Philosopher Emil Cioran gives a special status to music in our being-in-the-world. He, with a masterful lucidity, affirms that “we carry in us all the music that we have not heard in our life, which lies in the bottom part of the abyss of memory. All that is musical in us is memory. When we had no name, we must […]

We must immerse ourselves in the atmospheric experience of architecture, where it seems that there is a door hidden that can open us a wider horizon of dealing with the past. Atmospheric architecture (Böhme)[i] immerses us in the sensory aspect of space and, if we invert this approach, we can immerse ourselves in the spatial sense of the past. Consequently, […]

Due to its imposing design, function, as well as central location directly across the street from the Government of Serbia, the General Staff building has become a symbol of the 1999 bombing, and everything consciously or subconsciously connected to that event

The current state of affairs best suits the stabilocratic despot Aleksandar Vučić, who, against the backdrop of a gaping vacuum, creates narratives that suit his ongoing need for capital enlargement. In spite of the fact that the current President of the Serbiatrics department is an honored guest and friend of the very people who were leading NATO countries during the […]

What is the music of your past? Is there a song you associate with a particular time of your life? Is there an everyday sound that brings out memories for you? While in conversation about sound’s capacity to evoke memories, music usually comes to mind; this article will explore some ideas behind listening to historic sites and the capacity of […]

The process of regional and internal consolidation of Western Balkan (WB) countries remains incomplete, with the legacy of conflict still exerting significant influence. Since the beginning of Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2022, the European Union and the US have shifted their focus towards security issues. The Western Balkans exemplify how post-conflict societal transformation is as crucial as war prevention. […]

Since the end of the war in 1999, Kosovo has undergone a profound transition. Emerging from the damages of war and ethnic cleansing, the country embarked on a path toward reconstruction, state-building, and ultimately, independence. However, the declaration of independence marked the beginning of a new set of challenges as the newly independent country faced major internal and external issues. […]

Forgetting and remembering are two of the main concerns of being-in-the-world. At least this is what Milan Kundera states in his novel “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting“. In the same way, writer Primo Levi in ​​the existential-phenomenological expression of Auschwitz tells us that ‘memory is a marvelous but fallacious instrument‘, and this is as a result of the non-singularity […]

The politics of memorialization and commemoration in Kosovo have been shaped by the war of 1998-1999, which has organized them around the idea of the heroic as the most sublime truth. The sublime truth is also the only truth of the Kosovo war. The heroic has served as the organizing principle of all other forms of narrating, public discourses, political […]

“A service for peace”, NATO soldiers remember the 1999 humanitarian intervention in Kosovo. Little of what in 1999 was part of NATO’s decisions, orders and air operations over the former Yugoslavia has stopped in time to become part of the military museums of the countries whose forces were part of the intervention. What was once shown in video conferences or […]