The Cove

The Cove was made in the cove of Slana, the place of the first concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia (1941. – 1945.). Located on the island of Pag, this area has been, since ancient days, marked by the activities of bath nature and man, who has finally shaped the landscape of Slana – through deforestation, excessive grazing, the establishment of a camp and recent tourist exploitations. Connecting landscape and its historical context, we point to a complete interdependence between space and man’s activity. At the same time, with this film we question the (historical) erasure and negation of a crime scene, which in the summer of 1941 has inscribed forever in the barren rocky landscape. By taking a journey to the past, from today’s point of view, we call for perceptive commemoration and challenging of the political framework of an image in which the absence of man is in fact their ongoing presence and the empty space a crime scene.