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Our focus lies on wooden wallpaper rollers discovered in the small town of Harztor Ilfeld. The patterns carved into these rollers, along the labor-intensive craftsmanship typical of their industrial era production, act as mediators between material history and today’s cultural discourse—and as metaphors for borders themselves.

The image of “Čur” in our project (2025) holds a dual meaning. On one hand, in ancient Slavic mythology, Čur is a deity protecting boundaries and the family hearth, symbolizing defense and the preservation of heritage. On the other hand, “Čur mianie!”! is more than just an exclamation — it is a well-established phrase still used by children in a traditional game similar to tag, where they claim a safe space.

In this game, a child chooses a “safe house” — a tree, a rock, or the corner of a building — and shouts “Čur mianie!” to signal safety or to claim their personal space. Sometimes, the child draws a circle around themselves and declares, Čur, this is my place!. This simple ritual reflects an instinctive desire for protection and a search for stability. This children’s game becomes a metaphor for a broader experience: emigration from East to West. Just as a child leaves a familiar area in search of a new “safe house,” so too must migrants leave their homeland and search for a new space where they can feel secure and maintain their identity. In both cases, the phrase “Čur mianie!” resonates like an incantation—an attempt to establish a protective barrier against external chaos and to rethink the idea of borders, whether physical or emotional.

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Renders for ČUR MIANIE! project, 2025.
Artists: Vasilisa Palianina, Andrey Anro, Alexander Adamau.

The 3D sketch of our project visualizes three vivid vertical pillars, assembled from the found wallpaper rollers and colorful plastic segments. These structures evoke both ancient boundary markers (Čurki) and playful childhood forms. Each has a unique character—shape, color, and texture — symbolizing the tension between the GDR’s industrial past and the personal, intimate stories of migration. The central element of the composition is a wooden wallpaper roller with an ornamental pattern, once used in mass production. Its worn texture carries the memory of a bygone era. Through contemporary artistic techniques such as 3D printing and ready-mades, this roller is recontextualized as a symbol of the present.

ČUR MIANIE! raises questions: Where is the line between past and present? Between the sacred and the everyday? Between the old home and a new refuge? This project seeks to reconnect history, mythology, and personal experience within a rapidly changing world. It invites viewers to reflect on childhood in Eastern Europe, when shouting Čur mianie! was enough to claim inviolability—and to compare that simple ritual with the complex challenges of modern migration. By bringing together a GDR-era ethnographic artifact with references to ancient tradition and children’s games, ČUR MIANIE! becomes a space for contemplation — about how collective memory and individual experience can reshape the boundaries between East and West, between past and future.