ANDREJ ĐERKOVIĆ
Zaborav ubija. (To Forget Kills.) / 2005
In a absent of serious thinking and deep regrets about our past and specially on the tenth anniversary of the biggest massacre after the World War II, the fall of Srebrenica, the work “TO FORGET KILLS.” is reaction on the aggressive campaign against smoking in the time when the death became just an ordinary word in journalistic vocabulary.
Instead of the usual sign “Smoking kills.”, on the original package of Bosnian cigarettes “DRINA” it’s written “To Forget kills.” on French, English and Bosnian language. The boxes are signed and numerated in limited edition from 001 up to 800 ex. The work is in collaboration with Tobacco Factory Sarajevo and under High Patronage of “Association of Mothers from Srebrenica”. This work is dedicated to THOSE who think that smoking kills more than human mind and to us, Bosnians who think that THEY do not think like that.
The work was first presented in the frame of the official commemoration of the tenth anniversary of fall of Srebrenica and in the same day in London. On July 11th 2005, it was published in daily newspaper Tages Anzeiger in Zurich, after that, was shown in Amsterdam, Zagreb, Geneva, Antwerp, Marseille, Vukovar, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Banja Luka, Istanbul, Mostar, Podgorica, Ljubljana, Skopje, Split and Belgrade. In 2006/07/08, it was also shown in the frame of the exhibition „Recycled“ selected by Meliha Husedžinović in National Gallery of Macedonia (Skopje, Macedonia), Cankarjev Dom (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Center for Contemporary arts - Petrović Castle (Podgorica, Montenegro) King Nikola’s Castle (Nikšić, Montenegro), Galerija Velimir A. Leković (Bar, Montenegro), Collegium Artisticum (Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina), Galéria Slovenskej výtvarnej únie SVÚ (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Palais Pallfy (Vienna, Austria).
The work was shown in the frame of the exhibition “8372 Didn’t come” which was honored by the City of Rijeka with “Annual Ivo Kalina Award” for the Best contemporary arts exhibition. In 2008, the work was selected for the 49th October salon in Belgrade (Serbia). In august 2011, it was exposed in Marktstraße in Hamburg (Germany), while in July 2013 it was exposed in old town of San Marino.
On the occasion of very important collective exhibition of Bosnian artists “Memory Lane”, that was curated in parisian “galerie du jour - agnès b.”, by art critic and galerist Pierre Courtin, “galerie du jour - agnés b.” and Ðerković published limited edition of posters in 300 examples. After Paris in July 2014, the work was exposed in Istanbul (Turkiye) and Athens (Greece).
In October the same year, “To forget kills” was presented in the frame of “Verão Azul” in Lagos (Portugal), whose edition for 2014, was named after the work, and the same year it was exposed in the central Hamra Street in Beirut (Lebanon). In 2015, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of Srebrenica, the work was exposed in Vaduz (Lichtenstein). In 2017, the work was shown in Montevideo (Uruguay). In June 2017, "To Forget kills." was shown as a part of THE ARTBOX.PROJECT Basel 1.0 displayed on Euroairport in Basel (Switzerland). One year after, the work was shown in National Gallery of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the frame of the exhibition "Sarajevo Storage – Collection Pierre Courtin".
In january 2019 as a part of MUDEC Project, the work was installed in Zona Tortona in Milano (Italy). On 25th anniversary of the siege of Sarajevo, work was shown, under the curatorship of Sergio Godoy di Renzo on Edifício Copan in São Paulo (Brazil). in 2022, on the 30th anniversary of the begining of the siege of Sarajevo, the work was exposed in the frame of jubilee 10th edition of Sarajevo Art Salon in Collegium artisticum in Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), in the Center for Contemporary Culture KRAK in Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and in Museo della città di Suasa (Italy) as part of the collective exhibition "Pierre Courtin Collection". In the same year, under the curatorship of Sergio Godoy Di Renzo, work was installed in Avenida Santa Fe in Buenos Aires (Argentina).
The work is in collection of MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain (MAMCO) Genève, Museum of Innocence Istanbul, Bibliotèque de Genève, MU.SP.AC. Museo Sperimentale d'Arte Contemporanea L'Aquila and Museum of Sarajevo.
La galerie du jour agnès b., Paris, France, 2014
Montevideo, Uruguay, 2017, Photo: Nicolas Vuadens
