The exhibition can be viewed until July 30 from 19 to 21h. The exhibited works were created with the support of the Tom of Finland Foundation.

Objava qIZLOŽBA: Pawel Zukowski - QUEER ANGER pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

LITTLE PRANKS AND BIG PASSIONS
Predrag Pavić is a man of a thousand passions. Everything he does, thinks or feels, he approaches with immense ardour. He takes it to the extremes. If he loves something, he loves it without holding back. If he can’t stand something, he expresses it clearly. Brutally and honestly. There is no room for subtle nuances between these two attitudes. Rarely does he see something with indifference. Things that don’t matter to him can simply stop existing. As a matter of fact – for him, they are non-existent.
Discussions with Predrag are especially interesting. When defending his points, he won’t stop at reasoning. Wild gesticulation, raising his voice, out-talking and silencing his opponent(s) are all part of his hedonistic play. Just as in any other game, victory is the final goal. Predrag doesn’t even consider losing. He’ll always defend his opinions, even when it’s to his own detriment. Giving up would deny the very essence of the game. Stalemates never satisfied anyone.
In his work, passion and play become one. Even if his ideas are seemingly impossible to achieve, he won’t drop them as easily. Possible fiascos won’t keep him down. Some adjustments are only a part of the risk, but his will to create is much larger than this risk.
Just like any other game master, Predrag will use tricks, pranks and gimmicks in order to catch his opponent unprepared. He is the type of person who will take a piece from a museum and then plant it as his work in his solo exhibition. This cost him a lost friendship, but also earned him an award. In another instance, he (without asking or noticing anyone) drilled a hole in a gallery in order to connect the ground floor with the first floor, because that was the most practical solution for his exhibition. Facing this fait accompli, the gallery director couldn’t do anything but let him finish. Her opinion and the whole situation didn’t mean much to Predrag. At the opening, he happily stated: Victory!
Some passions and delights become adoration – an object of glorification – a fetish.
He has a great number of those.
Once, I witnessed Predrag’s celebration of a piece of bacon. This interpretation of perfection; this amount of adoration and love for a piece of meat was something I’d never seen before. In this idealization, bacon became a flying carpet, because its perfect harmony allows it to fly. It’s that perfect. It wasn’t hard to imagine him sitting on that carpet with his legs crossed and a big turban on his head, in the state of nirvana as the forces of cosmos – nature, man and bacon – become One.
Optical show is an interactive light installation that is showcasing an open accidental archive of socks (pantyhose). How is this transparent and almost invisible material so enticing? What makes it so appealing? The archive currently includes over fifty different samples and new additions will be included over time. For this purpose, Predrag created an object/projector in order to see the samples in larger scales. The image that we see is the structure of the materials and ornaments of pantyhose.
He invites his audience to participate in this research. We are free to choose the samples we want to examine more closely. I suspect that there is a little prank hidden in this interaction. The invitation to participate and our compliance will transform us into subjects of a behavioral experiment. Are we going to behave and act according to his predictions? Are we going to handle the samples with passion and pleasure too? What is similar or different between our approaches to these objects?
I am not sure what conclusion Predrag could draw from this experiment, I don’t even care. I will simply use this opportunity to explore some pantyhose-related thoughts that have been bothering me for a long time.
— Vedran Perkov

Predrag Pavić was born in 1982 in Zagreb, Croatia. He graduated (2011) at the Academy of Fine Arts (ALU) in Zagreb. He has exhibited in group and solo shows in Zagreb, Split, Pula, Osijek, Gothenburg, Catania, Sofia, Düsseldorf, Gdansk, and was awarded for his work: Grand Prix at the 10th Triennial of Croatian sculpture, Grand Prix Emanuel Vidović at the 38th Split salon, award for the best graduate of ALU in 2011, Croatian AICA association award at the 12th Sculpture Triennial and the Radoslav Putar Award in 2019. He is a member of the Croatian Freelance Artist Association. He lives and works in Zagreb.

NMG — New media gallery is an international curatorial platform focused on research projects related to the issues of active participation in a contemporary society which result with the curatorial concepts, inter-media events, international new media collaborations and creating new media projects. NMG@PRAKTIKA is a program within the platform. A cycle of exhibitions of independent young artists from Croatia and abroad are organised in Gallery Praktika at Youth Centre in Split. This is the ninth cycle through which has so far been realized more than fifty solo and group exhibitions of young artists. Through the new media and experimenting with different forms of artistic expression exhibitions discuss the current issues of contemporary society. This cycle of exhibitions so not only provides insight into the recent art practice, but also, by selecting the authors it actively participates in the positioning of contemporary art as a critical factor against social reality.

