11.3.2016
T-HTnagrada@msu.hr exhibition of contemporary Croatian art, that has been providing an overview and a cross-section of the recent artistic creativity for the ninth consecutive year, opened on Thursday, 10 March 2016, at the Zagreb-based Museum of Contemporary Art.
The opening of the exhibition included also two performances: “Discomfort, Anxiety” (“Nelagodba, tjeskoba”) by Tanja Dabo, who wrote a text on the museum wall telling a story about a long-term discomfort and anxiety she felt when she thought of herself as an artist who did not make art; and by Ljiljana Mihaljević entitled “Road” (“Put”), in which she played Hopscotch drawn on the museum floor, yet her Hopscotch had no dome-shaped “rest area” intended as a reward for players’ skill and their effort invested. Nevertheless, according to the artist herself, there is no final reward in real life either, since upon each end we are always faced with a new beginning. Life in itself is a reward, as well as to be provided the opportunity for new beginnings.
This exhibition also provides artists with opportunities for new beginnings, for the expression of their creativity and an opportunity to consider the meaning and purpose of both art and life. As opposed to politics, male to female ratio at the exhibition is excellent: out of 38 selected works of art, 17 have been created by female artists, whilst 22 by male artists. Concerning the media, the number of installations is the greatest totalling 7, followed by 6 photography works, 4 films, whereas the remainder are drawings, graphic works, objects, multimedia installations, pictures, video-works and two performances. A vast array of topics have been addressed, yet during the last several years the issues linked with the environment and ecology in the broadest sense have been increasingly tackled. Consequently, as noted by Marco Scontini, a member of the committee of experts and an independent custodian and an art critic: "The principal topic addressed in a large number of works is no longer consumption of natural resources, as currently it primarily consists of disposal of historical remains (also in a figurative sense). The natural landscape is increasingly a topic in dystopia and it is always marked by political references of both the past and the present, as well as by theatre of social remembrance." Interestingly, there is an increasing number of works of art in which time is a common denominator, as well as the works addressing the issue of artistic media as an instrument of presentation. Moreover, as pointed out by Marco Scotini: “In my opinion, when artists address the topic of advanced communication technologies, the principal challenge comprises of presentation of obsolescence of devices, aiming to stress the fact that this obsolescence is becoming a new value which needs to be highlighted, rather than the presentation of new tools for filming, such as drones and operational shot sequences by thermographic cameras. Hence, all the selected works tackle the issue of loss or they deal with segments of production of a picture through diverse media ranging from painting to cinematography and picture postcards – including the origins of both exhibitions and the museums.”
Davor Tomašković, President of the Management Board of Hrvatski Telekom, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, pointing out the fact that the contest for T-HT award is a project through which Hrvatski Telekom provides support to contemporary art, having recognised it as an important source of creativity and innovativeness in the society. “It is great that each year a large number of works of art and artists apply for the contest, and this year their number exceeded 170, which shows that the Croatian contemporary art is fully alive and innovative. The co-operation between T-HT and cultural institutions is not only considered as a support to culture, as it also provides support to the comprehensive development of the society and the community. Consequently, Hrvatski Telekom will continue using its resources to provide support to similar projects.”
The partnership between Hrvatski Telekom and the Museum of Contemporary Art is extremely valuable, as well as one of the most successful examples of co-operation between culture and the corporate sector. T-HTnagrada@msu.hr project is currently a recognisable and a significant contribution to the development of the Croatian contemporary art, which has been confirmed by an extremely high turnout of artists of diverse generations and using different creative expressions. As a frontrunner in the field of innovation and new technologies, HT considers art as an extremely important area of human innovation that additionally enriches people’s lives and considerably contributes to the enhancement of the quality of life of the entire community. An increasing number of visitors to the exhibition of selected works shows that the joint project by HT and the Museum of Contemporary Art has been identified and accepted by the public, as well as that investment in arts is extremely worthwhile.
A committee of experts will be brought together throughout the duration of the exhibition and it will present 3 purchase prizes: the first prize amounts to HRK 50,000, the second prize totalling HRK 45,000, whereas the third prize stands at HRK 40,000. The purchased works will become a part of the growing T-HT@MSU collection. Nevertheless, in this exhibition the visitors are also decision makers. Hence, the audience award totaling HRK 10,000 will be presented upon the closing of the exhibition to the work that has collected the largest number of votes cast by the visitors, whilst the luckiest voter will win a special prize – Samsung Galaxy Tab4 8" LTE 16GB.
The exhibition will be open until 25 March 2016.