Exhibition: Steine zwischen den Fronten

In the courtyard of the Az W, places of remembrance of the anti-fascist resistance in the former Yugoslavia are brought to life in an augmented reality exhibition and the political, social and historical backgrounds are conveyed artistically.

Under Tito, more than 200 monuments were erected to commemorate the partisan resistance and the crimes of the Second World War. Many of the "stone witnesses" erected between 1950 and 1980 lead a sad existence today. Instrumentalised, forgotten, neglected or destroyed: what once stood for the sense of togetherness of all the inhabitants of the republics and autonomous provinces now bears witness to political and social disunity. Disputes and wars have made the differences in the new nation states visible and contributed to ethnically, nationally and religiously motivated conflicts.

In June 2022, as part of their research on anti-fascist monuments, the curators were in Mostar the day after the politically motivated destruction of Bogdan Bogdanovic's partisan necropolis and involuntarily witnessed the devastation. In the role of observer and with the motivation to bring the monuments to Vienna to reflect on the ambivalent way of dealing with places of remembrance, this project came into being. With over 12,500 works by Bogdan Bogdanovic' - from architectural designs to surrealist fantasies - in the collection of the Az W, his impressive legacy at least can no longer be erased.

The augmented reality exhibition in the courtyard of the Az W, accessible via QR codes, presents multi-channel video installations, two full-size 3D spomeniks, photographs and sound collages.

A project by Melanie Hollaus and Christoph Lammerhuber, in cooperation with MuseumsQuartier Wien and Architekturzentrum Wien.

Based on an idea by Melanie Hollaus and Elena Messner
Videos: Melanie Hollaus, Christoph Lammerhuber
Speakers: Tamara Mijatović, Sanjin Sović
Translations of short films: Oliver Steininger, Tamara Mijatović, Sanjin Sović
Music/ sound design: Daniel Riegler
3D objects: Mitrovica, Podgarić - Sebastian Konzett
Photographs and 360° recording: Günter Richard Wett
Exhibition design: pool Architektur ZT GmbH
Programming: SystemKollektiv - Litto / Daniela Weiss, Jascha Ehrenreich