58 arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 Neznosna lahkost depolitizacije* / The Unbearable Lightness of Depoliticisation* Sonja Leboš Spomeniki narodnoosvobodilnemu boju in žrtvam fa- šističnega in nacističnega terorja, nastali na območju socialistične Jugoslavije, so že celo desetletje tarča sistematične resemantizacije in resemiotizacije. Vide- ti je, da se je vse to začelo s knjigo Spomenik Jana Kempenaersa, ki jo je leta 2010 izdala amsterdamska založba Roma Publications v sodelovanju z Umetniško akademijo v Gentu. Trdo vezana publikacija s 26 foto- grafijami spomenikov iz vseh šestih nekdanjih sociali- stičnih republik Jugoslavije: Bosne in Hercegovine, Črne gore, Hrvaške, Makedonije, Slovenije in Srbije, se ni le odlično prodajala, objavljene fotografije so obkrožile svet tudi v obliki razstav. V recenziji Kempe- naersove razstave o jugoslovanskih spomenikih v mu- zeju Fowler na eni od najprestižnejših univerz na sve- tu, Kalifornijski univerzi v Los Angelesu, avtorica na primer zapiše: »Kempenaers, ki deluje v Gentu, je iz- šolan fotograf z doktoratom iz vizualnih umetnosti, ki ga je pridobil leta 2011. Zanimata ga urbana in krajin- ska fotografija, v zadnjem času pa tudi abstraktni fo- tografski projekti. Kempenaers spomenikov ne obrav- nava le zaradi njihove družbene vrednosti oziroma kot del nacionalne zakladnice spominov, ampak zaradi njihove estetike in izredne vizualnosti. Fotografije, ki izhajajo iz tega procesa, so umetniško vpadljive in, morda nenamerno, tudi dokumentarne.« Tovrstni komentarji1 za angloameriško recepcijo kul- ture socialistične Jugoslavije niso neznačilni. Angloa- meriški znanstveniki jo pogosto prištevajo v varšavski blok, kar kaže oz. dokazuje, da niti najprestižnejše in- stitucije in ugledne univerze Ivy League niso imune na površnost in potvarjanje. Kempenaersa v resnici ni nikoli zanimala komemorativna etika (in s tem esteti- ka) jugoslovanskih spomenikov: čeprav pozna kon- tekst in avtorje, le bežno omenja lokacije spomenikov in jih označuje s številkami. S tem, da naj bi izhajali s sfere umetnosti in neobstoječe kategorije umetniške apolitičnosti (tu se vedno spomnim definicije s prve strani srednješolskega učbenika marksizma, da je člo- vek politično bitje, aristotelovski zoon politikon, filo- zofske dediščine, brez katere ni demokracije), Kempe- naers uspešno zajaha brutalni val desemantizacije, desemiotizacije in v končni fazi depolitizacije jugoslo- vanskih spomenikov ter jih zvede na pojem pitore- sknega, slikovitega, živopisnega (gre za sopomenke, For an entire decade, monuments to the People's Lib- eration Struggle and the victims of fascist and Nazi terror produced in the territory of socialist Yugosla- via have been the target of systematic resemantisa- tion and resemiotisation. It appears that it all began with the book Spomenik by Jan Kempenaers, pub- lished in 2010 by Roma Publication of Amsterdam in collaboration with Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. The hardback publication featuring 26 photographs of monuments from all six former socialist republics - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Serbia - was not only a best seller: the photographs toured the world also as exhibitions. In a review of Kempenaers's exhibition on Yugoslav monuments in Fowler Museum on the campus of one of the most prestigious universities in the world, University of California in Los Angeles, the author wrote: "Ghent-based Kempenaers was trained in photography and completed a PhD in visual arts in 2011. Interested in urban and landscape photogra- phy, but also more recently in abstract photographic projects, Kempenaers approaches spomeniks not en- tirely for their social value or national cache of memo- ries but rather for their aesthetics and striking visual- ity. The resulting photographs are artistically striking and, although perhaps unintentionally, documentary as well." Such commentary1 is not out of the ordinary for the Anglo-American reception of the culture of socialist Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia is often considered by Anglo- American scientists as part of the Warsaw Bloc, which shows that even the most prestigious and rep- utable Ivy League universities are not immune to negligence and falsification. Kempenaers was in real- ity never interested in the commemorative ethics (and thus aesthetics) of Yugoslav monuments: though familiar with the context and the authors, he only refers to the monuments' locations in passing and marks them with numbers. By allegedly hailing from the art realm and the non-existing category of artistic apoliticality (on such occasions, I always think back to the definition found on page 1 of the second- ary-school Marxism textbook saying that people are political beings, the Aristotelian zoon politikon, the philosophical heritage which is the prerequisite for »Preteklost ni več to, kar je nekoč bila. Danes je kulturna, in ne časovna kategorija.« "The past is no longer what it used to be. Today, it is a cultural and not a temporal category." Boris Buden 1 2 Skupno. Posebno. Posamično. / Shared. Particular. Individual. * Članek je bil prvotno objavljen na portalu Vizkultura.hr. Nastal je v okviru projekta Vizkulturiranje društva, 2019 (Vizkulturiranje družbe, 2019), ki ga sofinancira Fond za poticanje pluralizma i raznovrsnosti elektroničkih medija Agencije za elektroničke medije (Fond za spodbujanje pluralizma in raznolikosti elektron- skih medijev Agencije za elektronske medije). * The article was originally published on portal Vizkultura.hr. It was written as part of project Vizkulturiranje društva, 2019 ("Visual Culturing of the Society, 2019"), which is co-funded by the Fund for the Promotion of Pluralism and Diversity of Elec- tronic Media of the Agency for Electronic Media. 59arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 Sonja Leboš Sl. 1: Naslovnica knjige Spomeniks Jonathana Jimeneza Sl. 2: Izsek iz reklamne kampanje za sončna očala Valley Eyewear. Vir: balkaninsight.com. Sl. 3, 4: Jonathan Jimenez: Spomeniks. Vir: amazon.com. Fig. 1: Title page of the book Spomeniks by Jonathan Jimenez. Fig. 2: Excerpt from the Valley Eyewear sunglasses campaign. Source: balkaninsight.com Figs. 3, 4: Jonathan Jimenez: “Spomeniks”. Source: amazon.com pri katerih pa moramo razmisliti o skupni semantični teži oziroma neznosni lahkosti tega pojma). Kot trdi sam Kempenaers, so njegove raziskave, v letih 2006–2009 izpeljane na območju nekdanje Jugoslavi- je, v veliki meri prispevale k njegovemu doktoratu, za katerega trdi, da temelji na »(...) povezovanju drugih del s kriteriji slikovitega. Najprej sem izbral določeno število bistvenih fotografov, ki so se skozi zgodovino ukvarjali z naravo in krajino. Na podlagi knjig pionirjev, na primer Williama Gilpina, sem skušal ugotoviti, kate- ri od kriterijev se na značilen način prenašajo v vizual- no, na primer v slikarstvo. Končno sem isti pristop upo- rabil pri lastnem delu.«2 Res me preseneča avtorjeva naivnost; bolj jasna postane, če se vprašamo, kdo je William Gilpin. William Gilpin3 je bil anglikanski duhov- nik, umetnik in izobraževalec, ki je ustvaril pojem pic- turesque (slikovit, živopisen). Čeprav je bil nedvomno zanimiva osebnost, med drugim tudi zato, ker je zago- varjal ukinitev telesnega kaznovanja v izobraževalnem sistemu (kar je bilo v Veliki Britaniji še do nedavnega nedosegljiv ideal), pa ostaja pomislek, ali je z naslanja- njem na tega enega in edinega avtorja mogoče napisa- ti kakorkoli resen doktorat iz sodobne vizualne ume- tnosti. S tem namreč problem naivnosti ni več naiven in ni več individualen, torej ni problem Kempenaerso- vega diskurza, ampak postane institucionalen, torej problem institucije, na kateri je mogoče doktorirati z izključnim in nekritičnim sklicevanjem na pojem sliko- vitega, kot si ga je zamislil neki anglikanski duhovnik v začetku 19. stoletja. Zgornja, pogosto površna recepcija kulture na splo- šno in kulture prostora socialistične Jugoslavije se je verjetno do neke mere izboljšala z nedavno razstavo v MoMI,4 val, na katerem jaha Kempenaers, pa osta- ja močan. Tako je bila lansko leto objavljena še ena knjiga, ki sledi uspešnemu receptu depolitizacije; ta v naslovu uporabi nenavadno skovanko »spome- niks« (ki je v širšo