Tomislav Gotovac: ZAGREB, I LOVE YOU

Tomislav Gotovac, Zagreb I love you!, performance, 1981 [Mio Vesović, InC EDU]
Tomislav Gotovac, Zagreb I love you!, performance, 1981 [Mio Vesović, InC EDU]
POI Number
03
Typology
Monument-memorial
Country
Croatia
Municipality
City of Zagreb
District
Črnomerec
Address
Ban Jelačić Square
Web reference
https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomislav_Gotovac

Lying naked on the Pavement, kissing the Pavement (Zagreb, I love you!), to Howard Hawks’ Hatari, feature film from 1961, was performed at the very beginning of the Ilica and the then Republic Square in Zagreb symbolically on Friday, November 13, 1981 at 12 o'clock simultaneously with a cannon shot from Grič. The performance was performed in such a way that the artist came out of the house in Ilica 8 completely naked and with his shaved head, walked along Ilica and Trg Republike with the shout "Zagreb, I love you!" And finally kissed the pavement. After seven minutes of performance, the artist was arrested. The reference to the film is visible in the position of the body that Gotovac took on the floor. The gesture is reminiscent of a rhino and the author later notes that in Swahili the word hatari means help, so this performance carries this meaning: “I am a solitary rhino. Hatari! ” The event was recorded by Gotovac's friends, photographers Ivan Posavec, Mio Vesović and Boris Turković, who sent of images of the actions to the youth newspapers Pole and Studentski list. Thus, newspaper documentation of the performance is the foundation of the action and artistic concept.

Educational Resources

https://monoskop.org/Tomislav_Gotovac