NAMA – 1908 Employees, 15 Department Stores
The central theme of the project is non-transparent transition and the consequent fate of workers
In-situ project, June, Zagreb, Croatia, June 2000.
The artwork Nama: 1908 Employees, 15 Department Stores is an advertising simulation that includes posters with portraits of female workers located in city light boxes in frequent public places in Zagreb.
In the center of the work is “NAMA” (it comes from NArodni MAgazin which means “The People’s Shop”) — the strongest chain of department stores, a symbol of socialist welfare, which in transitional conditions becomes unprofitable and collapses. At the time when the artist develops the project the shelves in the department stores are empty, and the fate of 1908 employees who work daily without pay next to the empty shelves is uncertain.
Among three completely different ideas that Andreja had to “amplify the voice” of workers in public, the NAMA union decided to go with the proposal of using posters in city light boxes, considering it would provide the highest visibility. Posters featuring a NAMA worker in a recognizable work uniform and the text “NAMA: 1908 workers, 15 department stores” were placed in central city locations.
The employee on the poster symbolizes the individual and collective disaster accompanying the transition in the Croatian economy.
Three days after the posters were placed, a flurry of articles in newspapers arose, questioning who and with what purpose had placed the posters in the city, considering that the shelves remained empty and the workers were still unpaid.
The existential uncertainty of the workers was further brought into the public spotlight, along with the question of non-transparent privatizations. Through the media, a public dialogue was reignited, contributing in part to the eventual outcome: bankruptcy with restructuring. Workers were not laid off, salaries were paid, and the department stores continued to operate.
Project realization:
The work was produced for the exhibition “What, how and for whom”, curated by Ana Dević and Nataša Ilić. / Author: Andreja Kulunčić / Workers NAME: Branka Stanić, Biserka Kanenarić and Barbara Kovačević. / Poster design by Dejan Dragosavac-Ruta / Photography by Mara Milin / Styling by Robert Sever / Makeup by Saša Joković / Photo-documentation of the project by Mara Milin and Ivo Martinović / Production by WHW, Zagreb.