On 22nd May, the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened its new permanent exhibition called MONUMENTUM//MOMENTUM//MEMENTO.

MONUMENTUM//MOMENTUM//MEMENTO is the title of this exhibition. It is as unusual as the exhibition itself.

MONUMENTUM stands for the monument that it is no longer one. Presented parts of the monument carry many different layers and stories that extend to the present day. They tell stories about us as we were and what we have become; how we used to relate to monuments 100 years ago, and how we relate to them today.

The Bronze medallion and two crowns are parts of the Atonement memorial erected in 1917 at the Latin Bridge, the place where the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie took place. 12-meter-high monument stood on this spot a little longer than a year, when the new government separated the monument into several parts and stored them inside the National Museum. Since 1979, the bronze parts of the monument are stored inside the depot of the National Art Gallery. After an intensive restoration treatment, the medallion is presented to the public and it is the central part of the exhibition.

MOMENTUM stands for the video installation “Gavril’s principle”, through which every visitor must pass to find himself in the position of Ferdinand and Sophie who pass through the cordon of curious observers, who came out to see and greet the procession. The video installation shows a moment, simulated and recorded in slow motion, when you hear a gunshot and see the reaction of the observers. This artwork raises the question: what is a moment in history or historical moment, and how much is the individual aware, that in that one moment, he/she went from being an observer to becoming a witness?

MEMENTO is the message. To keep remembering. To remember. Alternatively, as we intended with this exhibition, to make a contribution to the memory of the first and until then greatest catastrophe that the people have brought upon themselves.

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Photos of the exhibition can be downloaded from our Facebook page.