The themes of the two GRIMM projects, by Katica Jaray and Janka Jaray were very closely connected to the unique atmosphere of the landscape that surrounds Stancia Castellani. It was based on the understanding that this environment reflected both the formidable power and the magnificent and fabulous mystery of nature. This environment reminds the spectators to the forests in the fairy tales where witches are hiding and waiting for light-hearted wanderers, where every step might surprise the visitor with an unexpected and sudden discovery. These impressions provided inspiration while searching for the right venue of the projects.

The artists decided to set up the first installation somewhat deeper inside the forest.  Here the visitors were still close to the areas affected by human activity, but could not see them anymore. Thus it was easy to get to the project site but the prevailing feeling still was that one was walking in the wild nature. These old forests were inhabited mainly by rugose oaks trees and plenty of piles of stone. The origin of these stone structures is not really known but it is said that they constitute the graves of significant persons inhabiting the land in the very past. Anyway, whatever the origin of these dunes may be, they definitely radiate the air of sanctity and their authoritative phenomenon compel the wanderers to think about their function, or simply about their existence.

“We had chosen the tallest/biggest pile of stones and decided that we put it into motion. We used a very strong transparent fishing line to lift some pieces of stones into the air. This scene is not clearly noticeable or easily comprehensible at the first sight and for the wanderers/visitors it could take some seconds to realize and understand what they see. We did not intend to provide any philosophical clue to our work. We only wished to create a ‘quiet’ though spectacular installation that was nevertheless perfectly fitting into its environment and managed to accentuate the special atmosphere of this area, to draw the attention to the silent power and arcane ambiance of this land.

When one approached the installation he/she had to be careful as even though the stones were safely fixed, they could still fall down in any second and could injure those who stayed under or too close to them. So, it was better to view the installation from a small distance. When, however, somebody went close to it he/she was able to create ‘music’ as the plastic cords of the fishing line made different sounds according to the weight of the stones suspended. (We regarded this latter ‘function’ only as a secondary one as we primarily focused on the demonstration of this project.)”

The second installation was placed near to the main building of Stanzia Castellani. It was built out of 10 to 15 kilograms of black shells that are very often served in the restaurants of Croatia. The starting point of the installation is a small pond. The artists arranged the shells into a snake-like shape so it looked like as if this mass of shells had been climbing up from the pond to the hill-side and after some 20-30 yards this ‘creature’ seemed to take off and fly away through the leaves of a big old tree. According to Katica Janka, the essential idea behind this project was not really more than to create a playful and mysterious atmosphere that could reflect the substantial features of the unpredictable nature, which can be playful and fabulous and at the same time dangerous and uncontrollably destroying.