IVOTOPIS

CURRICULUM VITAE

Roen 1973. u Splitu.

Born 1973 in Split, Croatia.

2001- 2006. godine.

sts association.

Elvis Berton was born 1970 in Pazin, Croatia. He has been pursuing art ever since 1996. Since 2000, Berton has had many solo and
Diplomirao
kiparstvo
na Akademiji
likovnih
umjetnosti
u Austria,
In 1997
graduatedSlovenia).
from theHis
Academy
group exhibitions at renown
galleries
and museums
in Croatia
and abroad
(USA, UK,
The he
Netherlands,
artwork of Fine Arts in
Zagrebu
godine.
Zagreb,
Sculpture
was awarded with many
prizes. 1997.
Berton
is a member of Croatian Association Of Artists and
Croatian
FreelanceDepartment.
Artists Association. He
lives and creates in Pazin.
lan je Hrvatske zajednice samostalnih umjetnika od
From 2001. 2006. member of Croatian freelance artiMarina Ferneir was born in Zagreb in 1984. She has graduated in February of 2009 from the Academy of Fine Art, Department of
Art Conservation and Restoration,
Zagreb,
She isodjelu
licensed
art conservator
for wall painting
conservation
five years
of Arts in Split,
Od 2007. radi
na Croatia.
Kiparskom
Umjetnike
akadeFrom 2007.
works atwith
theover
Academy
of Fine
experience in the field.mije
She has
held
several
solo
exhibitions
and
has
been
exhibition
in
several
group
exhibitions.
She
lives
and
works
u Splitu.
Sculpture Department.
in Zagreb.

Izlagao je na brojnim izlobama u Hrvatskoj i inozemHe has exibited in many exhibitions in Croatia and
stvu.
abroad.
Tea Hatadi was born in Croatia in 1980. In the year 2008 she graduated at the Academy of
Fine Arts, Zagreb where she started PhD in

painting the same year.Dobitnik

She studied
two semesters
at the Academynagrade
of Arts, Architecture
PragueCezch
(CEEPUS
je jedne
od tri jednakovrijedne
na VII. and
HeDesign
won inthe
one of
the Republic
tree equal
awards at the VII
grant). She participated in several workshops and performances in Croatia and abroad. She realized several solo and participated nutrijenalu hrvatskog kiparstva 2000. te na 38. Splitskom
Croatian Sculpture Triennal in 2000 and at the 38th Split
merous group exhibitions and won several awards for her work. She lives and works in Zagreb as curator of Ring Gallery and PM Gallery
2013. godine.
Salon in 2013.
at Croatian Associationsalonu
of Artists.

Zastupljen u stalnom postavu Galerije umjetnina u SpliHe is represented in the holdings of the Art Gallery in
Vojin Hraste was borntu
in i1981
in ibenik.
He graduated
in 2006
from the
Academy of FineSplit
Arts and
in Zagreb,
Gliptoteci
Hrvatske
akademije
znanosti
i umjetnosti
of theDepartment
Collectionof
ofSculpture,
Sculptureinof the Croatian
the class of professor Slavomir Drinkovi. That same year he does the civil service as a teaching assistant with professor Petar Barii,
u Zagrebu.
Academy of Science and Arts in Zagreb.
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Since 2007 has been engaged as a teaching assistant in the department of Sculpture at the Arts
Academy in Split. In 2008 he embarked on a Ph.D. course at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts, under the tutorship of professor Slavomir
Drinkovi. He has exhibited
in ivkovi
several solo
and group exhibitions.
Loren
Kulji
Loren ivkovi Kulji

15, 21000
Address:
Bukoveva
15, 21000
Split, Croatia
Mia Orsag was born inAdresa:
Zagreb, Bukoveva
Croatia in 1983.
In theSplit
year 2008 she graduated Sculpture
at the Academy
of Fine
Arts, Zagreb.
She
exhibited at several group
and
solo
exhibitions,
and
has
participated
several
workshops
and
festivals
in
Croatia
and
abroad.
Lives
and
Kontakt: 091 151 8063, e-mail: lorenzk73@gmail.com
Contact: 091 151 8063, e-mail: lorenzk73@gmail.com
works in Zagreb, as professional associate at Croatian Association of Artists.

