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(In)constancy of space, Amsterdam 2016. web

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CONTENT CURATORS‘ FOREWORD

IGOR GRUBIĆ ZACHARY FORMWALT ŽEL JKO KIPKE ZLATKO KOPL JAR

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MARGARETA LEKIĆ

TEXTS

ZOLTAN NOVAK

LORA SARIASLAN IN CIVILIZATIONS WITH BOATS NEVA LUKIĆ IN CIVILIZATIONS WITH BOATS VANJA BABIĆ SPACE BEYOND FORM

31 ARTISTS ANKE VAN DEN BERG ROBBIE CORNELISSEN TANJA DEMAN

FERENC MOLNAR NELI RUŽIĆ SARA RAJAEI/NEVA LUKIĆ SANDRO SETOLA RIK SMITS ELIAN SOMERS MARJAN TEEUWEN ROB VOERMAN DANIJEL ŽEŽEL J

45 APPENDIX BIOGRAPHIES LIST OF WORKS SIDE PROGRAM IVAN PAIĆ

DARKO FRITZ

THE NOTES ON SCREENING

ANTONIO GRGIĆ

IMPRESSUM

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CURATORS‘ FOREWORD The (In)constancy of Space-Struggle for Identity is a group multimedia exhibition which features works by eminent Dutch and Croatian Contemporary visual artists dealing with the concept of man made space and its (in)constancy, not only in physical sense but also on a sociological, symbolical, psychological and ideological level. The first exhibition titled (In)constancy of space featuring Dutch and Croatian artists was on show in HDLU (Croatian Association of Visual Artists, Zagreb, Croatia, September- October 2014). The Zagreb exhibition has been used as the initial platform for the series of exhibitions dealing with the concept of man made space and its (in)constancy, both physical and mental, in various European countries. The Amsterdam exhibition (In)constancy of spaceStruggle for Identity represents further development of that exhibition. In the era of the globalization and mobile society, architecture has been established as a significant catalysts for questioning the identity of contemporary man, in this case by juxtaposing the artworks by Dutch artists with the ones from Croatia who interpret identical and always topical issues – particularly nowadays with the rising migration caused by work and lifestyles, but also by war and poverty. The Netherlands and Croatia, two different European countries, make an interesting complementary

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duo. The Netherlands is a country with a longstanding and one of the oldest market economies in the world, while Croatia is in the phase of post-socialist transitional capitalism. Also, these two countries are geographically and culturally different: the Netherlands is of a protestant tradition, located in northwest Europe, while Croatia is a country of catholic tradition in southeast Europe. Through visual artists’ different views of architecture, space and its inconstancy, the exhibition deals with the issue of how globalization processes suppress national or/and individual identities, creating a “world marked with similarities” (Adorno), and it examines how human memory is affected by constantly changing (urban) space in contemporary society. By juxtaposing different artists from historically two different political systems, the objective is to bring together both national and globalizing aspects of human identity and to establish innovative approach to the widespread phenomena of treating architectural space in visual arts. At the same time, (In)constancy of Space- Struggle for Identity is the opportunity for Amsterdam audience to see the largest collection of Contemporary Croatian Art to date.


TEXTS


IN CIVILIZATIONS WITH BOATS text: Lora Sariaslan

In Civilizations with Boats “[…] The boat is a floating piece of space, a place without a place, that exists by itself that is closed in on itself and at the same time is given over to the infinity of the sea and that, from port to port, from tack to tack, from brothel to brothel, it goes as far as the colonies in search of the most precious treasures they conceal in their gardens, you will understand why the boat has not only been for our civilization, from the sixteenth century until the present, the great instrument of economic development, but has been simultaneously the greatest reserve of the imagination. The ship is the heterotopia par excellence. In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates.” 1 Michel Foucault We are drifting… in our minds, bodies, daily life, and travels. The French philosopher Michel Foucault’s notion of heterotopia is instrumental in the attempt to comprehend the in-between nature we are embodying at this moment of drifting. According to Foucault, heteretopias—such as mirrors, trains, gardens, hotel rooms, prison, or mental hospitals— have the main function commenting, mirroring, and exposing reality. The philosopher drew on the medical term “heterotopia” (the displacement of an organ from its normal position) to suggest those spaces in society, which served as “counter-utopias”. Thus, whereas a utopia was a kind of pure space that did not really exist—literally a “non-place” (to use Marc Augé’s wording2)—but which expressed the social norms that dominated our ideas of what kinds of spaces ought to exist, a heterotopia was an actual space within which various incompatible sites in fact did exist.3 Foucault meant it to identify actual sites or places in which seemingly incompatible differences were—however awkwardly—brought 1 Michel Foucault, The Order of Things. An Archaeology of Human Sciences (London: Routledge Classics, [1966] 2002),124. 2 Marc Augé. Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity (London: Verso, 2008). 3 Tim Oakes and Patricia Lynn Price. The Cultural Geography Reader. (London: Routledge, 2008),79.

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together. A perfect metonym for our current state of mind as they show a co-existence of contrasts where all spaces are represented, contested, and reversed. According to Foucault, heterotopias can function as alternative sites, between real spaces and imagined utopias. This notion is not simply an abstract space of difference. Heterotopias can thus be both actual and metaphorical spaces, a conjunction between reality and unreality. As Foucault wanted, one of the functions of heterotopia is to provide space for illusion, which is then to uncover real space. The disclosure of real space and the search for freedom are performed through exploration of the (in)stability of all borders, as well as in relation to the most serious phenomena typical of contemporariness. As such, heterotopic spaces are particularly able to denounce reality, to expose existing conditions, to mirror and thus reveal illusions. His heterotopia is “a space in which ‘things are “laid”, “placed”, “arranged” in sites so very different from one another that it is impossible to find a place of residence for them, to define a common locus beneath them all”4. Foucault suggested that in order to define heterotopia, we need heterotopology that would account for the fact that heterotopia is capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces that might seem incompatible. It is exactly in such places that artists, motivated by a vague longing, look for freedom and demand it. When people move, so do spaces, along with images, cultural practices, and lifestyles. In a time of constant movement, we are in a distinct state of mind that of translating: translating ourselves hence translating our identities. Etymologically meaning ‘the activity of carrying across’, translation may be the epitome of the global world. Translation has always meant, to a greater or smaller extent, displacement, and is never a once way process, and always involves beings as well as goods in transit. This translation of people and things, either voluntary or forced, has come to change the world, in practical as we all conceptual terms. The 21st century may well prove to be the age of migration, with millions—of people, goods, money, ideas, and hopes—getting translated every single moment. Hence, translation becomes a metaphor for modern day experience ad a 4 Kelvin T. Knight, ‘Placeless places: resolving the paradox of Foucault’s heterotopia’, Textual Practice (2016): 1–18.


practical and conceptual tool to negotiate the world around. How are images translated? And what do images do to meaning? The sociological and psychological impacts of human-created space surround us as it ‘defines’ us through personal or collective identities shaped by memories and past experiences. Both history and our present are laden with moments of defining or translating space, the quest to make it ours whether through (re)defining it or creating brand new one(s). How do we shape our spaces, and how do spaces shape us? What is the nature of the space within us, and that surrounds us? And in an era when movement is not only real time but also virtual, how does migration shape the space both within and around us? How have artists invented new strategies—mobilizing the image as much as imagining mobility—with which to intervene in the cultural politics of globalization in critical and creative ways? The artists in the exhibition have tackled these queries through different means and one being the theme of architecture. Architecture, which can be seen as the art and science of shaping the void, becomes the means to reflect multivalent issues such as financial and cultural power, sites of memories (both actual and preserved), or a space of physical or mentally created imaginary utopian/dystopian visions and shelters, and last but not least spaces of heterotopia. Architecture as a space of heterotopia is also a prevalent theme in the exhibition, especially in terms of configuring the immigration problems, where the artists create non-places or architecture without architecture. In their concepts, architecture is not necessarily made of strong building materials, but embodies the place of symbolic spatial boundaries. In the context of massive migrations, spaces—as well as architecture—become heterotopic.

of identity coding through their art. They do not reject or erase their context of origin, but rather employ their background, feelings, experiences, and encounters as the sources from and through which to create or translate both an individual as well as artistic means to not only engage viewers but also to challenge transnational artistic doxa. In this sense, as TJ Demos notes, “artists have become observers, and willingly or unwillingly, postulants for a redefinition of the dynamics that drive the society at large”6. A multiplicity of spaces, negotiations, reassessments, and transformations is thus made evident. Mobility or migration, conditions that provide a niche from which to address issues of identity as well as belonging, challenge inherited notions of home, borders, and history in a world that is constantly shifting. The trajectories of these artists involve a whole new transnational and transitional space within which the artist is both an author and an observer and consequently the captains of “the greatest reserve of the imagination” making sure that we do not turn into a “civilization without boats”.

Migrant narratives and aesthetic practices influenced by experiences of migration constitute a growing field in contemporary art and literature. Migration and aesthetics become dialectically linked—migration approachable only through the problem of aesthetic representation and aesthetic practice becoming a function of the displacement of migrants.5 The artists in the exhibition offer a different set 5 Sudeep Dasgupta, “The Aesthetics of Displacement and the Performance of Migration,” in Mieke Bal and Miguel Á. Hernández-Navarro. Art and Visibility in Migratory Culture: Conflict Resistance, and Agency (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011), 96.

6 T J Demos, The Migrant Image: The Art and Politics of Documentary during Global Crisis (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), 4.