rabo prešla iz spremne besede z naslovom Spomeniks: The Monuments of Former Yugoslavia. Introduction to the work of Jan Kempe- naers, ki jo je za Kempenaersovo knjigo napisal Wil- lem Jan Neutelings). Gre za delo Jonathana Jimene- za (založnik: Carpet Bombing Culture (!)) z naslovom, jasno, Spomeniks,5 ki povsem sledi komercialni Kem- penaersovi uspešnici, saj gre spet za trdo vezano knjigo fotografij slikovitih spomenikov socialistične Jugoslavije na 200 straneh. Vladimir Kulić v svojem prispevku Orientalizacija so- cializma: arhitektura, mediji in reprezentacije vzho- dne Evrope (Orientalizing Socialism: Architecture, Media, and the Representations of Eastern Europe)6 govori o orientalizmu tovrstnih postopkov, pojmu, s katerim je Edward Said dekonstruiral (post)koloniali- stične prakse, pri čemer pa Kulić izpostavlja veliko democracy), Kempenaers successfully rides the bru- tal wave of desemantisation, desemiotisation, and ultimately depoliticisation of Yugoslav monuments, which he reduces to the notion of picturesque, sce- nic, colourful (these synonyms compel us to consider the combined semantic weight, or rather the unbear- able lightness, of this notion). Kempenaers himself claims that his research, con- ducted between 2006 and 2009 in the territory of ex-Yugoslavia, significantly contributed to his PhD thesis, which he claims is based on "linking other works to certain criteria of the picturesque. First I se- lected a number of crucial photographers through- out history who were concerned with nature and landscape. On the basis of books by pioneer William Gilpin, I then tried to determine which of those crite- ria were typically conveyed in images like paintings. Afterwards I applied this approach to my own work".2 I'm truly puzzled by the author's naive atti- tude, which is made clearer if we ask ourselves who William Gilpin is. William Gilpin3 is an Anglican priest, artist, and educator, who invented the notion of picturesque. Though certainly an interesting fig- ure, not least because he advocated the abolishment of corporal punishment from the school system (an unattainable ideal for Great Britain until recently), there is still the matter of whether it is possible to write a serious PhD thesis on contemporary visual art based on one and only author. In doing that, the problem of naiveté is no longer naive and no longer individual, i.e. the problem of Kempenaers's dis- course, but it instead becomes institutional, i.e. the problem of the institution from which it is possible to earn a PhD by exclusively and uncritically referring to the notion of the picturesque as defined by an Angli- can priest in the early 18th century. The often superficial reception of culture in general and the culture of the space of socialist Yugoslavia, as above, probably saw a degree of improvement with the recent exhibition in MoMA,4 yet the wave being ridden by Kempenaers continues to stay strong. Last year thus saw the publishing of another book which follows the successful recipe of depoliticisation and uses in its title the peculiar coinage "spomeniks" (which entered wider use via the foreword entitled Spomeniks: The Monuments of Former Yugoslavia. Introduction to the work of Jan Kempenaers, written for Kempenaers's book by Willem Jan Neutelings). The work by Jonathan Jimenez published by Carpet Bombing Culture (!) entitled, obviously, Spomeniks,5 follows closely in the footsteps of Kempenaers's best seller as it is another hardback with 200 pages of pho- tographs of picturesque monuments from socialist Yugoslavia. 1 https://www.academia.edu/7609419/Review_Jan_Kempen- aers_Spomeniks_at_UCLA_Fowler 2 Celoten intervju je dostopen na povezavi https://www.urba- nautica.com/interview/jan-kempenaers-modern-ruins/209. 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gilpin_(priest) 4 O njej sem več pisala tukaj: https://vizkultura.hr/fokalne-tocke- jugoslavenske-arhitekture/. 5 https://www.amazon.com/Spomeniks-Jonathan-Jimenez/ dp/1908211687 6 https://journal.eahn.org/articles/10.5334/ah.273/ 1 https://www.academia.edu/7609419/Review_Jan_Kempen- aers_Spomeniks_at_UCLA_Fowler 2 The entire interview is available here: https://www.urbanauti- ca.com/interview/jan-kempenaers-modern-ruins/209. 