In May 1915, under mysterious circumstances, the transatlantic passenger liner Lusitania is sunk. A few months later, Austro-German troops occupy the city of Belgrade, with the exception of the psychiatric hospital. Here, patients and staff, led by Dr. Stojimirović, establish a sui generis state: the Republic of Lusitania, a utopian community whose members declare themselves safe from human stupidity. From this place unfold stories of disappearances and rediscoveries, in a whirlwind of historically accurate events: scientists, architects, and politicians move through hospital corridors, underground tunnels, forests, and cities such as Belgrade, New York, Vienna, all the way to the galleries of the Natural History Museum of Florence.
DEJAN ATANACKOVIĆ (Belgrade, 1969) is a visual artist and writer who has held solo exhibitions since the 1990s. He has taught in various university programs in Florence and Siena in the fields of visual arts, culture, and literature, including collaborations with the Natural History Museum of Florence. He is the creator and director of projects connecting Belgrade and Florence, focusing on marginalized groups. From 2022 to 2023 he served as a city councilor in the Belgrade City Assembly for the Moramo coalition. In recent years, he has contributed a column to the weekly NIN; he writes for Novi Magazin, the daily Danas, and other outlets. Lusitania, his first novel, won the NIN Award in 2017. He lives between Florence and Belgrade.
