Category: Exhibitions
06 October 2025
From October 10 to 12, 2025, two new exhibitions by international artists will be on view at Jochen Hempel Art Gallery – “Between” by Kristaps Priede (Latvia) and “Dear Babies…” by Klara Rusan Klarxy (Croatia). The exhibition is part of the residency De/Construction of Painting, as part of the European project CreArt 3.0.
DE/CONSTRUCTION OF PAINTING CONCEPT:
The project De/construction of Painting encourages and addresses contemporary artistic practices within the context of the visual arts center of Eastern Germany, Leipzig, which has transformed into a global hub for the arts with a focus on the painting scene. The former industrial complex Spinnerei in the Plagwitz district spans 10 hectares and has been almost entirely renovated, now serving as the heart of the local and international art scene with 12 galleries, the non-profit art center Halle 14, and around a hundred resident artists. The residency program De/construction of Painting tries to answer the following questions:
- To what extent is the idea of an image/painting still a cultural construct within various dichotomies (Western-Eastern, industrial-post-industrial)?
- How does the media in which the painting is formed correspond to the concepts of representing different realities?
- What is individual in the image/painting and what is symbolic or universal?
Part of this year’s residency program takes place within the EU project CreART 3.0, a European network of medium-sized cities aimed at exchanging experiences and best practices to promote contemporary art through a continuous transnational mobility program for emerging artists, curators, and cultural workers, in order to maximize the economic, social, and cultural contributions that creativity can bring to local communities. As part of the EU project CreART 3.0, 4 residencies will take place in Leipzig in 2024, each lasting 5 weeks, including 2 Croatian and 2 foreign artists from the network of cities.
Project web page: https://residencyleipzig.hdlu.hr/
The exhibition “Between” explores the boundaries of painting and its ability to reflect reality, cultural constructs, and human experience within contemporary space. Created in Leipzig – a city between East and West, between industrial and post-industrial identities – it becomes a symbolic space “in between.” Across twelve works – paintings, puzzles, and smaller compositions – architecture and environment transform into fields of reflection on perception, solitude, and transformation. The clarity of Bauhaus forms meets industrial surroundings, where the human figure becomes a silent observer, a point of reflection. “Between” is a meditation on painting as process – on what is individual and what is universal, what remains and what changes.
The exhibition “Dear Babies…” presents the artist’s latest body of work — a deeply personal reflection on identity, time, and transformation. With this new series of oil paintings before you, the artist creates a painterly portrait of her own life at the age of 31, which she wishes to leave as a personal testament to her future children, offering them a unique insight into the intimate life of a person currently transitioning from one stage of life to another. Klara paints six large-scale canvases depicting scenes from her own life, which she has organized into three main areas or categories, following the structure of classical horoscope columns: health, love, and finances. This overtly cynical and humorous approach, present from the conception of the idea to its full realization, is a hallmark of Klara Rusan’s artistic practice.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Kristaps Priede (b. 1990, Latvia) is a Latvian conceptual artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, documentary photography, installations, and performance. His work delves into contemporary social, political, and environmental issues, using contrast and transformation as central tools to explore destruction and renewal. Priede adapts his methods to each project, often blending natural and man-made elements to challenge perception and provoke reflection. Rooted in both critical inquiry and emotional depth, his art invites viewers to confront inner and societal tensions—offering space for identification, catharsis, and change. With a strong commitment to environmental and human rights concerns, Priede’s practice seeks not just to raise awareness, but to inspire dialogue and collective action through art.
Klara Rusan (b. 1993, Croatia) earned a bachelor’s degree at Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb at the department of Animated Film and the New Media. Plans of pursuing a career in animation were superseded by her receiving a Masters in Authorial Illustration at the Falmouth University of Art in 2017. Her graduate thesis earned recognition as she was the recipient of the ‘Masters of Art Illustration Authorial Practice: Award for Outstanding Creative Writing’. While being a participant in a number of group exhibitions (36 Mountains festival of illustration, Erste fragmenti, To be continued…comics and visual culture in Croatia), she held her debut solo exhibition at the Oris House of Architecture in 2018 where she presented her first graphic novel Where Do People Go After They Die?. In 2024. she had her first international solo exhibition ADHD – Pool of thoughts.
