IVA JAPEC AND FRAN MARKO VLAHINIĆ / PATHOS – WHAT DO YOU SLEEP ON THE FLOOR?
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
"Pathos – What Do You Sleep On The Floor? From Text to Image" is an art exhibition of undergraduate and graduate sculpture students Iva Japec and Fran Marko Vlahinić from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb.
The project-based teaching of the elective course Contemporary Visual Art in Methodical Practices explored the contemporary production of visual arts in the field of dramatic arts and theater. It studied the role of the visual artist in the transposition of scenography – from text to scene. During the academic year 2023/2024, the course program took place through work on the novel What Do You Sleep on the Floor? by Darko Cvjetić, which the young playwright Mina Petrić transformed into a dramatic text, staged by Kokan Mladenović. The play What Do You Sleep on the Floor? was realized in co-production of three theaters: the Serbian National Theater (SNP) from Novi Sad, the Gavella Theater from Zagreb and the National Theater from Sarajevo. The novel and the play have been awarded prestigious awards and have been shown at theater festivals in the region.
The topicality of the book and the play has become a paradigm of research in the teaching process, connecting elements from different fields of visual and visual arts.
Students of the Academy of Fine Arts dived into the darkness of the Gavella theatre scene, following the word, voice, stage movement, stage struggle and visual depth of the space in which the stories of the times before their birth took place. The culture of remembrance, the chronology of events and the spaces of the region in the 1990s were their starting point. They read a book, talked to Darko Cvjetić, listened to Kokan Mladenović, communicated with the actors and attended the dress rehearsal, changing the angles of the stage work. They thought about the functionality of sound, shape and movement. Light and shadow. Costumes. Applause.
Their research is guided by sublime suffering through ancient history, philosophy, art history, and a play on the word pathos/pathos – as sublime suffering and a cold floor on which the key question arises: What do you sleep on the floor?
In this artistic process, methodologies of theoretical-practical, archival and field research were developed, including getting to know the gallery spaces of other art faculties and adapting the exhibition to the specific limitations of these spaces. The research process was rounded off not only in academic writing but also in the creation of a work of art, where students sought their own place in public cultural engagement, confirming that they are necessary for society and the world in shaping new art.
On the way from the theater to the academy, from the library to the gallery, from Zagreb to Belgrade, the students realized that the course is not just an academic program – but a process of discovering the coordinates of artistic activity, in which the answers can be found: What do you sleep on the floor?
The experience and knowledge gained in this way confirm Confucius' thought:
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and maybe I'll remember. Turn me on and I'll understand."
prof.art. dr.sc. Maja Bosnar
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE AUTHOR
Iva Japec was born in 1999 in Zagreb. She completed her secondary education in 2019 at the sculpture department of the School of Applied Arts and Design, and then enrolled in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in the same year. She is currently a fifth-year graduate student in the class of doc.art. Nikola Vrljić. So far, she has exhibited at about twenty group exhibitions in Zagreb, Samobor, Šibenik, Drniš, Đurđevac, Vinkovci, Vrbovec, Slovenia and Belgrade, and from her solo exhibitions, she singles out: an exhibition of drawings and sculptures in Dubac (2023) and an exhibition of drawings and sculptures called "Genesis" in Samobor (2023) and Slovenia (2022). She has participated in several art projects and workshops, as well as in a sculpture residency as part of the "Meštrović's Days" event at the fortress of St. John. Ivan in Šibenik. She is the winner of the "Rector's Award" for team scientific and artistic work in the academic year 2019/2020.
Fran Marko Vlahinić was born in 2002 in Zagreb. He completed his secondary education in 2021 at the sculpture department of the School of Applied Arts and Design, and then enrolled in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in the same year. He is currently a fourth-year undergraduate student in the class of prof.art. Alema Korkuta. So far, he has exhibited at about twenty group exhibitions in Zagreb, Đurđevac, Samobor, Orebić, Križevci, Drniš, Šibenik, Mostar, Münster, Krk and Brač, and from his solo exhibitions, he singles out: "Every Man Has His Blues" (2023), "Mentor Speaks to a Student: In a Conversation between Jozo Kljaković and Fran Marko Vlahinić" (2023), an exhibition of works that included sculptures in stone, plaster, bronze and wood, a relief in plaster, a selection of drawings and photographs in Dubac (2023) and an exhibition of sculptures and drawings in Šestine (2021). He has participated in several art projects, residencies, workshops and competitions.
The exhibition was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb.
The exhibition in the Šira Gallery can be viewed during the working hours of the Gallery (Mon-Fri: 9-16 h, 18-20 h, Saturdays: 11-16 h) until 13.03.2025.