TRAFIK’s first performance, The Walker, marked a departure from traditional theatre by transforming a city underpass into a site-specific performance space. This unexpected encounter premiered in the Piramida tunnel in Rijeka (1998) and later in the Sopot Središće tunnel in Zagreb (1999). These unconventional locations turned the tunnels into atmospheric ‘theatres’, where the spatial and environmental qualities—darkness, confinement, and raw, industrial elements—became integral to the narrative and mood of the performance. With the arrival of the performers (walkers), the space gradually took on new meanings shaped by the mime-based improvisation.
The performance drew inspiration from the works and life of Croatian proto-avant-garde writer Janko Polić Kamov, also from Rijeka, with the work's core revolving around Kamov's obsession with walking. As the performance unfolds, each passerby, along with the performers and audience, simultaneously gets the role of the walker, blurring the lines between observer and participant.