Address: Jochen Hempel Art Gallery, Spinnereistrasse 7, Halle 4, Leipzig, Germany.
Opening: October 10 at 7:00 PM.
Opening hours: October 11 and 12, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Within the project:
Partners:
Co-funded by:
Co-funded by the European Union – CREA-CULT-2023-COOP. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them. [Project number: 101128499]
Project is co-financed by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
The views expressed in this announcement are the sole responsibility of HDLU and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
24 September 2025
TONKA MALEKOVIĆ & SOPHIA FREIDHOFF
COMPOSITIONS OF FLOW
1.-12.10.2025.
MEŠTROVIĆ PAVILION PROGRAM
ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM IN ZAGREB
We continue the Meštrović Pavillion Program with solo exhibition of Tonka Maleković and Sophia Freidhoff – COMPOSITIONS OF FLOW, which will open on Wednesday, October 1st at 7PM at Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb (Trg Mažuranića 14). The exhibition remains open until 12.10.2025.
In her foreword, Martina Miholić emphasizes:
The project is based on a two-year research of migration movements in the Danube region, carried out in collaboration with scientist Sophia Freidhoff, and through an interdisciplinary approach it intertwines artistic practice with the methodology of social sciences. Compositions of Flow investigates the interwoven effects of migration on both social and individual levels, addressing diverse groups affected by migration, and connects symbolic, geographical, cultural, economic, and phenomenological aspects with the aim of encouraging dialogue on an empathetic level and shifting the understanding of this complex phenomenon.
The video installation Compositions of Flow (2023) invites viewers to look from Regensburg’s historic Stone bridge toward the Danube, where water streams past a massive pier—suggesting motion and change while the pier itself remains firm and stable. This visual metaphor articulates the inner tension and ambivalence many migrants experience when contemplating the decision to leave their homeland – how their lives change, to what extent they improve, and which alternatives remain open. The installation, inherently site-specific, strategically links the historic bridge, a symbol of transition and movement, with Maximilianstraße, the main pedestrian and traffic axis of the contemporary city, underscoring the ways in which migration generates and reshapes the dynamics of urban space. Project participants actively contributed to the installation by donating or lending personal items – suitcases symbolizing transition, travel, and the baggage of life – which were later transposed into the video format.
Biographies:
Tonka Maleković is a visual artist and a planner of socio-spatial transformations toward sustainability. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and at RWTH Aachen University. Since 2003, she has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, received several awards and grants, and participated in various artist-in-residence programs. She is a co-founder of Loose Association, the City at the Second Glance project, and the outdoor gallery for ephemeral interventions LiberSPACE. Maleković often works collaboratively, creating site-specific, participatory actions and temporary installations in public space. In her projects, she reassembles existing contexts to uncover hidden narratives.
Sophia Freidhoff holds a master’s degree in eastern european studies and a bachelor’s degree in history, classical philology, and southeast european studies from the university of regensburg. She has lived and studied in Romania and is currently based in Erfurt, Germany, where she works as a Counselor on Labour and Employment Rights for EU migrants. Her research interests include migration and the freedom of movement in the EU, and in 2023 she co-conducted in collaboriation with the artist Tonka Maleković a sociological study on labor migration as part of the socio-artistic project Compositions of Flow.
Organizer
Partner
Supported by
Realizes as a part of: AiR Interventions 2023, donumenta e.V. Regensburg
Special thanks to the organisation Novi prostori kulture
19 September 2025
A site-specific intervention by Nora Turato on the façade of the Meštrović Pavilion, also the artist’s largest work realised in Europe, represents a strong and consistent response to the central theme of the 60th Zagreb Salon of Visual Arts, Choreography for the Finish Line, organised by HDLU and curated by KUĆĆA collective, and a monumental finale of the artist’s pool7 series which has begun a year ago with a mural of the same name at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna and the exhibition I Hear You, I Hear You at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The series focuses on physical forms of expression: voice, gestures, and non-verbal communication that transcends language.
On the rim of the Meštrović Pavilion, which is closed for a complete renovation from 2025–2026, Turato inscribes a raw vocal expression Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!. The installation is accompanied by an audio recording that can be heard once a day, precisely at noon. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! is a universal, primal expression that evokes the origins of language, as well as a reflexive human reaction. The installation spatially draws upon the pavilion’s circular architecture, creating a range of diverse visual and auditory experiences. The sound is activated periodically, akin to a ritual, making the voice present in the space. With this gesture, Turato symbolically positions the future renovated exhibition space of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU) as a place for play, risk, and openness, further engaging both visitors and casual passers-by.
This intervention also marks Zagreb-born, Rijeka-raised and Amsterdam-based Nora Turato’s first solo exhibition in Zagreb, opening on Saturday, 11 October 2025, and running until the end of January 2026.
Opening event:
October 11, 5 p.m, Oris (Street Kralja Držislava 3)
Free entrance
Photo: El Hardwick
Nora Turato (born 1991 in Zagreb; raised in Rijeka, Croatia, lives and works in Amsterdam) explores the instability of language and its performative nature. From a range of articles, conversations, subtitles, and advertising slogans encountered daily, she constructs visual-linguistic compositions through video works, installations, books, murals, and spoken-word performances. In her work, political discourse and pop culture coexist equally, reflecting synchronisations in social relations and consumer mentality. Turato’s visual language is marked by bold typography and her expressive handwriting, which extends across surfaces like rehearsal notes or an artist’s sketchbook. This personal trace evokes a disappearing intimacy in the era of digital communication. In her hands, language becomes a mirror of culture: fragmented, rootless, intense. Nora Turato has had solo exhibitions in leading cultural institutions worldwide, including the ICA in London, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Secession in Vienna, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Mudam in Luxemburg, International Centre of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, and Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. She has also participated in the Performa Biennale, Post-Capital, and INFORMATION (Today).
Photo:
- Juraj Vuglač
- Vanja Babić
- Vanja Babić
The Home of the Croatian Visual Artists building, also known as the Meštrović Pavilion, is one of the key achievements of modern Croatian architecture. The conceptual design for the building was done by the prominent Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović. This impressive, modern rotunda with colonnades and a spacious hall was designed for various exhibition purposes and is today considered a unique example of modern architecture. The building was inaugurated in 1938 with the exhibition Half a Century of Croatian Art. However, due to its central location and monumental appearance, its function quickly changed; by political decision during the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), it was converted into a mosque (1941–1944), and after World War II, the Museum of the Revolution (1945–1990). Each repurposing brought spatial interventions: from a concrete dome and minarets (architects Zvonimir Požgaj and Stjepan Planić) to the radical transformation of the interior carried out by Vjenceslav Richter. In the 1990s, the building was returned to artists, and in the 2000s, the first renovation began according to Andrija Mutnjaković’s design, which started to restore the building to its original form. Today, as the Meštrović Pavilion, the building is a recognisable symbol of the city of Zagreb, and a space for numerous contemporary artistic programs and exhibitions.
With Turato’s intervention, the Croatian Association of Fine Artists particularly aims to emphasise that the building, despite its turbulent past and various uses, was built as and will remain in the future a space for exhibiting contemporary visual art.
At the beginning of 2025, HDLU commenced the long-awaited comprehensive and energy-efficient renovation of the Meštrović Pavilion, based on the project by architect Saša Randić. The aim is to restore the building’s original state while incorporating improvements that will meet the needs and technical requirements of a contemporary gallery space. The completion of the works is expected by the end of 2026.
Organiser Croatian Association of Fine Artists
Producer Ivana Andabaka Vujičić, director of HDLU
HDLU management board Tomislav Buntak, Josip Zanki, Ida Blažičko, Fedor Fischer, Vida Meić, Romana Nikolić, Tomislav Hršak
Curators of the 60th Zagreb salon of visual arts salona KUĆĆA kolektiv
Design Nora Turato
Design adaptation Duje Medić
Artist’s assistant Marta Perović, Turato studio
Public relations Inesa Antić
Production assistents Nika Šimičić, Martina Miholić
Special thanks Kia Tasbihgou, Sam de Groot, Kunsthalle Wien
Contact hdlu@hdlu.hr, +38514611818
Supported by the Zagreb Tourist Board, the City of Zagreb’s Office for Culture and Civil Society, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Oris House of Architecture, company Belina, and media partner Večernji list.
05 September 2025
LAURA STOJKOSKI
STADIUM
10.-25.9.2025.
KARAS GALLERY
On Wednesday, 10.9.2025. Laura Stojkoski opens her solo exhibition entitled Stadium at 7 pm in Karas Gallery (Ulica kralja Zvonimira 58).
In her foreword, Monika Sinković emphasizes:
“This exhibition is based on the idea of creating a unique space where art and football converge, two spheres that shape identities and communities in different yet deeply interconnected ways. The gallery is transformed into a place that evokes the atmosphere of a stadium, conveying the dynamism, passion and sense of togetherness that characterise football culture. (…)
The exhibition invites us to reflect together on how the collective energy of the stadium is translated into artistic expressions, and how new forms of understanding culture and community emerge in this transition.”
Biography:
Laura Stojkoski (1998, Zagreb) is a student of Art Education, majoring in Sculpture, under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Vojin Hraste at the Art Education Department of the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. Her work centres on the exploration of collective identities and their interrelations, while her artistic practice is focused on the exploration of colour in sculpture. She has participated in group exhibitions and is a three-time recipient of the Rector’s Award.
The exhibition will be open during the period from 10.9. to 25.9.2025.
Working hours of Karas Gallery
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 4pm – 8pm
Tuesday, Saturday 10am – 1pm
On Sundays and Mondays closed.
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http://karasarthub.eu
Organizer: HDLU
With the support of: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb
10 July 2025
Aleksandra Saška Gruden and Željko Beljan
WE ARE WITH YOU!
9.7.–2.8.2025.
Veselov vrt Gallery, Komenskega 8, Ljubljana, Slovenia
On Wednesday, July 9 at 7 PM, the exhibition We Are With You! by Aleksandra Saška Gruden (SLO) and Željko Beljan (HR) opened at the Veselov vrt Gallery (Komenskega 8, Ljubljana, Slovenia).
The project continues a previously initiated international reciprocal collaboration in partnership with the Ljubljana Fine Artists Society (DLUL), which began in 2024 with exhibitions of Slovenian and Croatian artists at the PM Gallery in the Meštrović Pavilion in Zagreb and the DLUL Gallery in Ljubljana. The new phase of collaboration includes the newly opened exhibition, with a reciprocal exhibition planned in Zagreb in 2026. The exhibition curator in Ljubljana is Sarival Sosič.
“New sculptural achievements are placed in relation to the exhibition spaces, but are primarily material-temporal modulations that imply the variability of matter, and thus of form, as a striving toward continuous movement – or, in the case of the presented visual project by multimedia artist Aleksandra Saška Gruden and Croatian multimedia artist Željko Beljan, a striving toward image effects with a strong emphasis on dialogue.
The exhibition at Veselov vrt Gallery is titled We Are With You! and represents an extremely adaptable artistic constellation, as it can be freely extended or shortened, expanded or displayed, and can even be integrated into many different concepts.”