CAPITALIST REALISM
In his book Capitalist Realism, Mark Fisher claims: The tiniest event can tear a hole in the grey curtain of
reaction which has
marked
the horizonspovorku
of possibility
under for
capitalist
realism. FromProcession
a situation ,in2012.,
which
Skica
za podsvjesnu
/ Sketch
a Subconscious
2 fotograje u boji /
2 colour
photographs,
150 xis390
cm
nothing can happen,
suddenly
anything
possible
again. To grasp the culture of an area we delineated
as a mountain landscape means to grasp the possible hole in the grey curtain. The systemic structure of
neoliberal capitalism and culture, regardless of post modern deconstruction, enters a phase of its own autocannibalism. The Croatian contemporary art is still in the process of transition; this process is marked by
both the continued existence of the folkloric cultural matrix and by a resistance to the McGuggenheim effect,
which is perceived as colonial culture. Pierre Guilet de Monthoux describes the moment where art merges
with the structures of neoliberal empire in The Art Firm: Since U.S. president Ronald Reagan and British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, assisted by business-art clubs such as the BCA and ABSA, reoriented art
funding toward the corporate world, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons have replaced Coca Cola and McDonalds
as the brands for this new audience of privatised U.S. and British culture. After inspecting objects in the
galleries, they shop for aesthetic philosophy on sale in museum shops. Croatian culture can be envisaged as
a large faded palimpsest. It has to be observed in complexity; cultural heritage has been written out in layers,
as on several times reused parchment. The Worlds of the Other only exist in a premodern obsession anyway.
Josip Zanki

Seven
about
the reality

Otvorenje izlobe odrati e se 03. travnja 2014. u 19 sati | Opening of the exhibition on 3rd of April 2014 at 7 pm
Galerija Karas | 03. travnja - 21. travnja 2014.
Karas Gallery | April 3 - April 11, 2014

Berton / Ferneir / Hatadi / Hraste / Orsag / Vodopija / ii/Koul

Konduktorownia Gallery / Czstochowa, Poland

Opening of the exhibition on 09th of May 2014.
May 09. - May 22.2014.

Mirjana Vodopija graduated in 1987 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where she now teaches. She realized 28 solo exhibitions
and participated in two hundred group exhibitions, curatorial concepts and residential projects. She has won numerous art awards. Her
work has been included in the collections of major Croatian museums and many private collections. Basic characteristics of her work
is contemplation, innovation in the use of media through the intertwining of different artistic disciplines and specific approach to the
phenomenon of light and movement.
ii/Koul is an artistic duo formed by Damir ii and Kristian Koul. They started working on various projects concerned with artistic
Hrvatsko
umjetnika
| Croatian
Association
of Artists
exploration and collaborating with interdisciplinary
expertsdrutvo
in 2013.likovnih
They exhibit
since 2014,
with first
joint project
0,5 in Karas Gallery in Zagreb (January) and then in March at T-HT@MSU. Damir iiGalerija
graduated
from
the
Faculty
of
Graphic
Arts
at
the University of
Karas | Karas Gallery
Zagreb and from the Art Academy in Zagreb, Croatia, where he studied New Media Studies. He lives and works in Zagreb, asa long-term
Trg
rtava
faizma
16,Koul,
10000born
Zagreb,
Croatia
www.hdlu.hr
collaborator and photographer for numerous institutions
and
groups.
Kristian
in Munich
in |1975,
graduated from the KunsRadnoKristian
vrijeme:
srijeda
- petak 11of- 19
subota Association
i nedjelja 10of- 18
h; zatvoreno
ponedjeljkom,
utorkom
i blagdanom.
takademie Dsseldorf, Germany.
Koul
is a member
theh,Croatian
Artists.
He lives and
works in Zagreb,
Croatia.

