The State of Croatian Contemporary Art
We’re well aware that Zagreb isn’t (and is hardly set to become) a point of reference within the world of contemporary art protagonists; on the contrary, as the number of capital exhibitions has considerably decreased lately, due to a drastic budget cut in the cultural sector. However, Zagreb still offers an excellent picture of the local contemporary art scene, defining itself through smaller galleries’ activities, curators’ staff, and of course, the inevitable Museum of Contemporary Art. Fortunately, this March is brimming with contemporary art exhibitions, both individual and group, all of which display various reactions to the state of society as a whole. For this March we highly recommend five exhibitions which are definitely worth viewing, and we harbor high hopes for a riveting contemporary-visual-art Spring.
The year’s extended symbiosis between the Museum that’s financially struggling and a strong corporation is presented time and again as a natural fact and a contemporary art necessity. This can only be explained due to the mutually beneficial collaboration between the two – i.e. money that the T-HT allocates to the MSU as well as the MSU’s curator authority. Still, despite endorsement from Robert Storr, Dean of Yale University, it’s quite clear that a pure curator concept isn’t present in regard to the Award. Out of 40 works, varying in media outlets and themes, those that shine brightest are works of the following artists: Iva Kovač (who presented herself with her work Quotes.Posters, where she wrote up famous artists’ and scientists’ misogynist messages), Helena Janečić with her queer topics and Ivan Fijolić with a witty pop-culture inspired electric excalibur. The exhibition is open until March 27th while the awards will be conferred on March 18th.
“MIRABILIA” at the Galženica Gallery in Velika Gorica
The Galženica Gallery in Velika Gorica is certainly worth visiting for the group exhibition Mirabilia, but also for virtually any exhibition there. The curator trio of Sanja Horvatinčić, Nina Pisk and Klaudijo Štefančić presented a combination of art, enchanting cabinets, design and genetic engineering as this year’s first exhibition. Tatjana Vukelić shows a violent tendency toward beauty in virtual reality, Yoko Fukushima creates subtle works that imply a connection between kitsch and corporality, while Vujičić’s work is an impressive alchemical project. Namely, Vujičić’s work stems from Eyckov Gentski’s polyptych, producing and elaborating the very pigments it was painted with. Vujičić’s combination of a laboratory approach to art is always somewhat disturbing as well as critically inclined. You can go see the Mirabilia in Galženica until April 3rd.
“I love you, you pay my rent”, The NOVA Gallery
We could dub the WHW curator staff as our worldwide curator ambassadors, as their concepts detect the state of transitional, post-socialist and capitalist countries. The joint exhibition of Igor Grubić and Gernot Faber puts issues of cultural memory, representation clichés and art’s responsibility in its midst. Grubić’s provocative works “Social Responsibility, Sex and Socialism!” fool around with and handle pornographic lexis to confront visitors with their prejudices and social taboos. With slogans such as “Fuck freely. It’s good for your health!” Grubić inches closer to sexual activism, but it seems he leaves the issue of necessary politization of the sexual act open. Faber creates an autobiographical work, toying with the character and function of an artist, literally becoming project WHW’s “rented artist.” We read his act as auto-irony and/or criticism of curator’s various practices. You can view the exhibition until March 31st.
Ana Opalić “Up Close and Personal in Small Format”, the NO Gallery, MSU
Opalić’s interest in landscapes isn’t one-dimensional, thus she’s presenting a series of her landscape photographs at the MSU so we can thematically define them. However, her repetitive leitmotif is the sea horizon which was created over a 10-year period dating back to 1996. Ten years for one motif bears witness to the fact that it’s all about a meditative contemplation of her own vision, although subtle nuances within the photographs lighting are noticeable. This is certainly a work displaying a subtlety and poetic moment within the medium of photography. At the MSU NO Gallery, intended only for the medium of photography you can view Ana Opalić’s exhibition until March 24th.
Jasenko Rasol at the Lang Gallery in Samobor
Želimir Koščević, an art historian and curator, one of the most important protagonists of conceptual happenings during the 70s, opened the Lang Gallery in Samobor back in 2002, for now (following the closing of the Badrov Gallery in 2008) the only photography-based gallery. You can see the exhibition of Jasenko Rasol, a cinematographer and photographer, until March 13th, while an exhibition of best Polaroid shots is open until early April.
