LOREN ZIVKOVIC KULJIS

Barrel Gallery

08.09.2009. - 23.09.2009.

In his artistic work, Loren Živković Kuljiš is primarily concerned with changing the places assigned to him or, as the author himself puts it, with ‘the possibilities of existing out of a given context’. This idea almost perfectly describes his work – he does not confine himself to merely one medium and often enters the exhibiting area in a creative way.

Within the context of Art History in this region, Zivković Kuljiš clearly follows the tradition of the Second Line Artists, named so by Jesa Denegri¹; in other words, his work shows strong conceptual expressions, such as for example the work of Kozarić or Vaništa who, by employing minimalistic means, have redefined some of the important tenets of contemporary art of their time. In the recent years, Živković Kuljiš has moved freely among pure sculpture, photography and video, always trying to use the media as a way to investigate space relationships and the possibilities to manipulate them. At his exhibition in Galić Salon in Split, in August last year, the artist changed the exhibition area by creating completely new space parametres. He lifted the gallery floor at a certain point by using a wooden construction originally designated for standing above the surface level in working areas. The whole floor, together with the wooden construction, was then covered with a transparent plastic sheet which literally divided the new space from the existing one. The new floor level in this case marked the starting line for the new gallery walls which he entirely painted white. In the work layout in Barell Gallery in Zagreb, the author has given up the literal wall painting. The change this time occurs in the space itself, where he uses new light sources emitting light in its primary colours. Although the change is concrete and palpable in both cases, the interventions always remain discreet, some of them almost unseen, with the space shift happening on a highly subtle level of perception. The employment of the new objects such as construction or small bulbs is not only for the purpose of visual perception, they rather aim at directing the observer to a new and complete experience of the space. In this way, the author wants to stress out that visual perception includes a lot more than a mere seeing. Contemplation which accompanies perception, the observer’s habitual reactions to a given space, memory activation creating particular insights – they are all included in the process of perceiving the work as a whole. Highly interesting is precisely the line between the material and the conceptual which Živković Kuljiš is walking along. His interventions are always characterized by the dynamic of minimal performance/interpretation which is not strictly defined though. This is the reason why the entire change always happens on the conceptual level. It is also possible to see the process as a dialogue between multiple simultaneous existences – the activated space which includes the installation, and the ommitted space which remains under the plastic sheet. The existence of both is unquestionable; however, different treatment confronts and puts them into a new relationship which is mutually dependant and unseparable, controlled exclusively by the artist himself.

What results from these interventions is the creation of a new reality. A reality which has been moved away from the common space relationships and everyday contexts familiar to our perception. The new artistic/artificial situation uses the potentials of the observers’ mental and sensorial experience, encouraging them to constantly seek new ways of interpreting and contemplating their environment.

Jasminka Babić

1 Denegri, Ješa. Prilozi za drugu liniju, Horetzky, Zagreb 2003.;

Prilozi za drugu liniju 2, MACURA, Beč – Beograd 2005.