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SPACE OF AWARENESS THE AWARENESS OF SPACE text: Neva Lukić

Modern civilisation is undoubtedly characterised by the phenomenon of globalisation. However, although the aforementioned phenomenon primarily implies the post-Cold War, post-industrial or generally postmodern context, people were actually aware of it in times long past, sometime in between prehistory and history. It was a time when various stories and legends were still deeply and inextricably interwoven in the real world, through the predominant symbolic-religious discourse. An ancient, eternal moral tale preserved to this day, among other things directly referred to globalisation, or more precisely, to its original disappearance. It is the Old Testament episode about the raising of the Towel of Babel. The Biblical text first notes that all the people on earth spoke a single language, which can definitely be understood as an essential symptom of proto-globalisation. The story continues and speaks about the people settled in Shinar (Babel), who united and started to raise a tower whose top would reach heaven. It was an extremely bold and ambitious intention in the field of construction and architecture, obviously not a coincidence. Namely, the construction of a gigantic structure is inevitably followed by economic, ideological, ethical, aesthetic and general socio-psychological connotations whose symbolic potentials offer a wide and fertile ground for better understanding of the entire civilizational atmosphere responsible for the idea and the realisation of such an enterprise. The fate of the Towel of Babel is, of course, generally known; it was never completed. God perceived the people’s building ambition as pride, so he confused their language and also scattered the people of the city all over the face of the earth. It was the end of the building, and simultaneously of the proto-globalisation.... What is the story of the Tower of Babel actually about, with regards to construction? Firstly, it deals with the denial or the setting of boundaries, in this particular case, the one between heaven and earth. 08

People did not want to be connected only to earth upon which they walked every day; it somehow tempered their ambitions, it filled them with a sort of mental claustrophobia. In other words, they sought knowledge. Their solution was to realise a utopian idea of reaching heaven – hence knowledge - by building a gigantic tower. The final outcome would not result in knowledge but in universal dystopian decay. It is also the story of a pursuit of power, which, among other things, would be expressed in, by no means insignificant, intervention in the existing landscape. The mentioned determinants are interwoven and express their metaphorical values in a fictional and never realised building. For this very reason some of these determinants will appear in the titles of the four groups this exhibition is divided into: LLfe, Power and Death; On the Boundary of Utopia, Fantasy and Dystopia; Claustrophobia and Phases and Visions and Boundaries. From the above mentioned it is evident that the Tower of Babel is primarily a metaphor and not a concrete and material architectural achievement. And yet, man’s inherent desire is to present material concepts; he always seeks for their visualisation. In this respect, the Old Testament deprives us of any description of the Tower of Babel. Naturally, painters have presented it when necessary, and through a complex combination of cultural circumstances, the vision by the Flemish Renaissance master Pieter Brueghel senior has become a generally accepted model. With circular floor plans and compact, firm structures, with the storeys that gradually narrow to the top, Brueghel in his Babel Towers (two versions have been saved) emphasises monolithic structures and materials. They were indeed constructed to firmly and stably undo the void between heaven and earth. But, let us visualise Brueghel’s Babel Tower as a “negative“, turned upside down, and going down into earth instead of up to heaven. This would be its complete contrast. A presentation of such fictional “negative“ architecture actually exists. Sandro Botticelli, eighty years Brueghel’s senior, who illustrated Dante’s Divine Comedy, conjured up his vision of the entire map of Inferno. His illustration, which shows a funnel shape descending into the underground, indeed is a reminder of the upturned Babel Tower. Leaving behind all religious-symbolic meanings, we would like to concentrate on the visual


representations and the role of architectural space. The above mentioned Renaissance paintings and illustrations can help us understand the spatial dualism typical for architecture. Namely, viewed from the outside, architecture shapes the surrounding space in a “sculptural“ manner, like Brueghel’s Babel Tower, while from the inside it is quite the opposite, because the space becomes “active“ and turns into a sort of a “positive“, like in Botticelli’s Inferno. The art of architecture is primarily an art of shaping space in a utilitarian manner, the shape which arises from a series of previously deeply thought premises. The issue of space – outer (surroundings), inner, but also mental – with all its symbolic, ideological, ethical or aesthetic consequences is an integrating segment of this exhibition. Architecture is an inevitable result if space is intentionally set in an active, dialectic relation to materials and humans. Therefore, the artists presented in this exhibition, each in their own way and extremely diversely, use architecture as the trigger for considering the implications of various manifestations of space and its influence on human mind. Architecture is not treated superficially and passively, as an interesting motif, but is an active and integral part of social and psychological aspects typical for the creative work of these artists. The power and appeal of religion, capital or politics have always been expressed in architectural works. There is architecture created in alliance with eternity, and the one which is temporary from its very start. However, they both not only shape human physical space, for better or worse, but also the “spaces” of their intellect. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the outrageously aspiring and optimistic liberal-democratic paradigm by Francis Fukuyama, conceived on the wave of euphoria fallowing the fall of the Berlin Wall, clearly and unambiguously laid out in his book The End of History and the Last Man – cataclysmically collapsed with the two giant towers, the ultimate symbols of global capital and its power. It was an utterly tragic, but simultaneously a visually impressive disillusionment at the beginning of the 21st century. In the legend or the Tower of Babel the proto-globalisation was successfully terminated by God himself, while the spectacular attack on modern globalisation – it seems in vain – was launched by cruel and fanatic terrorists. However, in both cases buildings were in the centre of action. Thus were, in an instant, former places of intensive activities turned into spaces of abandoned or demolished bare materials. And indeed, one might wonder wheth-

er the main factors in architecture are steel, glass, concrete, bricks, walls ... in a word, materials, or is it still and primarily man. The examples of the Tower of Babel and Twin Towers show that, actually, in a spiritual sense there is no difference between the abandoned/unfinished and demolished buildings. However, general social enthusiasm is often expressed through architectural ideas. It suffices to recall Tatlin’s project which would, naturally, meet its end in utopian-dystopian impasses, as a model with the features of a grand constructivist sculpture. Thus, never started buildings follow the abandoned and demolished ones... Architectural spaces are really (in)consistent. They can create visually impressive symbols of power which inspire awe, they can offer safe havens and intimacy, cause the feeling of constriction or claustrophobia and – with their presence – have a decisive impact on the already established views. This can be significantly changed by the disappearance or emergence of buildings. So the changed spaces – both physical and mental – become part of one’s memory. The artists whose works are shown in the exhibition (In)constancy of Space refer to this issue differently, either poetically or through the media, but the awareness of its constant presence unites

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SPACE BEYOND FORM text: Vanja Babić

In the traditional understanding of visual arts that has its foundation in the formal analytical method, space, regardless of whether it is two-dimensional or three-dimensional, is generally treated as one of the basic elements of form which has a decisive influence on the incidence of each artistic achievement. Apart from this formal approach, the theory of visual arts affirmed another, now also considered classical, analytical approach. It is the iconological approach which, unlike the formal one, seeks to detect specific symbolic meanings in the spatial characteristics of certain works of art, thus questioning the hidden codes which the space designed and created by the author can offer in order to expand the understanding of the presented content. Building upon the more frequent and more convincingly expressed attitudes, according to which these traditional analytical methods - along with some others not mentioned here – are mostly no longer sufficient for a completely relevant and comprehensive interpretation of works of contemporary art, the exhibition (In)constancy of Space - Struggle for Identity, through individual poetics and the actual works designed by artists from two different backgrounds, aims to position the complete spatial phenomenology into a somewhat different context, approaching it in a more relevant and thus, hopefully, more real-life way. Namely, by referring to the works of contemporary Dutch and Croatian authors, the basic idea of this exhibition is to treat space and all its determinants, real or imaginary, as examples of socio-psychological visual motifs. In other words, space as interpreted in this exhibition outgrows its relatively passive framework becoming a very active carrier of content, i.e. the exhibition’s main motif. For the realization of such an approach it was necessary to exercise restraint and focus solely on the artistic visions or interpretations of those spaces whose shape, boundaries and distinctiveness were determined by human activity. In this sense, architecture jumped into the forefront as the most visible manifestation of the human definition of space, which means the majority of the exhibits represent buildings or urban entities. These, however, are no longer just attractive and self-sufficient visual sensations, but spatial markers 10

which in a symbolic and socio-psychological manner persuasively bear witness to and speak about issues of identity, mentality and, of course, (anti)humanism. The architecture presented at the exhibition (In) constancy of Space - Struggle for Identity thus goes beyond its narrow utilitarian purpose, breaking its own aesthetic framework in order to enter the field of ethics, growing into the membranes of human awareness, i.e. memory. And the reference points and bastions of identity within the globalization processes pervading the modern world are none other than awareness and memory. So it is no coincidence that the story of a metaphorical building is in the foundations of human civilization. The Tower of Babel, discussed here, tried to conquer the physical expanse of the sky, but also the imaginary spaces of new knowledge. In the construction of the legendary Tower of Babel it is possible to identify a kind of proto-globalization endeavour, which was, due to its audacious ambition – says the short biblical episode, stopped by God himself. The tower was left abandoned and unfinished, the process of metaphorical (proto)globalization thus abolished. Today, thousands of years later, we are faced with its completely real and tangible version stemming primarily from a powerful and steaming synergy of technology and capital. Liberal capital, of course, implicitly aims to totally dominate physical and - perhaps even more so – mental space. In this process different individual and collective identity guidelines become redundant, resulting in different modes of resistance to globalization, sometimes even fanatical, such as terrorist plane attacks on the famous Twins at the dawn of a the new millennium. Once again architecture was at the centre of anti-globalization efforts, this time criminal ones, and for now they seem to have been unsuccessful. On that occasion, globalization and liberal capitalism were anything but seriously bridled, but the ambitious paradigm of the universal triumph of liberal democracy elaborated a decade ago by Francis Fukuyama in his famous book The End of History and the Last Man collapsed irreversibly together with the Twins. But even the formation of Fukuyama’s optimistic assumptions is closely related to very specific architectural ruins; the liberating act of demolishing the notorious wall in Berlin which for nearly three decades had brutally determined spatial and ideological divisions, indeed provided certain guarantees that the mental space of freedom would finally prevail. Due to the narrow-minded identification of space on the other side of the wall with the


