Servers of Yugoslavia

An illustrated story about a country that never existed. An “Inspired by Yugoslavia” Fragment. With Miloš Kozlovački.

The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps and it inspires their creativity. The “Inspired by Yugoslavia” series features such people and their creations. 

Listen: “Servers of Yugoslavia” (Episode #99)

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Transcript: “Servers of Yugoslavia” (Episode #99)

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[SOUNDBITE]

[JINGLE]

PETER KORCHNAK: This Remembering Yugoslavia Fragment is brought to you by Yugoblok. 

Yugoblok is a global community and social network for all ex-Yugoslavs, post-Yugoslavs, yugodiasporans, yugophiles, and the yugocurious. It’s the new home of this podcast, it’s articles, translations, newsletters, events, and a shop—it’s all Yugoslavia, all the time. 

Visit Yugoblok.com to look around and join.

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PETER KORCHNAK: This is Remembering Yugoslavia, a show exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. I’m your guide, Peter Korchnak.

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PETER KORCHNAK: The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps and it inspires their creativity. The Inspired by Yugoslavia series features precisely such people and their creations. 

In recent weeks a number of such projects crossed my desk. On today’s Remembering Yugoslavia Fragment, a story about a country that never existed.

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MILOŠ KOZLOVAČKI: I was born in Yugoslavia in 1987, in the closing credits part of the project. Today, I say that I lived in Yugoslavia for a total of two minutes. That’s how it felt to me, at least.

PETER KORCHNAK: Miloš Kozlovački is a Belgrade-based graphic designer, typographer (that is, he makes fonts), illustrator, and writer. 

Kozlovački is the author of Servers of Yugoslavia…

MILOŠ KOZLOVAČKI: —a project that started in 2018 and it started as a series of digital paintings in which I painted the present so it looked like it happened in the distant past. 

So I managed to fool myself, the real feeling of nostalgia hit me, and I decided it was worth my time to explore further, to see where it takes me. And it took me to building this world, you know, in which nostalgia became the canvas and the story followed after that. So Yugoslavia wasn’t a necessary center point to it. 

I’ve done extensive research about everyday life in Yugoslavia—out of curiosity, but also because I was preparing to take this project to elevate it. 

Yugoslavia was already a myth to my generation, so to use it in fiction was the best decision I made so far. I think myths are always fertile ground for writing. 

PETER KORCHNAK: Indeed. When I say I explore the “memory of a country that no longer exists” it really is a myth of a country. David Shields says that “anything processed in memory is fiction” and so remembering is really an act of myth-making. What happened matters less than what we remember having happened, which in turn matters less than the memory of what happened. The past is past, the memory of the past is now.

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PETER KORCHNAK: That’s an English audio intro to Servers of Yugoslavia Kozlovački made with Garage Band and AI for this show. The project is otherwise in Serbian.

The titular country in Servers of Yugoslavia was a technology giant by the mid-20th century. It has a novel model of democracy, with a Multimind machine acting as the state apparatus in balance with a number of committees. The Multimind’s full name is Tactical Informative Transformer Zero, T.I.T.nil; it was created way back in 1937 by Franjo Partizan, played a significant role in the big war and Yugoslavia’s victory in it, and took the reins of power in 1957 after a referendum.

[SOUNDBITE]

The narrative itself comprises—

MILOŠ KOZLOVAČKI: —a collection of correspondences of countless characters who would, while sometimes speaking out of context, still tell [an] overarching story.

This project sits on the crossroads of collective and individual nostalgia. I’m primarily interested in manufacturing nostalgia. That’s why you instantly know that it doesn’t exist but the more you’re there, you know, you see it’s possible to, you know, build up a version of historical events and put somebody in a situation of feeling nostalgia for the non-existent. 

So I sit down and lie methodically that something did happen and hope it lands. I’m completely aware this is exactly how revisionist history is being made. The only difference is, I’m telling you transparently that all of this is fiction, a fabrication, and also I don’t have an agenda of deception.

