Fotografski projekt Magistrala Bojan Mrđenović razvija već šest godina kroz koje je sakupio više od 1500 analogno napravljenih fotografija, čiji uži izbor je već predstavljen javnosti na izložbama u Zagrebu, Splitu i Dubrovniku
Bojan Mrđenović: Magistrala / Adriatic Highway
OTVARANJE: četvrtak, 26. rujna 2019. u 20:00 h
TRAJANJE: 26. rujna — 10. listopada radnim danom od 17 do 20 h
Bojan Mrđenović obratio nam se 2017. godine sa željom da, zajedno s našim timom, produkcijski zaokruži tada već obilan fotografski ciklus u kojem dokumentira arhitekturu, krajolike, prilike i ljude na Jadranskoj magistrali, neposredno prije nego je za isti umjetnički projekt nagrađen novoosnovanom nagradom Marina Viculin međunarodnog festivala fotografije Organ vida. Fotografski projekt Magistrala Bojan Mrđenović razvija već šest godina kroz koje je sakupio više od 1500 analogno napravljenih fotografija, čiji uži izbor je već predstavljen javnosti na izložbama u Zagrebu, Splitu i Dubrovniku, a ovom izložbom u prostoru galerije Doma mladih, prezentirajući čak 150 analognih fotografija, zaokružuje svoj ciklus.
Jadranska magistrala, puštena u promet 1965. godine, urezana u uski obalni pojas između mora i planina, ponegdje uz samu plažu, nijemi je svjedok mijena nastalih uslijed neplaniranog i invazivnog razvoja turizma na našoj obali. Ljeti prebukirana automobilima, ljudima koji je pretrčavaju, neonskim reklamama, kupačima, turistima i prodavačima, zimi je sablasno prazni zavojiti podsjetnik na činjenicu da sveprisutni fenomen masovnog turizma rapidno mijenja demografsku strukturu domicilnog stanovništva koji uz tu magistralu živi. Već u ovom vremenskom rasponu od samo pet godina uočljive su promjene uz magistralu uzrokovane razvojem masovnog turizma, posebno divlje i pretjerane gradnje apartmana koji ponekad i sami “istrčavaju” na cestu, do napuštenih tvornica i industrijskih i proizvodnih pogona, koji se ruše da bi se dobilo više mjesta za apartmane. Mrđenović sve ove mjene dokumentaristički, objektivno uočava i one postaju predmet ovog foto istraživanja, kako Bojan Krištofić, u jednoj od kritika zagrebačke prezentacije ove izložbe navodi “…s jedne strane njegova ideja očito je bila prikazati Jadransku magistralu kao žilu kucavicu Hrvatskog primorja i Dalmacije, epsku prometnicu koja povezuje naselja i krajeve te istodobno pripitomljava uski obalni pojas između planina i mora, naoko donoseći niz taj put dah civilizacije. S druge strane, također se radi o lokalnoj žili kucavici banalne, brzopotezne varijante globalnog turizma, sa čijeg se glavnog toka sve brže i sve šire granaju kvarne kapilare sezonske ponude, od betonskih blokova koji prijete progutati preostalu tradicijsku arhitekturu duž obale, preko kakofoničnih reklama koje predstavljaju naročito napornu vrstu slikovnog zagađenja okoliša, do neprekidne opasnosti od razornih požara čiji rizik ovim procesom samo nastavlja rasti.”
Za razliku od prethodnih Mrđenovićevih fotografskih ciklusa, a svaki se zasniva na višegodišnjem istraživačkom radu i mnogo vremena provedenog na terenu u potrazi za najboljim svjetlom i kutem koji bi dočarao često napuštene interijere i arhitekturu u kojoj je nekad obitavao čovjek, ali je ona uslijed demografskih, političkih i inih promjena, ostala napuštena, u ovom ciklusu pred objektivnom se često nalaze ljudske figure. To su ljudi koje Mrđenović zatiče pored magistrale i u gradovima i mjestima kojima magistrala prolazi; turisti u vječnom tranzitu, turistički radnici koji nude izlete ili su preobučeni u nakaradne kostime kojima dodatno naglašavaju sav kič suvremene turističke ponude naše obale, ljude u svakodnevnim poslovima ili u dokolici koja je karakteristična bivanju uz plažu za ljetnih mjeseci, gužve, beskrajna fotografiranja te građevinske radove na svakom koraku. Ovdje jasno vidimo kontraste između onih koji su na odmoru i onih koji rade u uslužnom ili građevinskom sektoru i kojima sezona predstavlja jedini izvor prihoda.
Također, unatoč rapidnom razvoju digitalne fotografije, Mrđenović odlučuje ostati u domeni analognog, kako sam kaže, stoga što je kroz analogne alate učio o fotografiji, no oni su danas sve teže dostupni jer je potražnja za njima sve manja. Mrđenović koristi filmove od samo deset snimaka, i, mada naizgled ograničavajuće, to ga potiče da razmisli o svakoj fotografiji prije nego je napravi te da svojevrsni prvi odabir fotografija napravi na licu mjesta, što mu olakšava kasnije faze pripreme projekta i njegove prezentacije javnosti. Sam razvija filmove te ih onda skenira i printa, tako da je kod Mrđenovića riječ o zanimljivoj kombinaciji analognog i digitalnog, to jest o analognom procesu s digitalnim intermedijem.
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Bojan Mrđenović rođen je 1987. godine u Virovitici. 2006. godine završio je opću gimnaziju u Daruvaru. 2011. godine diplomirao je na preddiplomskom studiju povijesti umjetnosti i informacijskih znanosti u Zagrebu. 2015. godine diplomirao je na diplomskom studiju filmskog i TV snimanje na Akademiji dramske umjetnosti u Zagrebu, gdje je tranutno angažiran kao umjetnički suradnik. Izlagao je na 15 samostalnih i vise desetaka skupnih izložbi u zemlji i inozemstvu. Član je Hrvatskog društva likovnih umjetnika i Hrvatskog društva filmskih djelatnika. Živi i radi u Zagrebu.
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Bojan Mrđenović reached out to us in 2017 with a wish to finish his extensive photo cycle in a production sense. In the project, he has documented architecture, landscape, opportunities and people along the Adriatic highway, right before he received the newly founded Marina Viculin award by the international photography festival Organ vida. The author has been developing the Adriatic Highway project for six years now, in which he managed to collect more than 1500 analogue photographs – a selection of which he represented to the public in exhibitions in Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik, and with this exhibition in the big gallery space of the Youth Center, presenting 150 analog photographs, he completes its cycle.
The Adriatic highway, opened for traffic in 1965, is carved along a narrow coastline between the sea and the mountains, sometimes along the beaches themselves. It is a mute witness of the changes created in the wake of unplanned and invasive tourist development of our coast. Crowded by cars in the summer, people running across it, neon ads, bathers, tourists and vendors, in the winter it is an eerie reminder of the fact that the ever-present mass tourism phenomenon is rapidly changing the demographic structure of the local residents which live along the highway. The changes brought on by the development of mass tourism are evident even in this timespan of five years; especially the building of illegal apartments, which are sometimes themselves known to “make a run” for the road. There are also the abandoned factories and industrial plants, which are being demolished in order to create more space for the apartments. Mrđenović spots these changes in a documentary, objective way, and they become the theme of his photo research, as Bojan Krištofić, in one of his reviews of the Zagreb exhibition states “… on one hand his idea was obviously to show the Adriatic highway as an artery of the Croatian Littoral and Dalmatia, the epic road linking settlements and corners of the state, while simultaneously domesticizing a narrow coastline between the mountains and the sea, seemingly bringing a breath of civilization along that path. On the other hand, it is also about a local artery of a banal, quick variant of global tourism, from which there is a rapid growth of detrimental capillaries of seasonal offers, from concrete block swallowing the remaining traditional architecture of the coast, along the cacophony of ads representing a specially irritating kind of visual pollution of the environment, to the ever-present danger of wildfires, the risk of which continues to grow with this process.”
Unlike the author’s previous photography cycles, and every one of them is based on a multi-year research work and a lot of time spent on the field in search of best light and angle with which to depict the often abandoned interiors and architecture where there were once people – but due to demographic, political and other changes, remained abandoned – this cycle often depicts human figures in front of the lens. Those are the people Mrđenović encounters along the highway and in cities and places where it runs through; tourists forever in transit, season workers offering fieldtrips, dressed in ridiculous costumes which emphasize the kitsch of our contemporary coastal tourist offer, people doing everyday jobs or leisure, concept characteristic for spending time by the beach during summer months, gridlocks, endless photo sessions and construction work at every step. Here we clearly see the contrast between those who are on holiday and others who work in the service industry or construction, and who rely on the summer season as their only source of income.
Also, despite the rapid development of digital photography, the author decides to stay in the domain of the analogue, as he himself says, because he used to learn photography through analogue tools, but they are increasingly difficult to find today due to the decrease in demand. Mrđenović uses only 10-shot films, and, although seemingly limiting, it encourages him to think before taking each photograph and to create his first choice of photographs at the scene, which makes it easier to prepare the project and present it to the public in the future. He develops his own films, which he then scans and prints, so when it comes to Mrđenović, one could say it is an interesting combination of analogue and digital; that is to say, an analogue process with a digital inter-medium.
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Bojan Mrđenović was born in 1987 in Virovitica. He graduated from Gymnasium in Daruvar in 2006. He got a BA in Art History and Informatics in Zagreb in 2011. He got his MA in film and TV production from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in 2015, where he currently works as an Associate. He exhibited in over 15 solo and couple of dozen group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad. He is a member of the Croatian Association of Artists and The Film Artists’ Association of Croatia. He lives and works in Zagreb.
KUSTOSICA / CURATOR: Natasha Kadin
KUSTOSICE PROGRAMA NMG / NMG PROGRAMME CURATORS: Natasha Kadin, Tina Vukasović Đaković, Ivana Vukušić
DIZAJN / DESIGN: Nikola Križanac
DOKUMENTACIJA / DOCUMENTATION: Tihana Mandušić
TEHNIČKA ISPOMOĆ / TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: PDM, MKC
DONATORI / DONORS: Ministarstvo kulture RH, Grad Split, Splitsko-dalmatinska županija
MAVENU PODRŽAVA / MAVENA SUPPORTED BY: Nacionalna zaklada za razvoj civilnog društva, Zaklada Kultura nova
Aktivnost je dio projekta “Gradimo Dom zajedno”, kojeg je sufinancirala Europska unija iz Europskog socijalnog fonda.
The activity is part of the project “Gradimo Dom zajedno”, co-financed by the European Union from the European Social Fund.
ZAHVALE / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: KUM, PDM, HULU, MKC
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