„Today is 11th June, 1993. The war has been going on for a very long time. I’ve tried everything to get out, to save myself, nothing worked. The only thing left is to make this videotape that I will give to my son, he to his, and so on, until a time machine is invented and someone watching this will come and get me out of this.”
Today is 11th June 1993 was developed on the basis of intensive investigations in the Library Hamdija Kreševljaković Video Archive in Sarajevo, a private collection of amateur videos produced by Sarajevo residents documenting their lives during the siege. In the collection Thieme discovered a short science-fiction film in which a group of young people uses black humor to imagine fleeing the enclosed city by means of a time machine. Using simultaneous translation, Thieme reiterates the call for the past from the present. How will we react to it?
Today Is 11th June 1993 is part of the initiative IZMEĐU NAS / BETWEEN US. The project by Nihad Kreševljaković, Jasmina Gavrankapetanović, and Clarissa Thieme invites scholars, artists, and the public to engage with the Library Hamdija Kreševljaković Video Archive. The initiative aims to democratize the process of archiving and to start a dialog about people’s shared memories.
The project is a collaboration with Nihad Kreševljaković and the Library Hamdija Kreševljaković Video Archive; Performance / Grace Sungeun Kim; Camera & Color Correction / Till Beckmann; Sound Editor / Christian Obermaier; Re-recording Mixer / Jochen Jezussek; Dramaturgy Advisor / Christine A. Maier; Artistic Assistance / Ina Arnautalić; Translation / Ulvija Tanović.
Video footage from Sarajevo in 1993 by Emir Jelkić, Elma Jerlagić Muhić, Fatima Jerlagić, Faruk Jerlagić, Hamdija Kreševljaković, Nihad Kreševljaković, Sead Kreševljaković.
Clarissa Thieme is a media artist and filmmaker. In her films and installations, she combines documentary and fictional elements to explore the politics of memory and identity. Thieme is currently a Research Fellow at the Berlin Centre for Advanced Studies in Arts and Sciences (BAS), where she also created Today is 11th June 1993. Films (selection): Was bleibt / Sta Ostaje / What Remains (30’, forum expanded 2010). The Place We Left (60’, 2012). Resort (15’, 2013). Die DDR hat es nie gegeben / Appell (4’, 2016). Today is 11th June 1993 (13’, forum expanded 2018).
