Collaboration - Udruga Avanti! / Selma Selman: CROSSING THE BLUE BRIDGE
At the beginning of September, the Mediterranean Dance Center will host the Forward Avanti! programme, organised by Avanti! Center Avant-gardes. In San Vincenti, the programme will present Crossing the Blue Bridge by artist Selma Selman, a powerful and personal film that draws on her family’s experience to address war, memory, survival and resilience. The film will be continuously available to visitors at MDC for almost 29 hours.
1 September 2026, 19:00 - 2 September 2026, 23:55
Mediterranean Dance Center, Svetvinčenat
ABOUT THE FILM
Selma Selman: Crossing the Blue Bridge
16mm film transferred to digital video, stereo, 27’16”
Director and Writer: Selma Selman
Producers: Amra Bakšić Camo, Ishak Jalimam
Director of Photography: Almir Đikoli
First Assistant Director: Luka Vlaho
Production Manager: Haris Kamenčić
Production Coordinator: Kristina Jeličanin
First Camera Assistant: Edib Ahmetasević
Second Camera Assistant: Skender Đikoli
Third Camera Assistant: Darko Vučić
Sound Recorder: Nirvan Imamović
Production Assistants: Amar Teskeredžić, Adi Zulović
Driver: Mirza Imamović
Production Design and Editing: Jon Perez, Chongha Peter Lee
Sound Design: Jon Perez, Dauwd Al Hilali, Chongha Peter Lee
Thank you: Center for Contemporary Art Sarajevo, K Light Sarajevo, Eho Doo, Adis Đapo, Nedim Branković, Safet Kutlovac, Sejdalija Kutlovac, Béla Tarr, Amila Ramovic, Radmila Petrovic, Sasha Tatic, Muhamed Selman, Sasha from USK TV
The biggest thank you to my family and of course to my mother and sister!
Production: Realstage, Antifragile agency
Commissioned by: Röda Sten Konsthall, Schirn Kunsthalle, Kulturhauptstadt Bad Ischl, Salzkammergut 2024 Gmbh, European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl
Filmed in Bihać (BA)
Spoken: English, Romani and Bosnian, English subtitles encrypted into video
The film is based on the experiences of the artist’s mother during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s. On the day of the 1993 ceasefire, her mother and sister went to the town market in Bihać to sell their belongings and buy food for the family. However, on their way home, the bus driver informed them that he could not take them all the way across the bridge, known as the “Blue Bridge”, as it was covered with human and animal bodies.
While crossing the bridge, attempting at the same time to cover her child’s eyes and carry a basket of food, strong winds blew her hair across her face, obscuring her view. In this film, a performance for the camera, the artist re-enacts this scene by reciting a text in English, Bosnian and Romani, connecting it with female figures from Greek mythology, including Pandora and the goddess Nike. Selman presents her mother as a heroine whose upbringing contributed to the artist’s ability to endure the most adverse conditions of the contemporary world, while the experience of the “Blue Bridge” has become a symbol of Selman’s artistic activism.
Unfortunately, wars and their consequences remain an urgent reality, with a number of new international conflicts emerging across the world, including Ukraine, Palestine (Gaza) and Iran (the Persian Gulf). Many are aware of the immeasurable consequences of war, of personal and collective losses; yet, despite this awareness, aggression and militarisation are becoming part of everyday life around the globe. The messages conveyed by Selma Selman through this film therefore serve as a reminder of the tragedy of every war, but also of the humanity that we must continue to nurture, resisting the pressure exerted by those in power of all kinds, large and small, ours and theirs, the seemingly civilised as well as the openly brutal.
Today, Selma Selman works beyond her place of origin, and her crossing of the bridge, performed for the purposes of the film, can also be understood as a symbolic tribute to her profound connection with the Roma community.
The screening will be available to visitors continuously from 1 September at 7 pm until five minutes before midnight on 2 September (five minutes to midnight), emphasising the critical moment of our present time.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Selma Selman (b. 1991) was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina and lives and works between New York and Bihać. After completing her BA in Fine Arts at the Painting Department of the University of Banja Luka in 2014, she graduated from Syracuse University (USA) in 2018 with an MFA in Transmedia, at Visual and Performing Arts. From 2021 to 2023 she was a resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.
In recent years, her work has been presented at international exhibitions and events, including Gropius Bau and Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin), documenta fifteen (Kassel), Autostrada Biennale (Prizren), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Manifesta 14 (Prishtina), Kunstraum (Innsbruck), the Istanbul Biennial, MoMA PS1 (New York), MO Museum (Vilnius), Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt), the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo), acb Gallery (Budapest), and the FutuRoma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. She is among the first invited artists for Skulptur Projekte Münster 2027.
Selman is the founder of the Get the Heck to School Foundation, which provides support for Roma girls facing poverty and social marginalisation. In addition, she organises the film festival The Open Screen at Selma’s in her hometown of Bihać, promoting exchanges between local Roma artists and interested audiences.
She has a particular affinity for materials rooted in Roma traditions of gathering and reuse, and through her artistic work explores embodiment, the positions of Roma people, women, and migrants within processes of discrimination and emancipation, themes she powerfully manifests through her performances.
ABOUT FORWARD AVANTI!
Programme: Forward Avanti!
Programme curators: Maša Milovac, Tihomir Milovac
Organiser: Avanti! Center Avant-gardes
Visual identity design: Jan Pavlović
Partner: Mediterranean Dance Center
With thanks for their collaboration: Selma Selman, Petar Vranjković, Petra Glad Mažar, Petra Valentić
This program was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.
Cover photo: Vanesa Miteva