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gilpin_(priest) 4 I discussed it here: https://vizkultura.hr/fokalne-tocke-jugo- slavenske-arhitekture/. 5 https://www.amazon.com/Spomeniks-Jonathan-Jimenez/ dp/1908211687 3 4 60 arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 razliko: »drugost je tokrat bolj ideološke kot kulturo- loške ali rasne narave«. Ravno ta ideološka naravna- nost konstruiranja čudnosti socialističnega Drugega (v tem primeru socialistične Jugoslavije) je ključna značilnost vsake posledične komercializacije jugo- slovanskih spomenikov. Med nedavne spada rekla- mna kampanja avstralske blagovne znamke sončnih očal Valley Eyewear, v kateri se kot ozadje (sic!) poja- vi cvet Bogdana Bogdanovića iz Jasenovca. Sprožila je plaz zgražanja na družbenih omrežjih (o čemer je pisal tudi BBC).7 Marketinški strokovnjaki Valley Eyeweara trdijo, da so jasenovski cvet preprosto po- mešali z »zapuščenim sedežem komunistične partije v Bolgariji, znanim kot 'Buzludža'«.8 Prav tako je kolektiv Secret Mapping Experiment9 vi- zualno mapiral spomenik Dušana Džamonje vstaji ljudstva Moslavine v Podgariću (spomenik je bil leta 2014 celo na CNN-ovem seznamu najgrših spomeni- kov na svetu!), ki je tako doživel svojevrstno »polep- šanje«. Akcijo so na družbenih omrežjih mnogi poz- dravljali, nisem pa prepričana, kakšni bi bili odzivi, če bi na podoben način, s »poskusom skrivnega mapi- ranja«, projicirali peterokrake zvezde na indijanske toteme ali na skulpture z Velikonočnih otokov. Obstaja tudi spletna prodajalna (za zdaj le za kupce iz ZDA) z imenom Yunicorns.10 Takole pravijo: »Yuni- corns je zgodba o ogromnih betonskih oblikah, ki so jih nekoč davno ustvarili v državi, ki ne obstaja, Jugo- slaviji. Te fantazijske stvore najdemo po gozdovih in gorah po vseh nekdanjih jugoslovanskih pokrajinah.« Takšna pravljično-mitološka konstrukcija je primer ul- timativne depolitizacije socialistične Jugoslavije: nek- danje republike postanejo »pokrajine« (provincije), spomeniki pa so fantazijski stvori. Šele v tretjem stav- ku se avtorji približajo resnici: »Pravzaprav govorimo o spomenikih, ki so bili po drugi svetovni vojni po vsej Jugoslaviji zgrajeni v čast tistih, ki so dali svoja življe- nja za svobodo naroda. Avtorji teh spomenikov so ne- kateri najbolj znani jugoslovanski umetniki in arhitekti tistega časa.« V resnici so ljudje padli za lastno svobo- do in za svobodo svojih bližnjih ter za idejo boljše in pravičnejše družbe, ne pa za »svobodo naroda«. Tako – bližje mitu kot resnici – spletna prodajalna Yuni- corns prodaja, kot trdijo, »ekstrakte lepote jugoslo- vanskih spomenikov« v obliki majic, miniaturic spo- menikov in podobnega. Težava ni v merchandizingu, podobno so delali že v času Jugoslavije, tiskali so raz- glednice, izdelovali značke in še kaj, in vse to se je pro- dajalo; najslabše je ime spletne trgovine, ki kakor da pripoveduje, da je Jugoslavija enako neresnična kot samorogi. V svojem članku Posebni primer spomeni- kov – monumentalne komemorativne skulpture v nek- danji Jugoslaviji med nevidnostjo in popularnostjo (The Peculiar Case of Spomeniks – Monumental Com- memorative Sculpture in Former Yugoslavia Between Invisibility and Popularity)11 dr. Sanja Horvatinčić na- vaja seznam najpogosteje uporabljenih izrazov, ki iz- kušnjo spomenikov, s tem pa tudi izkušnjo socialistič- ne Jugoslavije, z označevalci, kot so fascinantno, zapu- ščeno, futuristično, retrofuturistično, srhljivo, čudovi- to, skrivnostno, nadrealno, teatralno, monumental- no, posebno, izrazito, vsiljivo, presunljivo, vesoljsko, kot svetniški sij (»fascinating«, »abandoned«, »futuri- stic«, »retrofuturistic«, »eerie«, »amazing«, »myste- rious«, »surreal«, »theatrical«, »monumental«, »pe- culiar«, »striking«, »imposing«, »haunting«, »space- In his article "Orientalizing Socialism: Architecture, Media, and the Representations of Eastern Europe",6 Vladimir Kulić discusses the orientalism of such pro- cesses. Orientalism is a term used by Edward Said to deconstruct (post)colonial practices; however, Kulić