This year's Museum Night in Kaštela attracted numerous visitors who had the opportunity to enjoy a diverse cultural program. The exhibition opened at Villa Nika entitled We had (THAT) too…, where the people of Kaštela could see numerous items that their mothers and grandmothers used in the kitchen, and which marked the lives of people in the mid-20th century.
In Villa Nika, which was inhabited during the 1950s, a mid-20th-century castellan kitchen has been reconstructed, complete with kitchen utensils and tools used by women at the time. Among the items on display were a sideboard, plates, bronzeware, a coffee grinder (mažinin), pots, cacioles, a meat grinder, bottles, scales (balance), as well as cloths, aprons and tablecloths.
Exhibition We had (THAT) too… emerged from the frequent verbal reactions of museum visitors while viewing the exhibitions. Starting from this spontaneous reaction of the audience, an exhibition cycle was designed aimed at studying the culture of everyday life in the area of today's Kaštela. The aim of the cycle is to explore how social and economic changes, technological progress and the transformation of lifestyles have influenced the shaping of the modern way of life, but also changes in interpersonal relationships within the local community.
The first exhibition within the cycle We had (THAT) too… is dedicated to the kitchen as a space in a house or apartment that has been inseparable from the intimate sphere of family life from the very beginning. Precisely because of its functional and symbolic role, but also its strong presence in the memories of living generations, the kitchen was chosen as the starting theme of this project. The exhibition concept is focused on the reconstruction of the sensory and ritual aspects of everyday life – smells, sounds, objects and established practices that marked life in the mid-20th century. The kitchen is viewed as a central place for family gatherings and communication, while in the traditional context the role of the woman – the housewife, the organizer of the household and the key figure in the functioning of this space is particularly emphasized.
– This summer, in an acquisition, we received books from an old stone house in Trogir, and when we came to pick them up, only the kitchen was left in the house. I asked the owner if we could have the kitchen too, and he looked at me with astonishment because they were going to throw it away. I felt sorry for it, so we took it over, and it became the basis of this exhibition. That's how the cycle actually began We had (THAT) too…. We decided to present a kitchen from the 50s and 60s, precisely because of the kitchen we received. The catalog will also explain older kitchens, known as black kitchens, while this is about a white kitchen. We all know what our mothers' and grandmothers' kitchens looked like. I did some research and found interesting information on social networks, especially on Facebook. So we also have a large bulletin board that refers to this cupboard behind us, which hid everything and anything and was often locked. Jars with jam and 505 with a line were extremely valued, and the ones we exhibited, although rusty, testify to long-term use and different purposes - the author of the exhibition, museum advisor of the Kaštela City Museum, Sanja Acalija, told us.
Brigita Hrga, a student at the Department of Visual Communication Design at the Academy of Arts, University of Split, participated in setting up the exhibition and designing its visual identity, under the mentorship of Jelena Zanchi, PhD, B.A. in Architecture.
Professor Zanchi praised student Hrga, as well as the collaboration between the Academy and author Sanja Acalija, and gave the exhibition a perfect five.
– It was definitely challenging because I am not that familiar with this area, considering that I am not from this region. Through working on the exhibition, I got to know a new culture that I had little knowledge of before. Although I remember some of the items we had in my grandmother's kitchen, I saw the cupboard and some other items for the first time during the preparation of the exhibition – said Hrga, responsible for the design of the exhibition's display.
The choice of Villa Nika as the space in which the kitchen was reconstructed further contributed to the credibility of the interpretation of the exhibited objects. It is therefore not surprising that the sentence most frequently heard among visitors last night was: "We had that too."
Those who did not have the opportunity to view the exhibition last night can do so until March 9th.
This year, the Night of Museums in Kaštela included three locations, including the Archbishop's Castle in Sućurac, where visitors could view the recently opened exhibition, guided by Ada Danek. "Cement factory 'Dalmatia' dd in Kaštel Sućurac (1912 – 1942)”.
The exhibition "Dalmatia" Cement Factory dd marks 111 years since the completion of its construction in 1914, as we mentioned earlier. писалиThe exhibition shows the transformation of Kaštela peasants into workers who, while working in the "factory", retained their agricultural habits. With archival materials and inventory, the exhibition bears witness to the industrial rise and rich social life.
Photo: Andrej Valentić
