Towards a No-(o)fence Zoo
Ella Bacchetta

Before going to Brijuni, I read this sentence from the exhibition Brioni—A Necromantic Effort by Magnus Bärtås and Behzad Khosravi Noori with Paul Kupelwieser and Josip Broz Tito (2021, Zagreb):

“The creation of the zoo, representing an imagined empire, has colonial aspects; the idea of creating an exotic “colony” inside Europe, to create a luxurious center of the world, unite them.”

It triggered me. I started researching the history of animals in Brijuni and discovered the unreal stories of deported animals, cages and diplomatic figures. I found myself watching dozens of Koki videos on youtube. Tito’s parrot, the one he offered to his granddaughter Sasa. It is still alive today, and chirps whenever Tito’s name is mentioned. I thought my movie was going to be about him.

When I arrived in Brijuni, I quickly realized that the film wasn’t going to be just about Koki. It was indeed a personality. But it was not the only one. He was part of the almost compulsory walk for tourists visiting the island. Like a religious ritual, they would go from the parrot, screaming his name, ‘Koki, Koki’ a thousand times, to Lenka the elephant, trying to take the best shot.

I saw the landscape of Brijuni as a collection of infrastructures to eradicate, import, exhibit and care for animals. A catalog of different ways of exploiting and interacting with animals. Seeing them as obstacles, gifts, or symbolic objects.

An elephant in Brijuni sounds crazy. But still, there it is. Not so easy to hide. They tried to move it. She destroyed the truck.

Francisca and Katharina, the biologist and animal keepers, are taking very good care of her. One animal keeper, full time, just for her.

Yet, she is in an enclosure. A safari park in a natural park, a small cage on an island. Everyday, she has medical training. Every hour, she is fed with hay. Katharina told us Lenka, the elephant is like her child.

By watching their kind routine, I realized that maybe they were working towards a no(o)fence zoo. They were caring, while preparing for an island without fences, reducing their interventions slowly as the fauna and flora extended freely.