(From the preface, written by Sarival Sosič)
Artist Biographies:
Željko Beljan (1984, Vukovar) graduated from the Department of Animated Film and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2021. In his artistic practice, he focuses on the phenomenon of handcraft and its position in contemporary artistic practices, exploring textiles and handcraft techniques as an artistic medium. In doing so, he investigates the relationship between handcraft and amateur, hobby-based involvement in sports, with an emphasis on audience participation and involvement in the realization of the works. He was a finalist for the Radoslav Putar Award in 2023 and is an alumnus of the WHW Academy, class of 2022. Since 2011, he has participated in a significant number of group exhibitions in Croatia and the region, and has held several solo exhibitions, including: Project Arkade (MSU, Zagreb, 2023); Unresolved (Šira Gallery, Zagreb, 2022); Guest (Prostor, Split, 2022; Tratinska 64 – CIMO, Zagreb, 2021); Three Corners Penalty (Football field of Marijan Elementary School – Culture Hub Croatia, Split, 2022; Žitnjak Studios, Zagreb, 2022); Truth is a Forgotten Memory (in collaboration with Rebecca Merlić, Ethnographic Museum, Zagreb, 2022); Benjamin Beljan: Željko (Garage Kamba, Zagreb, 2022); Benjamin (CEKAO Gallery, Zagreb, 2022); Myth, Embroidery and Vuteks (NMG@Praktika, Split, 2020; Karas Gallery, Zagreb, 2020); Cartoon Core (Siva Gallery, Zagreb, 2018; Inquiry Inc., Osijek, 2016).
Aleksandra Saška Gruden graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. Since 2006, she has held the status of an independent cultural worker. As a multidisciplinary artist, she works in the fields of sculpture, spatial installations and interventions, video, performance, photography, scenography, and drawing. Her work addresses themes such as the human body and its limitations, the relationship between the private and the public, the intimate world of the individual, the image of women in contemporary society, and cultural heritage. She regularly exhibits in Slovenia and abroad (Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, Serbia), through solo and group exhibitions. She is the author of numerous public installations in Slovenia (Grosuplje, Kranj, Celje) and abroad (Austria, Croatia). She is the recipient of the second prize in the Emzin Slovenian Photography of the Year competition, the third prize for video at the Man–Monument exhibition (Velenje), and the Designers Society of Slovenia Award (2016) for the project Zidnice (EPK Maribor). She often collaborates with other female artists (Nataša Skušek, Saba Skaberne). She has led numerous sculpture symposiums and exhibition programs (Video Dinner and Showcases), the MFRU festival, and discussion series (Tea Party for Art, O:MIZA). She also works as an art critic and is the President of the Artistic Council of DLU Ljubljana.
The exhibition is open from July 9 to August 2, 2025.
Gallery opening hours:
Tue – Fri: 10 AM – 6 PM
Sat: 10 AM – 1 PM
Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays
Supported by:
MONIKA ELIETTE JANDL I LUKA TOMIĆ
MOVING PARTICLES
15.-28.7.2025.
KARAS GALLERY
On Tuesday, 15.7.2025. Monika Eliette Jandl and Luka Tomić open their solo exhibition entitled Moving particles. at 7 pm in Karas Gallery (Ulica kralja Zvonimira 58).
In his foreword, Josip Zanki emphasizes:
„In 2024, a collaboration was initiated between the Austrian art collective Gruppe 77 and the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU). The collaboration takes the form of a Double Act – joint exhibitions featuring one Croatian and one Austrian artist, first at the PLÜ23 Gallery in Graz, followed by a second-year exchange at the Karas Gallery in Zagreb. Luise Kloos, a member of Gruppe 77, and Josip Zanki, Vice President of HDLU, selected the first two artists for this project: Monika Eliette Jandl and Luka Tomić. Their work was first showcased last autumn at the PLÜ23 Gallery in Graz as part of the Moving Practicels exhibition, and the collaboration now continues under the same title at the Karas Gallery in Zagreb. (…)
The works of Jandl and Tomić communicate through contrasts: while Jandl creates imagined fragments, parts of hypothetical ruins, Tomić intervenes in an actual ruin, using fragments and also exhibiting them in the gallery; while Jandl avoids meanings and starts from the negation of the image – iconoclasm, Tomić builds everything on meaning and the narrativity of images; while Jandl uses the whiteness of the wall by exhibiting reduced formats, Tomić uses the floor and disrupts that same whiteness of the wall with a screen. In the most wondrous part of the poetics of these two vastly different works, the artists touch upon the temporality of ruins and the beauty of fragments. After emptiness, wars, destruction, misunderstanding, and transience, all that remains are the remnants that record time, amorphous and temporal fragments that are cleansed but also imbued with meaning.”