Working hours: Wednesday - Friday 11 am 7 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 6 pm; closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays.

vrt 1 / garden 1, 2012., detalj / detail, ljani pastel / platno /oil pastel canvas
Regionalne Towarzystwo Zachty Sztuk Piknych
w Czstochowie

GALERIA KONDUKTOROWNIA
www.konduktorownia.eu

www.hdlu.hr / www.konduktorownia.eu

IMPRESUM

Nakladnik
Publisher
| Hrvatsko
drutvo
umjetnika
/ Croatian
Association
of Artists,
TrgJosip
rtava
faizma 16, 10 000
Publisher: Croatian Association
of /Artists,
Trg rtava
faizma
16, 10likovnih
000 Zagreb,
hdlu@hdlu.hr,
www.hdlu.hr
| For the
publisher:
Zanki,
Zagreb,
www.hdlu.hr
| Za nakladnika
/ For the publisher
Josip Zanki(vicepresident),
| Upravni odbor
HDLU / Executive
president | Executive board
of hdlu@hdlu.hr,
HDLU: Josip Zanki
(president), Tomislav
Buntak (vicepresident),
Fedor Vuemilovi
Gordana
boardKova
of HDLU
JosipAnita
ZankiKuhari
(predsjednik
Tomislav
Buntak
(dopredsjednik
vicepresident),
Fedor Vuemilovi
Baki, Ivan Fijoli, Koraljka
Dugandi,
Smrekar/| president),
Director: Gaella
Alexandra
Gottwald
| Texts: Josip/ Zanki
and Sara ii
vicepresident),
Gordana
Ivan
Fijoli, Koraljka Kova Dugandi, Anita Kuhari Smrekar | Umjetniki
| Associate: Mia Orsag(dopredsjednik
| Design: Martina/ Mezak
| Printed by:
CerovskiBaki,
| Edition:
300

savjet Galerije Karas / Artistic board of Karas Gallery Branka Beni, Martina Mezak, Sara ii, Ivana Vuki | Ravnateljica
/ Director Gaella Alexandra Gottwald | Struna suradnica / Associate Mia Orsag | Predgovor / Preface Jasminka Babi |
This exhibition is a part of the collaboration between the Akademia im. J. Dugosza in Czstochowa /Faculty of Arts/, Gallery Konduktorownia
Grako oblikovanje kataloga / Catalogue Design Zdravko Horvat | Fotograja / Photography Zoran Alajbeg | Prijevod /
and Croatian Association of Artists.
Translation Marina Miladinov | Lektura / proofreading Sinia Labrovi | Tisak / Printed by Cerovski | Naklada /
Copies 300
Exhibition is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and City Office for Education,
Izloba je realizirana uz nancijsku potporu Gradskog ureda za kulturu, obrazovanje i port Grada Zageba / The
Culture and Sport Zagreb.

exhibition is nancially supported by the City Ofce for Culture, Education and Sports Zagreb.

Tea Hatadi, Censorship of Happiness, 2012/13.

loren ivkovi kulji

Da je cijeli svijet jasan, umjetnost ne bi postojala.

If the world were clear, art would not exist.

Albert Camus, Mit o Sizifu, 1943.

Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, 1943

Osvjetavanje procesa percepcije, razumijevanje iluzija

uvjetovanih nametnutim konceptima, preispitivanje predodbi o svijetu koji nas okruuje, neke su od temeljnih
odrednica umjetnikog djelovanja Lorena ivkovia Kuljia. Iza prividne jednostavnosti njegovih radova krije se

Becoming aware of the process of perception, understanding the illusions that depend on imposed concepts, questioning the ideas of the world that surrounds us these are some of the basic tenets in the
artistic activity of Loren ivkovi Kulji. The apparent
simplicity of his artworks conceals a long process of reection and a multilayered quality of his performance.
Even though a sculptor, he often uses the medium of

dugotrajan proces razmiljanja i slojevitost izvedbe.

