The House in a Forest on a Coast is a total installation composed of elements in various media. Each artwork can be considered independently, yet they all generate one joint experience by being conceptually and visually interconnected. The exhibition consists of two sculptural and one audio element, each occupying the exhibition space in several dimensions. Horizontally, a representation of a house foundation covers the floor, while a large-scale representation of sails on a ship stretches vertically towards the ceiling — amid which a sound piece auditorily unites the two axes by veiling over all the exhibited components and resonating in the space between them.
The house foundation is erected out of methodically positioned debris — destroyed walls, decayed building elements and damaged supporting structures from violent conflicts around the world. According to the artist, this systematic display of debris is a “re-enactment” of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) routine, which often appears as a consequence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Just as the debris convey memories about places that no longer exist in their original form, the clothes convey memories of bodies and persons who were once wearing them. The sails are sewn from clothes that belonged to people who died as victims of violence with political backgrounds — armed conflicts, terrorist attacks and forced migration. The clothes have been donated by the victims’ families, who kept the garments in the process of mourning and remembering their lost relatives. Fragments of testimonies from victims’ families form the audio work, a poetic voiceover assemblage.
Since these elements are not crafted by the artist, the collected authentic objects have a forensic potential to act as evidence of the man-made destruction they represent. Their significance goes beyond purely aesthetic value as artistic material. By destabilising the viewer’s code for looking at art versus cultural artefacts, the artist amplifies the connection between art and real life. The result is an artistic organisation of mnemonic elements from different geographical and historical contexts, which invites the viewer to interpret the exhibition from the transcultural perspective of humankind, rather than from specific national orientations. Čirkinagić encourages recognition across cultural, social and political divisions — his desire is to show the universality of the human experience by focusing on similarities rather than differences among humans.
This empathic feeling of being connected with other human beings is also captured in John Donne’s prose work Meditation XVII: No man is an island (1624), which has served as the artist’s main source of inspiration. Its opening line — “No man is an island / entire of itself” — and the final lines — “Any man’s death diminishes me, / because I am involved in mankind. / And therefore never send to know for whom / the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” — aptly paraphrase the empathy with humankind. Oneness with humanity is thus the key to unlocking The House in a Forest on a Coast.
Download the full exhibition text in Croatian and English (PDF)
See more images of the exhibition
About the Artist
Ismar Čirkinagić was born in 1973 in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He came to Denmark in 1992, following the breakdown of the country and the brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1997 he enrolled at the Copenhagen Art School, and in 2000 was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Most of his artistic practice is thematically related to socio-political themes, produced primarily in the form of conceptual installations consisting of videos, photos, texts and object-based elements. His artworks are held in several Danish public collections.
Exhibition Hours
Wednesday – Friday: 11 am – 7 pm
Saturday – Sunday: 10 am – 6 pm
Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays: closed
Open until August 22, 2021
Support
- Republic of Croatia Ministry of Culture and Media
- Danish Arts Foundation
- Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond
- Gangstedfonden
- Jyllands-Postens Fond
- Novo Nordisk Foundation — The exhibition is part of Tijana Mišković’s PhD project supported by Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Mads Øvlisen PhD Scholarship for Practice-Based Research
Special Thanks
Afghanistan: Guilda Chahverdi, Mohsin Taasha and Jawad Zawulistani from Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization; The Royal Danish Embassy in Afghanistan
Croatia: Udruga Kamensko
Egypt: Embassy of Denmark in Egypt, Khaled Ramadan and Yara Mekawei
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras: Marcela Turati from Quinto Elemento Lab; Analorena Delgadillo, Marisol Méndez, Alicia Moncada Acosta, Glenda Pineda, Eva Ramírez, Cecilia del Carmen Avalos Guillen from La Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho
Israel/Palestine: Parents Circle – Families Forum
Northern Ireland: MAC and Paul ‘Donzo’ Donnelly from Dead Centre Tours
Serbia: Meris Mušanović and Ivana Zanić from Humanitarian Law Center
Syria: Zenia Bredmose Henriksen, Ab Yonus and Hosam Aldeen Ghathwan
Uganda: Ndugwa Hassan from UMYDF
Ukraine: Embassy of Denmark to Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia; Iryna Polikarchuk from ARTSVIT