On Unknown Works

The artists of this exhibition have distinctive and long careers. They have been continuously exhibiting for more than three, four and some for even five decades. Despite this, every one of them has works at home that have been rarely or never exhibited, works that were somehow always left to the side in their ateliers or flats. These works probably did not fit into the artists’ solo exhibitions or did not correspond to curatorial themes and concepts or perhaps they did not adequately reflect the trend in which the work of the individual artist was to be shown? These are works that were somehow not needed by anyone, and even the artists themselves did not grant any special attention to them: they did not exhibit them, reproduce them in catalogues, and later they forgot about them. Goran Trbuljak ironically calls those works “retarded”. There was not enough interest or never the opportunity? They have simply remained unknown.

The curator focused attention on works from the seventies and eighties of several artists: Boris Cvjetanovi?, Antonio Gotovac-Lauer (Tomislav Gotovac), Sanja Ivekovi?, ?eljko Jerman, Julije Knifer, Vlado Martek, Dalibor Martinis, Mladen Stilinovi?, Sven Stilinovi?, Goran Trbuljak and Josip Vani?ta. Here there are works on paper, photographs, artist’s books, films and video works. Paradoxically, some of the exhibited “unknown” works were at one time printed in the daily papers circulation, yet all the same, no one remembers them and does not count them. Several of these have remained unknown even to today, as they were inaccessible even to the artists themselves. Only a few of the works in the exhibition are of a more recent date. Those are the works by artists of the older generation who rarely exhibit at exhibitions of contemporary art and for this reason their newer works remain unknown.

The history of the individual non-exhibiting is interesting. Sometimes a story is presented alongside the work. The stories speak about all of us – of artists and curators and the public.

In collaboration with: WHW; Galerija Nova, Zagreb; Art Radionica Lazareti, Dubrovnik

On Unknown Works
kuratiert von Branka Stipancic

mit Boris Cvjetanovic, Antonio Gotovac-Lauer (Tomislav Gotovac), Sanja Ivekovic, Zeljko Jerman, Julije Knifer, Vlado Martek, Dalibor Martinis, Mladen Stilinovic, Sven Stilinovic, Goran Trbuljak, Josip Vanista