An artistic intervention dedicated to the hospitality of Crikvenica, to the women who participated in the production and exchange of salt and an homage to Zdenko Kolacio, the creator of the monument to Vladimir Nazor in Crikvenica.
The concept of artist Ilona Németh and architect Marián Ravasz is an art project in the park in front of the hotel Miramare, dedicated to the 20th-century history of Crikvenica. The context of their project consists of three aspects: honouring the hospitality of Crikvenica, remembering the women who participated in the local production and exchange of salt and an homage to an already existing monument.
Historically, Crikvenica is connected to the providing of hospitality to tourists, which in a very visible way influenced the landscape of the town with several hotels from the period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy such as the hotels Miramare and Therapia. Moreover, Crikvenica is connected with hospitality in the form of acceptation of people who needed qualified healthcare or rest and also in the form of acceptance of refugees and emigrants in various periods during the 20th century.
Apart from hospitality, the authors are also interested in honoring a particular situation connected to the Second World War. At that time, in Crikvenica and its surroundings, women replaced men who went to the battle fronts, making a livelihood through the production of salt from seawater and its barter for food and other products. The recollection of these activities is still transmitted only by oral testimonies.
The artists’ work will also give an homage to the existing monument dedicated to Vladimir Nazor, Croatian poet, novelist and politician. The monument from 1973 by Zdenko Kolacio, is an abstract sculpture in the shape of a flower and an example of the Yugoslavian monumental style which combined the historical context and a modernist artistic concept.
At the location in front of the hotel Miramare, as a symbol of hospitality, the authors designed the installation of a monumental white concrete table with chairs as a meeting place where communication is spread and thoughts are shared. In that sense, the concrete table and chairs would become a place of private discussions, relaxation, place for sharing local stories with tourists and a memorial to the local population. The installation would also consist of larger lumps of rock salt positioned on the smoothed concrete.
In cooperation with the production team of Lungomare Art, the artistic team created a final author’s solution which, along with the accompanying technical documentation, was submitted to the City of Crikvenica. The Committee for Culture of the City Council of the City of Crikvenica voted to reject the final solution and excluded the project from the budget of the City of Crikvenica for 2020, which made the realization of the art installation impossible.