(S)premi(se) / Neuro rezervoar

Irena Kovač

(S)PREMI(SE)

02.09.2021.-10.09.2021.

02.09.2021. – 10.09.2021.

The exhibition showcases the paintings and collages of Irena Kovač, which offer a sense of nostalgia and charm to the viewer. The works feature old black and white photographs taken out of their original context and combined with minimalistic interventions to stir emotions and provoke a sense of escapism. The artist’s interest lies in the everyday subject matter, which is presented to the viewer without the weight of its context or the realisability of its symbolism.

The exhibition offers a sense of reliving the past, which is a popular sentiment that sells well in today’s world. The collages and paintings are visually interesting and fresh, and the unexpected juxtapositions of motifs offer a certain charm to the works. The works are reminiscent of the avant-garde collagist Hannah Höch, as seen in the use of ironic combinations of clippings and messages conveyed by the works.

Although Kovač’s works have a postmodern version of the avant-garde, the artist leaves social critique in the background in relation to the charm of the whole and the visual receptivity of the composition. The works are a stimulant and a relaxant for the observer, depending on their need.

Overall, Irena Kovač’s exhibition offers a chance for the viewer to escape into the past and experience a sense of nostalgia and charm through the artist’s use of minimalistic interventions with old photographs. The exhibition showcases the artist’s interest in everyday subject matter and the postmodern version of the avant-garde, making it a visually interesting and thought-provoking experience.

Irena Kovač was born in 1992 in Kikinda. She graduated in 2015 on The Academy of Arts, department of Fine Arts in Novi Sad. Her active exhibiting experience began, even before graduation, in early 2013. So far, she has had four solo and multiple group exhibitions, of which more significant participation was on the 56th October Salon. Her vocational interests, among others, are focused on painting media, collage, photography, video and art installation. She was awarded for her work.

Marija Ćalić

The Neural Reservoir

02.09.2021.-10.09.2021.

The Neural Reservoir exhibition features works that challenge the traditional notion of photography as a medium that freezes a moment in time. Instead, the works in this series explore the role of imagination, memory, and subconscious in shaping our perceptions of reality. Through a process of rephotographing, deconstructing, and unexpected reassemblies, the artist, Marija Ćalić, creates modified spaces that expose neural memories from a missing dream. The resulting images are presented in opposite directions, occupied with figures such as the feminine Hecate, or evocative of geological affinities with symbolic depths.

The exhibition invites visitors to confront archival pictures and their own experiences of these pictures from the past. The spaces presented correspond to the neural connection with the substance of understanding, inherited genetically and through cultural history. Through the use of barriers and veils, the works emphasize the power of a possible, transformed world.

The exhibition challenges viewers to consider the complex processes of perception and cognition, highlighting the mysteries of the merging and combination of neural networks. It also showcases the potential of photography to develop new content and to explore the depths of our subconscious. By exploring the ways in which memory, imagination, and reason can be supplemented in artistic practice, the exhibition offers a unique and thought-provoking experience.

Marija Ćalić

Graduated Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade; attended Photography course at St Martin School of Art, London. Member of Association of Applied Artists of Serbia (section Photography).

Contributed to press photography in daily papers, weeklies and monthly magazines, as well as for Books, Exhibition Catalogues and other media. Editor for Photography in weekly magazine (Europa Press Holding) Belgrade 2003-2011. Artist in Residence of Kultur-Referat of City of Munich, Germany, Vila Waldberta 2010 and Cite Internationale des arts, Paris 2017.

Along diverse group exhibitions, three international concept shows include: ‘Closed Circuits’, Duchess Residence Museum of City of Belgrade 2005, ‘Micro Narratives’ at 48 th Belgrade October Salon in 2007 and Musee d’ art moderne de Saint Ettienne, France 2008 and Biennial of Visual Arts in Pančevo 2012.

Selected and more recent solo shows (2012-19) are titled ‘Post Memory’, ‘The Spell of the Past’, ‘My Home’, ‘Nothing is Left To Tell’, ‘Cache Memory’,‘Elective Affinities’, ‘The Lodger’ and ‘Stern-Berg’(October salon – Belgrade Biennial 2018) as well as ‘Evocative Impact’ (MC Gallery New York 2019.) ‘Stern-Berg’, (selected works) Galerija Menjačnica, Goethe Institut, Beograd 2020.