with human-made changes and how this has interfered with the local life of other people. However, there is very little mention of the non-human world, or an acknowledgement of its existence and transformation. For the april edition of our online journal , I asked each researcher and partner cells (if there are many of you in one cell, you must still each individually participate) to contribute two keywords . The first describing one non-human existence which has disappeared from the earth in relation to the changes within their research. The second a non-human existence that has emerged from the new living conditions that have transformed within your respective research. The keyword and its accompanying description could range from one sentence to an entire page, could be sounds of short video, and image. This special feature of journal in march will acknowledge our interdependence in the world that virus reminded us of but also proposition to act and view the world as truly interconnected web knowing that we are just one part of it. It is invitation to become conscious of the world under our feet, making each step lighter, acknowledging the world below. Biljana Ciric Previous Next