Iako kipar, esto koristi medij crtea, fotograje ili videa kako bi to slobodnije i to jasnije iskomunicirao

Mia Orsag, 2/4, 2013.

Pozadina reprodukcije / Background Reproductions, 2011., fotograja u boji / colour photograph, 86 x 115 cm
odreenu poruku.

drawing, photography, or video in order to communicate his message as freely and clearly as possible.

U radovima Skica za podsvjesnu povorku i Pozadina - reprodukcije umjetnik kao poetnu referencu koristi vi- In his artworks Sketch for a Subconscious Procession and
zualne sadraje iz masovnih medija i transponira ih u Background - Reproductions, the artist used the visual
svijet umjetnosti. Fotograji izrezanoj iz novina ili a- content of the mass media as his starting reference
sopisa pridruuje njezin par crte ili skulpturu mode- point and transposed it into the world of art. Each
liranu u glini. Ovakvom aproprijacijom umjetnik prikaz photograph cut out from a newspaper or magazine
izmjeta iz izvornog konteksta, oduzimajui mu izvor- is joined by its counterpart a drawing or sculpture
nu funkciju, reklamnu ili ilustrativnu, te ga pretvara u modelled in clay. By means of such appropriation, the
model
za crte ili skulpturu. Kada donese odluku o ko- artist takes the presentation out of its original context
Seven about the
reality
nanom izgledu, fotograra novonastali rad, spaja ga and deprives it of its original function as an adveror illustration
transforming
it into a model
Exhibition of seven
Croatian tehnikom
mid- and young
generation
artists izlae
presentstisement
seven different
and specific
artistic
s izvornikom
kolairanja
i u konanici
for
drawing
or
sculpture.
When
he
decides
on its nal
approaches that
tellraunalni
seven stories
present
and reality,
stories
kao
ispis about
kolairanih
fotogra
ja. Kako
samthat get close to each other at certain
points. Through their visions, interpretations of the media and their own constructed
way
of
perception,
they
navodi, zavrni in fotograranja doivljava kao pre- appearance, he photographs the newly created piece,
present certain issues to the observer. By using different media approaches
theyitanalyze
almost
all the
key
merges
with the
original
by means
of collage, and
mogunosti
daljeg
djelovanja
konkretnom
aspects of our kid
present,
situations
we think
about uontom
a daily
basis, at conscious
and
subconscious
levels
print of collaged
eventually exhibits it as a computer
prostoru.
No, own
prekid
ne znai iquestioning
zavretak. Svi
examining ourselves
and our
personality,
andradovi
exploring the details of environment which
photographs. In his own words, he experiences the
surrounds us onLorena
a day-to-day
basis,
by
setting
these
details
on
ivkovia Kuljia, bez iznimke, rezultat asunew
du-aesthetic level, and above all analyzing
nal act of photographing as a disruption of the possocial statuses goga
and events,
normsiand
conventions,
which
are products
razmiljanja
ustrajnog
rada. Tu
je uvijek
rije o of new times.
sibility of acting further in that specic space. Howmaterijalizaciji
ideje koja Mia
se razvija,
promiljanju
kojework which attempts to examine and
By the balanced
power and sensibility
Orsago brings
insightful
ever, this disruption is not the end. All artworks by
analyze some of