new market economy, in which different aspects of humanism were often neglected and pushed into the background, this ideal was realized only partially and to a much lesser extent than the historic moment had promised. The artists represented at the exhibition (In)constancy of Space - Struggle for Identity deal with space created by man in different ways, most commonly – but not exclusively - reaching for architectural amenities. In all the exhibited works, space, however, assumes the role of primary motif burdened with various sociological, psychological, anthropological and general cultural meanings. Also, these works can be divided into several groups. One of the groups is characterized by the relation of artist towards space in the form of spectacular and symbolically laden architecture. The entire work of Zlatko Kopljar is significantly characterized by a layered critique of institutions of political, financial and cultural power. This time he speaks critically of two prominent and powerful museum institutions, portraying them through models made of concrete in a stylized manner, like closed monoliths, thus clearly conveying their inaccessibility and complacency. Željko Kipke in his prints also criticizes various government institutions - mostly those cultural - throwing curses on them and in this way denouncing them as spaces ruled by uninventiveness, inertia and lack of interest. Interestingly, many of the institutions in question have left these buildings in the meantime, additionally reinforcing the basic thesis of the exhibition about the vicissitudes of space but also of content. This group also includes the work of multimedia artist Zachary Formwalt. The author examines the links between architecture, labour and capital. He is thereby not afraid to resort to historical narratives and archive content. His works are highly intellectual but by no means hermetic, containing strong and thought-encouraging messages. A certain connection between this group and the one treating space within the utopian-dystopian architectural visions is the work of Rik Smits. Placing in the centre of his interests the relationship between religion and capital, the artist creates a vision of fantastic cities, which are at the same time soothing and somewhat sinister. Here it is possible to speak of a kind of escapism into spaces on the border between reality and fiction, but with an ever present and transparently expressed critical awareness. Rob Voerman approaches architecturally conditioned spaces

dialectically. In his vision the act of deterioration can possess an aesthetic value, and as a result of such poetics an inspired utopian content will appear along the lines of thought typical of the social thinker John Ruskin, for example. Sandro Setola in his ambiental installation inventively confronts a two-dimensional (projection) and three-dimensional (sculpture) space which both formally and contentwise complement each other. It is, in fact, a kind of materialization of mental space wherein chaos and depression prevail. Danijel Žeželj in his comics without words creates extremely alienated spaces within the metropolis, where glass, iron and concrete dominate completely over the sparse and lost human characters fully melted into the threatening urban environment. Anke van den Berg in a kind of diptych offers her own vision of the Tower of Babel, where one tower rises to the sky while the other, turned upside down, symbolizes the eternal dualism present in nature, but also in the human psyche. Tanja Deman establishes in her prints an impressive spatial fluctuation between the interior of cultural institutions and external nature. It is a permeation of sorts or coexistence of civilization and nature, which gives these works a certain utopian-environmental component. Obviously the mentioned authors approach the phenomena of space and architecture through the various media and in different way but always with complete awareness of importance towards the contents they possess in themselves.

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ARTISTS


ANKE VAN DEN BERG Confusion of tongues and Inferno originate in the myth about the fragmentation of human languages as a result of the construction of the Tower of Babel. Inferno is the result of the upturned Babel Tower shape arising from the underground. The goal was to create a reality with the painted representation of a subject that does not really exist with the help of my camera and Photoshop.

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ROBBIE CORNELISSEN Cornelissen made his name with virtuoso pencil drawings of futuristic interiors and urban landscapes in which memory and fantasy come together. The complex, vertiginous pieces draw the spectator into an illusionistic space that does not seem confined to paper. Cornelissen is also well known for his animated films and public events around drawing. In the exhibition this is illustrated by the drawing of a waiting room in the shape of a labyrinth (The Waiting Room -Europe) and the rise and disappearance of an exhibition space in a short animated film (The Number 9 Sessions #49).

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TANJA DEMAN Temples of Culture (2014) is a photo collage series examining various public institutions that collect, preserve and exhibit knowledge and culture such as theatres, libraries, museums, art pavilions and galleries. These are spaces of public education, accessible to all citizens, and function as cultural mechanisms for shaping society. The series presents national collective imaginarium. They are a direct and ironic transgression on the identity of these institutional apparatus as they are freely being reshaped, decontextualized and given new meaning and purpose for public use.

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DARKO FRITZ Panorama shows the city view from an aerial perspective of the center of New Zagreb. The project questions the heritage of social vision, in this case, the legacy of the „utopian urbanism“ of the 1960s, and today’s social awareness through the problem of planning the urban area. Panorama compares the structure of film and time in general. It also examines

the visions of future in the specific case of New Zagreb on the one hand, and the structure of the movie, on the other. The editing was carried out automatically. The one and only algorithm used in Panorama triptych is magic square (7th order), also called Magic Square of Venus. Centuries old algorithm is used it at time axe, using 1 frame as basic unit (25 FPS). Panorama is part of Imaginary Futures project.

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ANTONIO GRGIĆ The shadow of the destroyed synagogue (Zagreb Holocaust Monument) During the II World War the synagogue in the center of Zagreb was torn down, and an empty space replaced it. At the site of the empty space I am going to draw the shadow of the destroyed synagogue in black which will fall on the street, on the pavement and on the tram rails. Thus, the passers-by, both pedestrians and passengers on the tram, will daily pass through the shadow. They will enter the shadow and exit from it. A strange feeling will be created, of passing through the constantly present invisible. This monument is not to be viewed, but to be felt. It is about crossing from a light into a dark space, about leaving daily life and then returning to it. The outlined shadow will not destroy the space, it will just give a new layer to it. It will represent a sort of formal, material and spacial noninvansivness, which will try to follow every endevour of piety and humility by us who live towards the ones who are no longer alive.

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IGOR GRUBIĆ During the study I did as a preparation for the exhibition on Sicily, I noticed that, despite the large number of people of Muslim community, not a single classical mosque had been erected. The objective of the work Missing architecture is to point to this fact and insert in the public space the elements which, in a symbolical sense, represent the missing place of worship for Muslim people. In this artistic intervention I make use of three elements which represent foundations, walls and a minaret of a potential mosque. I place several carpets on the square areas, I attach posters with oriental mosaic on the walls of the old city while for the first time on Sicily muezzin recites azan-call to prayer in public space on different locations. The interventions are realized on 5 occasions, the number of the ezans recited in a day. The project is realized in cooperation with the Muslim community of Modica.

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ZACHARY FORMWALT Amsterdam’s New Exchange and the Proletarians The first of a two-part essay from a Dutch architectural weekly criticizing a pamphlet published in 1903, which set out to describe Amsterdam’s new stock and commodities exchange building as an expression of the power of the worker’s movement and a page from the former exchange building’s website in 2014 are presented along with the 1903 pamphlet and an initial response from its author to a misunderstanding around the use of the term proletarian caused by a mistake in the layout of the pamphlet’s title page.

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ŽELJKO KIPKE Between curses and the Surveillance camera Dissatisfied with the strategy of Croatian public institutions by the end of the last century (1999) I cast curses at six different locations in Zagreb. Thirteen years later I revisited these locations in order to protocol the state of things. I wanted to see if the curses had any effect. In the meantime I turned my camera to the police yard and filmed the construction of a “business structure” in it for two years. With the time it would turn out that I had been filming the construction of the headquarters of Croatian secret services in charge of surveillance of our entire community and even wider. Two entirely different activities wittily speak about the role of the artist in society, about his provocative and deductive function that pokes into sensitive points of his social community.

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ZLATKO KOPLJAR “What Kopljar describes is a genuine deficiency hiding beneath the superfluity of political, social and art institutions. This deficiency underlies the system in which the impetus for profit generation thoroughly eliminates every aspiration for something beautiful, good or real. In other words, it eliminates everything it ought to regulate, encourage and protect. Holding out as mere production sites or places of income accumulation, art institutions have long ceased to be places of artistic ideation. They have turned into places that trivialize art, with the aim of extracting its capital value. Their role, from the perspective of the allegedly preserved self-sufficiency of art, is truly insignificant. And it is precisely this meta-physical insignificance that Kopljar seeks to express. He does so by displaying small scale models of architecturally very attractive museums – presented in their existing forms or in their planned reconstructions.“ Excerpt from the text by Ivana Mance

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MARGARETA LEKIĆ In my artistic practice I integrate sculpture, installation, performance and video art by using contemporary technology to comment on the interrelation of people as social beings, the environments in which they are located and their relationship to art. My latest work seeks to encourage reflection on what it means to live in a world filled with new technology and cite the understanding of the inseparability of man as a natural being and nature of technological progress. Paper cubes, set in a white walk through space, melt with the surroundings and seem unnoticeable. Parts of the cubes will be deformed while visitors walk from one space to another. The visitor’s destructive role in the work is contrary to the usual expectations of behavior in a gallery. The visitor has a role of reshaping the work. With that she/he becomes a physical participant in the work.

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FERENC MOLNAR Human Nature is a visual exploration of our paradoxical relationship with nature in the context of man made, urban environments. The desolate sites of cities and our urban perceptions are juxtaposed with the organic forms of nature and with our deeper laying, natural perception.

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ZOLTAN NOVAK The painted space is the only space that facilitates a positive synergy between public and intimate narratives.

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NELI RUŽIĆ Video Stolen Future is the result of my art intervention in December 2014 organized by the Motel Trogir team and association for Contemporary art practice Loose associations, i.e. civic campaigns for protection of Trogir motel built in 1965 by prominent architect of the socialistic Yugoslavia, Ivan Vitić. I have chosen six motel bungalows for which Motel Trogir is well known: in order to draw the attention to the fate of abandoned modernist architecture, but also because I´m interested in the process of entropy

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in relation to the spaces that project a different future (utopia of modernism in relation to the current state of devastation), and in particular the areas that have been invaded by the nature. The result is a video work that records the passage of time: changing ambient light, from day to dusk and night. Thus, in the video, crude daily images of devastated bungalows are substituted by the contrast of night and lights that combines elements of ceremony and decay.


