Maja Marković | Lucija Klarić | Kamov Residency

Maja Marković

Maja Marković is a multimedia artist born in Zagreb on September 17, 1979. She earned her Master's degree in Painting from the Teacher Education Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2011, under the mentorship of Professor Ante Rašić. She has received several awards and recognitions for her work and has participated in a number of international residency programs. Since 2007, she has continuously exhibited her work in Croatia and abroad. She has assisted on several film and theatre projects in Croatia and worked as an external associate at the Teacher Education Department of the Academy of Fine Arts. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU). She lives and works in Zagreb.

In her artistic practice, she explores concepts of space, interpreting them through drawing, installation, and sound in an attempt to grasp their wholeness by isolating details and materials through which she speaks about the world. Primarily working in drawing, which she expands into complex spatial installations composed of multiple elements, she is devoted to the aesthetics of modernism and the dual character of the architecture and urbanism of that era. Through the use of various media, she investigates the emotional archaeology of space and the ways in which objects, arrangements, materials, and atmospheres preserve personal and collective memories. She regards space not merely as an architectural framework but as a layered map of relationships, habits, and emotional experiences that shape our identity. Her work emphasizes the invisible: the sense of presence, the fragility of materials, and the transience that remains inscribed in a space long after its occupants have left. By repeatedly reassembling fragments of spaces and traces of human presence into something akin to an archaeological site, she creates a sense of impermanence and the possibility of transgression from one state to another, while questioning the overall stability of the architectural construct itself.

Temporary Technical Regulations

20.07.-02.08.2026.

Working Title: Temporary Technical Regulations

Medium: print portfolio, photographic objects, drawing, text

The project involves finding and collecting ceramic tiles and materials used for paving floors and cladding walls—in other words, structural elements from houses and buildings designated for demolition or renovation—and interpreting them as a form of architectural and urban archaeology. The collected material does not function as documentation in the conventional sense; rather, it serves as an active carrier of meaning.

By constructing fragile architectural structures around the found building materials, whose design is characteristic of a particular period, I create visual content. Through the discreet marking of the origin of these broken fragments of the past, it becomes possible, on the basis of memory, to establish connections and evoke recollections of their production, inscribing them into a form of “new memorialism.” The object remains tied to its original location even when physically displaced: through documentation, cartography, indexing, and the reconstruction of the relationships within which it was found. The classification of the recovered elements develops as an open system that does not close meaning but rather multiplies it.

Here, lost dwelling and habitation are reincarnated through their accidentally discovered traces. Former modes of living and occupying space become raw material for the construction of dystopian or utopian proposals, created by collaging the present condition into a spatial catalogue/print portfolio of materials assembled from indications of a previous space. A spatial collage is formed from original material samples in order to present the spatial template of an archival map from a location that no longer exists or has been replaced by newer construction. (As a template for this new work, I use the artist’s book How We Lived (Kako smo stanovali), published by Oaza Books in 2022.)

Museum of modern and contemporary art

→ www.mmsu.hr

Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (HR) - MMSU

MMSU in Rijeka founded in 1948, in its long tradition offers a committed support to innovative ways of approaching, producing and presenting art. From its very beginning the Museum has been building reputation of one of the most prominent visual art institutions in Croatia, entrusted with presentation of Croatian artists at prestigious international art events such as: Venice Biennial 1962, 1997, 2007, 2010, Sao Paolo Biennial 1967, 2004 etc. 

The Museum rounds its programming around visual art education, parallel to different modes of exhibition concepts that address new discursive possibilities and transform it into a place of inspiration, idea exchange and active participation. Under the motto openness, creativity & engagement, together with artistic, cultural and community organizations, Museum furthers visual arts research, collaboration and exchange within the region and internationally, while aspiring to reach increasingly diverse audiences and to work in a close relationship with the community.

Museum’s collection offers a diverse range of artistic visions with over 8,000 artworks dated from the end of the 19^th century to the present day. From 2017 Museum is located at new address, Krešimirova 26c, in ex-industrial complex Rikard Benčić. Since then, some important exhibitions were organized at MMSU in the framework of the pre-program and program of Rijeka 2020 - European Capital of Culture, i.e. Tomislav Gotovac: Crisis Anticipator - Don't Ask Where We're Going (2017), Vlado Martek: Exhibition with Many Titles and Goran Petercol: Don't Worry About Poetics, They Will Arrive on Their Own in 2019 and David Maljković: With the Collection in 2020..