In 2016, Arna Mačkić, co-founder of Studio L A, published the book
Mortal Cities & Forgotten Monuments
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. In the book, she reflects on the reconstruction of her ruined familytown Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The city as once a symbol of diversity within Yugoslavia. Now public space and monuments play a role in maintaining the war-era segregation between the different communities: Croats, Serbs and Muslims. Arna Mačkić investigated the iconic Yugoslav monuments of architect Bogdan Bogdanović (1922-2010), that refer to a common origin and utopian future through their abstract forms. The monuments celebrate what people had in common and what connected them to each other. In response to current segregation processes in modern-day Mostar, Arna designed a monument – called
Jump
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that refers to the ancient ritual of diving into the river. The river, and the ritual, belong to a common culture of all groups in the city and thus transcends the current boundaries of surname and religion. The monument consists of a construction of steps on which people can meet and challenge themselves and others in diving. Jump fulfills the connecting role that the Old Bridge of the city, an iconic ancient structure, had before it was destroyed in the war. You can read more about the book
Mortal Cities & Forgotten Monuments
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in the Inclusive Education file.
Dive into the Future
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is a performance by Arna Mačkić in which she enters into a fictional conversation with musician, composer and thinker Sun Ra through her role as an architect. Sun Ra speaks through recordings of his music and speeches. In the dialogue, Arna and Sun Ra talk about the problem of common history-writing that always emphasizes the stories of certain groups at the expense of others. History as we know it is not complete and, according to Sun Ra, that makes it not entirely true. He appropriates this fiction by creating a history of his own in which the black man is part of a cosmological order: larger than the earth, outside the reach of our understanding. Arna brings Sun Ra’s philosophy to the present and wonders if there is a way we can create worthy space for all people on earth.