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SARA RAJAEI/ NEVA LUKIĆ The motel in the well The story of different destinies which reside in a particular space, a motel... being everywhere and nowhere, like a river that brings people together, and yet separates them, creating emotional and physical borders between countries, between people... Water runs through the veins of the earth, passes through the inner shelters, touches the roots of the trees, reaches the woods, and then the motel, where the memories continue to live.

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SANDRO SETOLA Retreat was conceived as a portrayal of a person’s mental state being caught in the downward spiral of a heavy depression. The architecture hints towards an enormous underground nuclear shelter that seems to have grown haphazardly rather than well planned. From a computer model an installation was made consisting of a 3d printed sculpture of the model and a single channel video film approximately 7 minutes long that takes the viewer from the deepest point in the building up to the surface while showing some of it’s interior abandoned spaces. The music for the film was composed using samples delivered by opera students of Codarts Rotterdam.

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RIK SMITS My work deals with the relation between religion and capitalism, which is depicted in a scenery of architectural landscapes/cityscapes. These landscapes show the contours of an imaginary city. A city which breathes the human ambition towards power and status. Its large scale buildings remind us of the industrial utopias which have prevailed in human mind, but have failed to shine or provide peace and humanity in the real world. The most prominent facet of this city is perhaps its appearance, from which one can easily read that the main ideology of its inhabitants is Capitalism. But this ideology is beginning to manifest itself in a religious manner, and will maybe even become a religion itself. And in a way that it will be seen as a redeemer. The city shows the self-confidence of an utopia but also the emptiness of a deserted ruin. The over towering Art Deco skyscrapers stand proud like medieval cathedrals, their decoration reminds us of the rich symbolism of the early Christian art, with all its references to spiritual suppression and revelation

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ELIAN SOMERS The work A dream if ever there was one refers to ‘L’An 2440, rêve s’il en fut jamais’ (Louis Sébastien Mercier, 1771), and is a reflection on changing attitudes towards the post-war modernist cityscape. It is not a representation of the utopian urban landscape as a failure, or dystopia, but rather an open and dialectical representation of utopia, dystopia and the ways we reflect on it. All over the world, the modernist cityscape has been (apparently) universally planned. Nevertheless the way it has been dealt with over time differs from place to place, depending on the respective socio-political and cultural climates. The starting point in this work is The Netherlands in the early 2000s, where the post-war modernist cityscape is being rapidly demolished and scapegoated for the social malfunctioning of these areas. This demolition does not just mean a disappearance of an architectural environment, but also the ways of thinking that underpinned it. The ideal cities and cityscapes represented in this work include: Brasilia (BR), Cumbernauld (Scotland, UK), Cité Modèle (Brussel, BE), Kleinpolder (Rotterdam, NL), Het Kiel (Antwerpen, BE), Stuyvesant Town (New York, USA), Zen (Palermo, IT), Lafayette (Detroit, USA) and Tapiola (Helsinki, FIN).

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MARJAN TEEUWEN A building as a sculpture. Large-scale architectural installations in buildings that are subsequently demolished, are central to my work. Autonomous photo pieces are created on the basis of these installations. In my work the constructive force of building and the force of destruction and decline go hand in hand. To me, the polarity of construction – destruction, falling – standing, order – chaos is an essence of human condition. A diabolic conflict. Dostoyevsky argues that overcoming this polarity is beyond human power. Beside a raw visual language of chaos,

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demolition and destruction, my work has a highly abstract, minimalist character. Each project is preceded by intensive consultation with the owner (developer, housing association or local authorities), officials of the municipality concerned (regarding the environmental or public license), constructor (construction report) and contractor. Painstaking work generates an image of both the power and the beauty of both construction and destruction. Most photographers take a photo, here photos are constructed.


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ROB VOERMAN Voerman is working in many different media: sculpture, installation-art, printmaking and painting. In many of his works he tests the boundaries of both sculpture and architecture. His works illustrate Voerman’s fascination with creating the architecture of fictional communities inhabiting remote areas away from the imposed order

of towns and cities. Voerman’s new dwellings consist of a mixture of “utopia, destruction and beauty.” This new architecture combines the romanticism of the log cabin with it’s antithesis; the implied malevolence of the una-bomber’s cabin. These architectural hybrids somewhere between dwellings, caves, the primitive hut, and cathedrals. As well as being cobbled together in and of itself, such a hybrid also blends different structures, layers and contents wedged into one another and sometimes literary annexing each other.

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DANIJEL ŽEŽELJ Cycle Utopia is a personal reflection on philosophical works The City of the Sun by Tommaso Campanella and Utopia by Thomas Moore. It plays with the relationship and proportion between the individual and the system, the citizen and the urban labyrinth, the revolving connection and interaction between the creator and her/his creation. The active and passive, dynamic and static, light and dark are constantly and perpetually exchanging places injecting energy into crushing machinery of the postindustrial metropolis.

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Anke van den Berg (1978, Sint Anthonis, The Netherlands) is an artist and designer living in The Hague. Graduated with a BA in Art & Design from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. She creates strategy and design in the field of art and culture across all platforms. Anke designs magazines, books, brand identities, websites, animations, photos and objects for clients and herself. Her work is featured in different magazines, galleries and museums. Exhibitions on her work have been mounted in Art Fairs and Galleries in Helsinki, Lisbon, Lausanne, Zagreb, The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Her biggest ambition is to make work socially useful. Anke is an initiator and chairman of the cultural incubator See Lab in the Hague. A working community for professional artists and culture creators. www.ankevandenberg.nl

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APPENDIX

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BIOGRAPHIES VANJA BABIĆ (1965, Zagreb, Croatia) is curator and art reviewer. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts in Zagreb, History and History of Art. Since 1995 he has been curator of the Matica hrvatska Gallery in Zagreb and since 2009 of the Kranjčar Gallery in Zagreb also. In 2012 he set the exhibition of ten Croatian contemporary artists organized by the Kranjčar Gallery in the Gallery Le Loft Sévigné in Paris. He is curator of numerous preface texts for the exhibitions throughout Croatian galleries. Since 2009 he has been an art editor of the newspaper for literature, science and culture Vijenac. He regularly publishes art reviews and interviews with artists in Croatian art magazines. He co-operates with the Croatian Television and Croatian Radio and was co-author of the pedagogical art programme Percepcija from 2002 until 2004. He also took part in writing the scenarios for a few short documentaries. He is a member of AICA. ANKE VAN DEN BERG (1978, Sint Anthonis, The Netherlands) is an artist and designer living in The Hague. Graduated with a BA in Art & Design from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. She creates strategy and design in the field of art and culture across all platforms. Anke designs magazines, books, brand identities, websites, animations, photos and objects for clients and herself. Her work is featured in different magazines, galleries and museums. Exhibitions on her work have been mounted in Art Fairs and Galleries in Helsinki, Lisbon, Lausanne, Zagreb, The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Her biggest ambition is to make work socially useful. Anke is an initiator and chairman of the cultural incubator See Lab in the Hague. A working community for professional artists and culture creators. www.ankevandenberg.nl ROBBIE CORNELISSEN (1954, Utrecht, The Netherlands) graduated in biology from the University of Utrecht, and graduated in Fine arts from the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He has also been teaching Fine arts at Artez Academy in Zwolle and Arnhem since 2006. He is one of the leading draughtsmen in the Netherlands. Recent solo exhibitions include Kogan Gallery, Havens Factory in Paris (2016), Galery Art Mur in Montreal (2015), God is in the Details at the Stedelijk Museum Kampen (2013), Het grote geheugen X at the Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag (2011) and Studio Vertigo at the Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2011). www.robbiecornelissen.nl

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TANJA DEMAN (1982, Split, Croatia) obtained an BFA and MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Deman’s works, including photography, collage, video and public art are evocative meditations on urban space and landscape. Her work has been exhibited in a large number of exhibitions: Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Museum of African Design, Johannesburg; 15th Venice Biennial of Architecture, National Croatian Pavilion, Arsenale; Unseen, Amsterdam; TENT, Rotterdam; The Central House of Artists, Moscow; Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava; MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka; Pavillon Carré de Baudouin, Paris; International Film Festival Rotterdam. She is based in Zagreb. www.tanja-deman.com MARIJANA DROŽĐEK (1962, Zagreb, Croatia), completed her study in art history at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb (Croatia) and has obtained master’s degree in art & education from the Fontys School of Visual and Performing Arts in Tilburg (the Netherlands). She started her professional carrier at the Mimara Museum (Zagreb) as a curator pedagogue. In the Netherlands, she taught a.o. art history and aesthetics at St. Lucas School of Arts and was a guest lecturer at the St. Joost Akademie in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. She writes texts for artists’ catalogues, art magazines, galleries (Mark Peet Visser Gallery) and museums (Van Bommel van Dam). She is lecturing on a regular basis at museums, at universities and auction houses. Drožđek was also a member of different boards (gallery, atelier management). Recently she became a programmer for the Theatre gallery in Vught, the Netherlands. ZACHARY FORMWALT (1979, Albany, Georgia/US) is an artist and filmmaker based in Amsterdam. He was a resident at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten until 2009. He has presented solo projects at the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade (2015); Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (2014); Wexner Center for the Arts: The Box, Columbus, OH (2010); and Kunsthalle Basel (2009). He has also contributed to various film festivals and group shows, including The Economy is Spinning at Onomatopee, Eindhoven (2016); Dimensions Variables at Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris (2015); EVA International, Limerick (2014); Liquid Assets at the Steirischer Herbst, Graz (2013); Image Employment at MoMA PS1, New York (2013) among others. In 2013, his film, Unsupported Transit, received a Tiger Award for Short Films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (NL). www.zacharyformwalt.com


DARKO FRITZ (1966, Split, Croatia). Since the late 1980s, the work of artist, curator and researcher Darko Fritz has revolved around the significant investigation into the use of technology in culture. His work bridges the gap between contemporary art, media art and network culture, taking up topics such as glitch, error, and surveillance. Recently he has been developing horticultural units in public spaces and questioning imaginary futures of town planning. His curatorial work and research on New Tendencies and early computer art has earned international acclaim with the exhibitions at Neue Galerie Graz (2007) and ZKM (2009). darkofritz.net

ZLATKO KOPLJAR (1962, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina) graduated in painting from the Fine Arts Academy in Venice (1991). He focuses on the media of photography, video and performance. Since 1990 his works have been presented at many solo and group national and international exhibitions. In 2005 he had an appearance at the São Paulo Biennale. His works were exhibited in New York´s The Kitchen (2003), Manes Gallery in Prague (2002), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka (2005), Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (2005 and 2010), Minoritengalerie in Graz (2010), Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in Novi Sad (2010) etc. He is based in Zagreb.