EXHIBIT CURATOR: Vedran Perkov
NMG CURATORIAL TEAM: Katarina Duplančić, Natasha Kadin, Vedran Perkov
DESIGN: Nikola Križanac
TRANSLATION, SETUP AND DOCUMENTATION: Katarina Duplančić
DONORS: Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media, the City of Split
MAVENA SUPPORTED BY: The National Foundation for Civil Society Development, the Kultura Nova foundation
SPECIAL THANKS: KUM, MKC, PDM

Objava NMG@PRAKTIKA-Predrag Pavić: Optical show pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

The installation that makes up this exhibit depicts a fictional space which clearly alludes to the interior of a medical facility such as a hospital or laboratory. Under ultraviolet rays, this imaginative ambience appears as though dislodged from time in its ephemerality, indirectly calling attention to the unstable and unhealthy relationship between society and its spaces of healing, and consequently shedding light on the more general issue of trusting the healthcare system — an issue which has in recent times become markedly prominent, especially with the proliferation of various, often contradictory, reports of a “miracle vaccine”. Healthcare facilities and social service centers reflect, more broadly, the state of a given society’s level of organization with respect to social care, while also revealing general attitudes towards illness. When such spaces are left untended and in disrepair, as indeed they commonly are in Croatia, it is a clear indication that the aforementioned kind of “collective traumatic experience” is under way. Furthermore, when it comes to healthcare and health insurance, descriptors such as “social”, “universal”, “available for all” remain, in our case, as distant as our dreams of pristine, hygienic, white-walled doctor’s offices. The structure of the installation thus embodies a subtle allegory of actual social or sociological issues — ones that may be subsumed under the larger notion of a “cultural neurosis” in our modern way of life, marked as it is by an inevitable and direct dependence both on the psychophysical well-being of the individual and of the community at large. The question then becomes whether or not the collective trusts its own system, and whether the individual person in such circumstances really has a say in the matter?

Reflecting on his own work, Josip Šurlin surmises: “It was not merely with a view to criticizing existing institutions that Afterwardsness, as a vector of social commentary, was conceived. There was also, namely, an impetus to stimulate discourse around the social prerequisites for the preservation of health. Foremost among them are the previously mentioned spaces of healing, bearing in mind the following question: To what extent is the general relationship of society and day-to-day matters of healthcare an essentially unstable one, susceptible to fear(mongering) and dependent on state-held power that consistently jeopardizes its immune defense?”

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Josip Šurlin (born in Split, 1993) graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Split in 2012. That same year he proceeded to join the Arts Academy of the University of Split, with a focus on painting. He studied under professor Gorki Žuvela and in 2017 obtained his degree under the mentorship of professors Viktor Popović and Neli Ružić. Šurlin has participated in a number of group exhibitions, in addition to presenting his work independently in seven solo exhibits so far. At the Arts Academy’s First Student Biennial he received a written commendation for his work. In 2018, Šurlin joined the Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HULU, Split). He continues to live and work in Split.

NMG — New media gallery is an international curatorial platform focused on research projects related to the issues of active participation in a contemporary society which result with the curatorial concepts, inter-media events, international new media collaborations and creating new media projects. NMG@PRAKTIKA is a program within the platform. A cycle of exhibitions of independent young artists from Croatia and abroad are organised in Gallery Praktika at Youth Centre in Split. This is the nineght cycle through which has so far been realized more than fifty solo and group exhibitions of young artists. Through the new media and experimenting with different forms of artistic expression exhibitions discuss the current issues of contemporary society. This cycle of exhibitions so not only provides insight into the recent art practice, but also, by selecting the authors it actively participates in the positioning of contemporary art as a critical factor against social reality.

EXHIBIT CURATOR: Natasha Kadin
NMG CURATORIAL TEAM: Katarina Duplančić, Natasha Kadin, Vedran Perkov
DESIGN: Nikola Križanac
TRANSLATION: Ivan Berecka
SETUP AND DOCUMENTATION: Josip Šurlin, Franko Sardelić; Katarina Duplančić
DONORS: Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media, the City of Split
MAVENA SUPPORTED BY: The National Foundation for Civil Society Development, the Kultura Nova foundation
SPECIAL THANKS: KUM, MKC, PDM, Vedran Perkov, Anton Davidović

Club Kocka Gallery, Youth Center Split, Ulica Slobode 28
OPENING NIGHT: Friday, 9 April 2021, 8 p.m.
The exhibit is open until Friday, April 16th. Viewings can be arranged by contacting the following number: +385989602701.

