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Visnja Slavica Gabout

Born 1954 in Sisak. Secondary school completed in Zagreb (gymnasium specialising in social studies and languages). Received a degree in Art History and English from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb in 1977. Enrolled in postgraduate studies in 1982. Speaks English and French.
Work includes exhibit and gallery activities, art critiques, journalism and translation. She began writing expert articles during her university studies, and has been continually publishing professional critiques and retrospectives in the field of art history in daily, weekly and periodical newspapers and magazines for more than twenty years. Her articles were first published in Večernji list, 15 dana and OK (where she was a long-time collaborator, art critic), and later expanded her cooperation to the publications Vjesnik, Novi list (long-time collaborator, journalist), Konturi, Hrvatsko slovo, Grafik and Epoh. For the past fifteen years, she has been a regular contributor to these last three publications, and regularly published retrospectives, essays and critiques.
She has been selector for numerous independent and group exhibits that she, as an art critic and art historian, has been presenting to the public for more than two and a half decades through her long-standing cooperation with many galleries. In Zagreb, she has worked with the Bužančić Gallery (for 20 years), Ulrich Gallery, Filakovac Gallery, ULUPUH Gallery, Exhibition Hall of the Izidor Kršnjavi School of Applied Art and Design, Badrov Gallery, FER Gallery. In Zaprešić, she has worked with the Razvid Gallery; in Rijeka with the Julije Klović Gallery, the Croatia Artist's Society in Rijeka and the Kortil Gallery; on the island of Krk with the Lapidarij Gallery and the Town Council Gallery in Omišalj; in Njivice with the Njivice Gallery; in Kastav with the Kastav Cultural Summers (Sv. Trojica Gallery), in Novi Vinodolski with the Turnac Gallery: in Istria with the Fonticus Gallery in Grožnjan. She is chairperson of the Artistic Council of ULUPUH, art director of the Trojica Gallery in Kastav and chairperson of that gallery's Artistic Council and selector of its programme. She is also a member of the following artistic councils: KERAMEIKON (Varaždin), Vladimir Bužančić Gallery (Zagreb), FER Gallery (Zagreb), Razvid Gallery (Zaprešić), Lapidarij Gallery (Omišalj), Town Council Gallery (Omišalj) and the Lumezi Gallery (Zagreb). 
Throughout her artistic career, and especially in recent years, she has become known as an art critic specialising in contemporary applied art, with numerous articles written on ceramics, jewellery, caricatures, photographs… in the light and spirit of new media and new artistic practices, where disciplines fade into one another and there are no longer any strict boundaries, and utilitarianism as the main characteristic is vanishing. Particularly note has been taken of a series of thematic projects she selected in organization with the Section for Ceramics, Glass and Porcelain of ULUPUH, in which ceramics are continually promoted as a contemporary medium, equal to all others in contemporary art. This includes the projects Erotica or Utopia (2005, 20 artists), displayed in the Kapetanova Kula Gallery of the Croatian Artists' Society in Zadar, followed by Ceramic plates: fields of association, narration and action (2006/7, 20 artists), and the project Shape, sound, light, movement and ceramics as a concept (2007/8, 20 artists), which was invited as a guest exhibit in Sarajevo, at the Collegium Artisticum Gallery of the BiH Artists' Society for Applied Art. A conceptual, multimedia project entitled Touch me! is currently under preparation, and is planned for the end of 2008 at the Zvonimir Gallery in Zagreb.
She has cooperated with conceptual and multimedia artists such as Toni Meštrović and Igor Pauška, especially with the latter, on projects with light structures and light installations. Also, in recent years, she has been one of the artists involved in the multimedia projects Modelling nature and Mother and child, interdisciplinary performances that include movement, light shows, word, images and sculpture. This project is performed almost every year with the Dance Soloists, a modern dance group, with choreographer Jasminka Neufeld Imrović, painter and sculptor Ivana Branka Imrović, and many other artists – poets, recitors, painters, and light artists. The project Mother and child is currently in preparation for 2008.
