Following a recent act of vandalism, it might be time to ask ourselves if we’re deserving of the title in the first place.
The city of Rijeka, also known as the European Capital of Culture 2020. While the big event is slowly approaching, we’re waiting for some announced projects to start seeing the light of day: a complete renovation of the old Rikard Benčić factory that will house the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, for example. The museum has already moved into the former industrial object, but the spaces are yet to be revamped so the entire complex could proudly stand as one of the leading cultural and artistic hotspots in Rijeka. And then, on the other side of the city centre, there’s Galeb – Tito’s famous yacht, also awaiting a major makeover.
We have yet to see what will come of those ambitious plans and at what pace the preparations will progress, but in the meantime, the local population isn’t exactly contributing to the overall development.
On April 18, 2018, the citizens who were taking a morning walk along Rijeka’s main promenade Korzo came upon several demolished panels, reported Rijeka danas. The panels are part of an exhibition set up in public space; called ‘The City Rhythm’, it was sponsored by Huawei and features an array of photos showing some colourful snippets of urban life, shot at prominent locations and famous landmarks in Rijeka.
Well, someone obviously thought the little project offensive to their taste, so they decided to make their opinion known by smashing half of the panels sometime last night. Truly a sad display of primitivism, one that only adds to the ongoing culture of vandalism the city has been witnessing for a long time now.
Rijeka danas / screenshot
A couple of hours later, when I arrived at Korzo to take a couple of photos of the unfortunate scene, I came upon empty frames. Whatever was left of the panels was obviously cleaned up in a hurry to prevent any risk of injury – or to make them look a bit less miserable. As I pointed my camera towards one of the objects, they turned into little windows, framing ‘the city rhythm’ going on in the background – a similar concept, in a way, only a real-time transmission this time.
One can’t but to get depressed thinking of the bigger picture. The city is about to spend hundreds of millions on the ECC-related projects, sinking deeper into debt, while some of its citizens obviously can’t even appreciate the minuscule vibrant additions to the public space. Drunk teenagers? Deranged vandals? It doesn’t even matter – it’s hard to fathom anyone could be able to stand in front of an innocent photo and think, this needs to be smashed into pieces. Oh, and probably be convinced they’re cool for carrying out such a… creative intervention. I bet their crew cheered them along. God, I’m getting old.
There are many existing definitions of culture, but I bet at least one of them involves a notion of a collective mindset, some distinctive patterns of behaviour, a set of customs and traditions specific to a certain population. It’s nice to know our tradition of pointless destruction is not about to go extinct any time soon. 2020 is just around the corner, and it might be time to ask ourselves… are we really worthy of being called a capital of culture in the first place?
