What if… … one encounters the massive complexity of the underground structure when wandering in Petrovaradin fortress. By filling the voids of the tunnels, a 1:1 model is copied from some meters belowground. This inversed monument is placed as an installation within the moats in between the bastions. Spatial confusion is intended through the paradoxical game of perceiving aboveground the voids of the underground defence system. How the structure is used is up to the passer-by. The terrain vague continues to exist.
figure 3.7.4: filling the voids
… a sound installation recovers a historical soundscape. Through the enigma of stories and sounds from past and present, the Belgrade gate gives voice to the course of time as part of the lost memory. Through an unexpected soundscape, the pedestrians are challenged to experience these histories. The public space of the gate is rethought as a storykeeper and a storyteller.
figure 3.7.5: historical soundscape
These spaFal interpretaFon elements can trigger visitors’ curiosity while also helping them understand Petrovaradin and its manifold qualiFes. However, a danger lies in losing the terrain vague as an urban quality through too many intervenFons and planning. A delicate balance aims to render the lost fortress accessible without ruining the freedom of exploraFon but also without losing its heritage in the first place through inadequate conservaFon or management. We therefore believe the following: We must succeed in changing the spatial perception of the fortress, without revealing it. We must describe clues, not signs. We must spark curiosity, not only transfer information. We must be able to rediscover its vastness, without losing its invaluable terrain vague. We must preserve the possibility of getting lost as an element that’s unique in Petrovaradin's space, in which experience becomes a form of interpretation. We must conserve the multitude of perceived fortresses that exist in the imagination of visitors and current users of Petrovaradin fortress.
References D’Angelo, D. (2018). SensiFve research issues. Area nO 159 anno XXIX, 20-25. Georgieva, D. (2016). Rethinking Accessibility to Cultural Heritage: Sensing Archaeology. Modern Conserva.on, 4, 91-105. Georgieva, D. (2018). IT’S NOT BINARY or Economic Accessibility to Cultural Heritage. Annual of the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia, 51(1), 67-82. Solà-Morales, I. (1995). Terrain Vague. In C. Davidson (Ed.), Anyplace (118-123). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 115