Hito Steyerl's 2007 film 'Journal No.1 – An Artist's Impression' reviewed on ARTMargins Online in February 2009

In February 2009, ARTMargins Online published a review of Hito Steyerl's 2007 short documentary 'Journal No.1 – An Artist's Impression'. The 21-minute video, directed by Steyerl, interrogates mythical narratives about Yugoslavia's origins, challenging fairy-tale perspectives on its history. Tomislav Z. Longinović, based in Madison, Wisconsin, authored the review, which references philosophical concepts from Jacques Derrida regarding Western metaphysics. The film's title sentence, 'Once upon a time there was a country...', is drawn from Dušan Kovačević's novel and later used in Emir Kusturica's film 'Underground'. This phrase evokes a temporality linked to beginnings, which Steyerl's work critically examines. The review positions the film as questioning the relationship between being and history, particularly in the context of Yugoslav cultural memory. No specific exhibition or screening details are provided beyond the film's production year and runtime. The analysis focuses on the film's thematic engagement with origins and time, without detailing its content further. ARTMargins Online served as the platform for this critical discussion, highlighting Steyerl's early exploration of documentary and media art.