Biography:
Monika Eliette Jandl is an Austrian artist working across various media. She studied at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. Her artistic practice encompasses ceramics, textiles, performance, installation, and drawing. Since 2020, she has been a member of Gruppe 77. She has participated in several exhibitions in Austrian cities, including Graz, Salzburg, Vienna, and Dornbirn.
Luka Tomić (b. 1995) is a multimedia artist from Zagreb who completed his undergraduate studies in New Media and Animation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2023. His artistic practice includes drawing, painting, illustration, street art, tattooing, graphic arts, performance, installation, and land art. He has had two solo and numerous group exhibitions and projects both in Croatia and abroad. He has been a member of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU) since 2020 and of the Croatian Freelance Artists’ Association (HZSU) since 2024.
The exhibition will be open during the period from 15. to 28.7.2025.
Working hours of Karas Gallery
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 4pm – 8pm
Tuesday, Saturday 10am – 1pm
On Sundays and Mondays closed.
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http://karasarthub.eu
Organizer: HDLU
With the support of: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb
ANDREJ DROŽĐAN
HELP, WHERE’S THE EXIT FROM THE RESTAURANT
17.6.-8.7.2025.
KARAS GALLERY
On Tuesday, 17.6.2025. Andrej Drožđan opens his solo exhibition entitled Help, Where’s the Exit from the Restaurant at 7 pm in Karas Gallery (Ulica kralja Zvonimira 58).
In her foreword, Iva Jurić emphasizes:
„In the work Help, Where’s the Exit from the Restaurant, Andrej Drožđan constructs a charged atmosphere of being stuck – an installation that, through an imaginary restaurant, becomes a place of the impossibility of forgetting, letting go and escaping. The starting point of the work is the scenes evoked by contemporary pop songs, those that depict inner stagnations and moments of breakups, where emotions are trapped in space and time. Inspired by the image of a person left at a restaurant table, both literally and emotionally, Drožđan explores spaces in which emotions are not processed but persistently accumulated, displaced and revived. This is a place of stagnation, an emotional crossroads, where time stops flowing, and experiences remain served like an unfinished plate. The restaurant, typically a space for shared meals and encounters, is here transformed into a metaphorical interior of inner states, a landscape of nostalgia, loss and quiet discomfort.”
Biography:
Andrej Drožđan (Zagreb, 1997) is a visual artist whose practice includes installation, illustration, photography, and graphic design. His work explores the concept and aesthetics of the everyday, the influence of the digital sphere on individual perception, and the presence of pop culture in contemporary life. Over the past few years, he has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, as well as various creative projects. In 2022, he earned his Master’s degree in Animated Film and New Media from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. His thesis project, Konekcija memorija (Connection of Memories), was awarded the Academy Council Prize and subsequently exhibited in a solo exhibition at Šira Gallery and as part of the 37th Youth Salon.
The exhibition will be open during the period from 17.6. to 8.7.2025.
Working hours of Karas Gallery
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 4pm – 8pm
Tuesday, Saturday 10am – 1pm
On Sundays and Mondays closed.
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http://karasarthub.eu
Organizer: HDLU
With the support of: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb
MEŠTROVIĆ PAVILION CLOSED DUE TO RENOVATION
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