Books
Book of Documents VIVISECT
A strong incentive to the creation of the book of documents VIVISECT has been provided by Ron Haviv and his exhibition of war photographs "Blood and Honey" which was during 2002 organized in Serbia with the support of Freedom House.
The realization of the VIVISECT project would have not been possible without the support and help by Višnja Nežić and Smiljka Vukelić, who worked actively in all the phases of the project, from its beginning to its completion.
We would like to express our gratitude to Stevan Blagojev and his printing shop yuTOPag from Novi Sad, who have designed all printed material within the VIVISECT project.
Authors of the texts like Svenka Savić, Vesna Nikolić Ristanović and Majkl Goldfarb, together with Aleksej Kišjuhas, who took part in the preparation of the printing material, also provided their precious help.
The first edition of the book of documents VIVISECT, printed in 2003, was supported by the Democratic Transition and Reintegration in Serbia Project, sponsored by Freedom House, with funding provided by the US Agency for International Development.
Printing of the second edition of the book of documents VIVISECT in 2004 was provided by IKV – Interchurch Peace Council with the support of the Citizens' Pact for SEE.
A short documentary and the book of documents titled VIVISECT represent a unique testimony of the exhibition of war photographs "Blood and Honey" by the American photojournalist Ron Haviv set up in Novi Sad, and the reactions of numerous visitors. The Book of Documents VIVISECT was printed in both Serbian and English language.
The Book of Documents VIVISECT contains "the documents from the exhibition" following the concept realized at the photo exhibition "Blood and Honey" in Novi Sad in September 2002. In this publication the photographs by Ron Haviv were published, according to the order they had been exhibited at the gallery (from 1 to 64). Beside each photograph there are original messages left by the exhibition visitors during 10 days. In order to make the messages more legible, because they were written in different scripts and letters (Latin and Cyrillic, block letters and script) texts of original messages were typed on every page and also translated into English. While translating messages into English language, the sense of a message has been preserved by finding its most adequate form in English, which sometimes has more or less words than the original message. Original titles of the photographs, provided by the author, Ron Haviv, himself, were separated, also according to the order in which the photographs have been exhibited in the gallery (from 1 to 64). The Index contains particular notions, occurrences, names, places, expressions, quotations, dates and events for which we believed that it was necessary to provide more detailed information, to make clear their meaning in written messages. For example, messages which are quotations of sentences from popular domestic movies like "The Balkan Express", "Who’s been Singing There", "The Marathon Family" or "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame."
Texts by authors (Svenka Savić, Vesna Nikolić Ristanović, Marija Gajicki, and Majkl Goldfarb) published in this book represent the following:
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The analysis of written messages left by the visitors of the exhibition in Novi Sad;
- Social and historical context and the issue of victimization, as well as the results achieved in the process of truth and reconciliation in Serbia so far;
- The motives and the way of organizing and implementing this new concept in the process of facing the truth about war and war crimes in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
The book also provides a chronology of the most important events in the period from 10th to 20th September 2002, which have had a direct or indirect impact on the events during the exhibition of war photographs "Blood and Honey" by Ron Haviv in Novi Sad.
A short documentary VIVISECT captured the atmosphere during the exhibition "Blood and Honey" in Novi Sad and the reactions of numerous visitors.
Impressum of the book of documents VIVISECT:
The book of documents is edited by: Marija Gajicki
Authors of the texts:
Marija Gajicki – Documents on the Exhibition "Blood and Honey" by Ron Haviv in Novi Sad
Marija Gajicki – A Case Study
Svenka Savić – Ron Haviv: Blood and Honey in Photographs and Words
Vesna Nikolić – Ristanović – Social and Historical Context, Victimization, and Truth and Reconciliation Process in Serbia so far
Majkl Goldfarb – 'Blood and Honey' Returns to Serbia
Marija Gajicki – Documents of War (Interview with Ron Haviv)
Chronology of the Events
Original Titles of the Photographs
Index
Author of war photographs: Ron Haviv
Author of the photographs from the exhibition in Novi Sad: Smiljka Vukelić
Associates in the VIVISECT project preparation and implementation:
Višnja Nežić
Smiljka Vukelić
Aleksej Kišjuhas
Language supervision in the Serbian language: Silvija Čamber
Translation into English: Nataša Mioković and Jelena Milojković
Language supervision in the English language:
Timothy Steiskal
Philip Wattles
Jelena Milojković
Nataša Mioković
Design: Stevan Blagojev
Printing: yuTOPag – Novi Sad