Objava NMG@PRAKTIKA Josip Šurlin: Afterwardsness pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

Cruising flora

Exhibition opening: Thursday, August 6, 8pm | klub Kocka

Location

Objava Kiernan Cobarrubia: CRUISING FLORA pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

Starting from the premise that improvisation is a key factor in creation and that a work of art is never finished, Vladimir Novak forms an artistic discourse from which impressive ambient installations emerge. Still, the artist does not intend to introduce visitors to the finished act, but to invite them to create additional interpretation, which then upgrades the work itself. The visitor experience is a very important starting point in creativity for Vladimir. A strong impulse for experimentation shaped the artist’s expression, in which he combines different media. Although his work as yet included recognizable monumental sculptures made of various materials such as reed, wood, iron, concrete, etc., recently he has shifted towards reduced forms with which he collages light, sound and projections. This is a consequence of his last year’s stay at a residence in Paris (which was made possible by the Grand Prix he won at the 34th Youth Salon), when he made a twist in his approach to work, opening up to other materials and introducing new methodologies.

The works he is presenting to us now were created during the period of isolation within the CreArt residence, and since they were produced in the artist’s residence, this is their first public presentation. The nature of the exhibits is a sort of a response to the past period of the pandemic, in which people were forced to distance themselves from the daily rut and really capture that — as the artist named it – time surplus. Without the audience, he uses this new situation to explore a wave of new possibilities and to focus on what intrigues him the most — the process of creation. These installations are resembling of scenography, consisting of iron structures, wooden planks, paper and other raw materials combined with light and sound. Both the dark atmosphere and an industrial impression that these installations exude in space are reflected through the choice of light effects and audio background. Finally, Novak joins with them his long-standing inclination towards experimental instrumental music, enjoying the process of fragmenting and collaging them. At the very beginning of elaborating an idea, he sets precise frameworks which allow him to indulge in a field of complete entropy. And that — we might call it — chaotic but meaningful process driven by instinct is the core of his work ethic. The emphasis is not on the final product but instead on the process itself. Without a limiting concept, unencumbered by finalization, he intuitively assembles eclectic compositions that are always ready for further improvisation.

About the artist:
Vladimir Novak received his MA in Sculpture in 2017 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He received several awards: Goranska Sculpture Workshop in Lokve (13th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture), HPB Grand Prix at the 34th Youth Salon — Panoptikon 2018 anda Rector’s Award for his independent project in 2015. He participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions as well as the Cité Internationale des Arts residence (Paris). His works can be found at the Academy of Fine Arts (Zagreb), in Antun Augustinčić Gallery (Klanjec), in private collections as well as in public spaces in Vrsar and Bjelovar. He lives and works in Zagreb.

The activity is part of the project “Gradimo Dom zajedno”, co-financed by the European Union from the European Social Fund.

Objava NMG@PRAKTIKA_Vladimir Novak: I have/ There is (no) time pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

Geographically, the exhibition turns to Maldives, Mexico, Syria, and cities Berlin, Cairo, Yerevan, St Louis, Rijeka (European Capital of Culture 2020), Novi Sad (European Capital of Culture 2021), Split, Belgrade. Cairo’s Tahrir Square is seen before, during and after the 2011 protests that overthrew Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. These images of public space are juxtaposed within a GIF made by editorial team of Creative Time Reports. Public space as place for demonstration of ideologies and struggle is once again in focus with animated GIF that presents interventions in Peristil, the central square of Diocletian’s palace which after the fall of the Roman Empire became the city Split in Croatia. GIF made by Vizkultura, portal for visual art and culture, illustrates overlapping of Red Peristil (1967), Black Peristil by Igor Grubić (1998), Yellow Peristil that stated how Split is capitalised and monopolised (2009) and Green Peristil when the square was covered with artificial grass by local green movement (2015). Two animated GIFs are specific critiques of urban planning and cultural politics in Belgrade. Nikola Silic turns the façade of the National Museum into video game, since the institution and the building were under reconstruction for 15 years and the Museum has just recently opened its doors to the public. Luka Tilinger alters coat of arms of the city Belgrade, replacing the fortress with the house of cards, and animating the water as reference to the Belgrade Waterfront project.

