Invisible
belonging
belonging
Intro
As laboratories for social change, cities must constantly reinvent what it means to belong to a place. If we acknowledge that belonging to a city is more fluid and easier to adopt than national identity, cities must use this advantage to encourage the creation of a new “we”, especially in present times of seismic demographic shifts in Europe. Zagreb, once a bastion in the medieval extra-state territory, the so-called “antemurale Christianitatis,” stands again at the front line of the European borderline regime. Through investigation of relationships between the erosion of civic thinking and action, social mimicry and migration, “Invisible Belonging” attempts to foster a new “performative” urban citizenship. The Zagreb art projects act as a platform for advancing visions of “inclusive urban topography”, reimagined on the correspondences between the local and the global.
Blog
Take a look behind the scenes: in the LAB, the artists are developing their projects online. Your contributions and comments to the work in progress are welcome!
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Zagreb Exhibition June 8-21
9 June 2017 12:56 by ACTOPOLIS
From June 8 to June 21, the Zagreb edition of the ACTOPOLIS exhibition will provide a comprehensive presentation of the artistic and activist productions of last year's ACTOPOLIS programme in Zagreb and beyond. The entire programme of the exhibition can be found on Facebook event page. -
Artıkişler (Özge Çelikaslan and Alper Şen) about their microresidency in Zagreb
17 June 2016 19:20 by ACTOPOLIS
“Our microresidency in Zagreb was connected with our multimedia research The Residual. Developed within Actopolis, the research project focuses on two aspects; it attempts to narrate the tragic story behind the traces left behind by the flows of migrants in various cities in Syria, Iraq, Turkey and countries of the Balkans. Secondly, it reflects a strong sense of excitement about the new commoning experiences in the cities which migrants have been passing through or already left. -
INTERVIEW: Ana Dana Beroš about the project Invisible Belonging in Zagreb
27 May 2016 10:09 by ACTOPOLIS
In an interview with Kulturpunkt.hr Ana Dana Beroš spoke about the idea of belonging in the context of mass migration and her ACTOPOLIS project “Invisible Belonging”. Below an excerpt (to read the full article follow the link at the bottom of this entry).
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TV interview with Ana Dana Beroš
5 April 2016 18:36 by ACTOPOLIS
Croatian TV channel Moj HRT invited curator Ana Dana Beroš to give an interview about ACTOPOLIS and her project “Invisible Belonging”. To watch the interview, follow this link and select April 3rd 2016 at the bottom right of the media player. The interview (in Croatian) starts at 00:06:55.
PARTICIPANTS
Ana Dana Beroš
Ana Dana Beroš
Actopolis-City: Zagreb
Ana Dana Beroš is a Croatian architect, exhibition designer, editor and curator. She graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Architecture and has international professional experience.
Co-founder of the non-profit group ARCHIsquad, a division for architecture with conscience, and project coordinator of its educational programmes: "Out of Focus: Architecture of Giving" and "*urgentArchitecture", open architecture advisory centres for citizens. Winner of Merit Award in the Shinkenchiku competition in Japan, awarded by Jun Aoki in 2009. One of the initiators and board members of the THINK SPACE programme of conceptual architectural competitions and co-curator of its exhibition "Competitive Hypothesis" at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York in 2013. Author of many exhibition designs; her latest collaboration with the artist Erik van der Weijde was on display at Camera Austria, Graz, in 2015. Editor of Croatian magazine ORIS (interviews with Pritzker laureates Kazuyo Sejima of SAANA, Edouardo Souto de Moura and Peter Zumthor). Ana Dana Beroš has been recognised as an early-career architect and selected as finalist for the Wheelwright Prize awarded by Harvard University's GSD in 2014. Ana Dana Beroš received Special Mention for her curatorial-research project "Intermundia" at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition Fundamentals curated by Rem Koolhaas. Recently she started contributing as an author for Croatian Radio within the "Reality of Space" series of interviews on politics and poetics of space, with international architects, theorists and critics.
Ana Dana Beroš is a Croatian architect, exhibition designer, editor and curator. She graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Architecture and has international professional experience.
Co-founder of the non-profit group ARCHIsquad, a division for architecture with conscience, and project coordinator of its educational programmes: "Out of Focus: Architecture of Giving" and "*urgentArchitecture", open architecture advisory centres for citizens. Winner of Merit Award in the Shinkenchiku competition in Japan, awarded by Jun Aoki in 2009. One of the initiators and board members of the THINK SPACE programme of conceptual architectural competitions and co-curator of its exhibition "Competitive Hypothesis" at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York in 2013. Author of many exhibition designs; her latest collaboration with the artist Erik van der Weijde was on display at Camera Austria, Graz, in 2015. Editor of Croatian magazine ORIS (interviews with Pritzker laureates Kazuyo Sejima of SAANA, Edouardo Souto de Moura and Peter Zumthor). Ana Dana Beroš has been recognised as an early-career architect and selected as finalist for the Wheelwright Prize awarded by Harvard University's GSD in 2014. Ana Dana Beroš received Special Mention for her curatorial-research project "Intermundia" at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition Fundamentals curated by Rem Koolhaas. Recently she started contributing as an author for Croatian Radio within the "Reality of Space" series of interviews on politics and poetics of space, with international architects, theorists and critics.