points out a major difference: "otherness is now more ideological than cultural or racial". It is exactly this ideological predisposition of constructing the strangeness of the socialist Other (in this case social- ist Yugoslavia) that is the key characteristic of each resulting commercialisation of Yugoslav monuments. One of the more recent ones is the ad campaign by Australian sunglasses brand Valley Eyewear, which uses Bogdan Bogdanović's blossom from Jasenovac as its backdrop (sic!). This prompted a wave of out- rage on social media (the story was even picked up by the BBC).7 Valley Eyewear's marketing experts claim that they mistook the Jasenovac blossom for the "abandoned Communist Party headquarters in Bul- garia known as "Buzludzha"." 8 Elsewhere, Secret Mapping Experiment9 collective video-mapped Dušan Džamonja's monument to the uprising of the people of Moslavina in Podgarić (the monument even made CNN's 2014 list of the world's ugliest monuments!), which was in this way subject- ed to peculiar "beautification". The undertaking was met with considerable social-media approval, yet one hesitates to predict the reactions if five-pointed stars were projected onto Native American totems or Easter Island sculptures. There is also a webstore (currently only available to US-based buyers) called Yunicorns.10 The pitch reads: "Yunicorns is a story about giant concrete shapes built once upon a time in the non-existing country of Yugoslavia. These phantasmic creatures can be found in forests, hills and along the countryside of former Yugoslav provinces." Such a fairytale-mytho- logical construction is an example of the ultimate depoliticisation of socialist Yugoslavia: the former republics are turned into "provinces", and the monu- ments become phantasmic creatures. Yunicorns be- gin to approach the truth only in the third sentence: "As a matter of fact, we are talking about monu- ments built in the years following World War II alongside Yugoslavia in glory of all who gave their lives for freedom of the nation. Authors of these me- morials are some of the most renown Yugoslavian artists and architects of the time." In reality, people gave their lives for their own freedom and for the freedom of those dear to them, as well as for the idea of a better and more just society, rather than for the "freedom of the nation". Closer, therefore, to a myth than to the truth, webstore Yunicorns sells, as they claim, "extracts of Yugoslav monuments beau- ty" in the form of T-shirts, miniature sculptures, etc. The problem is not the merchandising, this has a Yugoslav-period precedent with postcards being printed and pins being made alongside other things, and all of it sold. It is the name of the webstore that is the greatest offender, as if to say that Yugoslavia is as unreal as unicorns. In her article "The Peculiar Case of Spomeniks - Monumental Commemorative Sculpture in Former Yugoslavia Between Invisibility and Popularity"11 Dr Sanja Horvatinčić includes a list of the most common expressions which place the ex- perience of the monuments, and by extension the 6 https://journal.eahn.org/articles/10.5334/ah.273/ 7 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44696492 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBHyO76YKYo. 9 https://www.timeout.com/croatia/news/spectacular-pictures- -of-art-intervention-at-croatian-monument-051419?fbclid=Iw AR1YfzhDoW5zmQxpGBd-U3cTgbJ9_nbSR8CHbQfGWt- 851Wvb26j9k8MgZhI 10 https://www.yunicornshop.com. Ime spletne trgovine je sko- vanka iz angleške besede za samoroga (unicorn) in angleške besede za Jugoslavijo (Yugoslavia) (op. prev.). 11 https://www.academia.edu/3362073/The_Peculiar_Case_of_ Spomeniks_-_Monumental_Commemorative_Sculpture_in_ Former_Yugoslavia_Between_Invisibility_and_Popularity Sl. 5, 6: Secret Mapping Experiment. Vir: timeout.com. Sl. 7, 8, 9: Iz ponudbe spletne trgovine Yunicorn. Vir: yunicornshop.com. Figs. 5, 6: Secret Mapping Experiment. Source: timeout.com Figs. 7, 8, 9: A selection of wares from yunicorn webstore. Source: yunicornshop.com 5 6 Skupno. Posebno. Posamično. / Shared. Particular. Individual. 61arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 Sonja Leboš -age«, »Halo-esque«), uvrščajo v sfero čudnega, pre- senetljivega, skrivnostnega, nadrealnega, teatralnega itd., ne pa v sfero zgodovinskih dejstev. Kot poudarja Kulić, se trend depolitizacije kulture spo- menikov socialistične Jugoslavije in socializma ni začel s Kempenaersom. Kulić trdi, da je bil »zeitgeist zrel«, in navaja nekaj naslovov, ki so bili objavljeni približno hkrati s Kempenaersovo knjigo: Socialist Modernism (2011, avtor Roman Bezjak, izšlo pri berlinski založbi Hatje Cantz Verlag), Socialist Architecture: The Vanis- hing Act (2012, avtorja Armin Linke in Srdjan Jovano- vic Weiss, izšlo pri züriški založbi JRP-Ringier) ter For- get Your Past, Communist Era Monuments in Bulgaria (2012, avtor Nikola Mihov, izšlo pri plovdivski založbi Janet-45 Print and Publishing). Govoriti o socialistični arhitekturi skozi optiko »izgu- bljenega«, »zapuščenega« oziroma nečesa »v nasta- janju« sicer ni tako daleč od resnice, če pa se želimo približati zgodovinskim dejstvom, moramo vseeno pogosteje in glasneje poudarjati, da gre za sistematič- no uničevanje: številni spomeniki niso »izgubljeni« ali »zapuščeni«, ampak se jih sistemsko in sistematično uničuje. Začnemo lahko z divjaško uničenim spomeni- kom vstaji slavonskega naroda v Kamenski kiparja Voji- na Bakića, nadaljujemo pa z vsemi ostalimi dragocenimi in ogroženimi spomeniki, med drugim s številnimi deli Bogdanovića in drugih (tudi neimenovanih) avtorjev. Njihova dela so na udaru (ne pozabimo) (ne)uradne po- litike ponarejanja in pohabljanja zgodovine, ki se med drugim izvaja tudi skozi izobraževalni sistem; ta zanam- ce dejansko vzgaja tako, da bodo spomeniško dediščino NOB, pa tudi vse ostale dosežke socializma v najslab- šem primeru še naprej uničevali, v boljšem primeru pa zanemarjali ali »izgubljali«. Strokovna literatura, v kateri je socializem pogosto naveden kot fenomen, ki ga je mogoče pojasnjevati izključno skozi predpono »post«, ni toliko vplivala na uradne tranzicijske politike pozabljanja socialistične preteklosti v danes (domnevno) neodvisnih republi- kah, naslednicah socialistične Jugoslavije, kolikor je k temu pripomogla uradna politika EU o dveh totalita- rizmih. Leta 2008 je skupina konservativnih vzhodno- evropskih politikov (ki so bili v svojih matičnih drža- vah tako kot tudi številni člani HDZ-ja še predvčeraj- šnjim vidni člani komunistične partije, če ne sami, pa njihovi očetje) v češkem parlamentu podpisala pra- ško deklaracijo o evropski zavesti in komunizmu. Podpisniki deklaracije so razglasili, da imajo »milijoni žrtev komunizma in njihove družine pravico do soču- tja, razumevanja in priznanja njihovega trpljenja«. Povsem bi se strinjala z njimi, še posebej zato, ker sem kot dijakinja v Pragi spoznala situacijo na Češko- slovaškem v osemdesetih in željo praških študentov, da bi odvrgli svoj del jarma hladne vojne v obliki Var- šavskega pakta. Toda deklaracija se nadaljuje z bese- dami »na enak način, kot so moralno in politično prepoznane žrtve nacizma« ter z izjavo, da je treba vzpostaviti »vseevropski sporazum (...), da je treba številne zločine v imenu komunizma prevprašati kot zločine proti človeštvu (...), na enak način, kot so na- cistične zločine obravnavali na nürnberškem sodi- šču«. Nikomur pri zdravi pameti (in še manj zavedne- mu) zanikanje zločinov seveda ne bi smelo pasti na pamet. Poleg ustvarjanja pogojev za državljansko vojno z drugimi sredstvi v Evropi pa je izenačevanje nacističnih in komunističnih zločinov dobra krinka za experience of socialist Yugoslavia - using signifiers such as “fascinating”, “abandoned”, “futuristic”, “retrofuturistic”, “eerie”, “amazing”, “mysterious”, “surreal”, “theatrical”, “monumental”, “peculiar”, “striking”, “imposing”, “haunting”, “space-age”, “Halo-esque” - in the realm of the weird, the per- plexing, the mysterious, the surreal, the theatrical, etc., but not in the realm of historical fact. As emphasised by Kulić, the trend of depoliticising the culture of the monuments of socialist Yugosla- via and socialism did not begin with Kempenaers. Kulić claims that the "Zeitgeist was