Exhibition of Conceptual Designs for the Memorial in the Park of the Erased

The former courtyard of the Rog factory on Trubarjeva Street is being transformed into a public park, alongside the renovation of the Rog Center. This park, named Park izbrisanih, was initiated by Amnesty International Slovenia and the Civil Initiative of Erased Activists. The park will permanently commemorate the 25,671 individuals who were erased from the Slovenian register of permanent residents after the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

At the initiative of the proposers, the park will honor the memory of the erased, as one of the auxiliary buildings of the former Rog complex served as the workspace for the Civil Initiative of Erased Activists for nearly 20 years. The design competition for the memorial was organized by the Rog Center, attracting 12 submissions. A nine-member jury consisting of Janez Koželj (representative of the founder), Renata Zamida (representative of the client), Rok Kuhar, Nina Granda, Matej Kučina (representatives of the professional public), Andrej Kurnik, Jerneja Batič (representatives of civil society), Nataša Posel, and Irfan Beširević (representatives of the proposers) awarded the first prize to Vuk Ćosić, Aleksandar Vujović, and Irena Woelle, who conceptualized the memorial in the shape of the upper part of the letter ć. This letter, not present in the Slovenian alphabet unlike in South Slavic languages, was erased from surnames in the nationalistic fervor after independence and replaced with a hard č. According to the authors, the memorial "symbolically returns the erased character, signaling Ljubljana's desire to be a capital of solidarity and coexistence".

The second prize was awarded to Primož Pugelj, and third prizes went to two creative teams: Cveto Kunešević and Zoran Srdić, and Neža Mekota and Anže Sekelj.

All twelve design proposals can be viewed until March 8th at the Historical Atrium of the City Hall in Ljubljana. The winning design is expected to be implemented in the Park of the Erased by the end of 2023.

The exhibition is part of a series of events commemorating the 31st anniversary of the illegal erasure of 25,671 individuals from Slovenia's population register, which took place on February 26th, 1992.

Obeležje v Parku izbrisanih_utemeljitve komisije (Memorial in the Park of the Erased_Committee's Justifications)

Zapisnik odpiranja predlogov - Javni natečaj za idejno rešitev za obeležje (Minutes of Proposal Openings - Public Competition for the Conceptual Design of the Memorial)