20 years of Erste Fragments

• On Thursday, 13 February 2025, the Rijeka Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art is opening a retrospective exhibition dedicated to the Erste Fragments acquisition award for artists under the age of 30.

Erste Fragments is the longest-running and most consistent public call for artworks by artists under 30 in Croatia – with only one brief two-year hiatus, it has been continuously held since a 2002. Throughout this period, expert juries consisting of prominent art historians and artists have selected more than 220 works for the acquisition, primarily paintings, but also photographs, sculptures, and installations. Last year, Erste Fragmenti marked its milestone 20th anniversary by hosting two interesting exhibitions at the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. One included the latest artworks from the most recent public call, while the other was a large retrospective presenting around fifty previously acquired pieces. The selection for the retrospective was done by Vanja Babić, the jury president and a collaborator of Erste Fragmenti since its inception.

After Zagreb, the two exhibitions will be presented at the Rijeka Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in late February – albeit in a reduced form due to spatial constraints – and at the Split Museum of Fine Arts in late March.

The significance of the retrospective exhibition is best illustrated by the fact that it features works by artists who took part in the central exhibition concept at the 2015 Venice Biennale (David Maljković), regular members of the Croatian Academy of Science and Arts (Gordana Bakić), winners of last year’s Vladimir Nazor Award (Matko Vekić), winners of Radoslav Putar Award (Mihael Klanjčić, Lana Stojičević, Dino Zrnec and Glorija Lizde), winners of Essl Award (Zlatan Vehabović, Sabina Mikelić, Jelena Lovrec and Vanja Babić), and teachers from art academies and other higher education institutions in Croatia (Alem Korkut, Paulina Jazvić, Damir Stojnić, Ines Matijević Cakić, Pavle Pavlović, Sebastijan Dračić, Josipa Štefanec…).

Along with the above-mentioned David Maljković and Damir Stojnić, the Rijeka audience will have the opportunity to see the work of another local artist, Ana Vivoda.

A separate space in the exhibition will feature recently acquired artwork by painter Fran Ferković and the works of three female painters – the latest Erste Grand Prix winner Alba Miočev, Carolina Barbarić and Mia Markušić – all of whom are fascinating artistic personalities with a promising future ahead.

Artist presented at the Rijeka exhibition: Grgur Akrap, Vanja Babić, Mihael Bađun, Gordana  Bakić, Snježana Ban, Denis Butorac, Tanja Deman, Sebastijan Dračić, Alen Floričić, Martina Grlić, Grupa Abs, Tomislav Hršak, Helena Janečić, Paulina Jazvić, Mihael Klanjčić, Alem Korkut, Glorija Lizde, Jelena Lovrec, Marin Majić, David Maljković, Ines Matijević Cakić, Sabina Mikelić, Pavle Pavlović, Nikola Pjevačević, Ivan Prerad, Lala Raščić, Lana Stojićević, Damir Stojnić, Josipa Štefanec, Zlatan Vehabović, Matko Vekić, Iva Zagoda, Ino Zeljak, Dino Zrnec, Ana Vivoda, Vlatka Škoro, Carolina Barbarić, Fran Ferković, Mia Markusić, Alba Miočev

Curator: Vanja Babić

Exhibition collaborator: Sabina Salamon

Admission to the exhibition is free.