OPENING: Thursday, 9th of March 2006, 8 pm
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'ON EITHER SIDE'
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Installation by Arend Roelink
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Fikret Alic, a Bosnian Muslim, emaciated and stripped to the waist, 
apparently imprisoned behind a barbed wire fence in a Bosnian Serb 
amp at Trnopolje, became a worldwide symbol of the war in Bosnia. 
The image was filmed by a British news team, but it is not quite 
what it seems.

The barbed wire in the picture is not around the Bosnian Muslims; 
it is around the cameraman and the journalists. It formed part of 
a broken-down barbed wire fence encircling a small compound that 
was next to Trnopolje camp. The British news team filmed from inside 
this compound, shooting pictures of the refugees and the camp through 
the compound fence. In the eyes of many who saw them, the resulting 
pictures left the false impression that the Bosnian Muslims were caged 
behind barbed wire.  

Thomas Diechmann, 'The Picture That Fooled The World' Living Marxism, 
Issue97, February 1997.

In his article on the events that happened after the broadcasting 
of the short reportage on Trnopoje, Deichmann explains that the 
international community 'needed' this footage to take action. 
Many thinks are to question in this matter, like: If this print 
caused the international community to act, wasnÕt it right to 
present the people of Trnopolje like this? 
Or why did the reportage team picked out this particulair piece 
of film for the evening news?  
In a way the film seemed to confirm our expectations on what 
was going on in the dark corners of the former Yugoslavia. 
The world leaders needed a smoking gun and this turned out to 
be the one. 
One result of the actions that followed, was the fact that the 
original Muslim people were not able to return to their houses.

'On 1 October 1992, the first big Red Cross convoy set off from 
Trnopolje to ship 1560 refugees over the border into Croatia. 
In a sense, the exile of thousands of Muslims from their home 
in Bosnia Herzegovina was thus inadvertently facilitated by the 
international reaction to the ITN reports from Trnopolje.'   
 

The installation 'On Either Side' reflects on the tendency to think 
in boxes,  to simplify society and base action on these findings. 
In spite off the fact that we donÕt want to, subconsciously we make 
choices on the idea of first impression. 
It's something deeply rooted in contemporary society. 
It's time to check to see whether you are on one side of the fence 
without you knowing it. And before taking sides it is time to work 
our way around the barb wire fence and take a look from another 
perspective. 

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The exhibition is open 9 March - 17 March __________________________
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During the exhibition the project space is open from Thursday to 
Sunday 3pm - 7pm or by appointment. ________________________________
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For further questions mail to : pswar@xs4all.nl_____________________
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