The Visible Ones

Following its premiere at the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art, the exhibition The Visible Ones is also presented at other partner institutions. On 15 December 2023 it opens its doors to the public at the Rijeka Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and will be available for viewing until February 6, 2024.

The project and exhibition The Visible Ones provides an overview of the recent creative production of female artists, raising awareness about the need for equal visibility and representation of female authors in museum collections and programs. The artists’ body of work spans a diverse range of topics and sensibilities, and unquestionably deserves increased visibility and attention from both the professional and general public.

The inter-institutional project and exhibition The Visible Ones features more than ninety artists, and results from research on the inclusion of female artists in the art collections of museum institutions. It also represents an attempt to document the contemporary art practice of female authors in Croatia, pointing to its specific aspects. In general, the aim is to draw attention to the expansive yet underrecognized contemporary output of female artists.

Structured around thematic units, the exhibition shows the contemporary artistic creations of authors who, despite their notable presence in the art scene, have not found a place in museum collections. The focus of this project’s research is the artistic production after the 1990s (by the so-called transitional generation), from the period when the change in the artistic paradigm was accompanied by a shift in ideology, transitions, and socio-political turmoil. The aforementioned social changes have greatly influenced the visibility of artistic productions by women authors who have actualised works of high artistic quality; however, the circumstances (war, geopolitical changes, migrations) have in a way placed their production on the margins of visibility, which also affected museum purchases, as well as their insufficient critical and theoretical visibility.

The project The Visible Ones is inspired by facts resulting from the research that the representation of women artists’ works in collections, public spaces and galleries, and on the art market in general fails to reach even 10%. While taking into consideration the aforementioned data and the necessity to change the hitherto paradigms, we are gathered around the initiative for the actualisation of a project that would enable the achievement of the fullest and best possible result of the project through teamwork and networking of related institutions, as well as raising awareness on the importance of equality and equal opportunity, and of promoting the production of women artists in the field of visual arts.

With this project, we seek to provide an insight and an overview of recent creation, with the desire to raise awareness of the necessity for equal visibility and representation of women authors in museum collections and programme implementations. The women artists’ production encompasses a wide range of topics and sensibilities, and undoubtedly deserves higher visibility and the attention of expert and wider public.

Alongside the exhibition, the project also includes a discursive and performative programme, with the aim to indicate the need to change programme creation and the development of the museum collections within which we should pay attention to equal representation of women artists.

With this exhibition, we also indicate the awareness of the legacy which is bequeathed to us, and the role of the museum institution, which – alongside promoting and presenting contemporary production – has a clearly pronounced social corrective role. The role of women is increasingly important at the socio-political level and even dominant in certain fields; therefore, it is important that this also be manifested in the field of art.

The project coordinator is the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art and the partner institutions are the Rijeka Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Split Art Gallery, the Dubrovnik Art Gallery and the Osijek Museum of Fine Arts. Beside the project’s author and the creator of its concept Martina Munivrana (MSU, Zagreb), the project gathered the following expert associates and curators: Jasminka Babić (DG Split), Vilma Bartolić (in collaboration with Branka Benčić and Diana Zrilić, MMSU, Rijeka), Valentina Radoš (MLU, Osijek), Rozana Vojvoda (UGD, Dubrovnik), Ana Škegro (MSU, Zagreb) for the performance and discourse program, and Branka Benčić (MMSU, Rijeka) for the film program.