ANTONIO GRGIĆ (1973, Koprivnica, Croatia) graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb. He has exhibited at solo and group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad. He regularly publishes articles on art and architecture in newspapers and art magazines. He mainly works with urban interventions and performances that question the relations between ideological, social and personal psychological forces in urban environment. Time as an important part of that equation is also being questioned by his works. He is based in Zagreb. www.antoniogrgic.com

MARGARETA LEKIĆ (1982, Osijek, Croatia) graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Zagreb, Department of Sculpture. She has been on study visits and an artist in residence in the USA, Austria and France. She has exhibited at solo and group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad. In her work she deals with a wide range of widely accepted ideas and established concepts which she relativizes, i.e. questions from the philosophical perspective and thus creates a reflective framework for their new understanding. She is based in Osijek. margaretalekic.com

IGOR GRUBIĆ (1969, Zagreb, Croatia). His media are photography, video and performance. His works were exhibited at solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally in the following galleries and museums: Manifesta 4, Frankfurt; Tirana Biennale 2; 50th October Salon Belgrade; 11th Istanbul Biennial; 4th Fotofestival, Mannheim; Manifesta 9, Genk; Sweet Dew - since 1980, Gwang ju Biennale 20th Anniversary Special Project; Zero Tolerance, Moma PS1, New York; Ident-aler-ity Thessaloniki biennale 5th and others. For his work he has received several awards and prizes. Since 2000 he has worked as a producer and author of documentaries, TV coverages and socially committed commercials. He is based in Zagreb.

GABRIEL LESTER (1982, Lorum, Ipsum) Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ultricies ante a facilisis feugiat. Morbi lacus nisl, congue vel felis nec, pharetra gravida lectus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Donec vehicula mi nec magna consectetur sagittis vel eu purus. Proin congue vulputate vehicula. Aenean nec euismod nunc. Sed at elit sed arcu posuere fermentum. Vestibulum nec urna ipsum. Fusce posuere ipsum vitae purus lacinia, ac porttitor lacus lacinia. Aliquam rutrum ante fringilla risus consectetur scelerisque. Curabitur lobortis at neque at dapibus. Morbi a dolor justo. www.gabriellester.com

ŽELJKO KIPKE (1953, Čakovec, Croatia), painter, writer and filmmaker. He graduated in painting from the Fine Arts Academy in Zagreb (1976). In the first half of the eighties he made short films, mostly documenting his public actions. His works have been presented at many solo and group national and intenational exhibitions. He represented Croatia at the 45th Venice Biennale (1993) and at the Cairo Biennale two years later. He has been a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) since 1997, the Croatian Film Critics´Association also, and was appointed commissioner of the Croatian Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007). He has had nine books published. He is based in Zagreb.

NEVA LUKIĆ (1982, Zagreb, Croatia) graduated in history of art and archaeology from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and obtained her M.A. in Theory of Modern and Contemporary Art from Leiden University in the Netherlands. As an art historian and curator she has collaborated with different associations and institutions (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art,Rijeka; Croatian Associaton of Artists, Zagreb; Waag society, Amsterdam; Peggy Guggenheim Museum Internship, Venice etc.). As an art reviewer she regularly contributes to Croatian art magazine Kontura and is a member of Croatian section of AICA (The International Association of Art Critics). In addition to the above, she has published three books of poetry and prose so she aims to re57


late to visual artists also as a writer, creating interdisciplinary projects close to video-art and literary performance. www.nevalukic.co FERENC MOLNAR (1968, Szolnok, Hungary). Ferenc has received his BA in photography from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in 2011. In his autonomous, long term projects such as 2007/3.3bil-

lion/3%/80% and Human Nature he explores the effects of uniformity, urbanization and our paradoxical relationship with nature in the context of man made, urban environments. His work has been selected and displayed among others at the Gallery Ron Mandos during the Best of graduates 2011 exhibition, and at GEM, The Hague during the Now or Never! group exhibition of the best graduation projects at the Royal Academy of Art, 2012. baseground.nl NADIJA MUSTAPIĆ (1976, Rijeka, Croatia) is a video/audio installation artist, but her practice includes documentary and experimental film or other media. She explores multidimensional relations of representations of space, its subjectivity and political contingency and makes poetic narratives that evoke “in between“ conditions or meanings. Her work has been exhibited at more than 30 solo (Hippolyte Gallery, Helsinki; MMCA, Rijeka; Cecile R. Hunt, St.Louis; MKC, Split,..) and over 50 group exhibitions and festivals (Si:n Festival of video art & performance, Ramallah; TH-T Award/MCA Zagreb; Directors Lounge Berlin; Instants Video Marseilles; C.A.R. Media Art Fair Essen..). She received awards (Kone Foundation, Headlands AiR, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica Assistantship, Peggy Guggenheim Museum Internship,..) and earned a MA degree in 2004 and a MFA Terminal degree in 2006. She lives in Rijeka, Croatia and works as associate professor at Rijeka Academy of Applied Arts. nadijamustapic.com ZOLTAN NOVAK (1963, Zagreb, Croatia) graduated in painting from the Fine Arts Academy in Zagreb. Since 2004 he has taught painting at the Fine Arts Academy in Zagreb. Since 1986 his paintings have been shown in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad. He represented Croatia at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009). His works are to be found in many private and public collections. The prevailing topics of his paintings are the existential visions and anguish which a modern urban individual faces in his/hers everyday life. He is based in Zagreb. IVAN PAIĆ (1950, Zagreb, Croatia) studied at the College of political sciences, University of Zagreb. Since 1978 has worked for the Student Centre’s Multimedia Research at 58

the University of Zagreb. As the organizer, programmer and curator he has worked for various cultural manifestations and festivals. He was director of SEE DOCS IN DUBROVNIK in 2001- international festival of documentary film and TV production for the countries of southeast Europe and Baltic countries. Movie critic, theorist, translator, writes for journals, magazines and radio. The fields of special interest: avant-garde films, video art, animation, video installations, photography. As the artist he works in the media of film, video, photography and other. Curator and lecturer on experimental film and video, also gives lectures about modern Croatian art at various media presentations throughout the world. SARA RAJAEI (1976, Abadan, Iran) is a video artist/ film maker based in Rotterdam. In her work, she studies the notion of time in relation with the function of memory, narrative techniques, space and absence. Her oeuvre consists mainly of short films and video installations, which remain in-between storytelling and imagery. After her graduation from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague in 2002, Rajaei attended a 2-year residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Amsterdam. In 2009, she was awarded Prix de Rome basic prize. Her work has been exhibited at various art venues and festivals around the world. Notable shows include de Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam, Stroom Den Haag, International Film festival Rotterdam, Rencontres internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, Art Brussels, MMSU Rijeka, Croatia, Stiftelsen 3,14 Bergen, Norway and many more. www.sarajaei.com NELI RUŽIĆ (1966, Split, Croatia), graduated in painting from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade (1990), and completed MA studies at the Facultad de Artes, UAEM, Mexico (2013). She taught at ENPEG La Esmeralda, Mexico City from 2003 to 2012. Within Transitos, (Centro Nacional de las Artes), she coordinated transdisciplinary workshops (2008-2011). She returned to Croatia in 2012. Her artistic work explores the overlap of personal and collective memory and forgetfulness in relation to migration, history narratives and transitional identity. Since 1990 she has exhibited at solo and group exhibitions in Croatia, Mexico and abroad. For her work she has received several awards and her works have been included in various collections such as Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Gallery Marino Cettina, Umag; Canal Mediateca Caixa Forum, Barcelona. She is based in Split. LORA SARIASLAN (1977, Istanbul, Turkey), art historian and curator. Lora Sarıaslan is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam. She attended Knox College, USA, where she received her B.A. in art history and integrated international studies, and her M.A. in art history from the


