Simplon Express – Return, Zagreb – Paris, La Galerie des Locataires (The Gallery of Tenants), 2012

 

 

photo: Ana Sorić, Božena Končić Badurina

Mobile, ephemeral exhibition Simplon Express was realized in June 1989 on a train traveling from Paris to Zagreb. It consisted of numerous artistic interventions during the trip.

Simplon Express – Return took place 2012 with new passengers and in opposite direction, from Zagreb to Paris. These 23 years between the first and second trip have brought out deep historical, economical, cultural and social changes along this itinerary. In 1989 the Berlin wall was torn down, a few years later Yugoslavia disappeared and in 2001 the Simplon Express itself stopped running.

For this project I made circa 50 reprints of two newspapers, Croatian Večernji list and French Liberation, with the date of departure of the first Simplon – 12th June 1989 (the Simplon Express-Return started on the 12th of June 2012). During the trip I gave copies of the newspapers to passengers and have left them in trains and at railway stations in Ljubljana, Venice, Milano and Paris. Abandoned and found newspapers had to link these two moments in time and to evoke all the changes that have occurred during the years beetween those two trips.

 

Mobilna, efemerna izložba Simplon Express realizirana je u lipnju 1989. u vlaku između Pariza i Zagreba. Sastojala se od brojnih umjetničkih intervencija za vrijeme puta.

Simplon Express-Povratak kreće na put 2012 s novim putnicima i to u obrnutom smjeru od Zagreba do Pariza. Te 23 godine između prvog i drugog putovanja donijele su duboke povijesne, ekonomske, kulturološke, društvene promjene. 1989. je srušen Berlinski zid, nekoliko godina nakon toga raspala se Jugoslavija, a od 2001. više ne vozi ni Simplon Express.

Za ovaj projekt napravila sam pedesetak kopija dviju dnevnih novina, hrvatskog Večernjeg lista i francuskog Liberationa, i to od datuma polaska na put pprvog Simplona – 12. 6. 1989. (Simplon Express-Povratak je krenuo na put 12. 6. 2012.). Za vrijeme putovanja kopije novina davala sam putnicima, ostavljala ih u vlaku i na željezničkim kolodvorima u Ljubljani, Veneciji, Milanu i Parizu. Odbačene i pronađene novine trebale su povezati te dvije točke u vremenu i evocirati sve promjene koje su se dogodile u godinama izmeđe ta dva putovanja.