New life is being inhaled into the H-Object of the Benčić complex on Friday, 22 September. The main culprit for this is the Rijeka Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art which is finally, after six full decades, getting a home of its own and becoming the first resident of the future art-neighbourhood Benčić. By 2020 Benčić will also become a home to the Rijeka City Library, Rijeka City Museum and the Brick House.
The new space in the H-Object, 1550 m2 out of 2055 m2, is being opened thanks to a 7 million kuna investment by the City of Rijeka. The first even to mark the relocation is a retrospective on Tomislav Gotovac called “Anticipatory crisis – Don’t ask where we’re going”, the biggest exhibition in Croatian history dedicated to this great person. It is being prepared by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Tomislav Gotovac Institute.
The exhibition is part of the Season of Power Flagship which focuses on exploring the world of totalitarian regimes, power structures and fear.
Those topics were the primary focus of Tomislav Gotovac as well. His almost anarchistic approach to everyday life, debunking collective myths, writing history influenced by governing powers and examining the relationship between authority and individuals are present in most of his work so even the name of the exhibition is a metaphor for an individual saturated by ideology.
The media and phases of Gotovac’s (a.k.a. Antonio G. Lauer) work will be presented from 22 to 26 September in Rijeka, ranging from his older to newer pieces, from his less known work to his most important work, his actions and their extensions in newspapers and court files.
This goes beyond gallery walls into the streets and the Art-Kino movie theatre where the film programme “Tomislav Gotovac: I am innocent!” will be shown in partnership with the Croatian Film Association where Gotovac’s film opus is stored.
We are also announcing a rich side-programme – Rijeka Days of Open Performance – VACATION – which will take place from 22 to 25 September, and the D-Day student exhibition which includes works inspired by the art of Tomislav Gotovac.
The exhibition will remain open until 26 November, and it will move to the Czech city Usti na Lab on 14 Decemeber and remain there until February. Other international presentations are also currently being arranged.
