Duration of the production of the artwork: 10 days                                                                                                                                                    reference to the text ↓

The invitation to our guests: Suncica Foundation, the foundation for the women raped in the Croatian War of Independence,  to the threatened workers of Jadrankamen, Brodosplit, Adriakem, Visocani, Dalmastroj and the very organization of Ivona's performance was conducted by POWERPROGRESSIVEART. The other guests were MC Streetrunners who also contributed as their public work is involved in charity work for uninhabited children and disabled children.

Ivona managed to display this artwork at INSEA in Australia in 2013.

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In the following text, you may read dr. sc. Enes Quien's text published at Kontura magazine (No.118, 2012) titled Raising the Awareness about the Heritage:

"The intention of the (POWERPROGRESSIVEART) Association is to make people aware of the importance of the (monumental) cultural and natural heritage and the creation of a platform for the creating of a certain form of “intellectual tourism" through workshops and lectures. In that context, it is not fortuitously that the colony of the association's members is occurring in Solin, more precisely, some authors are creating at the remains of the late antique and early Christian Salona, Manastirine and the Amphitheatre. Ana Gizdic, an agile organizer, expands the colony and the workshop to Narona, in Vid near Metkovic, an important cultural and civilization site and the precious heritage of the Late Antique and early Christian period. The member of ArtNetwork (created by N. Faller, A. Gizdic, D. Kljun, and M. Srsen, e. n.), Nikola Faller organizes, already noticed by the media, sculpture workshop in Slavonija where the main material is hay and Dejan Kljun organizes a workshop for producing sculptures from dark oak wood by the river Sava near Zagreb. All artists are completely creatively free in their art-making process. Each one of them worked on the theme that is of their own individual interest. Ivona Biocic Mandic is carving an artwork in the vertically positioned travertine stone block named  The Metamorphosis of Compassion and Pain. The artwork is dedicated to all innocent victims of violence as is Luka Ritz, her father, and raped women. In a stone block, she drills holes that are symbolizing wounds especially those that are emotional and spiritual. Dejan Kljun carved a sculpture named The Heritage of the Future, referring to anonymous sprayed inscriptions „Ne EU=YU” (“Not EU=YU”), which are directly anti-European oriented. Within the artwork The Death of a Gladiator, Mario Pitesa paints two paintings depicting remains of the Salona Amphitheatre arches and sets three stone pieces marked by the Arab numbers written in sky blue colour. Nikola Faller, specialized for making sculptures from hay, made a tall, thin column with an eagle head symbolizing the Roman Empire, from the local river grass and beside the body of the column he positioned Christ’s alpha and omega, that is pointing to the Late Antique and Early Christian Salona’s past in the ruins of Basilica Urbana (so-called the "A" Basilica). In the remains of the nartexs from the Manastirine Basilica, Jaksa Babic exhibited his early drawings, almost abstract, led by the idea of pointing out the historical stratification of this site, questioning its role nowadays. Jakov Teklic is the only photographer in the workshop. He exhibited large photos of the Amphitheatre remains covered in snow. Ana Gizdic and Marija Srsen (also Zdenka Gizdic and Elvira Smoje, the members of POWERPROGRESSIVEART, e. n.), exhibited The Bacchanalia, ready-made food arrangements. One basket contains melons, apricots and watermelons that are exhibited at another place also and a table rich with dishes prepared according to the Roman receipts explored by the artists themselves (fish, libum, chickpeas, beans soup, yoghurt pie, seagrass in vinegar, all seasoned with spices). Dražen Brkic is the only painter and graphic artist in the workshop. He exhibited three linocuts titled Mythology. He is interested in the themes of heroes, positive and negative, good and evil, and especially fatal, impossible and unattainable love of a tragic character: Lancelot and Guinevere, Samson and Delilah and Narcissus who falls in love with his own reflection. All artists wish to point out the necessity of preserving the cultural heritage in situ. The second summer workshop „Salona 2012“ was conducted and organized by the  POWERPROGRESSIVEART Association by courtesy of The House of Culture Zvonimir in Solin, The City of Solin, Archaeological museum Split and Visocani quarry."                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                            You may also check about Salona >>