HELENA RUBČIĆ / 0.25
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
It is interesting to note that there is a kind of analogy in determining the expression and content of Helena Rubčić's multimedia work. Namely, the medium of projection that the artist uses to create a chamber atmosphere in the exhibition space coincides with the mechanisms of sending and receiving images of her own identity, which she simultaneously thematizes. If we break down the manifestations of one's own identity into the social spheres in which we find ourselves – for example, into quarters that correspond to the environment of family, friends, workplace or loneliness – the attempt to compare them undoubtedly leads us to a test of integrity. Facing conformity, harmonizing the multiple social roles she plays on a daily basis, and freely letting go of that aspect of identity that she considers authentic – and which she expresses in private textual records – is the place of the central dynamics of Rubčić's work. The process of writing, recording and illustrating thoughts in the manner of a stream of consciousness has an almost therapeutic function in the artist's everyday life; It presupposes a space of freedom, sincerity and security, equally reflection and affectivity, but at the same time it becomes the most intimate core that must not be seen, that becomes a secret and that is therefore subject to self-censorship of doodling, crossing and erasing. The exhibition of fragments of diary entries, personal notes, schedule obligations and sketches collaged in the cacophony of the text thus represents a moment of bareness. It appears as a breakthrough of the need for clear communication and the rejection of the fear of incomplete perception of others and the distorted image of identity that the same communication could cause. Nevertheless, the release of intimate records is a long and slow process, so the distortion of the image-text projected through plexiglass (a trace of the initial sculptural orientation) is a welcome damper of the still fragile opening. In this process, the role of the audience is crucial, as they will read and decipher the written traces, and even interpret them independently of their "true" or original meaning. The participation of the audience thus becomes part of the artistic work, as well as the awareness of the multiplicity of the manifestation of identity and the need to channel it anyway. That is why Rubčić decides on ambience, on dark spaces filled with visuality that simulate the closedness of the mind and its fixation on the relationship between the verbalization of identity and the created image, almost forcing the observer to read and interpret it continuously. In this interplay between the forced voyeur and the shy exhibitionist, a private atmosphere of questioning the truth of perception, the truth of the text and their relativity is created. After all, Rubčić also counts on a certain intermediate thought between the (un)conscious and the paper, which leaves the possibility of manipulation, twisting the supposedly unquestionable truth of a personal record, self-deception that relativizes any reflection on identity, integrity, elastic adaptation to social norms and the truth itself. Her work also encompasses the socio-political aspects of identification, i.e. forced categorization into certain groups or (sub)cultures that come with public communication, again striving to resolve the fear of a return image of one's own identity through the rejection of exclusive belonging to predefined communities. Through seemingly very personal issues and the effort to overcome them, Rubčić delves into a wide range of philosophical, literary-theoretical, sociological and psychological topics, somewhat becoming aware of their paradoxes, blind spots, spaces of evasion and indeterminacy.
Petra Galović
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Helena Rubčić graduated in 2019 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, majoring in sculpture. For two years in a row, she has been praised for her successful work during the academic year, and she is also the winner of the Academy of Fine Arts Award for the most successful graduates.
She has participated in several group exhibitions – the international juried exhibition GrisiaYouth, where the EnterArt Foundation Berlin awarded her the second prize for her work – in 2017, she participated in the exhibition "Venientes" – 34. In 2018, she participated in the juried exhibition of finalists for the "Golden Watermelon" award at the SKUC Gallery in Pula (2019 and 2020), she also participated in the international exhibition TransForm Action at the Museum of Contemporary Art – Ljubljana, in 2019. So far, she has had four solo exhibitions in Zagreb, Karlovac and Rovinj, and she has set up two public sculptures as part of the "Bright Stripes" project in Bjelovar.
The exhibition is financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb.
The exhibition at the Šira Gallery can be viewed during the Gallery's working hours (Mon-Fri: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturdays: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.) until January 15, 2021.