University of Texas in Austin, USA. She worked at the Dallas Museum of Art (2001-2005) and was curator at Istanbul Modern (2005-2011). Selected exhibitions curated: World and Dreams of Salvador Dali, Dallas Museum of Art (2004); Before Impressionism: French 19th-Century Art at Dallas Museum of Art (2005); (co-curator) Ryan Trecartin: Any Ever, Istanbul Modern (2011), Life in the UK/ Balance of Probabilities, 2nd Asia Triennial Manchester, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2011); (co-curator) 2nd Mardin Biennial: Double Take, Mardin (2012), This yearning is ours! Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, Torun, Poland (2016). SANDRO SET OLA (1976, Heerlen, The Netherlands) studied at AKV St Joost in Den Bosch (1994-1998) and was a resident at the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (2003-2004). His work is exhibited widely and he has worked as an artist in residence in countries like China, Switzerland and the UK. He lives and works in Rotterdam. Since 2004 Sandro Setola has been completely focused on the subject of architecture and building processes and their underlying ideals (or lack of thereof). The associations with architectural proposals allow these works to enter the twilight zone between desire and reality that in turn raises questions about their function or meaning. On the one hand they can be seen as comments on our everyday surroundings and urban environment by proposing buildings that seem to be designed for the expression of discomfort, spirituality or a lack of ideology or function www.sandrosetola.com RIK SMITS (1982, The Hague, The Netherlands) is a Dutch artist who works in The Hague in the Netherlands. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague in 2010, where he developed his high detailed drawing style and his concept about the utopian world. Since then Smits has shown his work at several exhibitions in Holland as well as in foreign exhibitions in Berlin, Zurich and Buenos Aires. He is currently working on the further development of his never ending project which consists of a high quantity of drawings and recently also sculptures. www.riksmits.net

and Learning from‌ Rotterdamat Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, Wilhelmshaven, Germany (2012). In 2013 the book Border Theories was launched. www.eliansomers.nl MARJAN TEEUWEN (1953, Venlo, The Netherlands) graduated in 1988 from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design St. Joost, Breda. Until now she has realized six architectural installations: in Holland, Russia, Johannesburg. In her work the constructive force of building and the force of destruction and decline go hand in hand. Her works are represented by Gallery Nouvelles Images in The Hague and Cityscapes Gallery in Amsterdam. She has exhibited at many solo and group national and international exhibitions. Recently she has worked on an assignment for The Temporary Hall of Justice in Amsterdam. The next project will be Destroyed House Gaza, Palestinian Territories. The last project was Destroyed House Leiden, in cooperation with the Museum De Lakenhal Leiden (2015). She is based in Amsterdam. www.marjanteeuwen.nl ROB VOERMAN (1966, Deventer, The Netherlands,). He currently lives in Arnhem and works in the village Groessen, both in the Netherlands. Since his graduation in 1996 from the Art School in Kampen (the Netherlands) Voerman has exhibited his work all over the world. From the UCLA Hammer Museum (Hammer Projects), the Generali Foundation in Vienna, to the Architectural Association in London. Voerman’s work is included in many major collections like: MoMA, UCLA Hammer Museum, Generali Foundation, KKR Office Collection, Speyer Family Collection and Deutsche Bank. www.robvoerman.nl

ELIAN SOMERS (1975, Sprang-Capelle, the Netherlands). She completed her Masters in Architecture at the Delft University of Technology and her Masters in Photography at AKV St. Joost in Breda. In her long-term projects she questions the utopian urban landscape and the ways its ideological foundations and (virtual) histories are manifested and interpreted. The works have been shown at various exhibitions, a.o. Border Theories (solo) at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Amsterdam (2013), Utopian Dreams at TENT, Rotterdam (2016) 59


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THE NUMBER 9 SESSIONS # 49 2016 PENCIL ON PAPER 100 X 140 CM

THE NUMBER 9 SESSIONS #49 2016 VIDEO, 1’44’’

ROBBIE CORNELISSEN THE WAITING ROOM (EUROPE) 2015 PENCIL ON PAPER 120 X 200 CM

INFERNO 2015 MIXED MEDIA PRINT 50 X 50 CM

ANKE VAN DEN BERG CONFUSION OF TONGUE 2013 MIXED MEDIA PRINT 50 X 50 CM

IGOR GRUBIĆ MISSING ARCHITECTURE 2013 SITE SPECIFIC PUBLIC ART PROJECT, PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ARCHIVE 43 X 63 CM (X 5), 33 X 48 CM (X 2), 46 X 68 CM (X 5)

THE SHADOW OF DESTROYED SYNAGOGUE 2016 VISUALIZATION OF THE URBAN INTERVENTION 150 X 100 CM

ANTONIO GRGIĆ RESONANT LANDSCAPES 2016 INSTALLATION, TWO SPEAKERS AND SOUND INSULATION VARIABLE SIZE

DARKO FRITZ PANORAMA 2015 VIDEO TRYPTICH LOOP

GEOLOGY HALL FROM SERIES TEMPLES OF CULTURE 2014 ARCHIVAL PIGMENT PRINT 145 X 100 CM

TANJA DEMAN MUSEUM LIBRARY FROM SERIES TEMPLES OF CULTURE 2014 ARCHIVAL PIGMENT PRINT 145 X 100 CM

NATIONAL AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY (HRVATSKE BRATSKE ZAJEDNICE 4), 2012 CURSE (1999): MAY THEY NOT LEAVE THE GLASS TOWER FOR A LONG TIME TO COME / STATUS UNCHANGED DIGITAL PRINT 40.5 X 78 CM

MINISTRY OF CULTURE (TRG BURZE 6) 2012 CURSE (1999): MAY YOU NOT LIFT A FINGER ANY MORE / THIS INSTITUTION MOVED TO ANOTHER LOCATION IN 2003 DIGITAL PRINT 40.5 X 78 CM

FRENCH PAVILION / STUDENTS’ CENTRE (SAVSKA CESTA 25) 2012 CURSE (1999): MAY IT BE BLOWN WITH THE WIND AND THE DUST / THE STRUCTURE HAS BEEN IN THE PROCESS OF REBUILD SINCE 2009 DIGITAL PRINT 40.5 X 78 CM

CITY BUILDINGS (KLAIĆEVA 11A) 2012 CURSE (1999): MAY YOU NOT MOVE FROM THE SPOT / THE AUTHOR OF CURSES MOVED TO A DIFFERENT NEIGHBOURHOOD IN 2000 DIGITAL PRINT 40.5 X 78 CM

CROATIAN NATIONAL THEATRE (TRG MARŠALA TITA 15) 2012 CURSE (1999): WALLOW IN THE SAME MUD / STATUS UNCHANGED DIGITAL PRINT 40.5 X 78 CM

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (KATARINSKI TRG 2) 2012 CURSE (1999): AND MAY NOT WAKE UP TILL FURTHER NOTICE / THIS INSTITUTION MOVED TO A DIFFERENT LOCATION BY THE END OF 2009 DIGITAL PRINT 40.5 X 78 CM

ŽELJKO KIPKE ZAGREB LOCATIONS 2012 DIGITAL PRINT 40.5 X 54 CM

ZACHARY FORMWALT AMSTERDAM’S NEW EXCHANGE AND THE PROLETARIANS 2013 / 2016 3 INKJET PRINTS IN LIGHTBOXES (38.5CM X 31CM; 22CM X 31CM; 22CM X 31CM), 1 LED SCREEN, 1 PAMPHLET

MARGARETA LEKIĆ PAPER CUBES 2007 PAPER INSTALLATION VARIOUS DIMENSIONS / EACH CUBE: 7 X 7 X 7 CM

VIDEO 2 LOOP 2015 VIDEO, LOOP

VIDEO 1 LOOP 2015 VIDEO, LOOP

MOMA NY 2015 CONCRETE 60 X 17,5 X 80 CM

ZLATKO KOPLJAR TATE MODERN 2015 CONCRETE 60 X 40 X 33 CM

SANDRO SETOLA RETREAT (I KNOW I CAN’T WIN) 2013 INSTALLATION, 3D LASER SINTERED MODEL, PERSPEX (ACRYLIC), PEDESTAL, SINGLE CHANNEL VIDEO/ SOUND 7’ 35 X 35 X 60 CM

SARA RAJAEI /NEVA LUKIĆ THE MOTEL IN THE WELL 2016 SHORT FILM, 23’

NELI RUŽIĆ STOLEN FUTURE 2014 / 2015 VIDEO HD 1080P, STEREO SOUND 5`23``

ZOLTAN NOVAK INCONSTANCY OF SPACE 2016 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 220 X 600 CM

FERENC MOLNAR FROM SERIES HUMAN NATURE BUDAPEST 01 2015 UV PRINT ON DIBOND 150 X 100 CM

DESTROYED HOUSE LEIDEN 6 2016 INKJET PRINT ON DIBOND / FRAMED 155 X 193 CM

MARJAN TEEUWEN DESTROYED HOUSE LEIDEN 3 2016 INKJET PRINT ON DIBOND (PAINTED ALUMINUM COMPOSITE PANEL ) / FRAMED 155 X 221.5 CM

ELIAN SOMERS A DREAM IF EVER THERE WAS ONE 2006 / 2008 SLIDE PROJECTION VARIABLE DIMENSIONS

RIK SMITS VALLIS CITY 2015 FOAM, WOOD AND GLASS 70 X 70 X 40 CM

DANIJEL ŽEŽELJ FROM THE CYCLE UTOPIA 2014 GICLEE PRINT ON HIGH-QUALITY PAPER 100 X 100 CM EACH

ROB VOERMAN INCINERATOR #3 2014 STEEL, EPOXY-RE-ENFORCED CARDBOARD, GLASS AND PAINT 101 X 101 X 190 CM

LIST OF WORKS


ROBBIE CORNELISSEN THE LABYRINTH RUNNER 2015 2009 VIDEO, 10’38’’

ZACHARY FORMWALT UNSUPPORTED TRANSIT 2011 SINGLE CHANNEL HD VIDEO, SOUND, 14’25’’

ŽELJKO KIPKE SURVEILLANCE CAMERA 2011 DIGIBETA, BETA SP, COLOR, 31’07’’

AN AFTERNOON WITHOUT GRAVITY 2011 EXPERIMENTAL FILM HD, PAL, 32:9, COLOR, STEREO, 15′ 35″

MARIN LUKANOVIĆ, NADIJA MUSTAPIĆ RIKARD BENČIĆ, FOR EXAMPLE 2008 COLOUR VIDEO, SOUND, HD VIDEO, PAL, 34’17’’

GABRIEL LESTER URBAN SURFACE 2005 VIDEO, 10’40’’

SARA RAJAEI 1978 THE 231ST DAY 2012 VIDEO INSTALLATION, BLACK AND WHITE, SOUND, 6’

DANIJEL ŽEŽELJ BROOKLYN BABYLON 2015 2011 VIDEO, 35’32’’ AUTHOR OF MUSIC: DARCY JAMES ARGUE

ROBBIE CORNELISSEN THE WAITING ROOM (EUROPE) 2015 PENCIL ON PAPER 120 X 200 CM

SCREENINGS

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SIDE PROGRAM

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AMSTERDAM ARTI ET AMICITIAE Guided tour for Arti et Amicitiae members FRI / Sep 9th / 4:45 – 5:45 p.m. Curator: Neva Lukic Language: English Lecture of philosopher Joke J. Hermsen and curator’s guided tour FRI / Sep 16th/ 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. - Lecture of Joke J. Hermsen: Pluk de eeuwigheid in het ogenblik. Over de creatieve tijd van Kairos. Language: Dutch - The guided tour by curator Neva Lukic in expo rooms. Language: English Guided tour for high school pupils WED/ Sep 21st/ 11:00 a.m. Pedagogical curator: Marijana Drozdek Language: Dutch

ZAGREB/OSIJEK Screenings MON/ SEP 5TH / 7 P.M. FRI / SEP 16TH/ 9 P.M.

