Delja Nemanja

Stone KD 201, discovery, collection and storage in archive bag. Cottbus, Germany, 29.10.2023. 12:57. Photos: author

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The washing and weighing of the stones collected during the tenth day of collection. Cottbus, Germany, 17.03.2024. Photos: Ahmet Kayra Alan>

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The process of photo documentation. CoLab photo studio, Cottbus, Germany, 07.02.2024. Photos: author

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Photo transfer to stone KD203 Cottbus, Germany, 30.03.2024. Photo: Marilene Louise Langemann

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Fragment of the original photograph and engraved stone KD730. Cottbus, Germany, 2024. Photo 1: photo from the author's family album collection. Photo 2: author.

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Stone KD730 exhibited within the permanent collection. Stadtmuseum, Cottbus, Germany, May 2024. Photo: author

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Stones and archival cards exhibited within the permanent collection. Stadtmuseum, Cottbus, Germany, 14.05.2024. Photo: author

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The illustration of the communication of the stone with the artefacts of the museum's permanent exhibition, Stadtmuseum, Cottbus, Germany, 14.05.2024. Photo: author

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The illustration of the communication of the stone with the artefacts of the museum's permanent exhibition, Stadtmuseum, Cottbus, Germany, 14.05.2024. Photo: author

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Display of engraved 9 out of 215 stones, KD304, KD401, KD402, KD407, KD918, KD409, KD948, KD906, KD732. Cottbus, Germany, April, 2024. Photos: author

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The engraved side of the stone KD205. Cottbus, Germany, April, 2024. Photos: author

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Digging a hole in the ground and burying a stone KD809. Cottbus, Germany, 21.05.2024. Photos: author

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In a series of contemplative walks in the city of Cottbus, where I lived at the time of creating the work, I collected 215 stones, meticulously photographing the process. I then washed, measured and documented them all. By engraving photos from personal archives on these stones, I left traces of my memory and identity, recording my entire life. By exhibiting this new collection in the City Museum as part of the institution's permanent exhibition, I initiated a unique dialogue between my work, the museum artefacts, the audience and the authorised discourse on heritage. In the end, I buried all the stones back into the ground where the performance continued through the process of erasing the images from the stones by soil erosion. Eleven months passed from the moment the first stone was collected and the last one was buried. The role of the performer was passed to the water under the ground, and the performance continued.

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