Photo: Tanja Kanazir / Drugo more (Flickr gallery)
After Split, Osijek, and Graz, the exhibition Mise-en-scène by visual artist Lana Stojićević is coming to Rijeka, presenting four photo series – Black Hill (2015), Façade (2018), Sunny Side (2018), and Betonicus (2020) – photographic performances created with a similar principle: imaginary narratives inspired by local specificities are visualized using site-specific costumes, models, and props.
The exhibition will open on Thursday, November 16, at 7 p.m. at the Filodrammatica Gallery (Korzo 28/1, Rijeka), where it will remain on view until December 7.
Gallery opening hours:
Monday – Friday 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. | 4 – 8 p.m.
Saturday 4 – 8 p.m.
Lana Stojićević, Façade. Courtesy of the artist.
Architectural aesthetics dominate the exhibition’s arrangement and content, revealing landscape transformations that once had a futuristic vision in the past but now appear pseudo-historical. Citizens in these visions don’t play a significant role; they are more like sufferers of the narrative rather than its protagonists, akin to Lana’s characters Betonicus and Plasticus, who dream of being constructed from a different material and being touched by a more illustrious ruler.
And just as New York architects in the 1930s disguised themselves as the buildings they constructed, Lana, in the work Façade, transforms into a typical Dalmatian modern house. This transformation serves to highlight her personal endurance under the weight of the tourist-driven transformation of work, space, and interpersonal relationships.
Lana Stojićević, Sunny Side. Courtesy of the artist.
Art critic John Berger once said that the ultimate need of imperialism is not resources, worker exploitation, and market control, but humanity that doesn’t question anything. Similarly, in Lana Stojićević’s work, people are absent on the horizon, except as props of the imperialistic branch that has designated Dalmatia the role of a destination rather than a place to live. People, anyway, are not asked for anything when it comes to satisfying the needs of the tourist industry. For the remediation of the former TEF factory site in Šibenik, the black slag heap was relocated to the fields in Biljane Donje, creating an unreal, photogenic, post-apocalyptic landscape—a potential tourist attraction. However, at the same time, the field that sustained the people of Biljane Donje disappeared. Of course, a beach is being developed on the site of the former factory. Lana’s intervention in Black Hill involves creating clothes, by combining elements of traditional costume with protective clothing and a face mask necessary for survival in this ecocide.
Exhibition setup. Photo: Tanja Kanazir / Drugo more (Flickr gallery)
The Primošten hotel Zora, whose futuristic pool dome inspired Orson Welles to consider filming a journey to the Moon (although it was never realized), serves as a stylistic counterpoint to recent apartment buildings. It represents an expression of planned tourism development that Lana, in her work Sunny Side, transforms into a retrofuturistic vision of a different time when it seemed like we could go where no one had been before. Along the way, we can also stop by and visit Black Hill.
Lana Stojićević, Black Hill. Courtesy of the artist.
☛ Filodrammatica Gallery, Korzo 28/1, Rijeka
EXHIBITION OPENING:
Thursday, November 16, at7 p.m.
GALLERY OPENING HOURS:
MON-FRI from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. & from 4 to 8 p.m.
SAT 4 to 8 p.m.
(closed on Sundays and public holidays; contact us to arrange another time of your visit)
LANA STOJIĆEVIĆ
