MIRAN BLAŽEK
STILL LIFE
11.12.-31.12.2024.
KARAS GALLERY
On Wednesday, 11.12.2024. Miran Blažek opens his solo exhibition entitled Still life, at 7 pm in Karas Gallery (Ulica kralja Zvonimira 58).
In his foreword, Zlatko Kozina emphasizes:
This principle of “trimming” of space is distinctly evident in the exhibited works of Miran Blažek. And not the infinite, cosmic (read: prosaic) space, but rather limited (gallery) space. Blažek uses photography printed on canvas, in the form of horizontally positioned “cubes” (canvas mounted on stretcher bars with an accentuated voluminousness, all together supported by wooden legs) and a photograph printed on canvas in a frame with glass. His palette, dominated by achromatic tones—black, white, and grey—features only one chromatic element: yellow, ranging from intense primary yellow to pale yellow. Observed as a whole, the exhibition exudes a sense of calm, even comfort. While yellow, as a colour, possesses an expansive quality and inherent dynamism that challenges its boundaries, in this context, it seems to confront the constrained space of defined dimensions, creating an ambience that can be described as an ecstasy of low intensity.
Biogprahy:
Miran Blažek (1983, Osijek, Croatia), has earned a BA in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2006, and an MA at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in 2012. Soon after completing his studies, he started to enhance his work with practices that transcend the traditional idea of painting. In his work, he is drawn to border fields of the medium, primarily drawing and painting, and he engages in transposition – through action, material, or space itself. Blažek uses the experience of painting to develop various possibilities inherent to the nature of the medium. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad. In 2012 he has received the Radoslav Putar Award for best young artist under 35, awarded by the Institute for Contemporary Art in Zagreb, and in 2020 he received Vlastimir Kusik Award on 27th Slavonian Biennale. He took part in several artist residency programs abroad: Hafenkombinat/HDLU, Leipzig; CREART, Kristiansand; and International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York. In 2015 he founded the project International Student Biennial, an award exhibition for students and emerging artists.
The exhibition will be open during the period from 11.12. to 31.12.2024.
Working hours of Karas Gallery
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 4pm – 8pm
Tuesday, Saturday 10am – 1pm
On Sundays and Mondays closed.
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http://karasarthub.eu
Organizer: HDLU
With the support of: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb
On November 23 and 24, 2024, the Jochen Hempel Galerie’s Colorado Project (Leipzig, Germany) will host an exhibition/open studio of the second residency De/Construction of the Image, as part of the European project CreArt 3.0.
Exhibiting artists: Barbara Muhr (DE) and Petra Šabić (HR).
DE/CONSTRUCTION OF PAINTING CONCEPT:
The project De/construction of Painting encourages and addresses contemporary artistic practices within the context of the visual arts center of Eastern Germany, Leipzig, which has transformed into a global hub for the arts with a focus on the painting scene. The former industrial complex Spinnerei in the Plagwitz district spans 10 hectares and has been almost entirely renovated, now serving as the heart of the local and international art scene with 12 galleries, the non-profit art center Halle 14, and around a hundred resident artists. The residency program De/construction of Painting tries to answer the following questions:
Part of this year’s residency program takes place within the EU project CreART 3.0, a European network of medium-sized cities aimed at exchanging experiences and best practices to promote contemporary art through a continuous transnational mobility program for emerging artists, curators, and cultural workers, in order to maximize the economic, social, and cultural contributions that creativity can bring to local communities. As part of the EU project CreART 3.0, 4 residencies will take place in Leipzig in 2024, each lasting 5 weeks, including 2 Croatian and 2 foreign artists from the network of cities.