Visual identity: Sanja Kuzmanović (MSU)

Alphabetical list of participating artists: 

Marija Ančić, Milijana Babić, Lara Badurina, Gordana Bakić, Selma Banich, Maša Barišić, Breda Beban, Ana Bilankov, Duška Boban, Mara Bratoš, Sonja Briski Uzelac, Hrvoslava Brkušić, Josipa Bubaš, Jasenka Bulj, Nikolina Butorac, Branka Cvjetičanin, Tajči Čekada, Tanja Dabo, Vlasta Delimar, Tanja Deman, Ivana Dražić Selmani,  Katerina Duda, Jadranka Fatur, Vera Fischer, Ivana Franke, Maja S. Franković, Sonja Gašperov, Martina Grlić, Tina Gverović, Nicole Hewitt, Vlatka Horvat, Ana Hušman, Dunja Ivanišević, Katarina Ivanišin – Kardum, Sanja Iveković, Helena Janečić, Paulina Jazvić, Ivana Jelavić, Jagoda Kaloper, Nina Kamenjarin, Nives Kavurić-Kurtović, Ivana Keser, Lana Ključarić, Nikolina Komljenović, Božena Končić Badurina, Jelena Kovačević, Martina Kramer, Ines Krasić, Andreja Kulunčić, Nina Kurtela, Mirna Kutleša, Ana Kuzmanić, Margareta Lekić, Kristina Leko, Dubravka Lošić, Luiza Margan, Kristina Marić, Ines Matijević Cakić, Martina Meštrović, Martina Mezak, Kata Mijatović, Hana Miletić, Alieta Monas Plejić, Petra Mrša, Ana Mušćet, Nadija Mustapić, Irma Omerzo, Ana Opalić, Magdalena Pederin, Ivana Pegan, Mariana Pende, Jelena Perić, Ana Petrović, Vesna Pokas, Renata Poljak, Ivana Popović, Vesna Popržan, Ana Požar Piplica, Sonja Pregrad, Nika Radić, Lala Raščić, Kristina Restović, Nika Rukavina, Neli Ružić, Edita Schubert, Nives Sertić, SofijaSilvia, Ana Sladetić Šabić, Marijana Stanić, Sandra Sterle, Lana Stojićević, Matea Šabić Sabljić, Jasna Šikanja, , Vlatka Škoro, Mia Štark, Sanja Švrljuga – Milić, Ksenija Turčić, Zrinka Užbinec, Celestina Vičević, Sandra Vitaljić, Ana Vivoda, Ivona Vlašić, Mirjana Vodopija, Zlata Vucelić, Tanja Vujasinović, Anabel Zanze, Vlasta Žanić, Darija Žmak Kunić

* Owing to spatial constraints, the Rijeka edition of the exhibition has been scaled down compared to the one held in Zagreb.

Artists exhibiting at MMSU: Lara Badurina, Breda Beban, Mara Bratoš, Sonja Briski Uzelac, Branka Cvjetičanin, Tanja Dabo, Vlasta Delimar, Tanja Deman, Jadranka Fatur, Vera Fischer, Maja S. Franković, Tina Gverović, Vlatka Horvat, Paulina Jazvić,, Nives Kavurić-Kurtović, Božena Končić Badurina, Nina Kurtela, Mirna Kutleša, Kristina Leko, Margareta Lekić, Dubravka Lošić, Luiza Margan, Ines Matijević Cakić, Alieta Monas Plejić, Petra Mrša, Ana Opalić, Jelena Perić, Ana Petrović, Renata Poljak, Vesna Popržan, Ana Požar Piplica, Nika Radić, Lala Raščić, Kristina Restović, Nika Rukavina, Neli Ružić, Edita Schubert, SofijaSilvia, Lana Stojićević, Jasna Šikanja, Vlatka Škoro, Sonja Briski Uzelac, Sandra Vitaljić, Ana Vivoda, Ivona Vlašić, Anabel Zanze, Vlasta Žanić, Darija Žmak Kunić

Exhibition schedule:

1.      MSU, Zagreb, 18 May – 1 October 2023 (realized)

2.      MMSU, Rijeka, 15 December 2023 – 6 February 2024

3.      GU, Split, February – March 2024

4.      UGD, Dubrovnik, April – May 2024

5.      MLU, Osijek, June – September 2024

The project was realized with the support of the City of Zagreb, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the City of Rijeka, in collaboration the European Parliament Office in Croatia.