the key metaphysical
questions
- life,pritom
relationship,
identity.
sagledava
razne aspekte,
ukljuujui
i umjetLoren
ivkovi
without
are a result of
Her sculpture 2/4
presents
the mathematical
formulation,
the redistribution
of safe
andKulji,
sound,
and ofexception,
what
niko
izraavanje
kroz razliite
medije. Vano
je naprolonged
re
ection
and
persistent
work.
They always
is subject to change due to the impact of a number of everyday factors.
pomenuti i da je Loren jedan od rijetkih umjetnika koji consist in materializing an idea that evolves, in reectTwo quarters are the positive energy, stability and eternal brace, while
the remaining two quarters are
svoja razmiljanja
i procese,
osimthat
to skicira,
i zapisuje,
incomplete, undefined
and ready for
the changes
the future
brings anding
maybe
atits
some
pointaspects,
circumstances
upon
various
including the artistic extako
da
se
proiavanje
rada
odvija
na
vie
razina. pression through different types of media. It is imporallow the separate halves become whole.
Patinated drawings
spaces
and figures,
which are
here and atradovithe sametant
point
to disappear,
from
estooftemu
nastavlja
i razrauje
u povezanim
to they
note start
that Loren
is one of
those rare artists who
the series No One
Where,
are thei result
of her
with the present and the key issues; identity,
ma.No
Takav
je sluaj
sa Skicom
zapreoccupation
podsvjesnu povorku.
write down their reections and processes, besides
existence and change,
that she
wants to
share
with theinaicu
observer.
Nju se moe
sagledati
kao
razraenu
procesa sketching them, so that the purication of the artThe very process of scribbling, drawing, erasing and scratching is very easily
associated with time-consuming
zapoetih
s
Pozadina
reprodukcije.
Vrlo
neobian
rad the
work
takes
place
on more
one level. He often conand painstaking process of knowing the world and ourselves, moreover
result
of the
search
oftenthan
remains
sastoji Mias
se od drawings
dva velikaare
raunalna
raenaexactly
po ra-these
tinues
and develops
the subjectand
in a series of interconvague and undefined.
trying toispisa
investigate
extreme
fields of knowledge
nije navedenom principu. No, umjetnik koristi mno- nected artworks. Such is the case with the Sketch for a
existence.
tvoVodopija,
gura koje
postavlja
u Breath
perspektivu.
Ipak,
Subconscious
It everyday
can be viewed as an elaboWorks of Mirjana
from
the series
and Herbs
aregrupa
the result
of researchProcession.
of ordinary,
je
samo
uvjetno
homogena:
osim
perspektive,
drugihduerate
variant
of light
the processes
with the Backelements of the environment, especially unsightly vegetation, which
to the
play of
takes on ainitiated
new
prostornih
odrednica
nema.
gure
su modeliradimension, bringing
into question
the limit
of Neke
existence.
A great
source of inspiration
for her work and
ground - Reproductions.
Thisresearch,
highly unusual piece conMirjana Vodopija
in anature
through
her
in varioussists
medias,
such
as graphics,
nefinds
u glini,
neke uand
crteu.
Jasan
je experiments
privremeni karakter
of two
large
computerdrawing,
prints produced according
to the aforementioned principle, but with a multitude
rada i otvorena mogunost njegove daljnje promjene.
Mirjana Vodopija, Detail, 2009.

