Category: Events

The Healing Nature project has entered its final phase, bringing together an innovative combination of art, animation, and augmented reality within hospital spaces in Croatia, Portugal, and Bulgaria. Over the past period, murals, animations, AR content, educational workshops, and research tools have been developed, collectively creating a new hospital experience for children, parents, and healthcare staff.

In Croatia, workshops were conducted with children from Kuća sv. Franje in Vugrovec, SOS Children’s Village Lekenik, Ivan Gundulić Primary School, and Krijesnice Kindergarten. Through these workshops, children created numerous drawings inspired by nature and animals, which were later transformed into animated characters and integrated into the final murals and AR content.

In Bulgaria, workshops were organized with children without parental care at Gallery Hug Me, as well as with children with special needs at the Winnie the Pooh Speech Therapy Centre. Through drawing, storytelling, and collaborative creative work, participants created visual elements that became part of the Bulgarian mural and animation concept.

A special segment of the project focused on the development of stop-motion animation and the creation of puppets based on children’s drawings — including hedgehogs, insects, birds, and lizards — giving children’s ideas a new dimension through animation and augmented reality.

Animation teams from Croatia, Bulgaria, and Portugal developed diverse artistic approaches ranging from 2D digital animation and hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation to stop-motion techniques and watercolor animation loops. The storyboard process enabled the development of micro-narratives connected to individual mural elements, creating layered experiences of exploration, play, and interaction.

An especially important part of the project was the implementation of AR technology through the Artivive platform, allowing murals to “come to life” via mobile devices without the need for an additional application. Through months of testing, AR triggers, animation layers, and interactive elements were developed and adapted to real hospital environments and children’s user experiences.

The project also includes a research component based on eye-tracking analysis and user experience evaluation. Eye-tracking tests conducted on murals from Croatia, Portugal, and Bulgaria demonstrated how specific visual elements successfully attract and retain viewers’ attention, confirming the potential of artistic interventions in creating more pleasant and emotionally supportive hospital environments.

Following the completion of mural and AR implementation in hospitals, the final phase of research will begin, involving patients, parents, and healthcare staff in order to evaluate the impact of art, animation, and interactive content on the hospital experience.

Additional workshops in Portugal are planned before the end of the project.

Project results will be presented through international press conferences:
— Zagreb, June 15 at 12:00, Children’s Hospital Zagreb (Klaićeva)
— Lisbon, July 17
— Sofia, October 16

Healing Nature brings together partners from Croatia, Portugal, and Bulgaria and explores how contemporary art, participatory workshops, animation, and new technologies can contribute to more humane and inclusive healthcare spaces.

More about the project: Healing Nature

 

Within the project:

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

[Project Number: 101173267]

Project is co-financed by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.

Co-funded by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Republic of Croatia. The views expressed in this release are the sole responsibility of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists and do not necessarily reflect the stance of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Republic of Croatia.

TWO DATES AVAILABLE:

13th July to 6th September | 29th June to 9th August

 

 

THE PROJECT

CreArt (Network of Cities for Artistic Creation) is a network of European cities that aims to promote creativity and the impact of the visual arts on everyday life.

 

THE CITY

Regensburg is a city in southeastern Bavaria (Germany). It is characterized by its medieval town centre and its location along the Danube River. The city has around 179.000 inhabitants. Being a University town, Regensburg has many young people, making it both modern and traditional. Well-known landmarks include the Stone Bridge from the 12th century and the Gothic cathedral with its twin towers. The winding city centre, the many charming cafés, and the colourful houses exude an Italian flair in the heart of Bavaria, which is why Regensburg is also known as the ‘northernmost city in Italy’.

 

ACCOMMODATION

As part of the program RAiR. Regensburg Arts-in-Residence, the city of Regensburg, is offering one charming studio apartment in a historic house in the heart of Regensburg’s old town. Located directly on the Stone Bridge and thus along the Danube River, the studio apartment offers plenty of space for art and creativity in unique surroundings. Numerous galleries and studios are located in the immediate vicinity.