LIGHTUNE.G
LIGHTUNE.G
Actopolis-City: Zagreb
Bojan Gagić is a multimedia artist working internationally in the sphere of sound art and field recordings. Parallell to working as a technical director for theatre, film and music festivals (Eurokaz, Dance Week Festival, Zagreb Film Festival, Queer Festival, World Theatre Festival), Gagić publishes his poetry in literary magazines. His work also includes music for short experimental films, together with light and sound design for many theatre plays. Gagić is the author of four short experimental films (ties/structures/ambients — in the collection of Academia Cravatica; Richter’s View — in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Poet in New York and Dissection). He is the co-founder of the Zagreb platform for new sound expressions Sinelinea.
Miodrag Gladović is an engineer in electroacoustics, a musician, music producer and multimedia artist. As a musician he is heavily involved in the underground music scene. Based on DIY ethics Gladović co-founded the independent record label Moonlee Records. Since 2010 his work has been more related to experimental and improvised music and multimedia art. Gladović performs solo with his audio-visual project “Packmess GP” (Grains & Particles), exploring new forms of musical expression.
LIGHTUNE.G is the name under which multimedia artist Bojan Gagić and electroacoustic engineer Miodrag Gladović started their first luminoacoustic research in 2011. The name originates from the first experiment in conversion of light produced by theatre spotlights into sound: LIGHT / LIGHT + MELODY / TUNE + TONE G/50Hz. It is a unique and self-developed technique, which they named luminoacoustics, and for which LIGHTUNE.G won the Third Prize at the Guthman New MusicalInstrument Competition in Atlanta in 2012.
Bojan Gagić is a multimedia artist working internationally in the sphere of sound art and field recordings. Parallell to working as a technical director for theatre, film and music festivals (Eurokaz, Dance Week Festival, Zagreb Film Festival, Queer Festival, World Theatre Festival), Gagić publishes his poetry in literary magazines. His work also includes music for short experimental films, together with light and sound design for many theatre plays. Gagić is the author of four short experimental films (ties/structures/ambients — in the collection of Academia Cravatica; Richter’s View — in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Poet in New York and Dissection). He is the co-founder of the Zagreb platform for new sound expressions Sinelinea.
Miodrag Gladović is an engineer in electroacoustics, a musician, music producer and multimedia artist. As a musician he is heavily involved in the underground music scene. Based on DIY ethics Gladović co-founded the independent record label Moonlee Records. Since 2010 his work has been more related to experimental and improvised music and multimedia art. Gladović performs solo with his audio-visual project “Packmess GP” (Grains & Particles), exploring new forms of musical expression.
LIGHTUNE.G is the name under which multimedia artist Bojan Gagić and electroacoustic engineer Miodrag Gladović started their first luminoacoustic research in 2011. The name originates from the first experiment in conversion of light produced by theatre spotlights into sound: LIGHT / LIGHT + MELODY / TUNE + TONE G/50Hz. It is a unique and self-developed technique, which they named luminoacoustics, and for which LIGHTUNE.G won the Third Prize at the Guthman New MusicalInstrument Competition in Atlanta in 2012.
Nikola Bojić
Nikola Bojić
Actopolis-City: Zagreb
Nikola Bojić holds a Master's degree in Art History and Museology from the University of Zagreb and a postgraduate Master's degree in Design Studies from Harvard University.
Bojić is a researcher and designer interested in spatial storytelling. Whether on a territorial or site-specific scale, his practice often digs into the social and political dimensions of space, analysing and disturbing the lines that divide public and private realms. He worked as an art director and set designer of a theatre piece in Algeria, which dealt with the issue of illegal immigration across the Mediterranean sea. In China he designed a landscape installation which honours the people whose villages have been destroyed in the name of new urban development. During his stay at Harvard University he wrote Excavations, an experimental book that aims to translate reading into an authentic spatial experience.
Along with public art & design practice, Nikola is a regular speaker at conferences and design festivals around the world. Currently he is editing the Life of Art magazine for contemporary visual arts published by the Institute of Art History in Zagreb.
Nikola Bojić holds a Master's degree in Art History and Museology from the University of Zagreb and a postgraduate Master's degree in Design Studies from Harvard University.
Bojić is a researcher and designer interested in spatial storytelling. Whether on a territorial or site-specific scale, his practice often digs into the social and political dimensions of space, analysing and disturbing the lines that divide public and private realms. He worked as an art director and set designer of a theatre piece in Algeria, which dealt with the issue of illegal immigration across the Mediterranean sea. In China he designed a landscape installation which honours the people whose villages have been destroyed in the name of new urban development. During his stay at Harvard University he wrote Excavations, an experimental book that aims to translate reading into an authentic spatial experience.
Along with public art & design practice, Nikola is a regular speaker at conferences and design festivals around the world. Currently he is editing the Life of Art magazine for contemporary visual arts published by the Institute of Art History in Zagreb.
