The YNK (white type on translucent PVC) sticker in Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro (former Yugoslavia) is located in the eight-story high residential building in Drage Spasic street #13 built in 1980. The building is a part of an “exclusive” social housing compound built of reinforced concrete blocks and finished with red bricks in the immediate proximity to Danube in a part of Novi Sad called Liman 1 (there are four Limans). Liman is a sandy “island” (more like a bump) in a swamp what was originally the larger part of Novi Sad area. Limans are in essence built upon Le Corbusier’s concept of modern urban development and they gained almost an instant prestigious status within the society, celebrated as modern urban symbol of progress and true social environment that will reinforce the communal values in the so called “transitional period” and prepare the society for the final phase of human enlightment – communism. Limans were for the longest period of time (1950s-1980s) almost purely residential with sporadic grocery stores, kindergartens, and elementary schools. Liman 1 enjoys the highest position in the local hierarchy because its situation between the University and the river bank that during hot summer days turns into the largest inland beach on the continent known as “Strand” (pronounced German not English).
The sticker has been applied on the interior of the elevator shaft between 4th and 5th floor on the metal surface painted black sometimes in 1996. The sticker has been given the same year to DM by either Martin Osterider or Heimo Wallner during DM’s brief stay in St.Lorenzen bei Sheifling in Steiermark. DM carried the sticker in his wallet for quite a while as he thought of it in a very special way-in terms that he intuitively thought of placing it somewhere “intelligent” or in a subtle but meaningful environment. The “neutral” surface between two floors appeared as an ideal location for the sticker as DM wanted it to be seen but not easily removed or “vandalized.” The elevator in the building has two-winged glass doors through which a passenger can observe the horizontal journey through the shaft where the spectacle has quite a generic form of exterior “moving” up or down. No instructions for the placement of the sticker whatsoever were given to DM at any point in time and the only information that DM had about YNK is that it was a name of an Austrian artistic collaborative whom he never met. BTW, DM did see a photograph of YNK installation in an abandoned gas station somewhere in Austria and was touched by it both intellectually and emotionally. OM had in mind this strong impression of the YNK work while looking for the “proper” surface for the sticker. DM left his home in Drage Spasic street in the fall of 1998 and came back to visit for the first time in the fall of 2003 to find out that the sticker was untouched. A year later DM visited the place again not noticing any changes with the sticker condition. Lack of sunlight exposure, minimal oscillations in temperature, stabile humidity, in-your-face but outof-reach distance from the elevator riders, and obviously solid adhesive seam to provide what DM was thinking about back in 1996 – appropriately peculiar spot for the sticker.
Dragan Miletic
in: Starship Magazine #8, The year we have been nowhere, 2005