Finally, the hot summer has arrived in our city - so on this occasion I would not insist on some of the most difficult, life-important topics - of which there are countless in this very significant historical moment - and as someone mentioned Svetislav Gavrilovo Popović in the comment below my last text - come on, I said, let's see what our great sufferer is doing these days - and an even greater God-pleaser - who always bravely went out and happened to things, people, events...
So, on the Internet address polimskimuzej.me, it says that the exhibition is entitled "Eternal", that it is dedicated to the centenary of the birth Bogdan Bogdanović (1922 - 2010), "the great of Serbian and Yugoslav architecture", and that it was opened in the "Nikola i Uglješa Popović" gallery in Berane, on July 1 of the current year, as the central event of the Berane Cultural Summer. Mare Janakova Grujić is the author and curator of that exhibition, which premiered in Belgrade on September 21 last year, then traveled across Serbia, up and down - and finally arrived in Montenegro - in Berane. The concrete reason for the exhibition in Berane is "the proclamation of Bogdanović's monument in Jasikovac (on a wooded hill some kilometers from the center of Beran, in the northeast direction - op.a.) for a cultural monument of national importance...". The honor of opening the exhibition with a saying of wisdom went to, you guessed it - St. Gavrov - an uncompromising promoter of lofty thought, a grandmaster of both spoken and written words.
"Today his works continue to live," says Sveto, and "an example of that is the Jasikovac Memorial Complex - Freedom Monument." A fortress from the Ottoman Empire (! - Sacred wants to say - a fort from the period of Ottoman rule - op.a.) on Jasikovačka hill surrounded by forest (comma - op.a.) Bogdan Bogdanović marked the area where the monument measuring about 40/60 meters, closed by the ring of Herzegovina (sic - op.a.) large stone (of stone blocks - op.a.) which follows the topography. The monument springs from the landscape itself and represents an architectural whole with nature and the environment".
To make sure there is no confusion, that ring made of blocks of Herzegovinian stone (... you can hear the echo of footsteps on Herzegovinian stones ...) does not close the monument - but is an integral part of the monument composition on Jasikovac - which, in addition to the mentioned stone ring, also consists of a substantial cup/cone, lined with another type of stone, and a walkway (second ring) around the monument, complete with an access path that starts the walkway. And as for the statement that the monument emerges from the landscape, and that it represents an architectural unit with nature and the environment - that statement is a common place - in the most general sense - and could easily stick, after a thorough proofreading, to each successive monument complex built on the territory of the former, Tito's of Yugoslavia, in the primary function of remembering the famous battles of the NOB and/or the mass suffering of the innocent. And I would not, in the context of the story about the monumental monument sculpture from that period, insist so much on architecture - it would rather be something along the lines of land art, or the so-called landscape art.
"One gets the impression that a floating threshing floor (! - op.a.) - an 18-meter high cup with decorated sand plates - forms an eccentric focus," says Sveto, "on the southernmost edge of the ring. The exterior of the stone ring is surrounded by a wide strip of paved corridor (! - op.a.). This reinforces the significance of the place as hidden, a place of conspiracy and gathering, later as a place of memory and celebration (you see... and I was convinced that the occupier shot Beran patriots in that place - op.a.). A characteristic feature of Bogdan Bogdanović's design process (come on, he says, let's design B. Bogdanović, for all the money - op.a.) is an ambiguous meaning or function of the cone. On the one hand, it is an archaic geometric form of enormous symbolic influence, extreme skill (! - extreme, says Sveto, skills - op.a.) unlike the natural environment (forest), but at the same time it is in formal dialogue and the closest approach to the appearance of conifers."
The closest, says the Holy, approaching...
And now buckle up, we're going to take off: "Earth walls, partially lost and restored by nature, are also to a certain extent artificially restored, improved and gaining importance as an artifact and as a connection with history, come to light. On the stele there are folklore decorations and quotes. A stele is a stone slab of various shapes with decorations and inscriptions of a funerary or memorial nature (A stele is a stone or wooden plate of various shapes with decorations and inscriptions of a funerary or memorial character - says at the address wikipedia.org - op.a.). On these stone tablets with over 10.000 letters of history written, they pay tribute to Montenegrin history and culture (with a clear emphasis on the history of Vasojević, it should be emphasized - op.a.). "
If Sveto had said that Bogdanović erected that cone on Jasikovac in order to immortalize a tragic event from history - when an ice cream cone fell out of a little boy's hand - that would have made some sense - in contrast to these equally funny as well as sad Sveto's follies, i.e. optional excursions into the afterlife. This is how I imagine the traditional gathering of spirits on top of Jasikovac, on December 31, exactly at midnight, around that Bogdanović Christmas tree.
Holy, honey, it would be selfish on my part if I didn't remind you that we also have those 18-meter Bogdanović cones on Dudik - within the Dudik Memorial Park near the city of Vukovar - in combination with mulberries, i.e. mulberries - no conifers - so there is no talk of a formal dialogue and the closest approach to the appearance of conifers. Second, equally important - the associative and interpretive fields of Bogdanović's realized monumental achievements are infinite - and it is not recommended, under any circumstances, to be bound by any interpretations. The cone on Jasikovac (1977) has and has nothing to do with those five cones on Dudik (1980). It is not even advisable to be bound by Bogdanović's interpretations - because in one moment the cones are eternal teeth - in another they are the towers of buried cities - and in the third they are signposts to a bright future.
Again, if Sveto had come with the story of Bogdanović's Christmas tree in Jasikovac to our UDG, to the Faculty of Polytechnics, to the second year, to the module Introduction to CG architecture - which I lead - and not someone else - I would have let him pass. As nonsensical and poorly packaged as Sveto's observations are, they are still charmingly original.
And now I wonder - is there a person in Montenegro who is able to, so to speak, shake out a few dry sentences about Bogdan Bogdanović and his Freedom Monument on Jasikovac?
OK, I'll rephrase the question: is there a person in Montenegro who is capable of digging up some reliable information on the Net in a few days about Bogdan Bogdanović and his Freedom Monument on Jasikovac - and repackaging that information into a few dry sentences?
Of course there is - every student on the Introduction to Montenegro architecture module, in the second year of the Faculty of Polytechnic, at UDG, would do it better than Sveta Gavrovo.
I would ask you a few more questions - but we Mass (our Maša - minister) said a few days ago that I should relax...
Relax, says Masha. You are not, he says, relaxed.
Bonus video:
