Martina Munivrana
The 15th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture

The exhibition of the 15th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture, as well as the process of judging, is a follow-up to continuous activity and organisation of this extremely significant event which is always eagerly expected since it presents the best productions in the specified medium in the past three years. This year's edition has been marked by the integral process of the exhibition's displacement. maintaining the continuity in presenting artistic practices that move away from the traditional forms of sculpture towards interdisciplinary and hybrid media research. This does not indicate a loss of the medium's identity, but rather its expansion in which the sculpture is redefined with interdisciplinary and contextual approaches. The hybridity is manifested not only at the level of the medium, but also in the artists' thematic and conceptual approaches, which move between personal and collective experiences, local and global contexts, historical references, and contemporary social issues.

The change in the venue marked the 15th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture the most. For the first time, the exhibition has been completely displaced from the space for which it was initially conceived and into a different spatial situation, the exhibition space of the Museum of Contemporary Art. The temporary complete displacement from the space binding the sculpture to its historic context and materiality into another exhibition space, that of the Museum of Contemporary Art – “a lively place of creation, exhibition, interpretation and preservation of contemporary art in all of its forms,” which supports with its programmes interdisciplinarity and media fluidity, also implies a certain kind of symbolism. The displacement, i.e., the transfer from an established permanent framework into a new and contextual one, also enabled a larger number of works at one place, which contributed to the integrity and simultaneously opened up the possibility of new perception of the exhibited works in relation to the new spatial context. The architecture of the new exhibition space thereby establishes new relations between the works, the space and the latter's meaning, forming and enabling a different perception of the exhibition that sought in its previous editions a more active audience participation due to the exhibition's dislocation at multiple locations.

Just like the previous ones, this Triennial also indicates a change in the approach to the medium of sculpture, which is manifested in contemporary practice as being subject to transformation and intertwining with other media. Such hybridity is nothing new in contemporary art theory: as early as 1979, in the essay Sculpture in the Expanded Field, art historian Rosalind Krauss redefined sculpture as an open field of spatial relations, releasing it from a fixed medium and a stable place. Since its founding in 1982, the Triennial of Croatian Sculpture has been following this concept, enabling the presentation of the artists' works and their “coping” in the medium which, according to Krauss, becomes a position in the logical field, and not a privileged central object. A kind of synchronicity, in the sense of the change in paradigm of the medium of sculpture and the founding of the Triennial, leads to the conclusion on the exhibition's relevance a its indicator of the state of the contemporary art scene in this medium.

This year's edition of the Triennial of Croatian sculpture retains the aforementioned continuity and shows that sculpture still functions as an open, flexible field of experiment. The selected works of this year's exhibition testify anew of the diverse approaches merging traditional sculptural materials with new technologies and interdisciplinary strategies. This also accentuates the authors' willingness to step into new fields of action by experimenting with technologies and materials, into processes in which action is not merely a two-sided relationship between the author and the material. but also includes other collaborators in the process of production, which opens up a field of uncertainty as regards stability and consistency of the work's nature.

Numerous applications testify of the great interest of artists. which presented a major challenge to this year's jury in selecting the works. In the selection process, the jury balanced between innovative approaches, the quality of execution, and the representativity of different media, materials and conceptual strategies, ensuring that the exhibition reflects both the tradition and the topical tendencies in Croatian sculpture. Out of 247 submitted works, 73 of them were selected as best representing the production in the last three years; with its spatial and curatorial design, the exhibition enabled the perception of contemporary artistic production as an “expanded field” in which the works, the space and the institutional frameworks operate as mutually connected elements. The selected works show in their diversity the vitality and plurality of contemporary artistic production, the different generations of artists, and the wide spectrum of approaches and strategies that shape the present-day art scene.

The selection of topics of this year's Triennial is also diverse: therefore, it is difficult to single out the dominant topics or currents that could position the works into a homogenous or clearly defined thematic framework. It is exactly this pronounced heterogeneity of formal approaches that is one of the most important features of this edition, indicating the convergence around several key areas of artistic practice. The text below lists the topics which “turned up” at judging, during the analysis of the works, as early as during the initial phase of work on the exhibition. Therefore, this text does not aspire to analyse all works exhibited, but rather seeks to map key thematic and formal tendencies on select examples that articulate and elaborate them.

Certain works are strongly marked by the subject of the body, albeit not in its classic form; rather, the body is treated as the space of tension, memory, vulnerability, and critique. It appears fragmentarily as a trace, an imprint, a membrane, as indirectly present in certain elements indicating the absence of corporeal presence, i.e., as a symbolic bearer of internal states. The works often treat the body as the site of reserved reaction instead of expression, as the body which remembers, which is formed by external pressures, as the body which reacts. The sculpture thereby moves away from representation and becomes the fruit of the physical or emotional process. Antonija Balić, Matija Čop, Petra Dinjaški Petrović use different materials as the metaphor for the body which absorbs, erases and heals, which treats emotions and trauma as physical sedimentation that can be released ritually, as a metaphor for inscribing emotional records. Ivan Fiolić self-ironically thematises his own body in relation to power, view and control, exhibiting it and relativising it at the same time. Karlo Klen presents a hyper-realistic body; the precise realist processing does not serve an illusion, but rather the intensifying of the feeling of presence and identification, whereby the body becomes the symbol of collective experience and existential uncertainty.

A significant number of works presented at this year's Triennial are not directed at creating complete, enclosed objects, but rather puts an emphasis on the process itself, the variability over time and the state “between.” Such approach brings into focus the topic of processuality, through which the transformation and instability of form are the key elements of contemporary sculptural expression. In many works, the form exists in a tense relationship between the material and the force acting thereupon, creating a sense of instability and uncertainty. Such dynamics reflects not only the material dimension, but also the topical social moment marked by crisis and uncertainty. The medium of sculpture thereby becomes the medium used to reflect the contemporary sense of variability, adjustment and constant transformation, while simultaneously opening up space for deliberating on the nature of an artwork as an ongoing process instead of a fixed point in time. In the work by Vladimir Novak, the process becomes the sculpture's essence: the form changes continuously through the relationship between light, water and space, whereby the perception of everyday, nearly invisible phaenomena is placed in the centre of the artistic experience, with which the artwork is actualised as a temporally conditioned event instead of a stable, monumental object. Some of the artists strongly emphasise the processuality and the study of materiality as the key determinants of contemporary artistic expression. One of them, Miran Blažek, approaches sculpture as the result of the process, in which the work is created in a dynamic development, while its final form arises from a series of transformations and decisions during the creation. Alem Karkut directs his attention to examining the properties of the material, whereby his works emanate an atmosphere of deterioration – the material becomes the bearer of time and change, it evokes the sense of transience and decadence. Marija Josipović engages in the processual dislocation of the medium of sculpture, reflecting on the limitations and possibilities of the medium by experimenting with its position and function. On the other hand, Luka Kirin opens up the space of failure as a structure, whereby failure is not perceived as an end or defeat, but rather as a constructive element forming the structure of the work.

A portion of the works is aimed at critical challenging directed at political, ideological and social systems, as well as the systems of values forming the contemporary society. By exploring the aforementioned topics, sculpture becomes a means for exposing and problematising the systems of power, the political and ideological systems, the bureaucracy, the market mechanisms, the automatization, and the institutional frameworks that determine the logic of efficiency. In this context, the artworks often overtake different idioms of everyday life so as to transform this idiom with irony and subversion, changing the functional into the pointless and the serious into the absurd. With such approach—apart from reflecting the challenges of today's society—the works actively participate in their exposure, opening up space for deliberating on the role of art in the context of the omnipresent instrumentalization and standardisation of processes and values.

The critical challenging of political and ideological systems is deepened in the spatial installation by Ana Mušćet, who deliberates on war not as an exceptional situation, but rather as a ritualised and repeating model of violence built into the structures of space and social relations, questioning the spectacle of conflict and the possibility of meeting beyond the preestablished patterns of violence.

In their works, Matija Plavčić and Viktor Popović critically examine the systems and the manner in which they form perception and value in society, using different media for the observers' active inclusion into the process of reflection. For example, the works by Dino Bićanić and Jelena Bogdanić challenge the everyday systems of value, work and technology, and include the observer into a critical reflection on money and consumerism. With the concept of desertion as metaphor, Daniel Kovač indicates the individual's withdrawal from the system of pointless tasks and abuse of ideals, examining the tension between the strive for authentic freedom and the capitalised resistance in contemporary society. On the other hand, Lucija Marin uses the administrative document of the consumer society as a ready-made, whereby the personal archive becomes a means for criticising the economy of consumption, optimisation, and digital rationalisation of memory. With the phrase “Love Is Politics, Politics Is Love,” the neon sculpture by Renata Poljak challenges power, responsibility and solidarity in contemporary society, calling for active care and critical attitude towards the political and social structures. Through the historic narrative of the Croatian-Slovene Peasant Revolt, Kristian Kožul examines the social and political mechanisms, uses grotesque and caricatural hyperbole, and comments on the contemporary social and ideological phaenomena.

An interesting feature of this year's Triennial are also works referring to everyday life, humour, play, and which actively include the viewers with their participation. The audience are not merely observers, but also active participators in the complete actualisation of the work with movement touch, or sound. The sculpture as the medium thereby assumes ambiguity in the sense of the space of the sculpture penetrating into the event. The works by Željko Beljan, Alex Brajković, Đanino Božić, Natalija Škalić, Vitar Drinković and Luka Kirin highlight the participation of the audience and the interactivity, whereby the visitors actively form the experience through play, movement and presence, turning the exhibition space into a dynamic. tactile and reacting system. On the other hand, the interactive installation by Igor Ruf creates a humorous and participative ambience with the reconstruction of an armchair and the moving elements, challenging the roles of objects and the audience in everyday experience. The irony of everyday life is present in the work by Ivan Tudek.

One of the currently more relevant topics is the environmental awareness and the attitude of man towards the environment. In works by particular authors, the environmental topics appear consistently, albeit subtly with the use of different materials, biological processes and interrelations between man and the environment. The works not only offer a declarative critique of environmental issues but also enable the observer's experiential learning and awareness of own influence on the space and the system. In her work. Ines Krasić does not show leisure as a neutral state of resting, but rather as the space of tension between freedom, control and depletion of resources. With the motifs of seeming respite and dystopian landscapes, her work connects the environmental crisis with the social imperatives of productivity and consumption, highlighting the loss of balance between man, the environment, and the contemporary way of life. Similarly, the work by Vojin Hraste explores the limitations of human control over natural processes, albeit through the prism of energetic systems. With an enclosed energetic system, the author metaphorically illustrates the dependence of the contemporary society on energy sources that cannot be controlled. The movement without the possibility of choice or a change in direction indicates the complexity within unsustainable environmental and technological systems: the energy simultaneously enables and limits human action. In his work, Sinisa Lordan indicates—through an enclosed and controlled system of mixing of matter—the unpredictability of environmental processes and the delicate balance between human intervention and natural dynamics.

On the other hand, the works by Nina Kurtela and Marina Rajšić are connected by deliberating on the space as the bearer of memory, whereby the reconstruction of an intimate studio (Kurtela) and evoking the historically marked place (Rajšić) opens up a relationship between personal and collective memory, presence and absence, and the possibility of restoration through an artistic act. The work by Marina Rajšić also features a subtle reference to the forgotten historical and cultural context of the settlement of Lipa, where the community was able to be rebuilt in spite of devastation. Her work becomes a meditation on the community's
duration, restoration and strength in nature and society.

Strong intimism is visible in the works which highlight the sculpture's introspective dimension with small-scale formats, delicate materials, and subtle gestures. Ana Kovačić, Paulina Jazvić, Marijana Stanić, Tiana Pozaić and Tea Teodorović create intimate spatial encounters between the works and the observers, opening up personal narratives and emotional strata. On the other hand, contemporary organic sculpture stands out with the thematic focus on nature, biological forms and cycles of life, whereby the artists explore how the materials and the forms can reflect the “liveliness” and dynamics of the natural world. The works by Manuela Pauk and Petar Popijač particularly stand out, which combine different materials so as to create expressive, nearly pulsating aesthetics. Their sculptures are neither enclosed nor static, but rather follow the logic of growth, transformation and cyclic motion, whereby they open up questions on the interspace between the natural and the artificial. In this context, the baked-clay relief by Petar Popijač especially grabs attention with its ability to reproduce traces of grass, as well as the imprints of humans or machines passing by. Such artistic approach symbolises transience and constant variability of the ecological environment. With its material and formal selections, the work indicates the need for a balanced relationship between human activity and natural balance, provoking the observer to think of the responsibility towards the environment and sustainability of everyday practices.

The thematic units of this year Triennial also encompass references to museum institutions, in which sculpture takes a reflective stand towards gallery spaces and reexamines its own position within the broad, cultural framework in this approach, the artist critically elaborate on the institution as the place that forms perception and interpretation of an artwork.

The establishment of dialogue with historic or known authors is equally important. Such dialogue often assumes the form of an homage, reinterpretation or an ironic commentary with which contemporary artists map their own attitude towards traditions and cannons of art history. Such approach enables the challenging of authority, opens up space for critical distance, but also for creative building on the legacy of previous generations.

Artists such as Predrag Pavić, Viktor Popović Igor Ruf and Tanja Vujasinović are especially prominent in challenging the institutional and cultural context. Their work positions sculpture as an active participant in the historical and contemporary discourse, creating situations in which a work leaves the framework of passive exposure and becomes an initiator of new meanings and interpretations.

In conclusion, the Triennial therefore becomes the most trusted critic of the medium’s transformation, confirming than the path from 1982 to 2025 was the one of perceiving and following from a solid object towards a hybrid experience that still remains unpredictable in its transformations in relation to the medium. The analysis of the three-year activity of the Croatian art scene maps the state of contemporary Croatian sculpture that proceeds between the matter and the immaterial object and process, personal experience and social analysis. The underrepresentation of classic sculptural paradigms. which has been the case for a while, indicates that the shift towards the sculpture as an open system—which actively participates in problematising certain topics—is additionally emphasised. We could conclude that the medium of sculpture remains in safe hands of the Croatian art scene, whose new productions we eagerly await in the next three years – until the Triennial's next edition.