Project web page: https://residencyleipzig.hdlu.hr/
Barbara Muhr works as a visual artist predominantly in large-scale figurative paintings as well as screenprints. Her colorful works combine realistic but mostly fictitious portraits with abstract surroundings and overlaps. She mixes acrylic and oil paint with crayon drawings and tapes to indicate different layers of physical and psychic states of people. Her motifs derive from classical art history and literature such as allegories and iconography of love and death, which are transferred into contemporary topics of coming-of-age and identity crises. Currently she works in her studio in Regensburg and exhibits in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic and was awarded several art prizes in Germany.
Petra Šabić completed primary school and high school in Bjelovar. She graduated in two fields from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb – first in 2019 with a degree in Fine Arts under mentorship of Professor Gordana Balić, and in 2021 with a degree in Painting under mentorship of Professor Ksenija Turčić. Petra Šabić, along with two colleagues, received the Rector’s Award for the project Cycle of Creative-Art Workshops “UMMA – umjetnička mama,” in collaboration with the Children’s Home Zagreb and the beneficiaries of the Mother’s Home Zagreb. Her first solo exhibition, “Zbiranja,” was held in 2018 at the “Petar Preradović” Public Library in Bjelovar. By the end of 2022, she had exhibited in ten solo and twenty-seven group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad (India, Vietnam, Serbia). She created illustrations for the publication of the international literary competition “Lapis Histriae 2020” and for the first version of the illustrated “Dictionary of Foreign Words” by Bratoljub Klaić. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists and a collaborator with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb.
Within the project:
Partners:
Supported by:
Co-funded by the European Union – CREA-CULT-2023-COOP. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
[Project number: 101128499]
The views expressed in this announcement are the sole responsibility of HDLU and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
JURICA PUŠENJAK
FAME
19.11.-8.12.2024.
Karas Gallery
On Tuesday, 19.11.2024. Jurica Pušenjak opens his solo exhibition entitled FAME, at 7 pm in Karas Gallery (Ulica kralja Zvonimira 58).
In his foreword, Feđa Gavrilović emphasizes:
“Some of the figures in Pušenjak’s portraits are more familiar to us than others, yet each represents narratives we encounter through the internet, television, or newspapers. In all this, we are not merely passive spectators. One of the biggest tricks of civil society, an illusion that sustains it despite its many contradictions and injustices, is the illusion of choice given to its subjects. This manifests in democratic elections, where a political option is legitimised by a relative majority of votes, as well as in the (supposed) freedom of the press. In narratives surrounding those in power, play along, like spectators in an amphitheater or viewers of a Western, picking our heroes and villains and rooting for them. By reading left- or right-leaning publications, listening to podcasts, and reading books, we adopt the arguments of a particular stance and build our own ideological identities. We then attempt to defend those views when political debates move from parliamentary halls to our local cafés. Yet all these conflicts are illusory, for, ultimately, decisions are made by those who hold real power in society, that is, those who control capital (or – the means of generating it).”
Biography:
Born in 1996 in Zagreb. In 2020, he graduated from the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in the class of Zoltan Novak. Since 2018, he has participated in around twenty group-juried exhibitions and held four solo exhibitions. Notable group exhibitions include the 5th and 6th Biennial of Painting (Croatian Association of Fine Artists, Zagreb), the 16th and 19th Erste Fragments (Lauba, Zagreb), Tartaglia Shelves (Forum Gallery, Zagreb) where he also contributed as a co-author, Love at Last Sight/Money is Eternal, and Human Life is Ephemeral (Bačva Gallery, Croatian Association of Fine Artists, Zagreb), Illusions (PM Gallery, Croatian Association of Fine Artists, Zagreb), and £I ₿ € R Ⓐ£I $ M (Poola Gallery, Pula). In April 2022, he held his first solo exhibition titled Heroes at Bačva Gallery, Croatian Association of Fine Artists, Zagreb. He is the recipient of the Vladimir Dodig Trokut, Iva Vraneković – Artist to Artist Award.
The exhibition will be open during the period from 19.11. to 8.12.2024.
Working hours of Karas Gallery
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 4pm – 8pm
Tuesday, Saturday 10am – 1pm
On Sundays and Mondays closed.
