Split Is Dying

What happens when a city loses its soul?

Split was once a city that lived throughout the year. Its streets were filled with people, its shops were open, and its historic centre was a place of everyday life.

But over time, that life began to disappear.

As shopping centres drew people away with convenient parking and countless stores, the city centre was increasingly neglected. Independent shops closed, streets emptied, and during the winter months, Split began to resemble a ghost town — a city that seemed to come alive only for a few months of the tourist season.

Through Split Is Dying, I wanted to confront this reality.

I transformed myself into a dying patient, carried through the streets of Split on a hospital stretcher, surrounded by a medical team desperately trying to save a life.

But the patient was not really me.

The patient was Split itself.

The performance was a symbolic call for help — a warning that a city cannot survive on tourism alone, and that its historic centre must remain a living place for its own people.

Yet this was never meant to be a story of defeat.

In the final act, the dying city rises again, transformed into a phoenix spreading its wings.

Because even when everything seems lost, there is still a possibility of rebirth.

Split is dying. But Split can live again.

Hope is the last thing to die.

— Olja Einfalt