Viktor Popović’s exhibition, Untitled (Archive: Zenčišće), 2020, explores 1970s, late Modern Croatian architecture and its complex present-day perception as an unwanted relic of socialist, former Yugoslavia, by juxtaposing past and present images and the means with which we perceive and transform memory into future. The focus is the former resort/rehabilitation center for children from Belgrade at the Zenčišće Bay in Jelsaon, on the island of Hvar, Croatia, presently almost completely in ruins, beyond hope of reconstruction.
 
Built in the late 1970s by the City of Belgrade on 64,000 square meters of land as a year-round, healing refuge where children could enjoy the beneficial Adriatic climate, the 8,400 square meter facility featured exquisite architecture that respected the landscape, along with a library, classrooms, dormitories, shops, health clinic, pool and various sports facilities. It was closed in the 1990s, and during the Homeland war it housed the Croatian Army and later, refugees. 

 

Through the juxtaposition of archival images scanned from 1970s postcards and current photographs of the devastated grounds, assembled with pieces of color correction filters and found, site-specific construction materials, Popović’s illuminated constructions represent the paradox between utopian ideas and dystopian structures, echoing the country’s present-day, chaotic socio-economic situation, further accentuated by the fact that this gutted architectural treasure is located on the island of Hvar, one of Croatia’s most fashionable tourist destinations.

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ABOUT VIKTOR POPOVIĆ
 
Viktor Popović is an artist living and working in Split, Croatia, where he is the head of the Painting Department of the Arts Academy. In his work he often uses found objects and raw industrial materials in installations that probe the relationship between artwork (or object), audience, history of the exhibition space, and the environment or location of the gallery itself. Popović’s latest work explores the Modernist heritage of the socialist period in former Yugoslavia, a project that was started in 2015 and focuses on the re-contextualization of the 1960s architecture of Split, Croatia. Popović is an MFA graduate of Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb, Croatia and has been awarded a number of distinguished grants and awards. His work has been collected by major public institutions throughout Croatia.

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The Armory Show runs from March 5-8, VIP Preview March 4, 2020
C24 will be located at Pier 90 at the far west end of W. 50th St.

Focus section, Booth F21

  
For more information, contact Deborah Oster Pannell: deborah@c24gallery.com

 

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PRESS:

New York Times

Central Academy of Fine Arts

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