Croatia is presented at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with the Traces of Disappearing (In Three Acts) exhibition by Igor Grubić, one of Croatia’s most prominent and most internationally renowned artists, conceived and authored by the renowned Greek curator Katerina Gregos. At the opening ceremony before countless guests, the exhibition was opened by Nina Obuljen Koržinek, Ph.D., Minister of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, giving an opening speech, and the project presented by the curator and the artist.
The Croatian pavilion is located in a venue from the 16th century in the Santa Croce quarter, in the immediate vicinity of the Fondazione Prada. Throughout history, it has often changed its purpose, and is this year used as a national pavilion for the first time. It’s in this space spreading across 300 square metres, which had until recently been used as a carpentry workshop, that the project which the Zagreb-based multimedia artist has worked on for as many as thirteen years was presented for the first time. These are three interrelated photo-essays, chapters or acts (Wild House, Filigree Sidewalk and Deconstruction of the Factory) which are – along with How Steel Was Tempered, a short, multi-award-winning animated, experimental film – set within Rihards Funts’s set, which was specially created for this occasion by the Latvian designer. With the choice of materials, shapes and colour, the set refers to factory architecture.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue published by the Berlin-based Sternberg Press publishing house in collaboration with Zagreb’s Modern Gallery. The catalogue texts have been written by the exhibition curator Katerina Gregos and the curatorial WHW (What, How & for Whom) collective. The catalogue was designed by Rafaela Dražić, and its publication was supported by the Art Collection of Erste Group and the ERSTE Foundation.
The commissioner of the Croatian pavilion for the 58th Venice Biennale is the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, with the Modern Gallery from Zagreb having been entrusted with organising the exhibition.
The exhibition closes on 24th November 2019.

Photo: Bojan Mrđenović