WHY TREŠNJEVKA NEIGHBORHOOD?

"Trešnjevka is a huge district in the southwestern part of the city of Zagreb. Before the second half of the 19^th century, the area of the present-day Trešnjevka was covered mainly by fields and orchards („Trešnjevka“ could be roughly translated as „Cherry-orchard“) with several small villages close to the River Sava which makes the southern border of Trešnjevka. In the year 1865, a railway was built through Zagreb and its tracks separated the area of Trešnjevka from the center of Zagreb – even today those tracks are mark of the northern and (roughly) eastern border of Trešnjevka and are preventing closer communication ties with the rest of the city.

The proximity of the railway and huge open space invited the first entrepreneurs of that time to build their workshops and small factories in the northern part of Trešnjevka."

"The beginning of the 20th century saw different initiatives of urbanisation of Trešnjevka – the main idea was to build flats for workers that were employed by the increasing number of factories in the proximity."

"Besides that, the first years of Croatian independence were marked by uncontrolled construction in many parts of central Trešnjevka which, because of its proximity to the city center and relatively low prices, became a prime target for urban developers. New developments significantly influenced the standard of living by overcrowding the narrow streets with lots of cars and burdening infrastructure of all kinds. Besides that, shopping centers (previously unknown to Zagreb) were built and factories, beaten by unsuccessful privatization, were abandoned – some of them are still radiating memories of the past socialistic times."

Source: "Trešnjevka Mapping" 

MY RELATION WITH TREŠNJEVKA?

Trešnjevka is the neighborhood I have lived in for as long as I can remember. I have many memories attached to it: kindergarten and school days, friendships, wandering around the neighborhood and looking for a place to play, riding my bike on the neighborhood streets...
Today, as an adult, I often look for ways to escape Trešnjevka. How to avoid, disappear, how to breathe somewhere else. At the same time, I feel a great connection to this neighborhood and a desire to live in it differently than just passing through it to get somewhere else.

This project aims to offer a critical frame to rethink on current characteristics of the neighborhood using movement and choreography tools. Through moving, thinking, writing, and speaking, the project constructs spaces of escape offering diving into imagination, history of the neighborhood, and different experiences for the body and mind of participants, as well as a different relation to the history and present of their neighborhood. 

Beginning steps of the research:

September 2024

Mapping existing initiatives and practices in Trešnjevka neighborhood.

FOUND: 

Exhibition "The Original Moment" by the artist Franjka Prša

I gained insight into her process of creating a communal practice of gathering inside and around a small abandoned store in the neighborhood, which she presented as one of Trešnjevka’s original products while critically reflecting on the disappearance of the practice of gathering in the public space of the neighborhood.

LITERATURE FOUND:

Klein G., Noeth S. (Eds.). (2011) Emerging Bodies: The Performance of Worldmaking in Dance and Choreography. Transaction Publishers.

 Corbett S. (2017) How to be a Craftivist: The Art of Gentle Protest. Unbound.

Gasaway Hill M.L. (2018) The Language of Protest: Acts of Performance, Identity and Legitimacy. Springer International.

BLOK collective - "Museum of the Neighborhood"

Local history becomes a tool in understanding the processes that shape the neighborhood, but also a trigger for engagement in Trešnjevka as it is today.

Meeting with Ana Kutleša, curator of the museum. 

-> insight about working with the community, participatory processes, possible collaboration within my research.

"Trešnjevka is waking up" event

Exhibitions of local artists, flea market, neighborhood gathering.

Local magazine: "The Voice of Trešnjevka"

"Trešnjevka Mapping"

A participatory project aimed at exploring the local identity of Trešnjevka.

Meeting with Vanja Radovanović, one of the initiators of the project, gave me a lecture on the history of urban development of the neighborhood. 

-> possible collaboration within my research.

ONLINE SURVEY ON ESCAPE FROM TREŠNJEVKA

Aim:

• gathering information about the escape practices of the inhabitants
• Where do they find different sensations within the neighborhood?
• Why do they reach out for escapism?
• What are the characteristics of the neighborhood that make them think about escape?

WHERE AND HOW DO THEY ESCAPE WITHIN THE NEIGHBORHOOD? 

"Sometimes I like to escape, during the evenings, on empty market. During the day I like to ride my bike through Favellas which are streching between the Market and Park Stara Trešnjevka. Fallerovo šetalište also feels like an escape since it has s little river that goes from Sljeme, I always look for some fish inside but it only has frogs and occasionally two ducks swimming."

"I manage to escape. I escape with wonderful people, hand in hand, glance after a glance, word after word. It is wonderful to escape through my own and other people's stories while sharing experiences. These are escapes into past and future times, into various existing and non-existing spaces. They mostly take place in August, a cute café across from the Sports Center.

Behind the Sports Center there is that green path where people walk their dogs, I always choose to walk there, because it takes me to a Sljeme trail. It doesn't matter that that chimney is lurking above me."

"I escape to where there is a tree tall enough that I can look up to its branches. When I look up towards a tall tree, street surroundings disappear and most of the time I can only see the tree and the sky and a little bit of tall buildings. The streets disappear and that gives me a brief escape."

WHY?

"The main factor for me is that Trešnjevka feels more crowded than ever, I also started to feel that there is a big class difference and that Trešnjevka gradually losing its identity, which is a working-class neighborhood."

"Loud, narrow, not green, my feet hurt, my bag is heavy, the tram is screeching"

"Trešnjevka is colorful and full of people. A lot is going on in Trešnjevka and that's wonderful. But I'm running away from that, I'm running away from so much color, noise, so much that attracts attention. And the reason is the need to calm down, to get back to the feeling of the wind on my skin."

"Escape from traffic, concrete, overcrowding"

WHAT DO YOU DO WHILE ESCAPING WITHIN THE NEIGHBORHOOD?

"Most of the time when I seek escape from the city, I'm walking with my dog. She's a perfect companion for having a drive around the city or Trešnjevka, I always have tobacco, a lighter, and a book (if I feel like reading), but most of the time I spend walking around romanticizing Zagreb's empty spaces, it's brick walls, small gardens without plants, it's old trams and many stories that have been told on the market, it's people trying to recall the times when things were moving at a much slower pace. Times when kids were playing on the streets, on trees, with less expensive cars around."

"With the help of headphones, I go into the in-between space and with the help of my body I create my own space, I dance while I'm on the road. So... headphones, body and often a bicycle, it's also nice to dance on it."

"In the evening after work, I take a walk with my husband around the neighborhood along a path that takes us through one of the parks where we sit on a bench and talk. Sitting in a park surrounded by nature calms me down and I feel less suffocated."