GALLERY OF FINE ARTS, OSIJEK CINEMA EUROPA, ZAGREB

The Labyrinth Runner (2009) by Robbie Cornelissen, An Afternoon Without Gravity (2011) by Nadija Mustapić, 1978 the 231st day (2012) by Sara Rajaei, Unsupported Transit (2011) by Zachary Formwalt and Urban Surface (2005) by Gabriel Lester. Urban intervention TUE/OCT 11TH - 12TH / 11:59 P.M

PRAŠKA STREET, ZAGREB

Urban intervention The shadow of destroyed synagogue of artist and architect Antonio Grgić.

Finissage SUN/ Oct 2nd/ 4:00 – 5:30 p.m Guided tour and artist talks Language: English AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY Lecture of Marijana Drozdek TUE/ Sep 27th / 5:00- 6:00 p.m. Lecture Living Memories: (In)constancy of Space- Struggle for Identity, Department of Slavic languages and Cultures Language: Dutch DE NIEUWE ANITA Screenings WED/ Sep 14th / 8:30 p.m. Surveillance camera by Zeljko Kipke, Brooklyn Babylon by Danijel Zezelj (Music: Darcy James Argue) and Rikard Bencic, For Example by Marin Lukanovic and Nadija Mustapic.

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THE NOTES ON SCREENING text: Ivan Paić AMSTERDAM SURVEILLANCE CAMERA (2011), documentary, 31.07 min., Dir. Željko Kipke A kind of tractate on the voyeurism of state institutions contrary to the individual, or more precisely - artistic expression, is cinematically depicted by the Zagreb painter, filmmaker, film critic and multimedia artist Željko Kipke. Within the cinematic narrative, Kipke presents several solid theses on the controllability of contemporary society by relevant state institutions. Whenever he considers it important, the author films the building under construction in the immediate vicinity of his apartment. The edifice, which is the centre of the intelligence community, stands dominant disturbing and occupying the surrounding area in the centre of the Croatian capital, expanding its physical and functional scope with the purpose of effectively monitoring social phenomena by means of the repressive security apparatus. The film gives a strong foreboding and suggestion of malignant and enigmatic activities within the building. The “malignant” activity of this architectural-security complex metastasizes at the tips of the so-called security cameras mounted on the buildings in the midst of the city noise and daily bustle. The author deals with this model by dissolving the arguments of politicians about the “strengthening and protection of human rights and freedoms”. He juxtaposes to it the voyeurism of artistic activity as the artist’s creative but cautionary reflex in an age of assassinations, growing terrorism, increasingly frequent and geographically ever closer war conflicts and of spreading perilous viruses, as preconceived and deliberately caused phenomena by secret associations. Unpretentiously yet prophetically, Kipke includes processes that characterize our contemporaneity, especially referring to Turkey but also to the whole of Europe. Advocating for repression over oppression, the author makes space for artistic freedom, its fragile position and difficult development of identity. Someone once said films were a mirror of reality, a concept Kipke impressively reasserts in his work. And this reality is characterized by universal control over individuals in the newly developing digital-feudal era. RIKARD BENČIĆ, FOR EXAMPLE (2008), documentary, 34.19 min., Dir. Nadija Mustapić, Marin Lukanović Nadija Mustapić and Marin Lukanović deal with the postin64

dustrial heritage of the city of Rijeka, which should, in the form of a Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, be given a different and creatively more intriguing content. Space is a variable category; a former pride and joy of industrial production of parts for the automotive and shipping industries located in the aforementioned port city was rampaged in the early nineties by particular transitional-capitalist interests and as such left to deteriorate. The way in which the transition was conducted was legislatively extremely problematic. Using the so-called “positive” nationalistic enthusiasm, the factory workers’ “unsuitable” blood cells were counted – and if they belonged to the minority population – the workers were removed, their existence thus jeopardized. The end result, however, was felt by the so-called national majority employees as well, who met the same fate of forced separation from the space where they used to build but also dream about their socially useful lives. One of the workers interviewed in the film says, “there is nothing else for me left but to live in my memories”, describing thus the socialist era as one still carrying some meaning in the social development cycle. Unlike in today’s wild capitalism, there were, in fact, obvious benefits in the area of health insurance, education and protection of workers’ rights at the time. Individual stories of the workers in the Rikard Benčić Factory of Engines and Tractors, a bastion of socialist production, are the emotional superstructure for the scenes of the architecturally declining but still fascinating building. The authors have, paradoxically, recorded with their camera the attractive aesthetics of the building’s deterioration. The sliding movement of the camera shows with how much sensitivity, dignity and respect they have treated the people of this bygone era as well as their roles and factory space, offering us a dimension of closeness with those cast into the margins during the period of transition. Can the politicians of the city administration and the architects of the emerging museum truly declare themselves the authors/builders of a space that will most likely be another great work of art, i.e. a newly composed tourist attraction, or are they yet the so-called “conceptual exponents”, different “unnamed” workers, who are mostly no longer present because they have been scaterred by the fate of a newly designed space? This documentary film by Nadija Mustapić and Marin Lukanović raises questions about the consequences of social stupidity, neo-liberal pillage, materialism, but also about the authorship of a newly-conceived, commercially-aesthetic and “more civilized” project which will attract a new future political elite. BROOKLYN BABYLON (2012), animated, 35.32 min., Dir. Danijel Žeželj, music: Darcy James Argue Visual artist Danijel Žeželj and American composer Darcy James Argue have created live a work of specific visual


experience composed of music, rhythm and optical bravura. The performance premiered at the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and here the cinematic presentation of the work titled Brooklyn Babylon will be discussed, which can also exist in the classical projection presentation. The narrative structure is based on the architectural challenge to build the biggest tower in the world, according to the story in the film, “the most prestigious and the most superior” city of the future, the future Brooklyn. Torn amongst his own skills, ambitions and feelings towards the community, one of the main protagonists - carpenter Lev Bezdomni (Leo Homeless) - makes a children’s custom carousel for the structure’s tower crown. The Tower of Babel, according to the Bible, “defies God himself.” This story, of course, has a universal meaning, and is even a cry for one, because the construction of such an architectural and cultural monument irreparably hurts people and buildings in its vicinity. Danijel Žeželj finds his artistic starting point in the silent film, the Russian Avant-Garde, German Expressionism and the New American Cinema. He uses the technique of stop motion animation in rhythmic (dis)continuity and the black-white-grey technique, i.e. its rhythmic exchanges, emphasizing the philosophical thought of the “continuity of change”. It is a work of artistic mood enthusiasm, making it almost possible to physically feel the architectural enthusiasm of the “urban fairy tale” in which the story unfolds. Of course, the “fairy tale” has its poles, from a dreamily dashing, lyrical, optimistic space, it moves to dreary epic proportions, a thoughtfulness, (un)purposefulness, pessimism and foreshadowed transience. Some perpetual ontological or Sisyphean questions gradually emerge. Brooklyn Babylon poses also questions about the transformation, construction and devastation of existing urban neighbourhoods where corporate and political-commercial interests are becoming the dominant category. On the other hand, individuals, due to their enthusiasm, simplicity and fascination with their own skillfulness cannot see the ultimate outcome of their agreeing to a consensus with the political elites. An inseparable part of the film, as already mentioned, is the omnipresent and equally significant soundtrack. The composer Darcy James Argue and his backing band Secret Society Big Band astoundingly evoke the sound of the city or the city of sound, creating a homage to the many urban music legends of classic and free jazz. All these visual and sound elements contribute to this extraordinary film about the socio-psychological conditioning of architecture, its belonging space and their mutual development associated with stories from the ancient past of civilization. Perhaps the question of all questions is whether we will be able to build the Tower of Babel with a clear conscience, not thinking of what will happen to the space around it, and what price will be paid. What is certain is that we are being blackmailed by the apparent standard of

living and consumerism, while space is usurped by corporate capital. Danijel Žeželj and Darcey James Argue speak about this masterfully, empathically but also realistically. And not without a dose of nostalgia! Namely, in the final scene of the film, a girl releases a balloon into the sky. After the balloon floats skyward, the Tower of Babel appears somewhat diabolically near the great “Wonder Wheel” on famous Coney Island, suggesting that we should reflect upon the flight of the balloon as a kind of flying boat in a bottle whose empty space is filled with some fundamental issues of civilization.

