Shadow Casters in New York

At the invitation of Columbia University in New York, Sandra Uskoković and Boris Bakal presented several Shadow Casters projects (Vitić dances, Father Courage, Urban Hum) after participating with two lectures at the CAA (College Art Association – the oldest association of American artists and art theorists).

A collaborator of Shadow Casters on various projects (Shadow Casters/New York, 2003 & Recollecting Cities/Recollecting Time/Zagreb, 2009), public historian and space theorist Prof. Christopher Neville invited Shadow Casters to give a lecture at Columbia University’s Department of Preservation and Conservation in Avery Hall. In a two-hour lecture and subsequent discussion with the audience titled “Living Memory Theater: Performing Heritage in Zagreb and Dubrovnik,” Shadow Casters presented projects addressing the challenges of contemporary society in preserving both tangible and intangible urban heritage, architectural and construction legacies amidst hyper-tourism and the virtualization of places/space. Emphasis was placed on modern urban heritage, which is rapidly erased or altered due to the lack of applicable protection criteria and the slow development of methodologies, approaches, and materials that could preserve and make this modern and modernist heritage attractive to today’s residents, visitors, and passersby.

Additionally, community projects such as the already renowned “Vitić_dances” and the eponymous film about the restoration of Vitić’s skyscraper were presented. Special focus was given to the “Father Courage” project, which won a Gold Medal at the Prague Quadrennial within the Croatian selection.