certainly ripe" and references several titles published roughly con- currently with Kempenaers's book: Socialist Mod- ernism (2011, author Roman Bezjak, published by Hatje Cantz, Berlin), Socialist Architecture: The Van- ishing Act (2012, authors Armin Linke in Srdjan Jo- vanovic Weiss, published by JRP-Ringier, Zurich), and Forget Your Past, Communist Era Monuments in Bulgaria (2012, author Nikola Mihov, published by Janet-45 Print and Publishing, Plovdiv). The discourse on socialist architecture through the optics of the "lost", the "neglected", or something "in the making" is not dramatically far from the truth if we want to get closer to historical facts, but it needs to be stressed with increasing frequency and assertion that the issue is systematic destruc- tion: numerous monuments are not "lost" or "ne- glected" but systemically and systematically de- stroyed. We can start with the savagely demol- ished monument to the to the uprising of Slavonian people in Kamenska by sculptor Vojin Bakić, and continue with all the other precious and endan- gered monuments, including many works by Bogdanović, as well as those by all the other au- thors, including unnamed ones. Let us not forget that their works are under siege in the name of (un)official policy of falsification and distortion of history, which is being carried out, among others means, through the educational system that is ac- tually teaching the posterity to - in a worst-case scenario - continue to destroy or, more optimisti- cally, to continue to "neglect" and "lose" the monu- ment heritage of the People's Liberation Struggle, as well as all the other achievements of socialism. Specialised literature, in which socialism is often re- ferred to as a phenomenon only explainable through the prefix "post-", did not affect the official transition policies of forgetting the socialist past in the present-day (nominally) independent republics descended from socialist Yugoslavia as much as the official EU policy of two totalitarianisms did. In 2008, a group of conservative Eastern European politicians (who, like so many members of Croatian Democratic Union, only yesterday still figured - or their fathers did - as prominent members of the Communist Party in their respective states) signed the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism in the Czech parliament. Those undersigned proclaimed that "millions of victims of Communism and their families are entitled to enjoy justice, sympathy, understanding and recognition for their sufferings". I'd go along with that com- pletely, especially because as a secondary-school student in Prague, I'm familiar with the situation in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s and the desire of 7 8 9 62 arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 nadaljnje ropanje virov nekdanjega vzhoda, vključno z državami nekdanje Jugoslavije, ki so sicer vzhodne- mu (oziroma sovjetskemu) bloku v hladni vojni pripa- dale le zelo kratek čas. Naslednice Jugoslavije bi morale bolje poznati svojo zgodovino, razlike med obdobjema Federativne ljud- ske republike Jugoslavije (1945–1963) in Socialistič- ne federativne republike Jugoslavije (1963–1992), pa tudi razlike med državami, ki so bile hočeš nočeš (kot na primer Češkoslovaška, ki so jo leta 1968 do- besedno okupirali s tanki) članice Varšavskega pakta, in državami, ki so zasnovale gibanje neuvrščenih, kot je bila socialistična Jugoslavija. Dokler se kanadsko podjetje pripravlja na fracking (hidravlično drobljenje) na več kot dveh tretjinah ozemlja domnevno svobodne Hrvaške, nemška pod- jetja pa gradijo hidroelektrarne na skoraj vsaki rečici v Bosni in Hercegovini, je vloga dediščine spomeni- kov socialistične Jugoslavije zvedena na eno od oro- dij trgovskega razreda, eno od mnogih za zatiskanje oči, izigravanje ustavne ureditve, opuščanje vseh oblik pravne države in vse druge vsakodnevne »ma- lenkosti«, s katerimi se soočajo državljani vseh nek- danjih republik socialistične Jugoslavije, z manjšimi in večjimi podobnostmi in razlikami. Ustavitev depo- litizacije protifašističnih spomenikov na območju nekdanje Jugoslavije