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karasarthub.eu
Organizer: HDLU
With the support of: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb
Due to high interest, the exhibition “Picelj and Friends” has been extended until February 2, 2025.
With this exhibition, HDLU and MSU are marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Picelj—a leading figure of 1950s abstraction and one of the most prominent Croatian artists of the second half of the 20th century. Picelj was a pioneer of abstract art in the 1950s and a member of the art collective EXAT-51 as well as the New Tendencies movement, which placed Zagreb on the global art map. His works are part of the collections of prestigious museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Museum Sztuki in Łódź, among others. Don’t miss it!
For all information about the exhibition Picelj and Friends, visit the page piceljiprijatelji.hdlu.hr.
The exhibition can be visited during MSU Zagreb’s opening hours:
CreArtivci
Exhibition of elementary and high school pupils
November 14-November 17, 2024
MSU školica
On Thursday, November 14, at 6pm exhibition of elementary and high school pupils CreArtivci will be opened at the MSU školica (Avenija Dubrovnik 17, Zagreb). The exhibition is a result of the Educational programme of the European project Creart 3.0.
The CreArt Educational Programme is part of the European project CreArt 3.0 and aims to improve cooperation between local schools, cultural institutions, non-governmental organizations and independent workers and companies in the cultural and creative sector. The program builds and strengthens intergenerational ties, creates a network for the exchange of education in culture, and encourages the future participation of school children in the cultural life of the city. Over the course of 3 years, the program will include 76 schools in the project’s partner cities, more than 4,500 students and teachers, and 47 artists.
In its second edition, six schools participated (Ivo Andrić Elementary School, Kustošija Elementary School, Središće Elementary School, I. Gymnasium, School of Applied Arts and Design, and Private Art Gymnasium) with over 120 students and six teachers. The program consisted of exhibition tours with an educational booklet of tasks and workshops conducted in schools under the mentorship of artists Duje Medić, Martina Miholić, Ana Ratković Sobota, Damir Sobota, Melinda Šefčić, and Diana Trohar.
Lorena Šimić developed the educational booklet under the supervision of the Educational Department of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, designed by Duje Medić.
School of Applied Arts and Design on guided tour
After guided tours, there were 6 workshops with artists carried out, the result of which are student works that will be exhibited at the exhibition in the MSU školica.
Workshop led by Duje Medić at the I. gymnasium
Workshop led by Damir Sobota at the Ivo Andrić elementary school
Workshop led by Melinda Šefčić at the School of Applied Arts and Design
PARTICIPANTS:
Schools: Ivo Andrić Elementary School, Kustošija Elementary School, Središće Elementary School, I. Gymnasium, School of Applied Arts and Design, and Private Art Gymnasium with Public Accreditation
Artists: Duje Medić, Martina Miholić, Ana Ratković Sobota, Damir Sobota, Melinda Šefčić, Diana Trohar
Professors: Anđela Zanki, Maja Ferček, Romina Makoter, Slaven Jurić, Lahorka Rožić, Marija Kladarin
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CreArt is a network of 13 medium-sized European cities with the aim of exchanging experiences and good practices for the promotion of contemporary art, through a permanent transnational mobility program for emerging artists, curators and cultural workers, in order to maximize the economic, social and cultural contribution that creativity can make to local communities (#stringing_together). At the same time, CreArt 3.0 is pushing the boundaries (#pushboundaries) beyond the visual arts, empowering other artistic practices such as performing arts or music, and new collaborations with an NGO based in Lviv have also been initiated to support Ukrainian artists. Participating cities are: Kaunas, Liepaja, Skopje, Aveiro, Valladolid, Lublin, Venice, Clermont-Ferrand, Rouen, České Budějovice, Oulu and Regensburg. The project includes 45 residency programs in 15 European cities, more than 39 public events to celebrate the European Month of Creativity in 13 cities from the network, 13 educational programs to strengthen creativity and knowledge about contemporary art, 18 Street Art festivals, 10 annual festivals in galleries in 9 cities and 6 European conferences and study visits.
