“The virtual is a superposition of im/possibilities, energetic throbs of the nothingness, material forces of creativity and generativity. Virtual possibilities are material explorations that are integral to what matter is. Matter is not the given, the unchangeable, the bare facts of nature. It is not inanimate, lifeless, eternal. Matter is an imaginative material exploration of non/being, creatively regenerative, an ongoing trans*/formation. Matter is a condensation of dispersed and multiple beings- times, where the future and past are diffracted into now, into each moment.”

– from Trans*/Matter/Realities and Queer Political Imaginings, Karen Barad

Karen Barad’s text makes us think about materiality and about questions how, when and where an artist’s work is embodied/placed in its own material context? How is the process of changing and shaping new features of material done and adjusted? What does delamination of interpretations and characteristics of artwork, i.e. materials used for that artwork, mean?  At what stage of artwork creation does transformation from “material” to “work” occur and what does it tell us about definitions of materiality and forms?  Exhibiting artwork through its material parts is given to abstract or physical forces and its elements are then left to positions of identification. The concept of the exhibition is conceived as a processual collage of individual notions/ideas and their intersections which fill in or chisel unavoidable interpretations of inscribed/pre-conceived characteristics of (non/neo)materials, and which examine ways in which we do that or in which it is done for us. Material is rarely seen from a non-anthropocentric perspective, as mentioned by Petra Lange-Berndt in the introduction to the book “Materiality”: “to follow material means to enter a real maze of meanings”. Meanings through which we read artworks (un)consciously. While analyzing Marx, Dietmar Rübel claims that historically “every substance has become raw material, people even began optimizing available materials and invent synthetic ones to produce new things. This is the moment when materiality becomes the event and gains its own conceptuality…” The meaning of the term material changes, now it can be something non-physical/digital, performative, auditive… We pose the question: How do the notions of material, materiality and matter are positioned in relation to each other before, during and after exhibiting artwork? How are its narratives/relations created within physical and imaginative spheres? The circulation of approaches and themes, as noted by Barad, is a repeating re(con)figuration, cancellation of “this” or “that”, repeated adaptation of mediation among notions of transition, transformation, imagination, symbolism. Artwork is not immobile, rigid or independent in its material effects, but the navigation and direction of such characteristics, that is to say, their (pre)formation and artistic intervention create new “something” out of “the same”.     

Artists Rene Hazulin, Kris Komljenović, Marija Josipović and Julek Ploski engage in becoming and transforming, that is, imagining and creating realities, futures or possibilities; relations between fiction and reality. Potential life of seeds gently sheltered by fragile clay. Hence, artist Marija Josipović suggests introspective gestures through hiding and unveiling, as expressed by Robert Morris:” The change is accepted and the mediation is implied, the replacement will result in a different configuration.” Artist Rene Hazulin deals with the question of one’s own trans identity and visual symbols of queerness; in her words this is the “work that deals with authenticity, trans identity, plastic surgeries and gender affirming care”, constructed samples of body parts; withdrawing between organic and synthetic material. A particular body and objectness of the excepted thus become artificial. Digital interpretations of the existing, imaginative possibilities of in(tangible), fragmented narrative of soundscape, texturing and play with matter characterize the works of these artists. Artist Kris Komljenović meanders through the themes of speculative fiction. By means of interactive soundscape he evokes ambiance of post-apocalyptic space and is interested in nonlinear and interactive shaping of narrative and atmosphere. Finally, musician Julek Ploski resides in ambiental-experimental performance/dj set which mediates through its performative position with sound elements within exhibition space.   

The artworks invite us to synaptic associations/gestures of search – bouncing, bending ear, springing like a compact “worldbuilding” that through its forms seeks/reveals/senses assumptions posed by materiality. 

Rene Hazulin was born in Zagreb in 2003. After graduating  graphic design from the graphic department of the School of applied arts and design in Zagreb in 2022, she entered Academy of Fine Arts and is currently on the third year of the BA program in Animated film and new media. Her work deals with body, materiality, transformation, queer themes with the stress on transgender experiences and issues as well as on relations between the synthetic and the organic. Despite using various media, she has recently been focused on the sound, performance, installation and performing objects.  

