THE ART OF THE COLLECTIVE – CASE ZEMLJA – BOOK LAUNCH

Wednesday 20/11/2019, 6 PM

French institute, Preradovićeva 5

We invite you to the book launch of "The Art of the Collective – Case Zemlja".

Speakers at the event:

PETAR PRELOG, PhD (Institute of Art History)

ALMA TRAUBER (Striegl City Gallery, Sisak)

IVANA HANAČEK and VESNA VUKOVIĆ [BLOK], authors

The book documents and expands on the series of three exhibitions between 2016 and 2018, where we presented our research on the Zemlja Artists’ Association (1929 – 1935). It is conceived as a monograph with a selection of archival material and art reproductions, as well as texts that position Zemlja’s work within the broader socio-political context of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the interwar period. Due to its contemporary approach to this historical case, the research which served as the basis of the book has already gained international recognition: the German foundation Hans und Lea Grundig has awarded us the prize for the best project in the category of art history/mediation.

From Petar Prelog’s review of the book:

"The Art of the Collective – Case Zemlja provides deep insight into certain parts of the social context of the Zemlja Artists’ Association, and is a valuable contribution to understanding this important interwar art group. The texts on the workers’ and socialist movements in Croatia, and on the issues of peasantry and nations, represent a relevant historical framework, while those which deal with Zemlja’s socially engaged activities analyse and interpret the issues that had a decisive influence on the characteristics of its goals. The widespread economic crisis in the capitalist society at the time, the dictatorship of King Alexander I Karađorđević, the connection between Zemlja’s protagonists and the illegal Communist Party, the difficult living conditions of neglected classes in the city and in the countryside, the ‘conflict on the literary Left’ - these are all issues which the authors of this book rightly consider to be crucial for the writing of Zemlja’s history. They also outline the possibilities of new interpretations of certain conceptual premises and characteristics of Zemlja’s work, from Krleža and Cesarec’s role in shaping Zemlja’s ideological aspects, to the issue of its avant-garde position in interwar art. All of this testifies to the fact that this book – published nine decades after Zemlja’s inception – is a relevant addition to the relatively large and significant corpus of studies on Zemlja, and that it has created new possibilities for interpreting this important phenomenon in Croatian modern art."

publisher: [BLOK] – Lokalna baza za osvježavanje kulture

Editors: Ana Kutleša, Ivana Hanaček, Vesna Vuković

Authors of texts: Ivana Hanaček, Vida Knežević, Ana Kutleša, Nikola Vukobratović, Vesna Vuković

Design: Nina Bačun and Roberta Bratović (OAZA)

proofreading: Nikola Ptić

Reviewers: Petar Prelog, PhD, and Stefan Gužvica

The publication was issued as part of the micropolitics program "the myth of the universal spectator: a look backward". The micropolitics program is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City of zagreb Office for Education, Culture and Sport.

BAZA’s annual program is supported by the Kultura Nova foundation.

BLOK is a beneficiary of the Institutional support for the development and/or stabilisation of organisations provided by the national foundation for civil society development.