Neo-colony (degradation of red)

video, 2015
HD 1080p, color, stereo sound, 3′ (loop)

Neo-colony is a video that incorporates a staged scene in front of the Porta Aurea, the main entrance in Diocletian’s Palace. Two students are dressed as Diocletian’s Roman legionnaires with two pure bred American Staffordshire Terriers. On the stage is a recognisable roman wall and part of the relief of the niche. The scene is shot from a contra picado or low point of view looking up to emphasizes the over arching sense of scale and masculinity of the figures and due to it’s vertical format it’s presented on a vertical LCD screen and life-size projection. Neo-colony combines touristic homogenisation with a manicured and scrub-cleaned façade created through over conservation that has transformed monuments into theatrical sceneries. In the 90s only local drug dealers kept Pit bulls and Staffords as a sort of weapon. I think that local drug dealer just had them as protection… and that all this can go with today situation: Today they have become fashion and status symbols of power and dominance, a stereotype of masculinity that mirrors mass media projections of western power. And take out this part: due to the impact of the US ghettos, rap and hip-hop culture. Today they have become fashion and status symbols of power and dominance, a stereotype of masculinity that mirrors mass media projections of western power. In this constructed scene aggression is a metaphor of Croatian post-transition society, neo-colonial exploitation and disneylandisation of the history. The economy based on tourism produced mentality, value systems, lifestyles and behaviour. This work is a reaction to the gentrification of the city centre and the brutal power of capital.