Hemingway on Lastovo

The exhibition presents a speculative video work on the probable, albeit still unproven stay of writer Ernest Hemingway on the island of Lastovo in the 1930s. The author opted for narration in form of a song accompanied by fiddling, often used in folk mythology and storytelling. This exhibition debuts the English version of the work.

The exhibition can be accessed at the main square of the town of Korčula through personal mobile devices, connecting via the “grey) (area” Wi-Fi network. This is a new digital art presentation format organized by the grey) (area association - a space for contemporary and media art from Korčula, realized in cooperation with the Format C Art organization based in Zagreb and the Korčula Town Museum.

Author states about the project:
"In the 1960s, Branko, my father's older brother and epidemiologist who taught at universities in the US and who stayed at a hotel in California on one occasion, chanced upon a magazine featuring a text on Hemingway, or Hemingway’s own text about his journey to Italy in the 1930s.
Already a world-renowned author, Hemingway asked an Italian acquaintance to recommend a quiet place where he would not be besieged by journalists or admirers of the writing star he was. The acquaintance recommended that he visit Lastovo, which was then part of Italy. There was a regular flight connection to the borough of Ubli by seaplane, and this is how Hemingway arrived on Lastovo. There was mention of him staying at Solitudo Hotel.
When Branko read the text in this magazine, he was convinced that the famous writer visiting Lastovo was a well-known fact.
In 1996, I think, he was invited to the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, to convey some of his experiences as one of the members of the first expert team from the late 1940s and the early 1950s engaged in islands – the island of Susak at the time – since the Academy planned to reform expert teams engaged in islands. On that occasion, he recalled the text he had read long before, on Hemingway’s stay on Lastovo. What is interesting is that none of the academicians he was in contact with knew of this fact.
Not long after, my friend Mira Gattin née Jurica, a Lastovo native, asked me to photograph some facilities on Lastovo for the purposes of the book The History of Lastovo, prepared by her father who was nicknamed Miš (Mouse). In conversation, I asked him whether he knew anything about Hemingway on Lastovo, and the answer I received was negative.
I looked for that text on the internet; after that, my friend Jadran, who is somewhat more meticulous, also failed to find the text that Branko had spoken of.
For now, this is a family, or perhaps a broader myth of Ernest Hemingway staying on Lastovo."
(Translatied by Mirta Jurilj)

The Wi-Fi Gallery grey) (area has been set up on Pivilion, a free and open operating system developed by Dina Karadžić and Vedran Gligo of Format C. The wireless local area network (WLAN) is freely available and introduces digital artwork automatically, without a password or further action, to anyone connecting with the Wi-Fi network. Since 2022 grey) (area Wi-Fi Gallery is permanently available in Korčula’s St. Mark's Square, presenting works were chosen by curators from grey) (area and Format C.

Translation: Mirta Jurilj