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SMUGGLING: AVOIDING PROHIBITIONS IN ECONOMY, HISTORY AND CULTURE

Schmuggeln - Wie man Verbote in Wirtschaft, Geschichte und Kultur umgeht. // Springerin. 3 (2009) , Escape Routes; 36-38

Ana Peraica

Recently Ive remembered a promise to my grandfather, a photographer and cameraman Antonio Perajica, to take care of his movies. All I could remember, sixteen years after his death was one of movie tapes was brought to Croatian city of Rijeka, immediately after the Trieste front. Or, as defined from the other side the Occupation of Trieste, by an Italian photographer, Turi Quattrocchi.(19 I found nine 16mm films, all recorded in Titos First Proletarian Brigade. But, aside watching something never screened, a material more than fifty years old bunkerised, on which strange scenes were appearing, as meeting of Tito with the Bishop Alojzije Stepinac, there was something else framing the history of it. It was not the tape, but the history smuggled.(2) No traces of such meeting were left behind. The time this has happened was precisely when almost the same war, precisely on the same location, has been renewed again.

TRIESTE A CITY OF COLOURS

Partisan massacres found in Slovenia, recently, as well as Croatian and Slovenian arguing on the territory, suddenly raised back an argument of Croatian partisans have deliberated Trieste and within only a couple of days the problem of the idea of Trieste, so vivid and glittering pop out again. Trieste was the city which held a major street-market for the SouthCommunist countries at the mythical place of Ponte Rosso. If somewhere the concept of the Other was visible, it was particularly there, in a city conquered by Yugoslav Army, whose economy was pretty much relying in socialistic buyers. Situation now is quite different, not only for the city of Trieste being colonised mostly with Chinese shops, but also global market has spread in post-socialist countries. Only drug, cigarettes smuggling, as well as human trafficking remain crossing these borders illegally.

Though, on the same location, there is still a sad reverberation of the old image of smuggler, one that crosses the border illegally and brings goods not only bad things, but goods for all. During the time period of extreme legislation forces of states, two of which in question were of completely different economical thus political organization, they were preserving an utopia of sailors bringing the knowledge, as well. Namely, apart major goods as playing cards for briskula and treseta, latter on Italian light textile shoes espadrille or chewing gums, as well as jeans, they were importing novelties that were managing to form a culture from an autonomous or hybrid, imagined other side of the border. Their commercials stolen with satellite antennas were changing society, being decoded differently.(3) Line-ups of smugglers were connecting, from the border to border, countries now known as separate entities; starting from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, deeply into Romania and further, carrying capitalist goods usually clothes as jeans one on the top of another.(4)Some of them appeared as cultural heroes in popular culture, though in different versions, as Sir Oliver in Alan Ford for example was a British guy selling all kinds of watches with suspicious origins, while Kusturicas Once there was a Country (1996) with a character of gun smuggler, or even in White Cat Black Cat (2005) with a gas smuggler.

SMUGGLER IN CULTURE

But are smugglers only gypsies, undereducated Barbarians? The history, especially art history has proven not. One of these myths is laying in foundation of MOMA, of Alfred Barr who hided European masterpieces and carried them out of the country in umbrella, during last world war that bypassed USA (Malevich and Beeren 1988). The second, more contemporary is of Marino Cettina, a lonely gallerist who held a famous gallery Dante in a small city of Umag, publishing in magazines as FlashArt their announcement of shows, who smuggled many of artworks, starting with IRWIN to NY or even major contemporary art shows as ARCO, bypassing socialist controls (Peraica 1996/7). Even more, not only on the content level, a smuggler has brought a monograph of American minimalism that has influenced the event of painting Peristyle in Red, along drugs unfortunately, which have lead one of artists to death while another to criminal of drug dealing (Jeleni 2004).

INSTITUTIONALIZED SMUGGLER

Political newspapers have claimed recently smugglers are now belonging to the political elite of ex-Yugoslavian countries, noting tobacco smuggling by both Serbian and Montenegrin president, but suspecting of porn smuggling by Croatian minister(5)For sure, seems

smugglers have legalized their businesses as soon as the market of their goods was legal. But, some places still stay secret holes for smugglers. Yes, we know Behind Sisley Xaffas sculpture in Venice, there is a hole though which we can enter bypassing the official entrance. But in art it still appears a strategy that is less related to profit, but rather a way of survival.

The project Smuggling Anthologies in co-production of Trieste Contemporanea (Italy), Labin Museum (Croatia) and Gallery of Piran (Slovenia) connects three countries to provide a common ground for analysis of holes for smuggling. The weird history of Trieste, the city being occupied by Yugoslavian army to latter become its dream capital or the topographical synonym of desire, is quite connected to the one of Piran bay becoming a barrier of Croatian ticket to EU. Although being politically separated (capitalistic socialistic; EU non-EU these territories are connected with tunnelling narratives and passages of smuggler (svercer, contrabbando ), at certain parts of history being heroic figures. The project is aiming at rather positive research on smuggling as bringing the message though, as a way of keeping, forwarding and passing it on, when the situation forbids it; either by censoring, taxing In times of Recession this is turning needed especially in system of art.. And, again it comes especially visible in Venice, on the Biannual, where many artists have intruded the official selection already. Tanja Ostojic, Sisley Xhafa, Trie... Or in advance to next Biannal edition - the project Swimming Cities gathering 25 USA artists by Swoon, that construct three sculptures from abandoned materials on the Slovenian coast with intention to float on them across to Venice on the occasion of the opening of the Biennial.

NOTES 1. Trieste Front refers to 40 days of occupation of Trieste by Yugoslavian army, back in 1945 2. According to history Tito has victimized Alojzije Stepinac immediately after deliberation of Zagreb. He did not want to separate Catholic Church from Vatican and make it stateorganized as orthodox one is. Stepinac was also told of blessing weapons of Croatian nationalists during the WW2 3. A famous story quoted in many books was Albanian that a ship that sink in front of harbor Bari was related to the stolen signal of commercial in which Italian cat was drinking milk from a silver plate which lead these people to believe they treat humans even better 4. See for example works by Matei Bejenaru 5. Elaborations which have been in media after the recent assassinations in Zagreb
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