Images: Fedor Vučemilović
The exhibition “New Croatian Art,” initiated by Igor Zidić with curatorial support from Mladenka Šolman and Zdenko Rus, took place from October to December 1993 at the Modern Gallery, Art Pavilion, and Karas Gallery. It featured 112 artists born after 1945. With the intention of forming a precise representation of Croatian visual production at the dawn of the new Croatian state, the exhibition encompassed a broad range of artistic production, from traditional visual disciplines to media art, including artists who lived and worked both in Croatia and abroad. With this exhibition, the Modern Gallery of that time demonstrated its ambition and ability to incorporate all aspects of contemporary artistic production into its scope of work, and from its position as a leading museum institution, it played a pivotal role in shaping significant artistic careers. On 17 December 1993, a symposium was held at the Modern Gallery as part of the exhibition project. Leading theorists, critics, artists, and curators addressed all relevant issues of the contemporary art discourse and its presentation. This crucial cultural event and exhibition were not accompanied by a catalogue. The symposium proceedings were published in the November – December 1993 issue of the magazine Kolo. The exhibition contributed to the enrichment of the museum’s collection of that period, adding 30 works by contemporary artists.
On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the exhibition, the National Museum of Modern Art has decided to publish a catalogue that will preserve the memory of the largest display of contemporary Croatian art held at a pivotal moment in Croatian history. After extensive research in museum and private archives, the catalogue, titled “1993 NEW CROATIAN ART - TRACES” and spanning 232 pages, encompassed all discovered textual and visual materials whose diversity influenced its visual dynamics. The visual material proved particularly challenging, but thanks to the patience of catalogue designer Ana Zubić and Darko Bavoljak’s skill in using contemporary software for scanning, it successfully presented at least one work from each of the participating artists and the exhibition layout in black-and-white and colour reproductions. Oscillations in the quality of reproductions best indicate the challenges we faced in preparing the catalogue.
From the current position of the NMMA, presently closed for extensive renovations of the Vranyczany Palace, it is significant to underscore the previous vision of the museum’s development, a vision that has been impeded by the inability to expand its physical space.
The catalogue was edited by Branko Franceschi, with Marta Radman serving as the editorial assistant.
Artists in alphabetical order: Ante Alivojvodić; Lovro Artuković; Marina Banić; Petar Barišić; Milivoj Bijelić; Peruško Bogdanić; Simon Bogojević Narath; Đanino Božić; Ivan Briski; Boris Bućan; Darwin Butković; Nenad Dančuo; Ivo Deković; Vlasta Delimar; Karolina Demirović; Boris Demur; Vladimir Dodig Trokut; Slavomir Drinković; Sandro Đukić; Damir Facan-Grdiša; Ivan Faktor; Ivica Franić; Darko Fritz; Goran Fruk; Ivan Ladislav Galeta; Aleksandar Garbin; Vladimir Gašparić Gapa; Klas Grdić; Dražen Grubišić; Vladimir Gudac; Nina Horvat; Kažimir Hraste; Aleksandar Ilić; Nina Ivančić; Sanja Iveković; Đorđe Jandrić; Anto Jerković; Josip Jerković; Željko Jerman; Dean Jokanović-Toumin; Slobodan Jokić – Dan Oki; Žarko Jovanovski; Duje Jurić; Ivana Keser; Željko Kipke; Bruno Kokot; Zlatko Kopljar; Dora Kovačević; Kuzma Kovačić; Vesna Kovačić; Martina Kramer; Svebor Kranjc; Igor Kuduz; Vatroslav Kuliš; Zlatko Kutnjak; Željko Lapuh; Kristina Leko; Branko Lepen; Dubravka Lošić; Siniša Majkus; Ivica Malčić; Antun Maračić; Vlado Martek; Dalibor Martinis; Nedjeljko Mikac; Mladen Mikulin; Bane Milenković; Ksenija Mogin; Marijan Molnar; Alieta Monas; Marijana Muljević; Zoltan Novak; Davor Pavelić; Robert Pauletta; Jelena Perić; Goran Petercol; Vesna Pokas; Marijan Pongrac; Dubravka Rakoci; L. R. Rastovski; Ante Rašić; Jadranko Rebec; Igor Rončević; Edita Schubert; Željko Serdarević; Damir Sokić; Mladen Stilinović; Sven Stilinović; Krunoslav Stipešević; Sandra Sterle; Dalibor Stošić; Lidija Šeler; Robert Šimrak; Nada Škrlin; Goran Štimac; Jasna Šukalo; Bojan Šumonja; Antun Boris Švaljek; Slaven Tolj; Goran Trbuljak; Dražen Trogrlić; Ksenija Turčić; Manuela Vadić; Mirjana Vodopija; Nenad Vorih; Zlatan Vrkljan; Anton Vrlić; Mirko Zrinšćak; Vladimir Zrnić; Grupa Zzot; Vlasta Žanić; Gorki Žuvela
Authors of texts in alphabetical order:: Nada Beroš, Miroslav Gašparović, Darko Glavan, Marina Gržinić, Željko Kipke, Leonida Kovač, Vlatimir Kusik, Tonko Maroević, Vlado Martek, Zdenko Rus, Mladen Stilinović, Josip Stošić, Mladenka Šolman, Berislav Valušek, Fedor Vukić, Igor Zidić and introductory text Branko Franceschi
Translated by: Robertina Tomić