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.

Preface

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

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 60^th 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.