Monument to Travelers
Installed on 22.06.2023
Dock, Zadar, Croatia
Bioceramics — salt, flour, water, acrylic pigment
10 × 10 × 5 cm
How long does a monument need to remain in one place to become a monument?
In June 2023, two small figures travelled with us from Keszthely through Dalmatia to Zadar. Along the way, they were repeatedly placed into different environments — forests, towns, coastlines, mountains — to see where they might fit.
The figures themselves were made from salt, flour, and water.
They were small, slightly amorphous travellers: one wearing a panama hat and moustache, the other glasses. They travelled hand in hand, carrying their tiny backpacks.
In Zadar, they finally found their place on a mooring bollard near the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun.
The rough surface of the bollard became their pedestal. The sea, salt, sun, wind, and constant movement of the waterfront became part of the work.
We did not attach or fix the figures to the site.
They were simply left there.
This is how Posolontsy came into being — a playful word combining the ideas of walkers, travellers, and salt. They had travelled through the salt of the road and arrived at the salt of the sea.
MONUMENT INSTALLATION:
We do not know how long they remained in Zadar.
And this uncertainty is part of the work.
A traveller is not expected to stay.
JOURNEY AND SITE TESTING:
Keszthely → Split → Žuljana → Ston → Mali Ston → Sveti Ivan → Orebić → Zadar
The journey was part of the work. Each location became a temporary testing ground: would the figures belong here? What would happen if they were placed within this particular landscape?
The final installation emerged not from a predetermined site, but from the accumulated experience of the journey.
PROTOTYPES AND IMAGES:
From the authors
“Let them walk with us for a while. Maybe the right name will come later.”
The name came in Zadar.
Posolontsy — Salt Walkers.
