Death in Dubrovnik is based on the testimonies of event participants and has been continuously and intensively developed over three years. It emerged through interviews with more than thirty participants in the war events from all parts of Montenegro and a few from Dubrovnik. Several hundred young people, event participants, and artists participated through theater and social workshops. Records of conversations with those involved in the war are part of the performance’s text. In previous decades, these voices were isolated in Montenegro. Today, they form a small choir. The performance is a public invitation for other voices to join.
The performance belongs to the culture of remembrance, opposing the widespread (non)culture of forgetting. Its goal is to confront the public, primarily in Montenegro, with the truth about the war fought in Dubrovnik and its surroundings. Avoiding confrontation with the past provides fertile ground for history to repeat itself. Death in Dubrovnik is an artistic endeavor/attack against the dominant culture of forgetting and falsehoods. The goal is not only to face the past, truth, and forgetting but also to address the question of collective and individual responsibility. It also seeks to confront the feeling of shame. The performance does not aim to legally prosecute events that, as is evident, have been processed to an alarmingly small extent when it comes to the Dubrovnik battlefield. This applies to every aspect: legal, political, historical, ethical, and personal.
Our (empty) space is a space of poetic truth and poetic justice. They are subtle and fleeting yet possess an elusive, supernatural, and enduring power. They emanate.
The performance Death in Dubrovnik is dedicated to truth and reconciliation.