Visita Interiora Terrae: Myth and Alchemy as Art Practice
Prsten Gallery
August 27 – September 16, 2021
Tomislav Buntak, Manolo Cocho, Frnacisco Fernández Taka, Kristian Kožul,
Mia Maraković, Leonardo Martínez, Antonio del Rivera, MarkoTadić
Kustosi: Manolo Cocho, Maja Flajsig and Josip Zanki
The project Visita Interiora Terrae: Myth and Alchemy as Art Practice is based on the works of Croatian and Mexican contemporary artists who question and redefine the ideas of manifestation of the sacred – hierophany. The artworks deal with the fact that an ordinary space can be transcended into a sacred one and that ordinary, material objects can be transformed into works of art. The artists appropriate everyday objects, create new works (or show the existing ones) using the alchemical process of achieving the Philosopher’s Stone. The Stone embodies and transcends the infinite field of time and space, as well as the possibility for the works of art to become or be in simultaneity with the same. Through their work, the artists develop an awareness of material objects, metamorphosis and the forms of transformation of the world of appearances into the world without forms. The project aims to open up the spaces of artistic limitations and expand the field of discussion to the ontological status of objects and events as part of the sacral.
The curators of the project, Manolo Cocho, Maja Flajsig and Josip Zanki, have selected artworks rooted in interdisciplinary research; focused on the issues of establishing a relationship between contemporary art and sacred space, where sacred space is a place that enables the realization of rituals (the process of achieving the Stone) and the experience of reliving myth. The exhibited works touch upon the leitmotif that forms the outline of myth and alchemy, exploring the limits and possibilities of liberation from the positivist mind and the pragmatic world. The project is conceived in two parts, in Zagreb and Mexico City. The first part of the project consists of the eponymous exhibition at the Prsten Gallery of the Croatian Association of Artists from 27 August to 16 September and an academic conference at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb on 2 September 2021. The exhibition will feature the works of Marko Tadić, Kristian Kožul, Mia Maraković, Tomislav Buntak, Manolo Cocho, Francisco Fernández Taka, Leonardo Martínez and Antonio del Rivera. The academic conference will feature the works of Maja Flajsig and Josip Zanki, Miguel Vassallo, Ana Ortiz Sánchez Renero and Rodrigo Fernández de Gortari. The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Centro de las Artes de San Luis Potosí, Kronal, Aurora Co-Lab and Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad.
Visita Interiora Terrae – predgovor – Maja Flajsig i Josip Zanki
MY+H ”vista interiora” – Manolo Choco, Josip Zanki
Ismar Čirkinagić (Bosnia and Herzegovina / Denmark)
The House in a Forest on a Coast
Bačva Gallery, Home of HDLU (Meštrović pavilion)
July 22-August 22, 2021
The opening of the exhibition by ISMAR ČIRKINAGIĆ, THE HOUSE IN A FOREST ON A COAST will be on Thursday, July 22 at 8pm, in Bačva Gallery, Home of HDLU (Meštrović pavilion).
“The House in a Forest on a Coast is a total installation composed of elements in various media of art. Horizontally, there is a representation of a house foundation covering the floor, whereas a large-scale representation of sails on a ship is vertically stretched out towards the ceiling, amid which a sound piece auditorily unites the two aces by veiling over all the exhibited components and resonating in the space between them. […] According to the artist, this systematic display of debris is a “re-enactment” of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) routine, which often appears as a consequence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Just as the debris convey memories about places that no longer exist in their original form, the clothes convey memories of bodies and persons who were once wearing them. The sails are, namely, sewn from the clothes that belonged to people who died as victims of violence with political backgrounds, such as armed conflicts, terrorist attacks and forced migration.
[…] The result is an artistic organisation of mnemonic elements from different geographical and historical contexts on display next to one another, which invites the viewer to interpret the exhibition from the transcultural perspective of humankind, rather than from specific national orientations. [The artist’s] desire is to show the universality of the human experience by focusing on similarities rather than differences among humans. […] Oneness with humanity is thus the key to unlocking The House in a Forest on a Coast. “
from the preface, written by the curator Tijana Mišković
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Ismar Čirkinagić was born in 1973 in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was a part of the Socijalist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He came to Denmark in 1992, following the breakdown of the country and the brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in his region of Northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1997 Čirkinagić enrolled at the Copenhagen Art School and remained there until 2000 when he was admitted to The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Most of his artistic practice is thematically related to the socio-political themes and mainly produced in the form of a conceptual installation consisting of videos, photos, texts, and object-based elements. In recent years he has had exhibitions in museums and kunsthalle in Denmark and internationally. Čirkinagić’s artworks can today be found in several Danish public collections.
Wednesday – Friday: 11am – 7pm h
Saturday and Sunday 10am – 6pm h
Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays closed
Exhibition will be opened until August 22, 2021.
