Persistent Traces from Heritage to Come is the latest outcome of the Collective Domain of Cultural Memory (CDCM) program. The book presents the unsettled ideas and explorations of the founders and curators of Press to Exit Project Space: Yane Calovski, Loose Associations: Natasa Bodrozic, and Suns and Stars: Marjoca de Greef and Anastasija Pandilovska, which arose in the process of the becoming of the CDCM project. It is a trajectory, a dendritic trail through the artistic practices and methods that were involved in the process of the becoming of the Collective Domain of Cultural Memory.

Each partner organization invited a writer; prominent and meaningful voices in the fragmented and wandering discourse of artistic affiliations with cultural heritage. Loose Associations invited Ivana Bago, Press to Exit Project Space invited Jovanka Popova, and Suns and Stars invited Lucy Cotter. Their contributions bring new light to the ongoing project.

The book is divided in three tracts, each containing two essays. Every tract has its own color: Blueprint blue, Skopje blue and Dayflower blue. These colors were decided on while designing the visual documentation of each program.

The strong and energetic blue named Blueprint was chosen for the program in Split and Zagreb. The several components of the program offer a critical examination of the protection of modernist architecture from the second half of the twentieth century in Croatia. This bold color is present in many modernist buildings, so its bond with these heritage buildings can serve as a resonant tone for critical reflections.



Skopje blue is a dark blue which seems to have collected particles of ashes and dust. It refers to both archiving and the polluted air as well as the residue of the fire that destroyed the Institute for Town Planning and Architecture in Skopje which was the anchor point for the program in Skopje.





Dayflower blue is the shade of blue for the program in Amsterdam. The Commelina communis plant pigment easily fades when exposed to sunlight. The color produced by this pigment feels at home in dark places. Objects in collection are often considered as fragile as the pigment coming from this flower. They are kept in the dark so that their material properties stay the same for centuries. Exploring unorthodox approaches to open up cultural heritage collections in the Netherlands with the program in Amsterdam, Dayflower blue sometimes entails the need to turn down the light on our computer screen or adjust the light in our room in order to be able to read the text or look at the images in this book.









(◦) Aram Lee
A Dissonance of Landscapes, 2019
HD Video, 13 minutes 50 seconds
Fragment of a still
Archive: “Ten Export Landscapes”
series of oil paintings from Canton, China
NMVW Collection, The Netherlands.
Project supported by AFK and Framer Framed.
Image is courtesy of the artist.






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