David Maljković, Images with Their Own Shadows

David Maljković, still from Images with Their Own Shadows, 2008, 16 mm, 6' 16'', Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures

26 January - 14 March 2010
Mala galerija, Slovenska cesta 35

David Maljković confronts us with a heritage that has been forgotten and overlooked, one that is no longer recognized as relevant or valuable in its own environment and in today's specific historical moment. Maljković's films, collages, sculptures, and installations treat topics relating to the potential of the historical, cultural, and theoretical heritage of modernist projects in the former Yugoslavia.

The film Images with Their Own Shadows (2008) and the collages, drawings, and sculptures associated with it belong to a group of works that share the joint title Retired Compositions. Images with Their Own Shadows was filmed in the estate of Vjenčeslav Richter (1917-2002), a founding member of the group EXAT 51. Maljković used sound clips from the last-recorded interview with the artist and architect. EXAT 51 ("EXAT" is an abbreviation for "experimental atelier") consisted of a group of artists and architects, who worked in the first half of the 1950s.

They attempted to introduce abstract art and experimental creative approaches into the then predominant socialist-realist environment. The film will be presented within an architectural installation created by the artist. Through his approach of projecting the future, which he develops in tension with the reconsidered past, Maljkovic returns EXAT to their original framework of the idea of the synthesis of art and the social context.

Born in 1973 in Rijeka, Croatia, Maljković currently lives and works in Zagreb. His recent solo exhibitions include those at the P.S. 1 in New York; Whitechapel Gallery in London; Kunstverein in Hamburg; CAPC in Bordeaux; Kunstverein Nürnberg; Metro Pictures in New York and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. His recent group exhibitions include "Eyes Wide Open" at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; "The Violet Hour" at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle; the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, the 11th International Istanbul Biennial, "Modernologies" at the MACBA in Barcelona and "Warsaw under construction" at the Muzeum Sztuki in Warsaw.

There is an exhibition catalogue with a text by the exhibition curator Igor Spanjol.





The project has been supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.


Opening hours: Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 15.30 & 16.00 - 18.00. Free admission.