European Month of Creativity
Curator: Antonela Solenički
Artists: Marlen Ban, Sanda Črnelč, Josip Kresović, Stela Mikulin, Branimir Štivić

The Croatian Association of Fine Artists, for this year’s European Month of Creativity as well, within the EU project CreART 3.0, has organized a small festival of contemporary art in business premises – TAKEOVER.

Emerging artists (Marlen Ban, Sanda Črnelč, Josip Kresović, Stela Mikulin, Branimir Štivić), selected by the curator Antonela Solenički, “took over” spaces within recognized companies operating in or related to the fields of cultural and creative industries (Brigada, Google Hrvatska, Grupa, Intera, and architectural studio Randić and Associates).

During the artwork selection process, the curator considered both the typologies of the spaces encountered in the project and the production of content within those spaces, aiming to establish a content-related interaction between the artistic projects presented and the employees who will encounter these projects on a daily basis.

The artists exhibited their works in the companies and presented their work to the employees. Each intervention was also presented to the public through open-door events and conversations with the artist.

ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS:

Marlen Ban, No Time for a Revolution

Location: Intera, Ulica kralja Držislava 8, Zagreb

No Time for a Revolution poses the question of the contemporary social condition through the statement Nobody is going to start a revolution. This seemingly passive message opens space for a critique of the status quo, where systemic control, censorship, and the normalization of authoritarian practices diminish faith in the possibility of change. The work oscillates between personal reflection and collective uncertainty, questioning why – despite access to information and technology – we remain passive in the face of injustice and dehumanization. It does not call for a revolution, but for reflection: why does revolution feel so distant? Without taking a direct political stance, the aim is to encourage the viewer to question power, identity, and everyday passivity, and to open a space for critical dialogue about social norms we often take for granted.

Sanda Črnelč, I Discovered Something Between Two Bricks

Location: Grupa Showroom, Ul. popa Dukljanina 1, Zagreb

Space and object—motifs that conceptually connected the artist’s previous works—initiated the creation of a new idea, one that visually leans towards abstracting form and conceptually towards self-reflection. By abandoning the brick as a motif, the artist delves into the painterly potential of color and volume, aiming to confront her own fear of taking up space.

Josip Kresović, Ti si bija baš sritno dite (You Really Were a Happy Kid)

Location: Brigada, Nova ves 17 – Centar Kaptol, 2. kat, Zagreb

The spatial installation You Were Such a Happy Kid is a collection of materialized sensory memories of a single moment during childhood. At the same time, it is a record of nervous gestures, rituals of cleaning, scratching, peeling—a channel for anxious energy that is pathologically released because no one ever showed it where to go. It’s also about music you can’t hear, perhaps best evoked by that visceral reaction of body and mind when you catch a whiff of a long-forgotten perfume, and shivers rush over you. The starting point of the work is an event—chronologically blurred but clearly etched. Someone is singing. It’s hot. You’re being watched. Your fingers in your pockets try to reach the femur. Your skin stops them. It burns. You don’t feel it. You’re fine.

Stela Mikulin, Intimate Dialogue

Location: Randić and Associates, Palmotićeva ul. 60, Zagreb

In a space where dialogue has yet to emerge, the Intimate Dialogue project creates a quiet site of anticipation. Instead of presenting a finished form, it builds an open platform with questions inviting migrants to define the direction of the conversation themselves. The platform is not a representation, but a preparation for encounter—avoiding imposition. Inspired by Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of being-in-encounter, it materializes the anticipation of the other without speaking on their behalf. The analog part of the work—questions, illustrations, and photo collages—documents the artist’s personal process, her introspection, and awareness of the limits of her own perception. The platform remains a framework for a dialogue yet to come.

Branimir Štivić, DOTWORK [256x320px]

Location: Google Hrvatska, Strojarska ul. 20, Zagreb

DOTWORK [256x320px] is a generative video installation composed of low-resolution LED screen modules. By mounting the screens into three-dimensional objects made of aluminum structures and 3D-printed plastic with attached LED modules and electronics, the work explores the physicality of pixels and their “invisibility” within the framework of consumer electronics. Through the combination of multiple monochromatic layers with the use of dithering and dot-matrix algorithms, a low-resolution image emerges that explores the graphic potential of the dot grid. The 3mm spacing between individual pixels—common in advertising panels—is much larger than that of modern screens on phones, computers, and smartwatches, allowing for the observation of light as the constructive element of screens, which also functions as ambient lighting in the space.

About the curator:

Antonela Solenički is an independent curator and researcher. She holds a degree in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies from NABA in Milan, and a bachelor’s degree in Art History and Spanish Language and Literature, which she studied in Zagreb. As part of the NOVAci project, developed in collaboration between WHW and Pogon, she curated the exhibition At the Tip of the Tongue (2022) at Gallery Nova in Zagreb. She is currently working as a curator at the Miroslav Kraljević Gallery in Zagreb.

About the artists::

Marlen Ban (b. 1999) completed her undergraduate studies at the Department of Animated Film and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She is currently finishing her studies in Public Administration at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. Since May 2025, she has been doing an internship at the Office of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality. She works as a production assistant at the Miroslav Kraljević Gallery and leads art workshops at the Together Association and Club, part of the Sveti Ivan Psychiatric Hospital.

Sanda Črnelč (b. 1997, Zagreb) graduated in 2023 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia, Department of Art Education, Painting program, in the class of Assistant Professor Marko Tadić, Art.D. She is the recipient of the Rector’s Award for a group art project in the 2017/2018 academic year at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, as well as a scholarship from the Chinese Government for the 2019/2020 academic year within the funded IMFA program, during which she spent a year at the China Academy of Art. In 2024, she was a participant of the sixth generation of the WHW Academy.

Josip Kresović (b. 1992, Zadar) is an interdisciplinary artist and psychologist. In 2018, she earned her Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Zadar, specializing in the psychology of art, focusing on visual-aesthetic sensitivity and the relationship between art and mood. Alongside her studies, she developed her own artistic practice. In 2023, in collaboration with the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art, she received the ICOM award for her work Sun Worker, and in 2024, following her participation in the Youth Salon exhibition Situation, she was awarded a special recognition by the Croatian Association of Fine Artists for her work titled 11.

Stela Mikulin (b. 1996) is a visual artist and holds a Master’s degree in Art Education. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She has participated in international projects such as ECO CURVE and Soundgate Zagreb, and was a participant in the fourth generation of the WHW Academy. She is the recipient of the Izidor Kršnjavi plaque awarded by the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb.

Branimir Štivić (b. 1991, Cerić) He graduated in New Media from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (2021) and in Information and Software Engineering from the Faculty of Organization and Informatics in Varaždin (2015). He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is the recipient of the MSU professional award at the 37th Youth Salon and the Golden Watermelon 7.0 award.

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The Takeover program provides art with the opportunity to “coexist” with the bustling everyday life of workspaces. In doing so, artistic works become active participants in the non-artistic world, blurring the sharp boundaries between the corporate and artistic sectors, while retaining their ever-present power to reshape our reality.

More about Takeover at: www.takeover.hdlu.hr

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CreArt is a network of 13 medium-sized European 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. At the same time, CreArt 3.0 pushes boundaries beyond visual arts, empowering other artistic practices such as performing arts or music, and has also initiated a new collaboration with a non-governmental organization based in Lviv 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 programs in 15 European cities, over 39 public events to celebrate the European Month of Creativity in 13 network cities, 13 educational programs 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:

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.