“Što Te Nema?” (“Why Are You Not Here?” in Bosnian) is a public monument created as a response to Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II: the systematic killing of more than 8, 000 Muslim men and boys in the UN-protected safe area of Srebrenica and the surrounding areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July of 1995. “Što Te Nema?” is collectively assembled and disassembled by people on city plazas and squares once a year. The public participates by placing small, porcelain coffee cups on the ground and filling them with Bosnian coffee prepared on the spot throughout the day. The thousands of small porcelain coffee cups called fildžani have been collected and donated by Bosnian families all over the world. Their number increases each year, roughly corresponding to the growing number of bodies found, identified and buried to date. As a self-perpetuating monument without a permanent physical place (with a nomadic physical site), “Što Te Nema?” consistently depends on the public’s active participation and initiative in order to exist. The involvement and participation that happen through this shared ritual allow for constant re-creation, re-interpretation and reproduction of personal and collective memory of Srebrenica genocide.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 09:35:12 +0000
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