David Maljkovic
17 Jan - 21 Feb 2009
DAVID MALJKOVIC
"Retired Compositions"
17 January - 21 February
Metro Pictures presents David Maljkovic's first solo exhibition at the gallery January 17 – February 21, 2009. Maljkovic's films, collages, sculpture and installations deal with the historical, cultural and theoretical heritage of modernist projects in Croatia, as a part of the former Yugoslavia.
This exhibition focuses on groups of works under the joint title "Retired Compositions". Maljkovic has created two new films for the show. "Images With Their Own Shadows" was shot at the museum/estate of EXAT-51 founding member Vjenceslav Richter and uses audio from a final interview with the artist and architect. EXAT 51—short for Experimental Atelier—was a group of artists and architects active in the first half of the 1950s. In then dominate social realism surroundings, they were trying to obtain legitimacy for abstract art and experimental and creative approaches to the work. The other film "Retired Form" was shot in Memorial Park for the victims of WW2 Dotrscina in Zagreb around a monument by artist Vojin Bakic inaugurated in 1968. This monument was neglected and devastated during the 90s. Bakic's work occupies a key position in the art of the former Yugoslavia; during the Cold War, abstraction in art made the arena for quite different ideologies and their interpretations but Bakic's work rejected such simplifications by employing abstraction inside the social art system.
"Lost Pavilion" is an extension of Maljkovic's previous works "These Days" and "Lost Memories from These Days" which take place on the grounds of the Zagreb Fair. "Lost Pavilion" is a sculptural reconstruction of the American pavilion by John Johansen made in 1956 on the Zagreb Fair grounds. The Zagreb Fair in its heyday was a major economic link between East and West and was the only Trade Fair at which the USA and USSR as well as Third World countries exhibited throughout the Cold War. Jan St Werner/Mouse on Mars designed the sound for the sculpture.
The films and related collages and sculptures will be presented within an architectural installation created by the artist. On the occasion of the exhibition a special edition of the Gallery Nova newspaper will be published in a collaboration with Zagreb-based curatorial collective What How and from Whom/WHW. Since 2003 WHW have been directing the program of Gallery Nova in Zagreb and are curating the upcoming Istanbul Biennial.
Born in 1973 in Rijeka, Croatia, Maljkovic currently lives and works in Zagreb. Recent solo exhibitions include P.S. 1, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Kunstverein, Hamburg; CAPC, Bordeaux; and Kunstverein Nürnberg. Recent group exhibitions include "Eyes Wide Open," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; "The Violet Hour," Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; and the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art.
"Retired Compositions"
17 January - 21 February
Metro Pictures presents David Maljkovic's first solo exhibition at the gallery January 17 – February 21, 2009. Maljkovic's films, collages, sculpture and installations deal with the historical, cultural and theoretical heritage of modernist projects in Croatia, as a part of the former Yugoslavia.
This exhibition focuses on groups of works under the joint title "Retired Compositions". Maljkovic has created two new films for the show. "Images With Their Own Shadows" was shot at the museum/estate of EXAT-51 founding member Vjenceslav Richter and uses audio from a final interview with the artist and architect. EXAT 51—short for Experimental Atelier—was a group of artists and architects active in the first half of the 1950s. In then dominate social realism surroundings, they were trying to obtain legitimacy for abstract art and experimental and creative approaches to the work. The other film "Retired Form" was shot in Memorial Park for the victims of WW2 Dotrscina in Zagreb around a monument by artist Vojin Bakic inaugurated in 1968. This monument was neglected and devastated during the 90s. Bakic's work occupies a key position in the art of the former Yugoslavia; during the Cold War, abstraction in art made the arena for quite different ideologies and their interpretations but Bakic's work rejected such simplifications by employing abstraction inside the social art system.
"Lost Pavilion" is an extension of Maljkovic's previous works "These Days" and "Lost Memories from These Days" which take place on the grounds of the Zagreb Fair. "Lost Pavilion" is a sculptural reconstruction of the American pavilion by John Johansen made in 1956 on the Zagreb Fair grounds. The Zagreb Fair in its heyday was a major economic link between East and West and was the only Trade Fair at which the USA and USSR as well as Third World countries exhibited throughout the Cold War. Jan St Werner/Mouse on Mars designed the sound for the sculpture.
The films and related collages and sculptures will be presented within an architectural installation created by the artist. On the occasion of the exhibition a special edition of the Gallery Nova newspaper will be published in a collaboration with Zagreb-based curatorial collective What How and from Whom/WHW. Since 2003 WHW have been directing the program of Gallery Nova in Zagreb and are curating the upcoming Istanbul Biennial.
Born in 1973 in Rijeka, Croatia, Maljkovic currently lives and works in Zagreb. Recent solo exhibitions include P.S. 1, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Kunstverein, Hamburg; CAPC, Bordeaux; and Kunstverein Nürnberg. Recent group exhibitions include "Eyes Wide Open," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; "The Violet Hour," Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; and the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art.