Lost in Zagreb

​Project and publication, 2018 - ongoing
Initiated by Lab852 for the Magic Carpets project and co. hosted by artist Tin Dožić, Zagreb (HRK)

Photo @ Marija Kamber

Lost in Zagreb is an ongoing, investigating knowledge sharing strategies about the urban landscape of Zagreb. The project is being shaped progressively during the process of walks, storytelling, discussions and mapping. It is made together with a group of local artists and people with various skills, including a poet, a taxi driver, an economic student and a chef.

​The final outcome is a city guidebook, which will be released in September 2018. The guidebook will be in both English, Arabic and Croatian, with the aim of meeting new citizens and guests of the city. In the guidebook you will find 6 different chapters about Zagreb: green areas and the mountain Medvednica, community places, cheap clothing shops, indoor and outdoor markets, places for children and venues to experience art. The design of the book is by artist and designer Niko Mihaljević.

Zagreb is a great city for walking, with its narrow streets, hidden backyards and parks, as well as its many hills providing the walker with overviews of the city. 

The first walk took place in Dugave on Thursday 31st of May. It started in front of Porin, a former hotel turned into temporary homes for hundreds of women, men and children while they seek asylum. After introducing the project, our group of twenty people went for a long walk in the neighbourhood, where we mostly visited green areas and in-between spaces. The walk was led by Tin Dožić, a sound artist who has been living in Dugave all his life. The walk finished in front of a local tobacco kiosk, who also hosts workshops for peace making.
The second walk took place in the centre of Zagreb on Saturday 2nd of June. It was guided by historian Saša Šimpraga, who for years have been highly involved in city planning of Zagreb from a grass root level. During the walk Saša showed us some of the initiatives he is involved in, from re-naming the streets, free access to drinking water, public art, etc. We talked about current issues related to city planning of Zagreb, like the youth and art scenes struggles to keep the Student Centre, or the dance scene's year long fight for a house for contemporary dance. The conversations and walk paths also led to more historical venues, like the Botanical Garden, there is located in the centre of Zagreb. It has the beautiful story of having free entrance since it was build in the late 18th century.

The project is part of a series of alternative guides to different cities in Europe (Maps for Copenhagen was initiated together with Signe Rom, 2012 – 2015), aiming to investigate social layers and economics of the cities, as well as mapping the reality of migration in Europe.

​To work collectively is a conscious political and artistic decision, and the different perspectives, voices and ways to see, will be aloud visible in the texts and images of the guidebook.
 
Lost in Zagreb is funded by Creative Europe programme and The Danish Art Council.