{"id":5469,"date":"2026-07-06T17:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whw.hr\/program\/\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T15:10:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:10:45","slug":"tomislav-soban-zgrade-u-vrtu","status":"publish","type":"dogadjanja","link":"https:\/\/www.whw.hr\/%dogadjanja-slug%\/tomislav-soban-zgrade-u-vrtu\/","title":{"rendered":"Tomislav \u0160oban: Buildings in the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please note that on July 17, entrance to the Botanical Garden is free for exhibition visitors at 6 pm. The Botanical Garden closes at 7 pm. It will not be possible to enter the grounds after that time. To attend the opening, please plan to arrive earlier. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Please note, smoking in the Botanical Garden is strictly prohibited. We kindly ask that you refrain from smoking anywhere on the premises.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tomislav \u0160oban is a visual artist as well as a film, TV and theater director whose authorial work is characterized by interdisciplinary approach, reflecting on correlations of text, space, duration and environment. His verses included in the exhibition can be read as a key for understanding the exhibition concept \u2013 observation of the relation between large and small, mundane and extraordinary, devastation and regeneration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI attempt
\nto discern spacious from small,
\ntrivial from significant.
\nMarvelous from simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Tomislav \u0160oban<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With the exhibition Buildings in the Garden<\/em>, Tomislav \u0160oban invites us to slow down and observe processes unfolding outside our everyday rhythms. Using film, drawing, poetry, sculpture and spatial installation, the artist forms a kind of a model\u2014a \u201cpavilion within pavilion\u201d\u2014that intervenes within the architecture of the Botanical Garden. In this sense, the exhibition operates as a Russian doll: one space embedded in another, simultaneously staking the autonomy of the first space, while setting up a dialogue with the unique surroundings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u0160oban has a history of crafting handmade miniature models of buildings and leaving them on site in nature. He made the first such models already in 2010, while he was working on the film The Smallest <\/em>(2013). At the time, model-making presented a solution to a lack of functional workspace; since then\u2014and particularly with the project Gardens<\/em>, which started in 2015\u2014the artist has developed and expanded on this technique. For Gardens, <\/em>\u0160oban transformed a greenhouse near Zagreb into an artistic atelier. Models of the nearby buildings (houses, a school, etc) stand in as the protagonists within the process of decline, transformation and a return to nature. Gardens <\/em>refers to the phenomenon of devastated houses\u2014of which more than 70,000 can be found across Croatia\u2014that have been abandoned due to unsolved ownership disputes, or the consequences of war, poverty, and depopulation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The opening will feature the screening of artist\u2019s latest documentary-experimental film Abandoned Gardens <\/em>(16 minutes, 2026). Combining time-lapse footage of various models under various weather conditions and times of day, the film reveals the dynamic of natural processes otherwise unregistered by human eye.<\/p>\n

Moving between the microlevel of his carefully constructed models and the macrolevel of the landscape, the artist examines how natural processes slowly reshape human interventions. While one part of the exhibition consists of newly-made models, the other part, located within the \u201cpavilion within pavilion,\u201d consists of a series of drawings that operate as a visual diary of \u0160oban\u2019s escapes to nature. Questioning his own status as a visual artist, he creates a series of sketches drawn using several pencils simultaneously with his non-dominant hand. This process allows him to explore the relationships between individual, collective, and institutional contexts.<\/p>\n

\u0160oban has made a few new models\u2014a gallery and a school, among them\u2014consciously emphasizing the relevance of institutional and social contexts as well as the role of art in the wider social landscape. He has arranged them in constellations, evoking a new ecological community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tomislav \u0160oban <\/strong>was born in Zagreb in 1981. He studied graphic art of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2004.  Since 2009, he has been an active member of Kinoklub Zagreb. In 2016, he completed a degree in film and TV directing, with a focus on feature film. He continues to research the form and means of expression that film can take, and has authored many short films across genres. The most prominent of these have been presented in festivals: Najmanji <\/em>(The Smallest, 2013), Kako je Iva oti\u0161la 16. rujna 2016. <\/em>(How Iva Left on September 16, 2016, 2016), Krhko (<\/em>Fragile, 2019), Kada odlu\u010dim kako zapo\u010deti, znat \u0107u i sve ostalo <\/em>(When I Decide to Begin, I Will Know All the Rest, 2021), and  Moj trener <\/em>(My Coach, 2024.)  <\/em>His films have been screened in festivals in Croatia and abroad, including Oberhausen, Jihlava, 25 FPS, Animafest, Animateka, Zagreb Film Festival, Tabor Film Festival, the Croatian Film Days, among others.) His experimental animated short The Smallest<\/em> (2013) was recognized with the Vedran \u0160amanovi\u0107 Award for its innovative approach. In 2023, \u0160oban directed his first theater play Zbilja<\/em> (Reality) in the hall of the Croatian National Theater.  He has since presented theatrical works at the 34th Festival of Croatian Drama Maruli\u0107evi dani, the 48th Days of Satire, and the Biennale of Scene Design 2024. He has directed two documentary series: Moderna vremena<\/em> (2023) on industrial design in Croatia, and Plovopis<\/em> (2024), on the south Croatian Pelagian Islands. Since 2024, he has lived in Osijek, where he is a cofounder of Kinoklub Osijek.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What, How and for Whom <\/strong>would like to thank the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb for their generosity in hosting this exhibition, as well as the School of Applied Arts and Design, Zagreb for their cooperation as well.<\/p>\n

We would like to extend personal thanks to dr. sc. Vanja Stamenkovi\u0107, Bernarda Cesar, Irena \u0160krinjar, Ivan Majzec, and Ivan Skvrce.
\n<\/strong>Exhibition display created in collaboration with the School of Applied Arts and Design, Department of Interior Architecture, Bernarda Cesar, Nenad Weltinger, and Igor Kozlina.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Building in the Garden<\/em> is the second act of the exhibition cycle We Hope (Between the Lines)<\/em>, and a part of WHW program of exhibitions Remember Freedom <\/em>and film program Remember Freedom: Images of Resistance.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Opening hours:<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Thursday \u2013 Sunday: 12pm \u2013 6.30pm<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Exhibition is on until August 30, 2026
\n<\/strong>After the opening day, the exhibition can be visited with a purchased ticket to the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science.<\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

The exhibition is supported by:
\nCity Office for Culture and Civil Society
\nCroatian Audio-Visual Center – HAVC
\nMinistry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia
\nKultura Nova Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please note that on July 17, entrance to the Botanical Garden is free for exhibition visitors at 6 pm. The Botanical Garden closes at 7 pm. It will not be possible to enter the grounds after that time. To attend the opening, please plan to arrive earlier. Please note, smoking in the Botanical Garden is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5475,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[925],"tags":[1028,1029,939,1027,1026],"class_list":["post-5469","dogadjanja","type-dogadjanja","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-izlozbe","tag-botanicki-vrt","tag-napusteni-vrtovi","tag-sjeti-se-slobode","tag-sjeti-se-slobode-slike-otpora","tag-tomislav-soban"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTomislav \u0160oban: Buildings in the Garden<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Please note that on July 17, entrance to the Botanical Garden is free for exhibition visitors at 6 pm. The Botanical Garden closes at 7 pm. 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