DEATH AND ADVERTISING

An interview with Anur Hadziomerspahic
By Ana Peraica, 16 December 2007

It’s about the project with the exhumation… I’ve got to confess I couldn’t look at these posters; somehow I know the world would not stay the same. A wo/man in media society can somehow get used to images of death, they are “other bodies”, but as soon as they appear with something in common (maybe even only this?) – the goods of the global society we usually face clean and new in shops, seems that world is, as Kristeva says “contaminated” and we are faced with our own, not the death of the other.

So, the project was produced by Ajna Zlatar and me – it wasn’t me alone. In the wish to make Bosnian people closer to the western citizen, we made posters, on the tenth year of the genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group ... in SrebrenicaThe Srebrenica massacre was the July 1995 killing of an estimated 8,000 Bosniak boys and men, in the region of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), under the command of General Ratko Mladic' during the Bosnian War ..., showing clothing of victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... that were branded. Or, in a wish to make the western citizen identify with usually far away victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ..., we have decided to make it via known brands/commercial trademarks, in which victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... were slaughtered. Absurd, of course… But, if you say to a western citizen that this and that number of people in Bosnia are being killed, it means little to him/her. If you show the victimIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... was wearing sneakers (maybe s/he is wearing too) then, via the commercial trademark, becoming the common container a western person may identify with the victimIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context .... That is how we have chosen (from the book of clothing of victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... of genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group ... serving to families to recognize their relatives) clothing of the leading world commercial trademarks. So, on one poster there is Levis, on the other Adidas, on the third Lacoste etc. We put posters up during the film festival in Sarajevo, when there were the most foreigners in the city, as this project was directly addressed to them. Later on the exhibition went to Italy (Milan) and some other cities outside of Bosnia. So we have tried to solve the problem of identification of westerners with Bosnian victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ..., in a very efficient and absurd way – via commercial brands. Identification via big brands is at the same time sad and absurd and morbid in its efficiency.

Though there is an obvious difference between the impossibility of falsifying the state of disintegration, not so familiar to this always “hyper-new” society, did someone comment on the difference between your posters and Toscani’s advertising for Benetton showing a Croatian soldier?

As far Toscani is concerned, all respect, but I did not have that in mind, thinking on what would be needed that Europe is made closer to victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... of genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group ... in SrebrenicaThe Srebrenica massacre was the July 1995 killing of an estimated 8,000 Bosniak boys and men, in the region of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), under the command of General Ratko Mladic' during the Bosnian War ....

I’ve got to ask one more thing: do you think artworks speaking about SrebrenicaThe Srebrenica massacre was the July 1995 killing of an estimated 8,000 Bosniak boys and men, in the region of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), under the command of General Ratko Mladic' during the Bosnian War ... – yours, Maja Bajevic, Sejla Kameric – have done something for SrebrenicaThe Srebrenica massacre was the July 1995 killing of an estimated 8,000 Bosniak boys and men, in the region of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), under the command of General Ratko Mladic' during the Bosnian War ...?

The answer on the question if artworks have done anything for SrebrenicaThe Srebrenica massacre was the July 1995 killing of an estimated 8,000 Bosniak boys and men, in the region of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), under the command of General Ratko Mladic' during the Bosnian War ... – precisely that much art is capable of, in the society and time we live today, to act.