Back then in Javorina, 2022, video: 8:23 (
This short film documents an artistic intervention which was held in the former military training zone of Javorina (Northeast of Slovakia). This vast, strange landscape is filled with dilapidated military objects which, together with unexploded munitions, are being gradually absorbed by nature and a new range of leisure or economic interests. The zone becomes the backdrop for a specific situation which becomes the artist’s focus – a completely shot-up training wall featuring a monumental schematic painting of the High Tatras. The idea of shooting at the High Tatras may evoke strange feelings in some people. The project involved the painting being restored by an unknown soldier over the course of several days: a symbolic restoration and healing of the “wounds” after the shooting, even though the painting was created for the very purpose of being shot at. As the artist himself says,” Given the current situation with the war in Ukraine, I feel determined to carry out such a symbolic “healing” ritual”.
