Vanja Babić | Artists in Residence | Kamov Residency

Vanja Babić

→ https://vanjababic.wordpress.com/

VANJA BABIĆ (born 1984) graduated from the Zagreb University of Applied Sciences in 2008 and received his master's degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Department of Animated Film and New Media, in 2013. He regularly presents his work at solo and group exhibitions, as well as art actions, in Croatia and abroad. Some of the most important group exhibitions: 48^th Zagreb Salon, 33^rd Youth Salon, 11^th THT Award, MSU Zagreb. Babić attended fellowship programs at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart (2017), and at the Cite internationale des Arts in Paris (2020). The inspiration and motivation for his latest works comes from his re-examination of the dominant social and cultural settings, consumerism, marketing, the role of money in society, different types of work and workers, problems of waste and recycling, and the ways people shape their lives in relation to all that. Vanja Babić occasionally works as an external associate at the Department of New Media Echo at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.

08.-20.03.2022.

As part of the MMSU artist-in-residence program, Vanja Babić develops new works of art and expands the concept of a solo exhibition that will be held at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka in June 2022. His field walk begins with Rijeka's waterfront, a haven for luxury yachts and boats, but also for those stray objects scattered along by the wind or discarded from the near-by ships. This exploration of the environment, which changes on the influence of man, focuses on the boundary between the land and the sea (breakwater, docks, stone, beaches). The camera follows objects floating on the surface of the water, "giving them the time they need, recording their course of floating, going along their path and allowing something spontaneous and intuitive to happen in the process of filming." The inanimate protagonists, such as plastic bottles and bags, uneaten bananas and pieces of styrofoam, are joined by mullets gathered around the "filtered" wastewater outlet. While observing the daily activity of the fish, which take turns in pecking at the “food”, the artist reflects on the ways in which the sea, and nature in general, “regulate” their own disrupted ecosystems – how they treat human waste and how they recycle it. Styrofoam is broken down by the action of the water, and the mullets further purify the wastewater by feeding on the waste. The anthropogenic setting is thus observed and documented not only as an environment that is subject to the devastating presence of man, but as a more complex system in which man and nature are co-creators.

The artist devotes part of his art residency to a search for "institutional" or "museum surpluses". In his visit to museum spaces and storage rooms, he collects the remains of auxiliary elements used in exhibitions, including furniture that no longer serves its purpose, which he will use together with the previously collected discarded materials to create the exhibition. 

The second part of the artist residency took place from 26/5/2022 to 10/6/2022.

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..