The Song of Others

“With every grenade, every mine you remove, you potentially save a life. If not immediately, then maybe in ten years, or maybe in a hundred years [...]. You're removing a potential danger for a woman, for a child, for whoever.”

Member of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team of DOVO, a special unit of the Belgian Defense Forces.

“1.5 billion shells were fired a hundred years ago in World War I, of which about a third did not explode. So on November 11, 1918, there were about 500 million shells lying around here, somewhere in the ground...”

“If we all think the same way, in the same format, we run the risk of following fatal misconceptions to the end. Conversely, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to recognize a potentially better solution to a problem from someone who has a different perspective on things.”

Ornithologist at the University of Wrocław, has been studying the birds in the Białowieża Forest, Europe's last primeval forest, for over 30 years.

“The past nourishes the present and the future. Memory nourishes human thought, just as the soil nourishes its plants.”

Writer from Sarajevo. Playwright, essayist, dramaturg, and literary scholar.

During the Bosnian War, Sarajevo was besieged for four years by Serbian militias (1992–1996). During this time, the Vijećnica National Library was deliberately bombarded with phosphorus grenades and burned down, along with 2-3 million books and manuscripts. 20 years after its destruction, the building was renovated and is now used for representative purposes and can be rented for weddings and corporate events.

“This building has no memory today. Nothing here remembers the young people who studied and dreamed here – nothing. It's a place that only tourists visit. And in a world ruled by tourism, nobody is at home.”