The studio apartment is newly renovated with a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom as well as a living and working studio area. During the period, another artist from another partner city will live and work in the other studio apartment.

In addition, the artists can use a shared space measuring approximately 30 square meters, which also has a small kitchenette and a bathroom.

For more information regarding RAiR and what the Studios and the shared area look like, see here: https://www.regensburg.de/rair

 

EXPECTATIONS

  • The artist is asked to engage with the (citizens of the) City of Regensburg, for example, through participatory activities such as workshops, performances, happenings, etc.
  • The project proposal, therefore, must include ideas that involve the citizens of the City of Regensburg
  • An artist talk is planned during the residency
  • All activities, including the artist talk, can take place in the shared space, which is approximately 30 square meters in size and also has a small kitchenette and a bathroom
  • At the end of their residency, the artist exhibits their work in the “neunkubikmeter” showcase gallery

 

ARTIST PROFILE

  • artists of the younger generation born or resident in one of the cities in the project network: Kaunas (Lithuania), Liepaja (Lithuania), Skopje (North Macedonia), Aveiro (Portugal), Valladolid (Spain), Lublin (Poland), Venice (Italy), Clermont-Ferrand and Rouen (France), České Budějovice (Czech Republic) and Oulu (Finland)
  • Members of HDLU (Croatian Association of Fine Artists)
  • Ukrainian artists through our collaboration with the Public Organisation Lviv Artistic Council «Dialogue»

 

13th July to 6th September

 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

  • Free accommodation in a charming, freshly renovated studio apartment
  • Shared space for both Artist-in-Residence
  • Period: 13th July 2026 to 6th September 2026 (8 weeks)
  • Grant: 1.000 € per month (+ refund up to max. 400 € for material and production costs, + refund up to max. 400 € for travel costs)

 

29th June to 9th August

 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

  • Free accommodation in a charming, freshly renovated studio apartment
  • Shared space for both Artist-in-Residence
  • Period: 29th June 2026 to 9th August 2026 (6 weeks)
  • Grant: 1.500 € (+ refund up to max. 400 € for material and production costs, + refund up to max. 400 € for travel costs)

 

APPLICATION (BOTH)

  • Registration via the CreArt intranet (https://creart2-eu.org/open-calls/)
  • Upload personal portfolio
  • Required documents: o CV o Copy of ID or passport o Sample of artistic work o Short written project proposal
  • Deadline: 15th May 2026

 

CONTACT

  • Cultural Office of Regensburg
  • Contact person: Mrs. Brenda Schleier
  • Mail: rair@regensburg.de
  • Telephone number: +49 941 507 2416

 

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.

TAKEOVER
European Month of Creativity
Curator: Tea Matanović
Artists: Tin Dožić, Tea Stražičić, Petar Vranjković, Eva Vučković, Lana Zubović

 

The Croatian Association of Fine Artists, once again on the occasion of the European Month of Creativity, as part of the EU project CreART 3.0, is organizing a small festival of contemporary art in business spaces – TAKEOVER.

Young artists (Tin Dožić, Tea Stražičić, Petar Vranjković, Eva Vučković, Lana Zubović), selected by curator Tea Matanović, will “take over” spaces within renowned companies operating in or connected to the cultural and creative industries: Bornfight, Señor, SKUP-A, Večernji list, and Yammat FM.

During the selection of artworks, the curator considered the typologies of spaces within the project, as well as the ways content is produced in them, to establish a meaningful interaction between the presented artistic projects and the employees who will encounter them daily.

Artists will exhibit their works within companies and present them to employees. Each intervention will also be open to the wider public through open days and artist talks.

ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS:

Tin Dožić, Dream for the Ether, 2026

Dream for the Ether is a sound composition that combines an electronic drone performed on a modular synthesizer with field recordings. The work was produced as part of the Takeover 2026 program and will be broadcast on the Zagreb radio station Yammat FM. The composition is structured in two acts: the first is broadcast in the evening and conceived as a space for lulling the listener to sleep, while the second is broadcast in the morning as a subtle sonic transition into waking. Through slowly evolving textures and layered ambiences, the work creates imaginary landscapes and a meditative space between wakefulness and sleep. In this work, I explore how a static, temporally extended composition can be positioned within radio programming, and how the experience of listening to radio changes when it becomes a medium for drifting into sleep. Here, radio appears as an intimate medium and a space for a temporary community of people in sleep.

Public presentation: May 14, 2026, 12:00
Location: On air at Yammat FM, 102.5 FM (program Scalpel)

Tea Stražičić, Soft Takeover, 2026

Soft Takeover is a spatial intervention in which a corporate office space is gradually occupied by soft, plush objects and characters that act as passive yet persistent agents of change. Instead of aggressive transformation, the work introduces a logic of infiltration through softness, repetition, and presence. Plush objects function as a kind of “emotional parasites” or corporate mascots, distributed throughout the space in a way that imitates everyday use but subtly destabilizes it. The intervention questions the relationships between labor, comfort, control, and aesthetics within the contemporary office environment.

Within this system appears the motif of the DUCK entity — a fragmented, distributed character whose history exists across media, time, and space. This character is neither stable nor centralized: it appears as a drawing in a notebook, a photograph of a toy, a digital artifact, or a network phenomenon. Duck exists as an open system: simultaneously a game, bootleg, original, meme, concept, and object. Its presence cannot be predetermined, but is recognized through repetition and chance encounters in “the strangest places.”

The project also includes speculative extensions:

In this way, Soft Takeover expands beyond the physical installation into a distributed narrative that moves between object, network, and collective imagination.

Public guided presentation: May 12, 2026, 17:00
Location: Bornfight, Filipa Vukasovića 1, Zagreb

Petar Vranjković, source–archive: B/FA–A(SA), 2026

The work source–archive: B/FA–A(SA) is a continuation of the long-term research project Source–Archive, which deals with archiving objects that resemble birds and fish in form. The archival documentation used in the work is applied onto metal plates, thereby gaining an ephemeral quality and an unreal context of the archive from which it originates. A key aspect of the work is understanding why and how we archive, and how categorization can signify ambiguity in the context of transhistorical and associative characteristics typically used in archives. The work questions the space from which it originates as an artifact rather than as an artwork.

Public guided presentation: May 26, 2026, 14:30
Location: Señor, Ul. Eugena Kumičića 10, 1. kat., Zagreb

Eva Vučković, Time in Their Hands, 2026

This series explores the meaning of textile craftsmanship — hand-making techniques as valuable yet fragile practices in contrast to today’s accelerated production and digitalized way of life. Within this sensitivity, the artist questions its value not only as a skill but as a cultural and social value and knowledge worth preserving and passing on. Through testimonies of participants who have nurtured their love and need for handcraft over many years, handwork is not viewed merely as a production process but as a carrier of broader value. Its social dimension manifests in active slowing down, deep concentration, creation, and calming of the inner world. Shared experience during the process fosters a sense of belonging. Craft thus emerges as a space for meeting, sharing time, and conversation — learning and exchange through which closeness gradually develops and knowledge is transmitted. In this sense, handcraft can also be understood as a form of quiet resistance to the dominant, accelerated, and digitalized way of life and fragmented attention, as well as a practice that must be preserved from oblivion.

