Ana Kovačić

Ana Kovačić was born in 1986 in Zagreb. In 2010, she graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts, and in 2013 in new media at the Department of Animated Film and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. In 2009 she was on a student exchange at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA, and in 2011 at London Metropolitan University, London, UK, and the University of Ulster, Belfast, UK. In 2016/2017 she was on a residency program at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, in 2019 as part of the Magic carpets project in residence in Kaunas, Lithuania, and in 2019/2020 at the B.A.D. Foundation, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since 2014, she has been a member of the Croatian Association of Freelance Artists. Since 2022, she has been working as an external associate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, and since 2024 as the titular assistant professor. She is currently employed on a temporary basis as an assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Since 2009, he has been exhibiting independently and in groups. In 2017, she was nominated for the Radoslav Putar Award, in 2016 for the T-HT Award, and in 2013 for the ESSL Award. In 2015, she won the Vizura Aperta Festival Award in Momjan. Her works are in the collection of Erste Bank. Since 2021, she has been the initiator and organizer of the CIMA Art Residency in the town of Hvar, and since 2024 she has been the program manager of the socio-cultural center Fabrika 35 in the town of Hvar.

Through my work, I formally explore the interaction of sculpture and other media, and the potential of such interaction and how I can depict it through the spatial display of the works. Thematically, I explore the connection between personal and collective memory, and the way in which memory is inscribed in our bodies and the spaces in which we live. It seems that space shares some characteristics with the body; and it, like the body, bears witness to lives, emotions, a complicated game of identity and relationships; and traces accumulated over time are inscribed in it, and it becomes a palimpsest. In this sense, I perceive space as a living monument in which new meanings are constantly being inscribed. In my work, memory is not only used to collect the past, but I try to disassemble and reassemble what I have collected, exploring on the border of the personal and the collective. Pierre Nora mentions an invisible thread that connects us and connects us in a seemingly disconnected way. As he says, this seemingly disconnected network forms a dissected network to which all separate identities belong, i.e. this seemingly disconnected form an unconscious organization of collective memory. I could say that I am interested in this invisible thread. I build my works by exploring the border and on the border of the documentary. When collecting materials and translating the collected documentary materials into work, it is especially important for me to take into account that I am both an observer and a participant, it is important to me that the View becomes the one of the equal, which it presents with a special closeness. [1] I build my works organically, they grow with time and the relationship with the people and space I work with. I perceive them as by-products of a certain process, whether personal or exploratory, so in that sense I perceive them as performative. It is important to me that this organic approach is also visible in the final spatial setting of the work. I feel that my process of creating the work is close to the description of Tacita Dean, who described her process as follows: It has become a journey into the past along the line that separates fact from fiction, and it is more like a journey through the underground world of chance intervention and epic encounter than any other place I know. [2] [1] Kolešnik, Ljiljana (ed.) Feminist Art Criticism and Theory of Fine Arts: Selected Texts (Pollock, Griselda, Modernity and Spaces of Femininity), Centre for Women's Studies, Zagreb, 1999 [2] Foster, Hal, Archival Instinct, Essays and Discussions, 30.1.2005., edited by Evelina Turković

Sculpture 1/RS, 1/RK and 3/RK are practical art subjects in which restoration students of the first and third year learn to model. In the 1st year, we start from basic to more complex tasks in order to master portrait modeling according to a live model by the end of the year, and in the 3rd year, we work on tasks that are specific to sculptors, such as modeling the hand, foot and drapery.

– "Darling", VN Gallery, Zagreb – "Home in de/construction", Atelier am Eck, Düsseldorf – "Geography of the (post)apocalypse", Prsten Gallery, Zagreb - "Migrating species - reflections on moving", Magic carpets landed, Aveiro, Portugal; 2019. – 12. Kaunas Biennale, Kaunas, Lithuania 2018 – "House of Work: I'm Looking for Accommodation for the Season", 4th Hvar Ethno Festival, Humac, Hvar; 34th Youth Salon, HDLU House 2018 – "Where is Home", Borders, Museo Patio Herreanio, Valladolid, Spain – "Where is Jasenaš?", 13. Triennial of Sculpture, Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (2016. SC Gallery; MKC Split; Erste Fragments, Kranjčar Gallery; thtnagrada@msu.hr, Museum of Contemporary Art; 2015, Virovitica City Museum) 2013 – "Popup 12", Esseker Centre, Osijek ; Plevnik-Kronkowska gallery, Celje, Slovenia