exhibition of analogue photographs at Salon Galić Gallery, curated by Silva Kalčić, organised by Croatian Association of Visual Artists Split (HULU)

Link to the Exhibition Catalogue

About presented urban locations:

* VILLA DALMACIJA

Villa Dalmacija was built in 1914 as Pansion Schiller, the first boarding
house in Split. The Villa Dalmacija complex consists of a three-storey,
centrally planned building with auxiliary objects (Mediterranean
Institute for Life Sciences is situated in one of those objects since
2003), and a coastal belt and a park by the seaside of the protected area
of the Marjan Hill Park Forest (57 thousand square meters). Following
World War II (in 1947), the Villa became the presidential residence for
Tito; it has been under the governance of the City of Split since 1989,
being closed for the public, with the exception of being rented for
commercial programs, such as weddings.
PROTECTION: Villa Dalmacija is situated within the borders of
natural values of Marjan Forest Park and within the cultural and
historical complex Meje. Thee Ministry of Culture, Concervation
Department in Split haven’t protected the site after it has lost its status
as a individually protected cultural good in 2010.
SUGGESTION: A residence for artists which could be open for
citizens at all times, but especially periodically for programs such as
exhibitions, concerts, lectures. The Villa is a public good and it reaches
its full cultural and identity potentials, and its aquatorium (6km shore)
is a part of a steady walking trail on the South side of Marjan Forest
Park.

* KOTEKS – GRIPE

A singular urban complex includes the sport-recreational centre Gripe,
the shopping complex Koteks on the south side, and a layer of public
squares, streets and porticos placed on terrace-like levels. The sports
centre, designed by Slaven Rožic from the Urbanisticki zavod
Dalmacije and Živorad Jankovic from the Institute for Architecture
and Town and Country Planning of Sarajevo, was built in 1978, with a
basketball court (basketball club Jugoslavija) levitating “upon the
depression” or the urban vacuity, suggesting imbalance. The building
was covered with white ceramic planks, contrasting the dark glass
windows. Koteks was built between 1979 and 1981 following Slaven
Rožic’s project, and it was the rst mall in Yugoslavia, with 23 thousand
(plus 10 thousand underground) square meters.
PROTECTION: There was not one form of protection issued for the
complex, not even on a national scale, ever since its construction. This
caused the rise of a campaign by Slobodne veze (Loose Associations),
an association for contemporary art practices. The campaign seeks the
protection of the design and program values of the complex.
SUGGESTION: The activation of the public space of the
Koteks-Gripe complex; a strategic articulation of the “mixed purpose”
premises’ offers, a singular visual identity; the affirmation of
postmodern architecture within the collective awareness of the
community, a point of attraction for the citizens.

* DALMACIJAVINO

Built between 1958 and 1959 as a piece of international industrial
architecture, by Stanko Fabris (Zagreb) and Dinko Vesanovic (Split). It
was known as the Vinalko winery up until 1961. The winery was
situated in the south-eastern part of the city ferry port, next to the
railway. The horizontally-imagined factory was contrasted with a tall
vertical lighthouse Pomorac, just behind the factory, upon the Katalinic
hill.
The Split municipality took over the factory until 2001, when it was
transformed into a joint stock company. Facing bankruptcy in 2012, it
stopped working in 2016. The ground floor of the building is layered
with rustic stone, two storeys were shaped following the principles of
geometric functionalism, and the at roof was meant to be used for
social activities. The ruins of mighty production drives, as fossils, are an
omnipresent motif of contemporary Croatian landscape.
PROTECTION: The Dalmacijavino building was temporarily
protected as a cultural good in 2014, ending in October 06, 2017.
Despite its protected status, the building was heavily neglected as we
testify its intense collapse.
SUGGESTION: A contemporary Sea Museum, with an important
museological layer which displays the industrial history of the building
in situ, an important indentity referent of the community.

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Sponsors: The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, City of Split, Zaklada Kultura Nova i Electrolux

Special thanks to: 
Mirna Despot / Igepa Plana; 
Branko Franceschi / Galerija umjetnina Split; 
Marina Slunjski / Massmarket; 
Katarina Duplančić / HULU; 
Marko Dragun / Škola za dizajn, grafiku i održivu gradnju u Splitu