From the Citizens to Their City

On Friday, 6 November, between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. come visit the From the Citizens to Their City booth in front of Zara, opposite the city clock, in Korzo, and start your epidemiologically safe audio tour with Katerina Duda. On this tour, through the art project Rijeka: The Yearbook of Movement and with numerous historical references on Rijeka Korzo, she will confront you with the differences between reality and last year’s projections. Things sometimes get out of hand, and this is exactly what has happened with the 2020 pandemic and its global consequences in which ‘Rijeka tourism’ and our ‘year of culture’ have been just collateral damages but still very real and painful to us.

Rijeka: The Yearbook of Movement

The work Rijeka: The Yearbook of Movement is envisaged as a continuation of the 2019 action Hands, Sheets, Broom: A Statistical Chronicle. When, at the end of 2019, we asked the passers-by in Jadranski Square in Rijeka whether they saw an empty apartment as a missed business opportunity (in the form of daily rent), the majority answered affirmatively. In recent years, the City of Rijeka has been increasingly oriented towards the tourism industry; there were high expectations of the year 2020 and statistics were promising an increase in overnight stays and tourist arrivals. A year later, due to the coronavirus pandemic and epidemiological measures, almost everything has been put on hold. In the form of an audio tour, the work Rijeka: The Yearbook of Movement passes through Korzo and reflects on this central city street from two points in time: the end of 2019 after a successful tourist season and preparations for the next one and the end of 2020 affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Although the time gap between these two perspectives is only one year, it seems that everyday life and our focus have completely changed. While, on the one hand, there are big expectations and forecasts of tourism growth along with the changes that tourism brings to the city, on the other are the experience of empty streets, renovated empty apartments and change that affects our daily use of space and movement around the city.

The Audio Tour

The audio tour will be available for download from our website gsg.hr on Thursday 5 November, but also in Korzo via QR codes available in various locations. Please use your own device to listen to the audio tour and bring headphones.

Thanks and Literature

Sound design and mixing: Iva Ivan
Narrator: Srđan Popović
Design of the materials: Petra Milički

Thank you to everyone who participated in discussions and shared their experiences on moving around the city, as well as to Irena Bekić, Branka Cvjetičanin, Lucija Duda, Jakov S. Perković and Lela Vujanić.

The literature used for the audio tour:
Matejčić, R. (1988) Kako čitati grad: Rijeka, jučer, danas, Rijeka: Izdavački centar Rijeka
Solnit, R. (2005) A Field Guide to Getting Lost, New York : Viking
Zinaić, M. and M. Vejvoda, “Robna kuća “RI” : razgovor s arhitektom Ninoslavom Kučanom.“ Dometi 7 (1974) 12, pp. 57-68
LivecamCroatia, Jadranski Square, url: https://www.livecamcroatia.com/hr/kamera/rijeka-korzo-jadranski-trg
Music: Retro soul s Bensound.com