From one of the corners of the old Spanish House, we can read “A KIND WORD” and from the opposite spot, “OPENS EVEN AN IRON GATE”. A nice serbian proverb we chose to complement this magic space which was abandoned after it was bombed during the WWI.
Palabra bonita
2014
Belgrade, Serbia
The place
Belgrade, besides its agitated war history and being bombed for three times, is nowadays a center of culture, with interesting and alive neighborhoods such as Savamala. Is in Savamala where we can find what is known as the Spanish House.
A construction where only the 4 façades and the concrete pillars remained pointing to the sky. There is no roof, neither wrought. Not even the reason of its name was found.
Nowadays, all the riverside of Sava is being activated by the new design studios, coworking spaces and interventions such as urban gardens. The epicenter is the Mikser House, home of the Mikser Festival, to which we were invited.
The design
By using the cyrillic version of the DIN Pro typeface, we decided to take over that complex space by using the technique of “Anamorphosis”.
We chose a quite popular proverb: “A KIND WORD OPENS EVEN AN IRON GATE” and decided to separate the sentence in order to make the spectator go around the house to read the end of the proverb. From the entrance we can read “A KIND WORD”, and from the opposite corner “OPENS EVEN THE IRON GATE”.
Because with the right attitude, a bit of kindness and a smile, one can achieve everything in life.
Information and credits
- Intervention developed in a space 20 m long by 15 m wide, in Belgrade, Serbia, in June 2014
- Plastic water-based paint on wall
- Project framed in th Mikser Festival, arranged by Mikser House
- Thanks to Marija Draškić, Jovan Pucarević and all the Mikser House crew, for this amazing event. Thanks to the Hispanic Society of Belgrade, for its care and kindness
- Thanks to Jasna Precepa, for making possible this adventure and to Andjela Velimirovic and Elena Erdeljanović, for the invaluable company at the Sava river bank.
- Photography by Boa Mistura.