Exhibition “Contemporary art from Croatia” opens in the European Central Bank

Published: 26/6/2019

The exhibition “Contemporary Art from Croatia” opened on 26 June 2019 in the seat of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank and Boris Vujčić, the Governor of the Croatian National Bank opened the exhibition presenting the of works of Igor Grubić, Tina Gverović, Kristian Kožul, Lonac, David Maljković, Ana Mušćet, Damir Očko, OKO, Lala Rašćić, Goran Trbuljak, Nora Turato and Zlatan Vehabović.

Displacement, history and identity play a key role in contemporary Croatian art. These themes speak about social, political and economic events in the last thirty years of Croatia’s history marked by independence, war, transition into a free market economy and accession to the European Union. Some of the artists featured at the exhibition explore in their works the ideas of diversity and inclusion while others study the construction of individual and collective memory.

Marking the occasion, Governor Vujčić noted how Croatian contemporary art was successful in speaking the global language of creative expression and how it shared common themes and the diversity of art forms with the European and global “family” of contemporary artists. The Governor thanked the European Central Bank for its initiative in organising the exhibition and the Croatian artists for their participation in the project.

The exhibition is organised by the ECB in cooperation with the Croatian National Bank and will be available for viewing in the ECB foyer until 16 October 2019. The exhibition of contemporary Croatian art is the 22nd in the series of exhibitions held in the ECB under the title “Contemporary art from the Member States of the European Union” which aims to showcase the diverse range of each country’s artistic output and highlight some of the key ideas currently being discussed in the art world.

The European Central Bank will also present the exhibition by means of an application ECB Art, which provides a digital catalogue of the exhibition and information on the art collection of the ECB and the architecture and history of the main building. The ECB Art App is available free of charge for Android and iPhone devices.