Public guided presentation: May 22, 2026, 10:00
Location: Večernji list, Oreškovićeva 3D, Zagreb

Lana Zubović, Thresholds, 2026

Through a site-specific body of work created within the Takeover 2026 project for the architectural studio SKUP-A, I explore the idea of the collective (un)conscious embodied in space. The work develops from my previous research into ancestral inheritance, drawing on C. G. Jung and his key theory of the collective unconscious and archetypes. The idea of thresholds/boundaries in a given space arises from the impulse to reset patterns of thinking. Through minimal and unobtrusive interventions, the work creates a subtle shift in how the space is perceived through everyday rituals of movement and work. A series of three drawings, created through intuitive gesture and translated into window vinyls, emphasizes the visual and physical division between two different workspaces. Within my artistic practice focused on printmaking, the cultivation of repetition and multiple originality is manifested in an installation of oiled Japanese paper, symmetrically placed and shaped as a double image mirroring itself. The cutting of a cross shape and its restorative stitching points to an act of annulment, once again emphasizing repetition. The Greek cross symbol is a recurring motif in my work; with each new use and repetition, its meaning is deconstructed and re-established.

Public guided presentation: May 7, 2026, 15:00
Location: SKUP-A, Heinzelova 66, Zagreb

*Note:
Due to limited capacity, registration is required for public presentations: popratniprogram.hdlu@gmail.com

 

ARTISTS

Tin Dožić completed his studies in Psychology at the Centre for Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb (2016), and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (2016). His practice often begins with the medium of sound, and he works with field recording, radio, experimental music, and multimedia installations. His work is grounded in media research and education, and he has extensive experience leading workshops in sound art and DIY culture. His areas of interest include the materiality of media, (dark) ecology, DIY culture, the Anthropocene and geology, the intersection of science and art, sleep, and dreams. He has exhibited and performed on various platforms in Croatia and abroad, both independently and in collaborative projects. His work Songs for the Anthropocene received the Golden Watermelon Award at the Media Mediterranea Festival in 2018. He was a finalist for the Radoslav Putar Award in 2019 and is an alumnus of the WHW Academy (2019/2020). As part of an authorial team (Sven Sorić – visual identity, Hrvoje Spudić – visual identity, Sara Salamon – video animation, Tin Dožić – sound design), he received the 55th Zagreb Salon of Applied Arts and Design Award (2020) for young authors under 35 for the visual identity of the 30th Music Biennale Zagreb. Dožić and Udovčić received the award for young authors under 35 at the 58th Zagreb Salon (2024) for the work Forest Cabin. He leads the ongoing knowledge-exchange program Sound Art Lab at the Multimedia Institute MaMa and is a member of the Croatian Freelance Artists’ Association.

Tea Stražičić is a Croatian nomadic multimedia artist, writer, and character designer known online as Fluff Lord. A pioneer in combining character-driven narratives with real-time game engines, she is one-third of a sister trio exploring new narrative formats through software-based world-building. Holding a Master’s degree in animation, her practice spans 3D modeling, sculpture, painting, and merchandise production, often in collaboration with cultural platforms. Stražičić exhibits internationally, with solo exhibitions at Polansky Gallery (Prague), Hyperlink Gallery (Athens), Laid Bug (Tokyo), and No.1 Mainroad (Tbilisi). She has led an art studio at Trauma Bar und Kino in Berlin, collaborated with Pharmakon Gallery in Bucharest, and received an award at the 60th Zagreb Salon (HDLU, KUCCA) in 2025. She collaborated with Lawrence Lek on his exhibition awarded the Frieze London Artist Award, contributed to Katja Novitskova’s exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof, and produced video game commercials for Otto Linger, Eytys, and Neo Shibuya TV public crossing in Tokyo. Tea has published an SF novel with Metalabel and is currently working with the Berlin-based company Trifle.Life as a lead character designer.

Petar Vranjković is a transmedia artist and researcher whose work engages with objects from various archives, as well as photography, video, printmaking, and design. He is particularly interested in shaping memory and storytelling through artistic narratives. One of the central themes of his work is the intimate history of the individual, always interpreted through the heritage, tradition, and culture of a given community in time and space. Vranjković’s recent solo exhibitions have been held at the Gallery of Fine Arts, Split (2025); Karas Gallery, Zagreb (2025); Garage Kamba, Zagreb (2024); and the Vjenceslav Richter and Nada Kareš Richter Collection, Zagreb (2023).

