Remembering them is the theme of artistic efforts to prevent such horrors from being forgotten. It is particularly important to emphasize how the actors who created that institution scorned the freedom of art and did not recognize the existence of art as art or its potential to be a critique or conscience of society. Thus, the art of that time timidly raised its head only after Krleža's speech at the Congress of Writers in Ljubljana in 1952, discussing the situation in art after the Informbiro Resolution and its relationship with the Kremlin. The decision to free art (literature, painting, etc.) from socialist-realist discourse and political instrumentalism allowed artists to return to their fundamental tasks. The life of the writer Ante Zemljar, who was imprisoned twice on Goli Otok, or the painter and illustrator Alfred Pal, also a prisoner in that terrible place, testifies to those times and the situation. Davor Mezak's Dreamscapes of Goli Otok originate from the initiative of cinematographer Darko Bavoljak and the project of the Goli Otok Association "Ante Zemljar" as part of the Rijeka European Capital of Culture project in 2020, aimed at affirming the culture of remembrance. "Memory Environment - Art Against Repression" is a project that brought together 50 artists from Croatia and abroad, including Mezak, who with his works makes a significant contribution to the general memory of the sufferings imposed by the former authoritarian regime. Photographs of the devastated landscape of the former camp as well as those taken from various memorabilia of that dreadful place where people suffered under the slogan "We are building the island, the island is building us" are the core of an approach that does not want to be just mere testimony but also a warning about the authoritarian nature of a government that brutally punishes potential dissenters. The concept of authoritarianism emerged in the literature of the 1930s, and one of its forerunners, Max Horkheimer, moved from Berlin to Switzerland the day after Hitler came to power in Germany. Everything that happened later, the so-called twilight of the gods, antisemitism, terror against democracy and citizenship, concentration camps, and mass murders, can be attributed to the authoritarian character and nature of Nazi rule. Mezak's works, however, testify to how the authoritarian character of the domestic political nomenclature was executed "on a smaller scale" here, but equally terrifying, by the communist authorities in former Yugoslavia. The exhibited works precisely hit the essence of political authoritarianism. It is clear how complete loyalty and subservience to the party and state were vehemently demanded, regardless of personal suffering and torture. The unwavering belief was instilled that the struggle of the working class for power was the only correct and historically justified path of political life. The interest of the party, namely socialist society, is elevated far above any personal interests or views. It was especially important to believe that showing emotion was a weakness that disturbed reality and the proper course of progressive action. Distrust and aversion towards anyone who did not share the same views and constant suspicion were practices of upbringing and life circumstances. These are just some of the messages that can be read from Mezak's works, reminding us of the crimes we must not forget or remain silent about to prevent their recurrence, regardless of which political agenda they come from. The works also leave a special impression with lightboxes that, with stones, evoke the nature of the penitentiary, within which a shadow of a person (artist) observing the devastated environment or other unpleasant panoramas can be seen. This testifies that nothing but shadows could endure there; everything human has long been shattered. Thus, this harsh nightmare is also our unfortunate legacy; let us not forget it.

Marijan Grakalić