ZAGREB & OSIJEK URBAN SURFACE (2005), documentary, 10’18’’, Gabriel Lester By using minimal expressive tools, and relying solely on the static camera and the illusory dynamics of the slowly alternating frame, as well as the sensitive poetics of the black and white photograph, the author of the film seeks to encompass the urban space on the edge of the night. The studying of architecture and space is performed with the help of a bit of light and, naturally, shadow. The recording of refraction of light is unique for a highly specific period of twilight; in other words, the recorded phenomenon will never be repeated again. Gabriel Lester, an internationally active artist, comes from the field of performance, sculpture, installation; he seeks to use film to tell stories from the ‘architectural canyons’ sans participation of characters in them, simultaneously having no intention whatsoever on the conveyance of message per se. The audience is left with the outer unregistered space – which is exceptionally significant, alongside the performative-reductive suggestion – in which we by ourselves form opinions on the presented work. The author of the film advocates liberation of this space of auto-impressiveness. Given the appearance, atmosphere and visual character of the work itself, we can conclude – in terms of the quite intriguing, but also affirmative category – that this is an initially simple but, in the media sense, multi-layered light-installation-studio work that is merely ‘conditionally’ formed by film and music resembling that from film-noir, the exploited genre that reached its peak in the 1940s. THE LABYRINTH RUNNER (2009), experimental video, 10’38’’, Robbie Cornelissen The protagonist of the documentary-experimental and fiction film is a runner we meet in the physical world, only to lose sight of him at the end of the video story, in the virtual imaginary space and labyrinth. By running i.e. moving through the 65


virtual, animated world of diverse objects, the author brings to us the visual-graphic themes on the meaning, function and generation i.e. elimination of perspective, not only as a visual phenomenon, but also on the symbolic level. The distinctly narrative passing of the runner through diverse architectures of the laser-precise geometric shapes suggests the symbolic boundedness of space and, subsequently, the difficult and even impossible communication with nature and its phenomena. By reducing the outer world to the dominating mathematic and philosophic context, and the virtual one to architecture and geometry, our protagonist will face the formation, but also restriction of space. The exit i.e. goal is found by the main character on the virtual field that is as debatable as this world of reality. It may only be the breath of the runner that provides certain resistance in an effort to not simply disappear in the corridors of virtuality. UNSUPPORTED TRANSIT (2011), documentary video, 14’25’’, Zachary Formwalt By paraphrasing the dicta “blessed be the poor…” and “the working class goes to heaven,” and abiding by them, in all probability the workers will soon disappear from the face of geography that is far wider than we can even imagine. This is the notion communicated to us by the director of the film in his work, a kind of conglomerate of history of photography and film, of dialectic philosophy, and the vulgar, parvenu capitalism. One of the basic intents of the author of the film is to try to keep on the scene the “rejected ones, deemed unwanted by everyone” for as long as possible. The focus of the film is the construction site of the enormous and frightening, almost mythical Colossus in form of a building. It is located in the Chinese town of Shenzhen, the first specialised economic and financial zone in the economically propulsive Republic of China. The immense, visually floating building, which hegemonistically claims the large surrounding areas, is set to become the stock market for the flow of virtual capital. By taking an engaged attitude, whereby he uses the deceleration of film time, the author finds a peculiar connection between photography of Eadweard Muybridge – who is considered key artist for our contemporary civilisation of image – the cinematic technique of time lapse, the first works of the Lumière brothers – famous filmmakers, but also inventors of the eponymous medium – and, finally, the theses of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, philosophers of dialectic materialism, on the critique of capitalism. The space and its architectural conception becomes an irretrievably lost category in the time in which we live. “The capital is the consequence of accumulation of past work; once it is separated from the current ‘living’ work, it serves its own purpose i.e. future economic fiction.”

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1978 THE 231ST DAY (2012), video, 6’39”, Sara Rajaei The reflective and visual representation is the structural part of this film. The free associations lead us to the contemplations of French-American philosopher, essayist and novelist Francis George Steiner on “fiction as everything that is possible, and reality in which one cannot do anything while doing everything…” For clarification purposes, Steiner adds that “in a novel or certain similar artwork, one can conceive, come up with everything, put everything in a certain context; in reality, however,” he continues, “…in an alms-house in Paris, an N.N. is doing extremely noble deeds and is taking care of terminally ill patients, all the while remaining anonymous unlike the characters/heroes in novels, films, novellas.” The philosopher poses a question to himself but also to us – does art transcend reality, or is it the other way around? What is reality, and what is the role of art? What are the end-effects of both phenomena? Steiner (by accentuating the invisible off-spaces and actions) seeks to reassess in terms of value – and by no means to diminish – the characters generated in fictional arts, and to appeal to us to take into account the real people who conscientiously, meaningfully and devotedly perform a certain task around the clock. He pleads us to raise our level of empathy and suggests that we respect and accept even their catastrophic outcomes, sometimes even terrifying fates of the anonymous ones. Everything important – which is also advocated by Sara Rajaei – is situated beyond our reach, whereby we are referring to the author’s cinematic off-space. The space of the outer, but also inner individual architecture. The tragic event in a cinema in Tehran in 1978 preceded the work of Iranian artist Sara Rajaei; she cinematically evokes it in an extremely reductionist manner. What remains behind all events are words (which are also an important part of the structure of the work, alongside the elements listed at the beginning). They can only be a tool of a mostly superficial description of events; as is the case with this artwork, however, they do not suffice. The effect achieved by Rajaei is devoid of any, even the slightest convention; it serves as a simple and, simultaneously, striking manner in which that, which is almost inexpressible in some cases, can be said with few consciously sequestered tools and similar possibilities. The work of the Iranian artist forms a contemplative, concise, evoking and inseparable symbiosis between the real-life event and the artwork based on it. AN AFTERNOON WITHOUT GRAVITY (2010), experimental film, 14’41”, Nadija Mustapić The tactile-visual-meditative-performative research of the post-industrial witnessing space (which is, in fact, the former torpedo factory in Rijeka) destroyed by political and entre-


preneurial ignoring. The space, to which the artist dedicates visual and other kinds of attention, presented in the form of the simultaneously double projection, is strangely interesting aesthetically, and quite inspirational, transparent and latently provocative in the artistic sense. The spatial dislocation of the factory’s remaining contours and supportive pillars from the city centre, the architectural fracturedness, and the corrosiveness and deterioration of objects takes on an entirely new form and visual impression due to and by virtue of usage of experimental artistic expression and intervention. By using several cameras and double projection supported by actual sounds of marine movement, we are enabled to make perceptional progress, the simultaneous observation of the same space in two time periods. The architectural post-industrial heritage, neglected by the governing elites, thus becomes an accidental museum, and the author its discoverer and review-

ing curator. The editing work constitutes the axis of the work by experimenting with the unpretentious dramaturgy of film, the visual horizontal and rhythmic dynamics, and the plot that is intertwined with the melancholy of space. The female character passes through the magical, extremely ruined facility, by encompassing with touch and movement the somewhat nostalgic, albeit fascinatingly aesthetic scenography of the scene with a pre-conceived, albeit exceptionally subtle acting choreography.

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IMPRESSUM EXHIBITION: (In)constancy of Space-Struggle for Identity Arti et Amicitiae, Rokin 112, 1012 LB Amsterdam, August 26th October 2nd 2016 www.arti.nl THE PROJECT BY CURATORS: Neva Lukić Vanja Babić

MARKETING AND PR, ARTI ET AMICITIAE: Mirjam Taverdin GRAPHIC DESIGN OF PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS AND CATALOG: Anke Van den Berg

PUBLISHER: Croatian Association of Fine Artists (CCA), Zagreb www.hdlu.hr Trg žrtava fašizma 16, 10000 Zagreb

SIDE PROGRAM ORGANIZATIONS/LOCATIONS: Amsterdam University (Amsterdam) De Nieuwe Anita (Amsterdam) Cinema Europa (Zagreb) Praška street (Zagreb)- urban intervention of Antonio Grgić M-art and Museum of Fine Arts (Osijek) - Barutana 016

FOR THE PUBLISHER: Josip Zanki, president

SELECTION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE SIDE PROGRAM: Vanja Babić, Marijana Drožđek, Neva Lukić, Ivan Paić

DIRECTOR: Ivana Andabaka

TRANSLATION: Mirta Jurilj, Vida Lukić, Sanja Vrhovec Vučemilović

FOR THE PUBLISHER: Josip Zanki, president

PHOTO CREDITS: The authors of the photographs are the artists themselves if not stated otherwise Petar Bunić, Damir Fabijanić, Aad Hoogendoorn, Goran Vranić

EXECUTIVE BOARD OF CCA: Josip Zanki (president), Tomislav Buntak (vice president), Fedor Vučemilović (vice president), Ida Blažičko, Ivan Fijolić, Monika Meglić, Melinda Šefčić DIRECTOR: Ivana Andabak

FOR THE PUBLISHER: Josip Zanki, president EXECUTIVE BOARD OF ARTI ET AMICITIAE: Petra Noordkamp, Richtje Reinsma, Radek Vana, Mandra Waback, Merel Noorlander, Paul Nassenstein TEXTS: Vanja Babić, Neva Lukić, Ivan Paić, Lora Sariaslan

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COORDINATOR, ARTI ET AMICITIAE: Marjo Boeijen

TECHNICAL DISPLAY: Matthijs Kiel, Alex Fisher ACKNOWGLEDMENTS: Croatian embassy in The Netherlands, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art - Rijeka, Print Studio, Olga van den Berg, Ivan Faktor, Radovan Lučić, Antonija Kelava, Kristijana Kelava, Ana-Marija Koljanin, Elvira Kranjčar, Selma Mehadžić, Adriano Meta, Davor Preis, Sara Rajaei, Ellen Rutten, Tjandra Tol PRINTED BY: Stega Tisak d.o.o. EDITION: 300

CURATOR PEDAGOGICAL SECTION: Marijana Drožđek

The exhibition is financially supported by The City Office for Culture, Education and Sports Zagreb, The Ministry of Culture of the Republic Croatia, Croatia Airlines, Arti et Amicitiae and Meta Holding B.V.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATE, HDLU: Mihael Puntarić

ISBN: 978-953-8098-08-6


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