Eva Vučković is an artist and designer focused on textiles as a medium. Her work explores the relationship between design, contemporary textile practices, and ecology, addressing challenges through artworks, collections, and research. She revives analog approaches while developing new narratives grounded in sustainability. She began her education studying printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and, during her studies, participated in an Erasmus exchange in Granada at the Facultad de Bellas Artes. In 2019, she was awarded the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship, after which she enrolled in and completed a Master’s degree in Design with a focus on textiles and sustainability at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Her works have been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Croatia and internationally, including Red Thread Project at Gewerbemuseum Winterthur (Switzerland), Red Thread Project as part of the Un-Dress project at Halle 622 in Zurich (Switzerland), Unreal Method at Palacio de los Condes de Gabia in Granada (Spain), and Zagreb Design Week. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU), Zagreb.

Lana Zubović, mag. art., is a multidisciplinary artist working across drawing, printmaking, painting, installation, performance, and video. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin in 2025, after completing her undergraduate studies in printmaking under Professor Svjetlan Junaković at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She is the recipient of the Richmond Road Studios Recent Graduate Award (2026). In 2025, she participated in the CreArt 3.0 residency program De/Construction of Painting in Leipzig. She was previously shortlisted for the RDS Visual Art Award in 2023 and 2025. In 2022, she received the Rector’s Award for collaboration on the scenography project Animal Farm, an opera-fable by Igor Kuljerić. Lana is a member of the Black Church Print Studio in Dublin. Her works are held in private and public collections, including the OPW State Art Collection.

***

The Takeover program enables art to “coexist” with the fast-paced everyday life of workspaces. In doing so, artworks become active participants in a non-art environment, blurring the sharp boundaries between the corporate and artistic sectors while retaining their enduring power to reshape our reality.

For more information, follow HDLU on social media and visit the Takeover program website:
http://www.takeover.hdlu.hr

 

CreArt is a network of 13 medium-sized European cities with the aim of exchanging experiences and good practices to encourage contemporary art, through a continuous transnational mobility programme for emerging artists, curators and cultural professionals, in order to maximize the economic, social and cultural contribution that creativity can bring to local communities (#stringing_together). At the same time, CreArt 3.0 pushes boundaries (#pushboundaries) beyond the visual arts, empowering other artistic practices such as performing arts or music, and a new collaboration has also been initiated with a non-governmental organization based in Lviv in order to support Ukrainian artists. The participating cities are: Kaunas, Liepaja, Skopje, Aveiro, Valladolid, Lublin, Venice, Clermont-Ferrand, Rouen, České Budějovice, Oulu and Regensburg. The project includes 45 residency programmes in 15 European cities, more than 39 public events to celebrate the European Month of Creativity in 13 cities from the network, 13 educational programmes to strengthen creativity and knowledge of contemporary art, 18 Street Art festivals, 10 annual festivals in galleries in 9 cities, and 6 European conferences and study visits.

 

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.

As part of the European project Re:Create Europe, a call for international residencies has been launched, aimed at artists, researchers, and interdisciplinary practitioners.
Re:Create Europe is a four-year project (2026–2029) implemented by an international consortium led by Akademie der Künste (Germany), with partners including the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU).

The four-year programme is structured around a sequence of yearly thematic challenges:
• 2026: Transformation of Cultural Policies
• 2027: Recovery from War and Aggression
• 2028: Economic Threats
• 2029: Climate and Environmental Change

Through a combination of mobility programmes, hybrid educational formats, residencies, digital mapping, and international conferences, Re:Create Europe aims to empower artists and cultural professionals from different disciplines and regions. The project strengthens transnational solidarity, supports artistic practice in times of crisis, and fosters exchange between institutions, practitioners, and cultural policy actors.

This year’s residency programmes include:
Mobility training and policy-focused residency in Malta, organised by Arts Council Malta (ACM)
The residency is intended for cultural professionals
Date: October 2026

Artistic craft and ecological practices residency, organised by ARAC (Romania), taking place in Bucharest and Maramureș (Romania)
The residency is intended for artists
Date: August 2026

Artistic development residency with exhibition, organised by the National Academy of Art Sofia (NHA) in Burgas (Bulgaria)
The residency is intended for emerging artists (graphic design, photography, etc.)
Date: October / November 2026

Residency on Artistic Freedom Under Threat, organised by Akademie der Künste (ADK) in Berlin
The residency is intended for cultural professionals
Date: September 2026

All available residency options for this year, as well as application conditions and deadlines, can be found at:
https://allianceofacademies.eu/open-calls/

Within the project:

Partners:

Co-funded by:

 

Co-funded by the European Union – CREA-CULT-2025-COOP. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position 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: 101255481]

Project Description: Create Impact, Not Just Art

We are inviting one international artist to České Budějovice for a unique 5-week residency. You will not spend this time locked away in a private studio. Instead, you will step directly into a local school to act as a creative mentor for a group of 20+ students.

Together, you will explore the theme of “Well-being” and co-create a physical artwork that transforms the school environment and supports the psychosocial health of the students.

This residency is a proud part of the “Creative Minds” initiative by the European Capital of Culture 2028. Our mission is to use art as a practical tool for developing 21st-century skills. You will guide the students through the entire creative process—from early ideation and design thinking to the final physical production.

Who Are We Looking For:

We are seeking one artist (under 40 years of age; born, resident, or domiciled) from the CreArt 3.0 network cities:  Kaunas (Lithuania), Liepaja (Latvia), Skopje (Northern Macedonia), Aveiro (Portugal), Valladolid (Spain), Venice (Italy), Clermont-Ferrand and Rouen (France), České Budějovice (Czech Republic), Oulu (Finland), Regensburg (Germany), Lublin (Poland), members of HDLU (Croatian Association of Fine Artists), Ukrainian artists through collaboration with Dialog from Lviv.

This opportunity is for you if you:

  • Have proven experience in community art, participatory projects, or socially engaged practices.
  • Are passionate about education, working with youth, and using art for skills development.
  • Are available for an uninterrupted 5-week residency in České Budějovice during Autumn 2026

 

Expected artistic outcome:

  • Site-Specific Installation: A physical, permanent or semi-permanent artwork co-created with the students, located directly on the school campus.
  • Final Showcase (Open Studio): A public presentation of the artwork and your shared creative process at the end of October, involving students, parents, teachers, and the local community.

 

What We Offer:

We want you to fully focus on the creative and mentoring process. We will provide full local support, including a local facilitator to help bridge any language barriers with the students.

Financial and logistical support includes:

  • Artist Fee: 50,000 CZK (approx. 2,000 EUR)
  • Material Budget: 40,000 CZK (approx. 1,600 EUR)
  • Travel Costs: Up to 20,000 CZK (approx. 800 EUR)
  • Per Diems: 10,000 CZK (approx. 400 EUR)
  • Accommodation: Fully paid accommodation in the local residential center. The accommodation also includes an artist’s studio, which is fully available to the artist.
  • Professional Support: Continuous mentoring from a local curator.

 

Schedule & Selection Process:

  • Deadline for applications: May 29, 2026
  • Announcement of artist selection: by June 15, 2026
  • Residency Dates: 21 September – 25 October 2026 (5 continuous weeks)

 

The selection process will evaluate your approach to participation and youth engagement.

 

How to Apply:

Applications must be submitted via the CreArt platform: https://creart2-eu.org/open-calls/

Your application must include:

  1. CV (Curriculum Vitae)
  2. Portfolio: Highlighting your previous participatory, community, or educational art projects.
  3. Motivation Letter: Explaining your approach to participatory art, your experience working with youth, and your vision for addressing the theme of “well-being” in a school setting.

Do you have any questions about the residency or the application process? Please contact the project manager directly: Markéta Šímová marketa.simova@budejovice2028.cz

 

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.

DAVID WILHELM
PRESENCE, UNKNOWN: PHASE V
7.-28.4.2026.
KARAS GALLERY

On Tuesday, 7th of April David Wilhelm opens his solo exhibition entitled PRESENCE, UNKNOWN: PHASE V at 7 pm in Karas Gallery (Ulica kralja Zvonimira 58).

In her foreword Iva Jurić emphasizes:
In the work PRESENCE, UNKNOWN: PHASE V, artist David Wilhelm continues to explore ritual and apotropaic practices, examining their physical and digital potential within a contemporary context through a series of iterative developments. Starting from their traditional function as protection against evil and misfortune, the artist relocates these practices into a speculative space situated between archaeology, fiction, and the digital imaginary. (…)
The installation combines video with a series of phallus-shaped amulets made of red clay. The amulets appear as pseudo-historical objects without a clearly defined provenance, simultaneously archaic and timeless. Their materiality evokes tradition—specifically archaic techniques of making and archaeological remains—while the context of the installation situates them within a speculative narrative that the artist develops in parallel in the video. Their spatial arrangement suggests that they belong to a broader, yet unfinished system of belief.

PREFACE

Biography:
David Wilhelm (2000) studies at the Department of Animated Film and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. In their artistic practice they explore the relationship between the digital and the physical, queer identity, and experimentation with sound, text, and video. Most of their time is spent playing video games or working on scaffolding at building restoration sites.
They exhibited their work in group exhibitions in Vienna, Pula, Split, Zadar and Zagreb, as well as solo exhibitions in Split and Zagreb. They participated in residencies Garden of Eden in Bale (2022), What’s Masc? in Berlin (2022) and W/ri/gh/ting Archives through Artistic Research – Co_Lab #1 in Split (2023).

The exhibition will be open during the period from 7. to 28.4.2026.

Working hours of Karas Gallery
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 4pm – 8pm
Tuesday, Saturday 10am – 1pm
On Sundays and Mondays closed.
___
http://karasarthub.eu
Organizer: HDLU
With the support of: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb

Opening Adress by Anh-Linh Ngo, Vice-President of the Akademie der Künste

With the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU) among its partners, the European Alliance of Academies held an online kick-off meeting bringing together over 100 participants, marking the start of the four-year project The Art of Resilience and Resistance: Empowering artists and cultural professionals tackling new challenges in Europe.

The project is supported by a large-scale grant under the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and will run from 2026 to 2029.

The meeting marked the official beginning of the project. The partner consortium introduced their perspectives and outlined their visions for the upcoming four years. Under the 2026 annual theme “Transformation of Cultural Policies”, the consortium presented the conceptual framework for the first project year and introduced the planned activities within the different work packages.

In a meaningful opening address, Anh-Linh Ngo, Vice-President of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, stated: “Artistic freedom is inseparable from democratic freedom.” (Full speech here)

Catherine Magnant, Head of Unit, Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport, and Culture (European Commission) earned a big round of digital applause when she said: “We cannot speak of resilience without speaking of financially funding the cultural sector.”

Re:Create Europe is not only a support programme, but a clear institutional response to the growing pressures on artistic freedom and cultural autonomy across Europe. Artists and cultural professionals are increasingly working under conditions shaped by war and aggression, political instrumentalisation, economic precarity, ecological collapse, and shrinking civic space. In this context, resilience cannot be understood as adaptation alone, but as a cultural, ethical, and civic responsibility.

Through a combination of mobility programmes, blended learning formats, onsite residencies, digital mapping, and international conferences, Re:Create Europe aims to empower artists and cultural professionals across disciplines and regions. The project strengthens transnational solidarity, supports artistic practice under conditions of crisis, and fosters exchange between institutions, practitioners, and policy-oriented cultural actors.

Programme link: here

Photo: Juraj Blasko

 

Within the project:

Partners:

Co-funded by:

Co-funded by the European Union – CREA-CULT-2025-COOP. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position 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: 101255481]

HDLU