Hotel Kumrovec, 2007

In a remote village in Croatian Zagorje, known only as the birthplace of the President for Life of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Marshal Tito, the Political School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was built, and for the needs of its students, a luxury hotel. The hotel was built in 1974 in a modernist style. The best material and the substantial found for its construction were contributed by work organisations from all over Yugoslavia. Today, the hotel complex is empty, and has no guest, but it still employs a receptionist and maintenance staff, who try to slow down the process of dilapidation.

video (7min, 40 sek)

video screenig:
P74 Center and Gallery, Ljubljana, Thursday, 31May

14.8. - 7. 9. 2007
Lost Highway Exhibition, Skuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Curator: Alenka Gregoric
5.10. -5.11.2007
Political, Velenje Gallery, Velenje, Curator: Maja Skrbot

Tanja: It's interesting: an abandoned building, but there's flowers inside?
Receptionist: We're still here. Only it's not working. It's not open. When the refugees went ... They were here from Vukovar ... then ...
T: They were here?
R: Yes. They were here for twelve years.
T: So long?
R: Yes.
T: Like in a hotel?
R: Yes. This is a hotel.
T: For how long was this? Wait ...
R: The hotel was built in 1974. And when the war began in 1991, the refugees from Vukovar stayed here for twelve years, till 2003. Then the last of them went. From then on, we're not heating or anything.
T: Do you come every day?
R: Yes. It's like reception work. There's about thirty of us still here from the first day.
T: Really?
R: Yes. The grass needs to be mowed, and cleaned up a bit. Because, if we weren't here, this would ... Look, immediately the grass is growing.