Saša Šimpraga
Saša Šimpraga
Actopolis-City: Zagreb
Saša Šimpraga is a space analyst, publicist and activist from Zagreb. He is the author of the book Zagreb, Public Space. In 2012 he founded 1POSTOZAGRAD (1percentforthecity), a volunteer platform dedicated to city improvements and commons. He has either funded or co-authored projects such as DOTRSCINA VIRTUAL MUSEUM, dedicated to innovative approaches in the culture of remembrance; MOTEL TROGIR, a project dealing with the modernist heritage; ARS PUBLICAE, devoted to art in the public space; and 50 POEMS FOR SNOW, an international no-budget poetry festival taking place each year on the first night of snow. He is also the author of a number of artistic interventions.
Saša Šimpraga is a space analyst, publicist and activist from Zagreb. He is the author of the book Zagreb, Public Space. In 2012 he founded 1POSTOZAGRAD (1percentforthecity), a volunteer platform dedicated to city improvements and commons. He has either funded or co-authored projects such as DOTRSCINA VIRTUAL MUSEUM, dedicated to innovative approaches in the culture of remembrance; MOTEL TROGIR, a project dealing with the modernist heritage; ARS PUBLICAE, devoted to art in the public space; and 50 POEMS FOR SNOW, an international no-budget poetry festival taking place each year on the first night of snow. He is also the author of a number of artistic interventions.
Selma Banich
Selma Banich
Actopolis-City: Zagreb
Selma Banich is a performance artist who lives and works in Zagreb. She has authored a series of artworks, created independently or in collaboration with other artists, groups, and initiatives. She uses the medium of dance performance, performance art and action in the public space, both on film and in the theatre, and at the same time is engaged in the field of non-formal education and practice-based research. While conceiving and presenting her own work, she strives to give priority to ethics over aesthetics, empathy over utopia, art making over politics, and nature over society, thus expanding the context for further learning, creativity and participation in the organisation of labour.
Selma Banich is the co-founder and programme coordinator of ekscena, a prize-winning platform for education and research in the performing arts. She is an author, artistic collaborator and performer with OOUR, a Zagreb-based collaborative performance group and TRAFIK, a Rijeka-based theatre group, a member of the First International Institute for Disaster and Chaos and a performer with Every House Has A Door, a Chicago-based performance group. When not working in theatre, she lives a simple life as a lover of nature, mankind and web 2.0.
Selma Banich is a performance artist who lives and works in Zagreb. She has authored a series of artworks, created independently or in collaboration with other artists, groups, and initiatives. She uses the medium of dance performance, performance art and action in the public space, both on film and in the theatre, and at the same time is engaged in the field of non-formal education and practice-based research. While conceiving and presenting her own work, she strives to give priority to ethics over aesthetics, empathy over utopia, art making over politics, and nature over society, thus expanding the context for further learning, creativity and participation in the organisation of labour.
Selma Banich is the co-founder and programme coordinator of ekscena, a prize-winning platform for education and research in the performing arts. She is an author, artistic collaborator and performer with OOUR, a Zagreb-based collaborative performance group and TRAFIK, a Rijeka-based theatre group, a member of the First International Institute for Disaster and Chaos and a performer with Every House Has A Door, a Chicago-based performance group. When not working in theatre, she lives a simple life as a lover of nature, mankind and web 2.0.
Tonka Maleković
Tonka Maleković
Actopolis-City: Zagreb
Tonka Maleković graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2006. Since 2003 she has exhibited in numerous exhibitions in Croatia and abroad and realised a number of projects in the public space. She is a co-founding member of Loose Associations/association for contemporary art practices and a member of PUNKT/platform for culture empowerment. In 2012 she initiated a Hallway gallery LiberSPACE ‒ an outdoor gallery for ephemeral interventions. She is also a co-curator of a travelling educational and exhibition project City at the Second Glance/PUNKT.
The starting point for Tonka Maleković's work is the immediate surroundings, everyday reality. It is a search for potentials that arise from a conflictual relationship between prescribed templates imposed by our physical and social environment and organic, uncontrolled processes, along with their spontaneous patterns. She has a specific interest in cities, public space, urban anthropology and rural-urban relations. Works are realised in different media and are often participative actions or temporary interventions where she uses found material or builds symbolic relations between the given scenery and human figures.
Tonka Maleković graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2006. Since 2003 she has exhibited in numerous exhibitions in Croatia and abroad and realised a number of projects in the public space. She is a co-founding member of Loose Associations/association for contemporary art practices and a member of PUNKT/platform for culture empowerment. In 2012 she initiated a Hallway gallery LiberSPACE ‒ an outdoor gallery for ephemeral interventions. She is also a co-curator of a travelling educational and exhibition project City at the Second Glance/PUNKT.
The starting point for Tonka Maleković's work is the immediate surroundings, everyday reality. It is a search for potentials that arise from a conflictual relationship between prescribed templates imposed by our physical and social environment and organic, uncontrolled processes, along with their spontaneous patterns. She has a specific interest in cities, public space, urban anthropology and rural-urban relations. Works are realised in different media and are often participative actions or temporary interventions where she uses found material or builds symbolic relations between the given scenery and human figures.