Organizer:
Within the project:
Partners:
Supported by:
Co-funded by the European Union – CREA-CULT-2023-COOP. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
[Project number: 101128499]
The views expressed in this announcement are the sole responsibility of HDLU and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
Exhibition is opened from November 14 til November 17, 2024
INES BOROVAC
XSENOFOLK
29.10.-16.11.2024.
Karas Gallery
On Tuesday, 29.10.2024. Ines Borovac opens her solo exhibition entitled XSENOFOLK, at 7 pm in Karas Gallery (Ulica kralja Zvonimira 58).
In her foreword, Ana Bedenko emphasizes:
“Operating at the intersection of performance and new media, i.e., pervasive digital tools, the artist, in the spirit of xenofeminism, advocates for the strategic use of existing technology to reshape and rebuild the world around us, both material and cybernetic. Her artistic practice cannot be viewed outside a strong feminist lens, and themes such as girlhood, sexuality and romantic love, the female body, and autonomy. Using tools developed in the decidedly techno-masculine climate of Silicon Valley, Borovac uncovers some completely different narratives.”
Biography:
Ines Borovac (1996, Croatia) is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. As a feminist, Borovac infiltrates various systems governed by normative values (tradition, religious rituals) through her practice, aiming to explore gender relations. Her works are activated by performances or penetrated by contingent bodies. As a Croatian, she deals with the deconstruction of folk forms while distorting the power dynamics of patriarchal influence. Since 2022, together with Ginevra Petrozzi, Borovac acts as co-founder of the art and design duo Xsenofemma. Her works have been exhibited at Ars Electronica, MU Hybrid House, Onomatopee Net, HDD Gallery among others.
The exhibition will be open during the period from 29.10. to 16.11.2024.
Working hours of Karas Gallery
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 4pm – 8pm
Tuesday, Saturday 10am – 1pm
On Sundays and Mondays closed.
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karasarthub.eu
Organizer: HDLU
With the support of: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb
On Thursday, October 24, 2024, at 7:00 PM, the exhibition AFAR: Topography of a Project will open at the Bačva Gallery, within the Home of Croatian Fine Artists.
The exhibition presents the results of the two-year European project Artists for Artists Residency Network, which aimed to improve the mobility of contemporary visual artists and curators, while also creating greater opportunities for women in the arts. The project took place in four European partner countries—Romania, Germany, Croatia, and Austria—and included 12 artistic residencies in Zagreb (HR), Mulhouse (FR), Bucharest (RO), and in Săcel, Maramureș (RO), 4 curatorial residencies in Zagreb and Bucharest, 12 conferences in Zagreb, Bucharest, and Vienna, and culminates with 3 international exhibitions in Vienna, Zagreb, and Bucharest.
“The Artists for Artists Residency project not only generated new artworks but also opened and promoted Zagreb’s artistic, cultural, and academic community to curators and artists from Northern, Eastern, and Southern Europe. Designed as a horizontal platform for the creation and exchange of new artistic and authorial works, the project went a step further by developing new formats for workshops, artistic research, and lived experiences.” (From the preface by Josip Zanki and Rimantas Plungė)
Exhibiting artists:
Željko Beljan (HR), Bik Van der Pol (NL), Tanja Boukal (AT), Larisa Crunțeanu (RO), Megan Dominescu (RO), Nikolina Hrgović Knežević (HR), Zoya Laktionova (UA), Sarah McNulty (DK), Iza Tarasewicz (PL), Eve Woods (IE)
Within the project:
Project partners:
HDLU part of AFAR project is supported by:
Co-funded by the European Union – CREA-CULT-2022-COOP. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. [Project number: 101100309 ]
The views expressed in this announcement are the sole responsibility of HDLU and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.