pomeni tudi ustavljanje poho- da fašizma in s tem tudi trgovskega kapitalizma. Toda to ni v interesu trgovskega razreda. Položitev venca na Sutjeski je gesta umirjanja lastne, pa tudi tuje vesti. Nihče ne more imeti čiste vesti v deželi, katere reke in podtalnica so zastrupljene. Te namreč ne poznajo državnih in nacionalnih meja. Spomeniki, kot so Bogdanovićevi ali Džamonjevi, bi v kakem distopičnem scenariju res lahko postali fan- tazmični totemi, kamnite priče, ki bodo preživele ljudi, ki so verjeli, da kri ni voda, pozabili pa so, da brez vode ni (niti njihovega lastnega) življenja. V vsem tem vloga diskurzov o slikovitem in apolitič- nem ni majhna. Pa vseeno so posamezna imena manj zanimiva od močnih institucij, ki ta imena ustvarjajo in jih razglašajo za globalna. Prague students to throw off their share of the shack- les of the Cold War in the shape of the Warsaw Pact. However, the Declaration continues with "in the same way as the victims of Nazism have been morally and politically recognized" and a call for "an all-European understanding [...] that many crimes committed in the name of Communism should be assessed as crimes against humanity [...] in the same way Nazi crimes were assessed by the Nuremberg Tribunal". No conscious (and much less conscientious) person would dream of denying the crimes. However, along with the conditions for a civil war fought by other means in Eu- rope, equating Nazi and communist crimes acts as a perfect smokescreen for further ruthless exploitation of resources from the erstwhile East, including the ex- Yugoslav states, which only belonged to the Eastern (or rather Soviet) Block during the cold war for a very short period of time. Yugoslav successor states should be more aware of their history, of the difference between the era of Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1963) and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1963– 1992), and the difference between states who had no say in belonging to the Warsaw Pact (such as Czechoslovakia, which was literally occupied by tanks in 1968) and states who founded the Non- aligned Movement, such as socialist Yugoslavia. As long as a Canadian company is getting ready to commence fracking on more than two thirds of the territory of the supposedly free Croatia, and German companies are building hydro plants on almost every rivulet in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the role of the monument heritage of socialist Yugoslavia is reduced to one of the tools in the hands of the dealer class, one of the many schemes for turning a blind eye, per- verting the constitutional order, evacuating all forms of the rule of law, and all other everyday "trifling matters" facing the citizens of all former republics of socialist Yugoslavia, with similarities and differences great and small. Putting a stop to the depoliticisation of antifascist monuments in the territory of ex-Yugo- slavia also means throwing a spanner in the works of the strident fascism and, by corollary, of dealer capi- talism. But this is not in the interest of the dealer class. Laying one wreath on the Sutjeska is a gesture of pacifying one's own, but also others' conscious- ness. No one will have a clear conscience on the land whose rivers and groundwater are poisoned, for they do not recognise state and national borders. In a dystopian scenario, monuments such as those by Bogdanović or Džamonja could really become phantasmic totems, stone witnesses that would out- live people who believed that blood is thicker than water but forgot that without water, there is no life (not even their own). In all of this, the role of discourses and the apolitical is not minor. Still, individual names are less interest- ing than strong institutions which create these names and establish them as global. Sl. 10: Spomenik vstaji ljudstva Banije in Korduna avtorja Vojina Bakića na Petrovi gori. Foto: Valentin Jeck za muzej MoMA. Fig. 10: Monument to the uprising of the people of Banija and Kordun on Petrova gora by Vojin Bakić. Photo: Valentin Jeck for Museum MoMA. 10 Skupno. Posebno. Posamično. / Shared. Particular. Individual.