Olaf Nicolai
KO LI AJA, 2023
Sound installation
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin / Leipzig
During the 1930s the Raša mines were part of the company Azienda Carboni Italiani. The mines were recording a sharp rise in production due to the needs of fascist autarkic economy. Olaf Nicolai (*1962) has addressed this specific context with a sound intervention. Delicate children’s voices with Italian timbre sound from the abandoned main portal to the former Prvomajska factory management building, accompanied by a piano and the cool breeze from the depths of the old mine tunnels. The music is provided by the children’s choir of the Comunita degli italiani di Albona. In Olaf Nicolai’s sound intervention – titled KO LI AJA after the name of Croatian football player Marko Livaja, which was tagged recently by football fans over the buildings entrance.
Olaf Nicolai KO LI AJA, 2023. Photo by Jules Spinatsch.