Marija Josipović was born in Vinkovci in 1997. She graduated as a designer of sculptures from the School of applied arts and design in Osijek in 2017.  She studied sculpture in the program of Visual arts at the Academy of arts and culture in Osijek from 2017 to 2023. She participated in the International sculpture workshop Jarčevac, MLU, Osijek, 2018. She participated at the 13th Student seminar of sculpture in terracotta in Kikinda, 2019, as well as in four more ceramics workshops. In 2020, her film Dnevnik was screened in the program of student films at the 5th Filmska runda. She exhibited in group exhibitions One su tu, Vinkovci, 2021, Terracotta exhibition in Novi Sad, 2019, Tijek i karakter rijeke in Gallery Knifer in Osijek, 2021. She received Dean’s Award in 2021 and participated in the 17th Night of Museums: Between the real and the digital, MLU, 2022. Her solo exhibition Objekti traume/ Transgresija življenog prostora u prostor umjetnosti was held in Gallery Knifer, Osijek in 2023. She received awards at the contest for young artists Ivan Kožarić and 1st prize for a triptych installation titled ̈Objekti traume ̈in 2023, Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb.

Kris Komljenović was born in Zagreb in 1999 where he graduated in 2023 under Nicole Hewitt’s mentorship from the Department of new media at the Academy of fine arts. He describes himself as “artist-multipractic” and his practice permeates soft material, video, sound/music, installation, performance… all of which he uses as a tool for researching identity, inner states and speculative future/past. Besides on final exhibitions at the Academy, Kris exhibited in Gallery Siva in the exhibition Post-Pandemic Art in 2020, in the premises of the local council Savica in 2023  he presented his digital illustrations while in 2024 he had a solo exhibition of the extension of his diploma research Homunkul in gallery Kocka in Split as a part of qFest festival and he participated in a group performance Ja se skrivam, sakrit se ne mogu in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagrebu as a part of the festival Improspekcije. He collaborated with other artists such as Luka Švajda (Matèrie Ecrite and Immediate Irreality, 2023, KNAP, Improspekcije), Nika Pećarina (Zbogom Formi, MSU, Improspekcije,2023) and Mia Štark (Waldeinsamkeit, GMK, 2024). Occasionally he mentors workshops such as Zine Workshop (in collaborations with AK Queer, University of Regensburg, Germany, 2023) and Mikrokozmos (in collaboration with Academy of fine arts, Pogon, 2024). Throughout 2024 he has participated in mentorship program BoSA organized by the Center for research of fashion and clothing.

Julek Ploski is the creator of an authentic niche on the European music scene, within which he has been moving since 2018 when he released his debut album Tesco. Persisting on a hyperactive and maximalist charge, the artist handles a wide range of sound references – from digital collages to baroque and decadent allusions to the kitsch culture of the 21st century. His sound vocabulary, ranging from metal to hyperpop, occasionally reminiscent of the logic of artificial intelligence with which the digital world is infected and occupied, which significantly expands the range of possible and paving new creative possibilities for new generations. In 2023 he released his third album Hotel ***** (Orange Milk Records). His fourth album (Mappa) is expected to be released in 2024. With his style, Julek Ploski invites us to imagine things differently, from a completely new perspective, and he succeeds. He performed twice at the Unsound festival in Krakow, Poland, and is also a member of the European music platform SHAPE+.

ROSE kolektiv is a group of artists working in the field of performance and audiovisual installations. The collective was formed in 2017 when Bruna Jakupović, Lana Lehpamer and Ivor Tamarut enrolled the Academy of fine arts. At the final exhibition of the department of new media in 2019 they had their first joint performance dealing with improvisation and interaction of live sound and image within a closed loop. Thereon, the collective continued to deal with the ideas of communication, collaboration and improvisation through collective artistic expression. In 2021, the collective exhibited in the gallery CEKAO a site-specific work titled Working Spaces while in gallery VN they performed the performance Speaking Spaces. As a part of their residency in Gallery Miroslav Kraljević in 2023, they exhibited artistic research “ROSE <3“. The same year they participated at the 63rd Poreč Annale with the work “ROSE VELVET” that was later exhibited in U10 Art Space in Belgrade. 

Exhibition (Pre/Formations) is the result of the project NOVAci created in collaboration of WHW and Pogon – Zagreb center for independent culture and youth. The program is based on the public call that is realized for the fourth time this year, and it is designed to provide young curators at the beginning of their careers with necessary infrastructure, organizational and mentoring support while implementing their first individual curatorial projects. Hence, NOVAci acts as a platform for support for developing knowledge in the field of contemporary arts focused on practical experience of curatorial practices that is often lacking during formal education. As a part of the project curators Ana Kovačić and Lea Vene mentored ROSE kolektiv for several months while preparing the exhibition: from concept development and meeting the artists, to selection of works, designing the setup and reporting on the project implementation.

The program is supported by:
Zagreb City Office for Culture and Civil Society
Ministry of culture and media of the Republic of Croatia
Kultura Nova Foundation