photograph or object, she is able to successfully articulate

her ideas and gives the opportunity to the observers, by
broadening their horizons and possibilities of perception.
Quite common elements appear in new forms and take
on new characteristics. With the help of photography, the
artist presents to us already naturally and clearly defined
objects, which by the help of the limited light moments
she transformed into her final idea - the border area where
something exists and disappears. Her works as a result
of patient research, conscious and unconscious moments
where ideas develop, educate the view and raise issues
about the infinite possibilities of perceiving the world around
us.
Questioning of the border worlds, and her own personality
and reality are brought in the works of Marina Ferneir,
which she created in the last two years, as part of the cycle
Alchemy of dreams.
Marina Ferneir has a specific artistic style, built on the
foundations of her conservation and restoration activities.
Through the works in this cycle we follow development of her
inner worlds, which are the images blended with elements
of reality, but still remained on the border between dreams
and reality. It is a combination of concrete and familiar
elements in the picture, figures and landscapes, with
stylized elements of architecture and unexpected motifs, that allows Marina Ferneirs paintings to transcend
the banality of everyday life scenes. What was at the beginning an exploration of the basic elements of artistic
creativity, resulted in a transformation of the motifs into visual language similar to the visions of dream worlds.

Hraste clearly, directly and literally questions the giant of the film industry, Hollywood, which from day to day
imposes a multitude of aesthetic norms and rules, whose correctness and logic is truly questioned just by few
people. Entire film and media industry, bring to the individuals countless possibilities of correction of their own
personality, behavior, attitude and style, where it becomes clear that very benign is physical, and more worrying
is its mental transformation.
Artworks of Tea Hatadi, complete this joint exhibition of seven Croatian artists, who in different ways and by
various methods talk about the present and immediate preoccupations.
By specific aesthetic approach, Tea Hatadi seductively attracts us to focus our attention on her work, disclosing
clearly and directly her private information, with a defined and specific attitude talks about her position of a
contemporary artist, criticizing moments of the struggle for survival while taking her place on the artistic scene.
Contradiction is one of the foundations of Teas works, skillfully balancing between the composition of seductive
and gentle, and strong, sharp, direct and to a certain extent negative elements.
Teas work Censorship of Happiness, clearly articulated artistic achievement, that is visually striking and
attractive, brings a look at a relative term of happiness. Her colleagues, artists talk about happiness, which
is closely related to their artistic creativity, sometimes it is a spark of happiness that came in an unexpected
moment, and sometimes their luck is a result of negative situations. Teas censorship comes down to the
visual aspect, using silhouettes in the background in sepia tone, draws the viewer to listen to them closely and
examine their own perceptions of happiness.
This goes back to the starting point of personal analysis and analysis of abstract philosophical concepts, thus
seven stories become the whole.
Sara ii

THE WORLDS OF THE OTHER

ANTHROPOMETRIES
The attitude of artists towards their own physical body has been changing over time, conditioned by various
cultural frameworks. In the twentieth century, defining body as an art tool, but also as a work of art per se,
culminated within the medium in which the artist, not producing a work of art any more, turned his body
towards the viewer (Belting). The path was defined by the modern and industrial revolution, by enabling
a technical reproduction of a work of art. The purpose of a work of art was now to be an aesthetic object
accessible to all. Walter Benjamin says: The mass is a matrix from which currently all customary responses
to works of art are springing newborn. Quantity has now become quality: the very much greater masses
of participants have produced a changed kind of participation. The ritual character of a work of art, as
well as its aura that, according to Walter Benjamin, disappeared in the age of mechanical reproduction and
modernism, was in time replaced by the physical body as a tool of the artist. In 1960, twenty-four years after
Benjamins essay, Yves Klein created Anthropometries, the work based on imprinting naked female bodies
on canvas, which were previously covered in blue paint (monochrome). During the performance and the
imprinting process Yves Klein was giving the instructions, thus changing the concept of a tool of the artist. The
most important incentives for the change in the attitude towards the body definitely came through the classic
anthropological researches of the cultures of the others, especially of what we call shamanic and totemic
practices in the so-called primitive societies; from Bronislaw Malinowskis research in the Trobriand Islands
in 1918, Margaret Meads research in Samoa in 1924 and Claude Levi Strausss research in Brazil in 1935.

Elvis Berton presents works from three different cycles, moving from intimate Istrian porches over the stylized
interpretations of the nature and the actual artistic perception of objects in it, to the criticism of todays
shifted society. The work from the series Porches, brings a touch of Istrian atmosphere, setting styled porch
in the landscape of great tension, constantly waiting for the relief. Landscapes and plants in Bertons paintings
are styled almost to the limit, tending to represent his personal visions and perceptions of the living nature.
At first seemingly only lovable lemon motif, defined by the artists bold and specific visual expression, can
be considered as a motive from everyday life, but Bertons Lemons assume in this case another function disclosing putridity, acidity and decadence of modern consumerist society.
Artistic tandem ii / Koul directly and clearly present their work, which is based on the relationship
between modern art and marketing of high class fashion and luxury industry. They are opening the question
of recycling elements and phenomena of the contemporary art in marketing propaganda and what happens
when contemporary art appropriates the aesthetic norms and rules of major marketing giants. They question
the quality of the products that are on a daily basis served to consumers and the manipulation of advertising
campaigns, which has found an ideal breeding ground in todays time of impersonality of submission, apathy
and dullness of modern society. Good taste of the elite representatives of such society has long ago become
questionable, and thus the taste of the vast majority of the world - a whole series of ordinary people who
often by all means go beyond their possibilities, in order to follow the dogma of aggressive and manipulative
marketing.
The works of the young sculptor Vojin Hraste are the excellent continuation of questions that opened ii
/ Koul, but Hraste turns it to the perception of himself. Twisted perception of his own personality manifests
itself in a self-portrait increased by 50 % compared to the natural size, filled with plastic hair, which transforms
him beyond recognition, while subtly alluding to the popular ventures of installing silicone implants, which can
change (distort) a man from head to toe.

Vojin Hraste, Imagining Hollywood, 2014.

Elvis Berton, Before Rain, 2013.

Martina Ferneir, Time to Go, Time to Stop, 2013.

The world of a romanticized savage, which we came to know in Huxleys novel Brave New World in 1935,
disappeared during the time which M. Hardt and A. Negri defined as biopolitics in their book Empire. It is not
just about replacing the mode of production defined by the assembly line (Fordist society) with production
processes defined and controlled by the computer programmes, but also about creating new forms of
industry based on leisure, such as film, computer and entertainment industry. Romanticized savage was
replaced with the age of a completely organized reality and spectacle, described by Guy Debord in The
Society of the Spectacle. Guy Debord defined it in his book The Society of the Spectacle: Fragmented
views of reality regroup themselves into a new unity as a separate pseudoworld that can only be looked
at. Fragmented reality created an improved visual perception, which can adopt more visual contents. In
the Middle Ages, scenes on altarpieces were the only visual world besides nature and landscape. The world
of images transformed the whole reality, becoming more trivial, just like its heroes. Back in the seventies,
Andy Warhol said that in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Social networks enabled
complete exposure of privacy, transforming it into a spectacular series of images. At the same time, this
privacy is stylized in such a way that it becomes completely fictional, parallel second life, similar to the
computer game Second Life. In such society Debord defined culture in the following words: In the struggle
between tradition and innovation, which is the basic theme of internal cultural development in historical
societies, innovation always wins. Precisely this idea of innovation and progress is one of the foundations
of modernism, which in postmodernism was pushed to the absurd. The last exhibition that shocked the
public with its innovativeness was the exhibition
of British art called Sensation, organized under
the patronage of Charles Saatchi in 1997. The
exhibition also showed Damien Hirsts installation
which consisted of a shark in formaldehyde, or the
famous My Bed by Tracey Emin, on which one could
see semen stains. There are two reasons why this
exhibition was the last one that truly shocked the
public. The first reason is because within the western
culture there is a complete saturation of sensations
based on questioning the body, sexuality or death.
The second reason is that after the year 2000 the
transfer of information was accelerated by the use
of the Internet. The speed of information transfer
itself led to limitless distribution of shocking images
and films into almost every home. This produced
indifference towards any form of physically explicit,
and on the other hand, it opened up new processes
in artistic practices. Unlike in Modernism, when
due to its technical revolution the artwork lost its
romantic addition defined by the divine inspiration
of the artist, the postmodern processes imposed
new references on the act of creation and the work
of art.

Kristijan Koul/Damir ii, Shape 1A, 2013.