KRISTIJAN POPOVIĆ / THE COMPUTER'S FIRST CHRISTMAS CARD
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
"The philosophical critique present in the work relies on Foucault's reflection on confession as a technique of power and an instrument for shaping the subject within Western society. By encouraging the individual to verbalize his own sins, ritual affirms the structure of authority and disciplines the subject, transforming sincere introspection into a mechanical act. Along the same lines, Agamben highlights rituals as liturgical functions that are often performed ex opere operato – formally and without inner meaning. The work symbolizes this emptiness – holiness and morality are reduced to a series of technical operations, rewarding a "selfish act" and apparent introspective reflection...... The Computer's First Christmas Card thus merges the past and the future: from the early poetic dreams of a "writing machine" to today's algorithms that offer – quick forgiveness. The work provokes us to question our own relationships to ritual, religion and technology, revealing how patterned behavior creates a reflexive "reflux" of values – a moment in which form overrides content, and man becomes only a statistic in the algorithm of moral performance..."
Antonela Solenički
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Kristijan Popović (1998, Zagreb) graduated from the First Technical High School "Tesla" in Zagreb, after which he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2020.
Since 2018, he has been active in the field of theater and film set design. So far, he has had two solo exhibitions, at the SC Gallery Kiosk and an exhibition as part of the "Send It On" project in Lauba in Zagreb. He has also exhibited at numerous group exhibitions, including the Bačva Gallery, the Apoteka Gallery in Vodnjan, the Putolovac Gallery and VGA in Zagreb. In July this year, he participated in the mentored residency program of the GMK Gallery.
He won the Rector's Award for great team scientific and artistic work in the academic year 2021/2022, for his participation in musical and theatrical projects: the opera "Animal Farm" (2021/22) and the opera "Amphitryon" (2022/23). In 2022, he won third place at the Ivan Kožarić Award for Young Artists of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, and in 2023 the first prize of the jury at the Starter Prize competition at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 2024, he received the Summa Cum Laude commendation from the Academy of Fine Arts in 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 04/10/2025.
The exhibition was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb.