After its premiere presentation to the Croatian audience with the exhibition “Permeable Sculptures” this summer at the Museum of Fine Arts in Split, visual artist Nina Annabelle Märkl will also present her work in Zagreb — in the exhibition of the same name — which opens on December 4 at the Josip Račić Gallery. In addition to the spatial installation Permeable Sculptures, the exhibition also features selected works from the series Triple Folds, created in 2021, about which curator Jasminka Babić writes in the text of the accompanying catalogue: In these pieces, she continues to explore the spatial potential of drawing, though in this case the starting point is a controlled, technical drawing. Evolving from a simple line on a two-dimensional surface, the drawing gradually transforms into a complex perspective composition, eventually materialising as a sculptural form made of paper and metal. As noted earlier, the foundation of this practice lies in technical drawing, yet the artist’s process conveys far more than its literal spatial implementation. The precision of her work, combined with the playful folding of paper or metal, creates a new dynamic in dialogue with the drawings on paper. The reflective aluminium surfaces and the shifting perspectives revealed through the cut sections of the metal sheets produce a captivating interplay between the constructed forms and the space around them. The curved form of the display cases in which Nina positions these reliefs creates a subtle distortion of the enclosed shapes. Combined with the reflections on their surfaces, this adds a dynamic element that intentionally unsettles the observer’s perception. As with Permeable Sculptures, the works invite us, as observers, to actively reflect on the fleeting and uncertain nature of how we perceive the world around us.

Exploring drawing as an expanded medium and erasing the boundaries between drawing, sculpture, and installation, the artist uses metal structures, taut ropes, and ink on organically shaped canvases to create hybrid forms that pull the viewer into a space between figuration and abstraction, the real and the imaginary, the mechanical and the living. “Permeability,” as suggested by the title of the exhibition itself, denotes an open system of meaning in which boundaries are not fixed but flexible, changeable, and interactive. The artist constructs her work like a layered map of our existence, one that invites active perception and the uncovering of the invisible dimensions of contemporary life.

The exhibition remains open until January 4, 2026, and has been realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb. The sponsor is HP–Croatian Post plc. It is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue, whose graphic design is authored by Ana Zubić.

Artist's Biography
Nina Annabelle Märkl was born in 1979 in Dachau, Germany. In 2009, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where she studied under Stephan Huber. Since 2009, she has worked as a freelance artist, and from 2011 she has been teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. She is the recipient of numerous awards, scholarships and residency programs. Since 2010 her work has been shown extensively in solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad.

Reproductions: Museum of Fine Arts, Split 2025 - Installation view Nina Annabelle Märkl Permeable Sculptures at the Josip Račić Gallery in Zagreb, 2025
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb