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by Dusica Drazic
In public perception, the historical and commemorative meaning of Obelisk, erected in 1961 and dedicated to The First Non-Aligned Movement Summit next to Branko’s Bridge, has been suppressed. Now, that mount with Obelisk in the center, became a place for incidental meetings of graffiti artists, dog owners, passers-by and the homeless. Gilewicz joins that uncontrolled movement, reacting to what he has found.
His project blends into its surrounding while being aware of both its historical and contemporary context represented by vertical power of the obelisk and random graffiti interventions. Using the original color of the monument, he had prepared several paintings and installed them at the empty space of the plinth where the granite plates used to be. With his illegal act, Gilewicz invests into the place and emphasizes its potential.
By leaving the paintings behind unsupervised, Gilewicz is letting them being absorbed by their surrounding. Without trying to control or obstruct their inevitable merge with the environment, they finally become it and disappear into it.