Apart from mass protests, demolition of cities and their spectacularization, Contemporary Topography thematically includes three works related to history of architecture. Berlin’s Bierpinsel (beer brush) tower restaurant, one of the most recognisable Brutalist landmarks in Germany was built in 1976 by architects Ursula and Ralph Schuler and painted in 2010 by several artists on the occasion of the restaurant’s reopening. Soviet Modernism in Yerevan by Nineveh Khachatryan and Levon Kirakosyan includes several historically important buildings/ complexes, one of which is the Youth Palace which was constructed by the end of 1960s and demolished in 2006 to make a space for a five star hotel. The Central station in Novi Sad (1964), was venue where citizens could write their haiku poems inspired by architecture. Igor Vukičević created a GIF for the open call for this event in March 2018 which was a reference to event in 2014 when the Station celebrated 50th birthday and when one of the waiting rooms was transformed into a gallery for haiku poems, drawings and photographs.

The exhibition also includes two projects of changeable architecture — modular affordable housing by Tatiana Bilbao studio and the Flexible Bauhaus by Penda Architects. Two works were conceptualised within the ECoC 2020 programme in Rijeka — Ida Križaj Leko’s Assimilation and Saša Randić’s Children House that is part of the reanimation of old factory complex Rikard Benčić. Bureau Spectacular and Joseph Henry Kennedy Jr. focus on theory of architecture. Bureau Spectacular’s Another Primitive Hut is an “indoor tree-house” that reflects a concept of Primitive Hut proposed in 1753 by French philosopher Marc-Antoine Laugier. He believed that architecture should return to its origins and embody basic, natural qualities, which was at the time in contrast to dominant Baroque style. Conceptual project by Joseph Henry Kennedy Jr. is “neither drawing nor model, but a hybrid medium of representation that combines the detailed conventions of plan, section and elevation construction drawings with the physicality of a presentation model.” Mayank Thammalla’s Swim or Sink: Maldives Floating Future gives solution for saving habitation which is doomed by a one meter rise in sea level in the 21st Century.

The exhibition is realised as one in series within the project „GIF and Architecture: Visual Practice as Critique“.

Objava NMG@PRAKTIKA: Contemporaray Topography pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

Ivana Vukušić

Objava NMG@PRAKTIKA_Dajana Džafo: Prirodni okoliš pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

Inspired by Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas and its characters, Iva describes her exhibition saying: “When we speak about walking, I always remember the initial scene from Wenders’ Paris, Texas, with the main character Travis strolling aimlessly through the endless desert. In that moment, he is a character with no name and no story. I am trying to take a similar walk; without a plan, destination or a point of interest. My motifs are appearing naturally: unarranged, perfect in their imperfection and sometimes rather odd in their mundaneness. (…) I am not using these photographs to criticize or comment on certain social changes or themes by objectively displaying the current state; instead, using the manipulative photographic medium, I am trying to point out the discrete poetics and aesthetic values of a seemingly worthless or barren scene.”

Iva Džaja was born in 1992 in Split. In 2012 she started her studies at the Arts Academy in Split (Painting) and in 2017 she studied at the Muthesius Kunsthohcshule in Germany via Erasmus+. She graduated from Kino klub Split’s film school and she received her MA in Painting in 2018 (class of Professor Viktor Popović) at the Arts Academy in Split. So far, she exhibited her work in one solo and several group shows in Croatia and abroad.

Objava NMG@PRAKTIKA_Iva Džaja: 3.13 mph pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

Objava NMG@PRAKTIKA_Nikolina Kuzmić: Arhiva patoloških stakalaca pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.

Oleg Morović lives in Fažani (Istria). He graduated from the School of Applied Arts and Design in Pula and he mostly does graphic design, but also art now and then. He often collaborates with Andi Pekica and Oleg Šuran on joint projects. Together they run the web portal nakonjusmo.net (design, interactions, art), art organization Fazan, group Cnjotfihter?, Polet poetry magazine and everyone does their own thing. They sometimes lead workshops with art school students.

Objava NMG@PRAKTIKA_Oleg Morović: Porno mix beach 2 pojavila se prvi puta na Dom mladih Split.