Manufacturing nostalgia is exactly what I was aiming for, because if I manage to fool myself, the real feelings of nostalgia do hit me when I work with this. It’s a chain reaction, you know, you make one thing and when that feeling overcomes you, then it’s easier to, like, find the storytelling within it.

PETER KORCHNAK: Nostalgia but not yugonostalgia.

MILOŠ KOZLOVAČKI: My parents were born in Yugoslavia, and so was I. I’m not a yugonostalgic, so I knew it would be genuine, without much bias. 

This potentially brings me in the uncomfortable situation where people who still consider themselves Yugoslavians will hate it because it’s not Yugoslavia, and others would consider this as sort of a ritual to summon back Yugoslavia as it once was.

PETER KORCHNAK: Some thirteen, fourteen years ago, it was an exploration of the nostalgia for the unknown as a phenomenon that ultimately led me to this point. I wanted to understand why Americans with no formal or any other connection to the Balkans love its music and dance with a nostalgic flair. It was less about nostalgia and more about feeling, authenticity, Romanticism, and mathematics. But that’s an origin story of an origin story.

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For now, the Servers of Yugoslavia project lives on Instagram, @serveri_jugoslavije, and I’ll be featuring a few excerpts from it @rememberingyugoslavia and @yugoblok as well.

MILOŠ KOZLOVAČKI: I’ve kept the entire project secret for many, many years, and I used it as a means to give myself energy, because there are these projects that creatives do for themselves in private, they’ll tell you they don’t do it, but everybody does it. They do things they’re just for them. 

And at one point, I showed it to an acquaintance of mine who coincidentally teaches writing, and he basically forced me to to make this into a format and to give it to other people, because he he saw something in it. 

People react to the human level of the storytelling, because the story is being told from everyday people, their experiences about the life in their world paint us this picture. 

And people do react to that emotionally. That’s why it was important to to research the everyday of the original Yugoslavia, you know, because those are the things that will translate the most. 

The human level is what translate the most, and it is the thing that I am interested in most. You know, the rest is just like giving people a place to exist. 

PETER KORCHNAK: After emerging from secrecy, Kozlovački attempted to get the book published. Each time something got in the way, Covid, the war in Ukraine…

MILOŠ KOZLOVAČKI: I’m hoping that the book will find its publisher in the near future. 

I am currently also focused on writing a non-illustrated novel set in the same universe, so I’m keeping busy. 

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PETER KORCHNAK: In any case, Kozlovački wants you to keep one important thing in mind about Servers of Yugoslavia.

MILOŠ KOZLOVAČKI: This is not a ritual to summon back Yugoslavia as it was. This is what the current state of the planet is, and if we’re really unlucky, this is what might transpire in the 21st century.

[BACKGROUND MUSIC]

PETER KORCHNAK: Until then, we’ll delve into our own history.

Next on Remembering Yugoslavia: the 100th episode! We’ll be celebrating this huge milestone for the show—and for Yugoslavia’s memory—with a special look-back episode. 

On an anti-nostalgic trip through four plus years of interviews, storytelling, and analysis, we’ll investigate just how Yugoslavia is remembered and what it means to people today. Stuff, values, practices, ideas, nostalgia, identity… Just don’t call it the best of Remembering Yugoslavia. 

Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out.

[OUTRO MUSIC – “Jugoslavijo / Od Vardara pa do Triglava” by Horn Orchestra]

PETER KORCHNAK: That’s all for this Remembering Yugoslavia Fragment, thank you for listening. 

All guests’ opinions expressed are solely their own; unless otherwise noted they do not express, reflect, or represent the views or opinions of any third party, including myself. 

Find additional information, sources, embeds, links, photos, and the transcript of this episode at Yugoblok.com/Podcasts. And while you’re there, join Yugoblok as a member to get access to even more podcast stuff and much much more. The basic membership is free and you can still take advantage of the special introductory deal for the paid level.

Outro music courtesy of Robert Petrić.

Additional music courtesy of Serveri Jugoslavije.

I am Peter Korchňak. 

Ćao!