Based on classical texts describing the method of memorising using “places and images” (loci et images), this video work proposes a walk through the spaces and corridors of OBJECT D-0, Tito’s bunker in Konjic, Bosnia. The method of placing “effective” mental images representing words and notions inside a gallery of various spaces, to be thus engraved in the memory and later retrieved at wish, is put in the context of the cold war bunker - a decor made for a scenario which never took place - in its historical role, as well as in the present context of turning the bunker into a museum of art.
The walk is lead by an anonymous guide, who explains the method and demonstrates it, as he walks through the different spaces and “projects” images onto them. His authority as well as authorship, as the one who creates the images and the memory, are constatly being sabotaged, undermined or put into question by the very images, who rebel against their creator, while they also rival that of the artists.
Mnemonic Gymnastic was commssioned by the Project Biennial of Contemporary Art, Konijc BiH, for it's 3rd edition, curated by Adela Demetja, Margarethe Makevic & Anton Lederer.
It will remain on permanent diplay at the bunker.
The CDA's archives are operating with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund and Artis