Special thanks to:
Afghanistan: Guilda Chahverdi, Mohsin Taasha and Jawad Zawulistani from Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, The Royal Danish Embassy in Afghanistan
Croatia: Udruga Kamensko
Egypt: Embassy of Denmark in Egypt, Khaled Ramadan and Yara Mekawei
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras: Marcela Turati from Quinto Elemento Lab, Analorena Delgadillo, Marisol Méndez, Alicia Moncada Acosta (Glenda Pineda, Eva Ramírez, Cecilia del Carmen Avalos Guillen) from La fundación para la justicia y el estado democrático de derecho.
Israel/Palestine: Parents Circle – Families Forum
Northern Irland: MAC and Paul ‘Donzo’ Donnelly from Dead Centre Tours
Serbia: Meris Mušanović and Ivana Zanić from Humanitarian Law Center
Syria: Zenia Bredmose Henriksen Ab Yonus and Hosam Aldeen Ghathwan
Uganda: Ndugwa Hassan from UMYDF
Ukraine: Embassy of Denmark to Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia, Iryna Polikarchuk from ARTSVIT
ANĐELA ZANKI
THERE IS NOTHING INSIDE
Karas Gallery, Kralja Zvonimira 58
September 29– October 11, 2020
Following all recommendations of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, exhibition THERE IS NOTHING INSIDE, by ANĐELA ZANKI, will be opened on Tuesday, September 29 at 7 pm at the Karas Gallery (Kralja Zvonimira 58).
(…) “The artist focused on questioning the spatial relations and interactions between objects and subjects, invites the viewer to look at himself, inner self, and re-examine its substance, its history, and notions by observing these “empty objects”. How many hidden emotions of happiness, but also fear and worries, did he hide in himself and carry that burden every day? The artworks thus become a copy of ourselves, in an uncertain situation of constant anxiety, they are an illusion of our reality. The illusion of depth collides with the emptiness of these objects, as well as the symbolism of their forms. The circles that “float” and that we first encounter when entering the gallery are a symbol of the spirit, they represent wholeness and homogeneity, perfection without beginning and end. They are also a symbol of the sky (which is also blue), the celestial, and the transcendental. The shape of the circle connects it to the wheel, a symbol of a time that is infinite and eternal. For Jung, the circle is a symbol of the wholeness of the psyche, therefore, a symbol of the self. In the second room, we come across a “broken” square – a symbol of land, foundations, home, security, the four corners of the world, and the four basic elements. Its fragmentation points to the insecurity we face, to the gaps outside and within us that we struggle with, but also to the opportunity to build a “new world” on a better and more mature foundation.
Johannes Kepler said that we need to know geometry in order to understand philosophy because: “Geometry existed before Creation. It is eternal with the mind of God (..) Geometry has offered God a model for Creating (…) Geometry, it is God Himself.”
From preface, written by Nika Šimičić
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Anđela Zanki (1992, Zadar) graduated Painting from the Department of Art Education, Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2018. She is the winner of the Rector’s Award in 2017 for the project Color to Health at the Rebro Clinical Hospital Center. She has exhibited in several solo exhibitions, of which it is worth mentioning: 2019, Stanja Plave II, Zilik Gallery, Karlovac; 2018, Vibracije, Greta Gallery, Zagreb; 2017, Apsurdom protiv otuđenja (Nikolina Kuzmić, Martin Šatović, Anđela Zanki), Academia Moderna, Zagreb, 201, Mali formati (Marta Tuta, Anđela Zanki), Studio of the Poola Gallery, Pula. She has participated in about forty group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad (2018, Zagrebška akademija – Best Forehand, Equrna Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia). She uses minimal expression in her work. She collaborates on international projects (2019, Associate on the project The Leipzig connection, 2017-2018 assistant of the Residential Program in Leipzig, Germany, within the project De/construction of painting, in cooperation with the Croatian Association of Fine Artists and Hafenkombinati; 2015, assisted at the Trešnjevka Cultural Center in the organization of the exhibition Zagreb Ex tempore / international exhibition of ceramics) and art colonies. As part of the project Humanization of Public Spaces through Art Interventions, she is the author of a public work located at the Rebro Clinical Hospital. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Fine Arts artists in Zagreb since 2017. She lives and works in Zagreb.
————————————————————————————————–
Organizer:
Supported by:
Working hours:
Wednesday – Friday: 3 pm – 8 pm | Saturday: 10 am to 1 pm
Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays: closed.
The exhibition will remain open until October 11, 2020
*Remark*
At the entrance to the Gallery there is a bottle with a disinfectant for visitors, which are obliged to disinfect their hands when entering the Gallery.
The security guard at the entrance to the Gallery will have a protective mask and gloves and control the number of visitors. The Gallery can hold up to 5 people at a time.
Visitors are required to maintain a distance of 2 meters.
Touching the exhibits is not allowed.
Doorknobs and any other surfaces that are frequently touched by visitors will be regularly disinfected.