Group of Authors: “Good Prospects”
The Spot Gallery and the Office for Photography invite you to the opening of the exhibition Good Prospects: ‘Studio imitacija života’ in the photographs of Boris Berec, Saša Burić, Paula Court, Boris Cvjetanović, Ozren Drobnjak, Rino Efendić, Zoran Filipović, Ivan Posavec and Jane Štravs, 1987 – 1991., which will be held on Friday, 15th November 2024, at 7:00 p.m. The exhibition will remain open until Friday, 6th December 2024.
Boris Berc, 1989
In the first joint exhibition, entitled Photographs-Inventions, Fritz and Serdarević presented artistic works in which they examine photography through the prism of a ready-made procedure. In the exhibition booklet they write: “We do not possess even the elementary knowledge necessary to work in the medium of photography. The taking and making of the photos was done by others instead of us.” The emblematic piece of the exhibition was their portrait produced at a photo studio in Bitola, hand-painted by an anonymous craftsman specialised in military and memorial photographs. This “painted picture” also opens the exhibition display of Good Prospects at the Spot Gallery. It depicts the exciting and thus far under-researched period of the late 1980s, in the local history marked by a dispersion of interests of urban culture. In it, Fritz and Serdarević left an indelible mark, remaining recorded in the photographs of nine artists, particularly active at that time.
Photography played a dual role in Fritz and Serdarević’s artistic approach. On the one hand, they used photographic motifs taken from magazines and books in their artworks, reproduced in large format photographs and combined with diverse objects. On the other hand, the photo was an important component of the duo’s devised public image. In the announcements of their actions, interviews and other media statements, they employed portraits, for the creation of which they engaged prominent photographers of their generation, whose photographs marked the above period to a great extent. From documentary, to performative, to experiments in and with the medium, and the compulsory colouring of photographs, the selection of works will reveal some of the traits of the highly saturated visual horizon within which the two artists operated.
Along with coloured photographs taken by an anonymous author, the exhibition includes works by seven Croatian artists – Boris Berc, Saša Burić, Boris Cvjetanović, Ozren Drobnjak, Rino Efendić, Zoran Filipović and Ivan Posavac, as well as Slovenian author Jane Štravs and American photographer Paula Court. In the selection by Sandra Križić Roban, done on the basis of numerous conversations with Serdarević and a review of her own memories of the peculiarities that these works have conveyed over the decades, the most represented are Ozren Drobnjak and Boris Berc. Documenting the collaboration between Fritz and Serdarević throughout its course and taking portraits at the locations of their actions, Drobnjak accumulated an extensive and varied photographic oeuvre. On the other hand, during the preparations for their performance at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb, Berc recorded a series of black-and-white shots, which he then painted by hand and presented at the unintentionally “long-duration” solo exhibition at Zagreb’s bar Melin.
Ivan Posavec, 1988
In parallel with the exhibition Good Prospects and in the manner of the artistic duo’s initial artistic activity, the exhibition of artwork Divided Time under the curatorial concept of Martina Munivrana, is organized in the Black Box Gallery of the MSU Zagreb (7 Nov 24 – 12 Jan 25), as well as the exhibition of graphic design by The Imitation of Life Studio, entitled The Shape of Time and curated by Marko Golub, whici will be organised at the HDD Gallery (22 Nov–30 Dec 2024).
Along with the Good Prospects exhibition, the Office for Photography is preparing the 8th issue of the magazine Fototxt, featuring, along with a selection of photographic works, texts by Leonida Kovač, Marko Golub, Sandra Križić Roban, an interview with Boris Berc, and Serdarević’s writings on the phenomenon of the unforgettability of photography. The magazine is edited by the curators of the Office for Photography, Ivana Završki, Tena Starčević and Sara Mikelić.
Opening hours of the Spot Gallery
Mon – Fri 16 – 20 or by appointment
The exhibition is supported by Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb, and Kultura Nova Foundation.
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