In addition to applied art and multimedia, she also enjoys working in graphics (traditional and classical), and with painting and sculpture, both with a traditional and contemporary expression. Each year, she organizes some 30–40 art programmes and projects. All these projects, recognized as highly valuable, are regularly supported by the official institutions at the city and county levels, and the Croatian Ministry of Culture. She lives and works in Zagreb, where for ten years (1993–2003) she was the professional manager of two ULUPUH galleries: the Permanenta Gallery at Vlaška 72 and the ULUPUH Gallery (Tkalčićeva 14). Each year, she organized a programme of some twenty exhibits of applied art in these galleries, featuring both Croatian and foreign artists. She is also involved in projects outside of Zagreb. She has succeeded in profiling these exhibition spaces and projects as being of great cultural significance, giving them value not only in the region, but beyond. This primarily refers to the interdisciplinary multimedia project entitled Vrbnik Graphic Academy with artists, art historians and professors and students of the Graphics Department of the Zagreb Academy of Art. This project was held in the town of Vrbnik on the island of Krk. In Malinska, a town on the same island, she also carried out a project in the Sveti Nikola Gallery, turning a local tourist souvenir gallery into a high profile official gallery of contemporary art at all official levels, and displaying works by contemporary artists from the Zagreb art scene (as well as international cooperation). She led this gallery from 2000 to 2007. And finally, she has been the official art selector in the annual cultural festival called Kastav Cultural Summer in the town of Kastav. Here, in just a few years time, through her work and exhibits focussing on Croatian contemporary art, with international participation. She succeeded in profiling the Sveta Trojica Gallery into an exhibition space specialising in contemporary expression.
She is a frequent collaborator as well as curator and selector of the Croatian Artists' Society in Rijeka. In July 2007, she selected works for the thematic group exhibit of local painters in the project 60+1 to celebrate the anniversary of the Croatian Artists' Society. She has also organized several joint exhibits of the ULUPUH and Croatian Artists' Society in Rijeka, such as the guest exhibit Croatian Portrait Caricature in Rijeka, the independent exhibit by Dalibor Laginja in Zagreb and the recent award-winning guest exhibit Ceramic plates: fields of association, narration and action at the Juraj Klović Gallery in May 2008. She also stimulated new cooperation between the ULUPUH and Croatian Artists' Society in Istria in 2007, with the transfer of the exhibit Faces by Marina Orlić from Zagreb to Pula. In 2001 and 2005, she worked with artists in Grožnjan on two projects (2 group exhibits): Form and rhythm and Me and my identity, each comprising twenty artists of varying nationality due to the strong international orientation in Grožnjan.
Her international projects include cooperation with the Accademia Una from Trieste with exhibits held in Venice, Trieste and Salzburg. She also worked as selector of the Croatian pieces on the international project Slovenia open for art, held in Nova Gorica (Slovenia). She is currently working as co-selector and host of the international painting symposium (exclusive participation of foreign artists) in Medulin, while she is leader of the international art colony Fulfinum in Omišalj on the island of Krk.
She has also worked with Croatian Television. For several years, she worked together with Mario Saletto in the Documentary Programme as an investigative reporter in the travel shows Sails around the world (42 half-hour episodes), Endless world and 5000 km across Mexico. She also worked in the Culture Department and Programme Presentation Department, with editor of the show TV Exhibit Vesna Ćuro-Tomić, for which she wrote articles about exhibits of pieces by Emil Benčić, Jure Labaš, Ratko Petrić, Dražen Trogrlić, Vjera Lalin, Željka Hegedušić, Ivan Obsieger, Ivo Kalina and Vojo Radoičić. In recent years, she has been working with editor Vesna Klarić, with whom she created the show Cats about Irena Podvorac, from the series Portrait of an artist.
She published the graphic and poetry portfolio entitled Images together with Chakavian poet Marina Valković and graphic artist Nevenka Arbanas. Together with graphic designed Ana Hruškar-Nendl, she published the pilot edition of the book Vrbnik – citation deliberations. She co-authored the text in the book of photographs entitled Sculpture on the Zagreb façades. She was also author of one of the articles in a book on the Bužančić Gallery, issued to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Novi Zagreb Cultural Centre.

Thanks, recognitions and awards:
- Letter of thanks from Kerameikon, the international festival of postmodern ceramics (2002)
- Recognition for her cooperation on the 20th anniversary of the Toš Gallery in Punat (2003)
- Recognition for 20 years of cooperation with the Bužančić Gallery (Spektar Gallery) on the occasion of their 30th anniversary, 2007
- Annual ULUPUH Award, under the auspices of the City of Zagreb, for the best exhibit in 2007 (Ceramic plate: fields of association, narration and action)

Membership in professional organizations:
- ULUPUH, Study Section
- Croatian Journalist's Association
- Kerameikon, Croatian Ceramic Association
- Croatian Society of Art Historians
- Croatian Society of Technical and Scientific Translators

Address and contact:
4. maksimirsko naselje 36
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
tel/fax: +385 1 244 40 30
mob: +385 98 622 426
e-mail: vslavica@inet.hr
www.ulupuh.hr
http://galerija.fer.hr/gabout.htm

Address:

IV maksimirsko naselje 36
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
e-mail: vslavica@inet.hr


 
29.03.2024 - 01:11