With “It Takes an Island to Feel This Good,” the Montenegrin artist reconstructs an archive of collective memory, blending painting and sculpture, at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto.
Darja Bajagic (Podgorica, Montenegro, 1990) has been selected to represent Montenegro at the 60th Biennale Arte with the project It Takes an Island to Feel This Good, curated by Ana Simona Zelenovic and organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro on the initiative of commissioner Vladislav Šcepanovic. In line with her research, the artist develops a critical reflection on the culture of collective memory and the relationship with shared historical heritage. The starting point for her visual compositions, blending painting and sculpture, is the in-depth research of archival material, which has allowed Bajagic to reconstruct and now present in the spaces of the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, where the Pavilion is located, the complex history of the Montenegrin island of Mamula.
The Mamula fortress is linked to the idea of the “other” as it was built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, taking its current name from the general who oversaw its construction; converted into a concentration camp by the fascist forces of the Kingdom of Italy under Benito Mussolini during World War II, and revitalized, starting from 2016, with the help of foreign investments. The project raises philosophical questions about the position of the Other, investigating how the determination of this position conditions power relations in society. By using the history and current status of Mamula as content, It Takes an Island to Feel This Good by Bajagic digs deep and courageously tackles complex issues, raising questions such as whether the precondition of evil is, on the one hand, the neglect of history or, on the other hand, its commodification.
