Photo: Tanja Kanazir / Drugo more (Flickr gallery)
Viktor Popović, an artist known for his precise and elegant installations, often created in dialogue with the historical and physical context of the exhibition space, has remained faithful to his method in the preparation and realization of the exhibition at Filodrammatica.
The exhibition will open on Thursday, October 5 at 8 p.m. in the Filodrammatica Gallery (→ Korzo 28/1, Rijeka), remaining on view until October 26.
Gallery opening hours:
Monday – Friday 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. | 4 – 8 p.m.
Saturday 4 – 8 p.m.
The building was constructed in 1890 and has since left numerous traces in the memories of people, records, documentation, while many artists and audiences have left their own traces in the physical space over the centuries. In his search for traces, Viktor found Ilario Carposio’s photographs in the State Archives in Rijeka, depicting the original facade and interior of Filodrammatica, which served as the basis for the graphic part of the exhibition.
Screen print of a photo of the interior of Filodrammatica by Illario Carposio, with the permission of the State Archives in Rijeka
The material used in the graphics was collected within the building – dust representing a material testimony of air flow is imprinted on Carposio’s photographs, transforming them into impressions of a very bright spectrum.
These “ghosts” of photographic templates, exhibited as a series of graphics, clearly indicate the inevitable decay of original ideas and material achievements over time. In contrast to the process of disappearance expressed in monochromatic graphics, Viktor opposes an installation based on light, pointing to the existence of life that resists what time carries with it—entropy. Color photographs of the building’s interior, displayed on lightboxes placed on furniture belonging to the building, simultaneously represent a contrast and a companion to the deteriorating structure. The dialogue between the graphic and installation arrangement, static and dynamic principles, and above all the illusion of order that conceals decay in the graphics and the chaos that actually contains order and resists decay in the installation, encapsulate the intellectual and emotional experience of Filodrammatica’s users and visitors about Filodrammatica.
☛ Filodrammatica Gallery, Korzo 28/1, Rijeka
EXHIBITION OPENING:
Thursday, September 7, at 8 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)
VIKTOR POPOVIĆ
Viktor Popović is an artist based in Split, Croatia. His artistic practice focuses mostly on installations and objects formed from appropriated and archival materials in combination with raw industrial materials that probe the relationship between the artwork and the audience or the historical or physical context of the exhibition venues. His recent work explores the Modernist heritage of the socialist period in Croatia and focuses on the re-contextualization of the 1960s and 1970s architecture. He has exhibited in numeorus galleries, museums an non-profit venues in the USA and throughout Europe. Popović is an MFA graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb, Croatia and has been awarded a number of distinguished grants and awards. His work has been collected by major public institutions throughout Croatia, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Museum of Contemporary Art in Split, Gallery of Fine Arts in Zadar and Lauba in Zagreb. In addition to his artistic practice, he has been teaching Painting and Advanced Drawing courses at the Painting department of the Arts Academy in Split since 1998, where he was tenured and promoted to full professor in 2018.
