...being a nominal opposition is not the same as being an alternative to a bad government. It's that dead end I've written about many times, where whatever you do and wherever you go, you do it wrong and go in the wrong direction.
Svetislav Basara (Famous/ Before Silence)
The recent upheavals on the domestic political scene throw me into a frenzy. It goes without saying, I guess, that I did not show favor to either of the two opposing sides in the Budva call-and-talks. My, mostly humble opinion, would be that both sides are wrong - which does not mean that I am indifferent to the dramatic outcome - quite the opposite - and this very fact worries me.
And as for the pure virgin of Architecture - I wouldn't wake her up today. Let her have her beauty sleep.
We came, therefore, with laughter and jokes - to the latter text in the first half of the leap year 2020. In that name, it is my intention to at least mention some of the stories that I did deal with during the last six months - but which I did not pack - which means that they did not appear in this holy place - on the ninth page of ART News.
Some of these stories are historical mini-studies, i.e. laments over bygone times. Like the story of Podgorica markets - from Ottoman times to the present day. Or the stories about the "Romanija" building in Budva - in Budvanska polje, more precisely - which figures as one of the key points of my earliest ideas about the happenings in the space, regardless of the fact that that building no longer exists - it was demolished after the earthquake that hit Montenegro in 1979. It could easily happen that some of those historical stories will be published - sometime in the fall, say, after the elections, if passions subside - but don't take my word for it.
Others are related to a very specific moment - such as the story about the competitions for the Croatian and Serbian exhibition at the upcoming XVII Biennale of Architecture in Venice - strictly in the atmosphere of the process that preceded the selection of the curator and the announcement of the competition for the Montenegrin exhibition.
That story will hardly ever see the light of day - except, possibly, in segments - in the footnotes of some future stories about Montenegro's presence at architecture biennials.
Some stories hit me so hard - I just wasn't able to wrap them up. The subject of one of those stories - the most painful - is the massacre of the House of Revolution in Nikšić - carried out by Adžo (Nebojša Adžić) - on his own. I planned to add to the story about the mortification and a thorough review of Adžo's overall actions in this matter - ever since the CG installation at the XIV Architecture Biennale in Venice, back in 2014 (Viki-Viki-Violeta) - through the shameful Competition for the conceptual architectural solution of the adaptation and the reconstruction of the House of Revolution from 2015, i.e. 2016 (Viki-Viki-Violeta) and the beginning of the reconstruction work in March 2018 (Pavle Radulović) - until today's sunny days - but, as I said, I did not manage to complete that story . I don't even want to see the mangled corpse of the House of Revolution.
I wrote some stories exclusively for my soul - such as the story of the controversial Mora's (Eduardo Souto de Moura) if-God-willing house in Zagreb, in Preradoviceja street, number 11 - which stirred spirits on the Croatian architectural scene - to such an extent that for about ten days, maybe even a couple of weeks, only that house was talked about. Those stories are mine - and I don't give them to anyone. I don't even give stories that are based on serious research - because it can easily happen that characters who do not adhere to ethical standards - like Vanja copy & paste Kovačević, a paradigm of Montenegrin cultural worker from the end of the XNUMXth and beginning of the XNUMXst century - reach for the sweet fruits of my research work and my inspiration as a writer - without mentioning, that is, elevating my honorable name to the stars - which is certainly unforgivable.
All in all - in the first half of 2020, I gave birth - in addition to 24 published stories - exactly 23 unfinished stories - of which about twenty will be attached to unfinished stories from previous years - which there are, in total... You wouldn't believe how many there are.
When I already mentioned dear Vanjica - I remembered that I have - not related to the file in which unfinished stories are stored - a story in three parts, the reason for which was my bizarre meeting with Vanjica a couple of years ago, in the premises of the KOD Organization, at the old address (Bulevar Ivana Crnojevića) - on which occasion it turned out that Vanjica is in no way able to control negative impulses and emotions, triggered by the fact that he did not hesitate to pick a few of my passages - and shamelessly present those passages as his own in an absolutely irrelevant and long-forgotten documentary film - and that I resented him for that - publicly, with every right.
In the first of those three texts, I deal with the historical connotations of the aforementioned meeting, in order to devote myself in the second to the analysis, or more precisely - to the merciless dissection of several of Vanjica's more recent TV programs - and all for the purpose of demystifying his very recognizable approach to the form of TV programs from the field of culture - the approach which, metaphorically, could be reduced to a romantic walk through a flowery meadow - who knows whose - and picking a meadow candle - who knows which one. The third text is the crown of the series. In that text, I masterfully reduce the story to the conclusion that in the public space we should never behave like Vanjica - and that KOD, if it adheres to some standards - which it obviously does not - should not have anything to do with Vanjica - a plagiarist par excellence. OK, if you're interested in that happy story about Vanjica's ethical lapses - just give me a wink (wink-wink).
***
And as for the recent, unpleasant scenes in Budva and throughout Montenegro - I am looking at David's (Jacques-Louis David) sketch for the painting "Vow on the tennis court" (Le Serment du Jeu de paume - the painting is not finished, and the sketch was most likely created in 1791. year) - and I am troubled by the following question: in which Budva closed space would that historical meeting be organized - at which something would be proclaimed/voted - a declaration, a vow - that would precede the (eventual) dazzling street victory of supernatural splendor - that is, the defense principles of ethics and democratic integrity - whatever that means.
I will remind you, in case you have forgotten, that the Oath on the Tennis Court (June 20, 1789) was the key event that preceded what would later be called the French (bourgeois) Revolution - which is to say that things got out of hand just after that Oath - but I wouldn't go into details on this occasion.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to dedicate myself entirely to writing an article for the catalog of the Montenegrin exhibition at the upcoming XVII Architecture Biennale in Venice. That story, related to transactive memory, i.e. transactive perception - in the meantime I took it very seriously - but more sweet words about that next Saturday.
Bonus video:
