Permanent Vacation
video, 32' / 2023
Courtesy of
Produced by
With support from
Photo © Andrei Stseburaka, courtesy of the YermilovCentre 
Photo © Andrei Stseburaka, courtesy of the YermilovCentre 
Photo © Oleksandr Osipov, courtesy of the YermilovCentre 
Photo © Oleksandr Osipov, courtesy of the YermilovCentre 
Photo © Oleksandr Osipov, courtesy of the YermilovCentre
Like many of Mark Požlep's projects,"Permanent Vacation" is united by three important components -- the journey, the involvement of experts from different disciplines, and the desire to narrate the complicated, intricate history of post-traumatic ingrowth, avoiding unambiguous binary oppositions.
Together with the economist Igor Feketija, Požlep sets off across the Adriatic Highway -- a monumental road spanning 1,006 km from Trieste to the Montenegro-Albania border built in 1945-1966. The artist explores how the construction of this road changed the economic, socio-political, and cultural landscape of the region and how this road affects nowadays.
Like many modernist projects, The Adriatic Highway was built closely interweaving civilian and militaristic infrastructures. The road was constructed with the aid of the Yugoslav Army and required 2,000 tons of dynamite.
The Adriatic Highway is a complex interweaving of an almost cinematic reality (it was designed to be a scenic journey, like a film through the windscreen) and the traces of exploitation, violence, tumultuous history hidden behind it. During the Yugoslav Wars, many hotels along the highway, like the iconic Haludovo Hotel, became shelters for refugees. Post-war, these facilities often faced neglect and ruin. The Haludovo Hotel, for instance, housed refugees before succumbing to privatization and corruption, closing officially in 1995 and now lying in ruins.
The concert/song format that Mark Požlep chooses to embody the research's results is not random. Bands that played music of not always high quality on the terraces of tourist hotels resonate with the current desolation of the former tourist infrastructure and allow them to convey complex emotions and absurdities with humour and freedom of expression.
Collaborating with poet Muanis Sinanović and musician Gašper Piano, Požlep transforms the narrative into seven songs that were performed in ad hoc concerts at significant sites along the highway. The performances were recorded and edited into a video, allowing visitors to experience the concerts as if they were there.