Avant-garde performance artist Tomislav Gotovac and revered sculptor Ivan Meštrović have each earned their place in the pantheon of Croatian artistic greats, but both did so in wildly different ways.
Ivan Meštrović is a MoMA-featured sculptor whose works are on public display throughout former Yugoslavia as well as in far-flung parts of the world, including a prominent and politically bold piece exhibited in Chicago. An entire retrospective of his career was held in Zagreb in 2024. Gotovac was a risk-taker, his performance art pushing personal and political boundaries. This was best exemplified in his legendary work Zagreb, I Love You, for which he walked for 20 seconds entirely nude to the city’s main square.
At the Gallery AMZ, attached to the Archaeological Museum, a new exhibition explores his admiration for the respectable sculptor, positing that this seemingly incongruous pair of artists were intimately connected. Themes of the body, historical memory and narratives are compared, finding both drastic divergences and moments of deep similarity.
Where: Gallery AMZ, Pavla Hatza 6
When: Until March 13. Tue-Fri noon-6pm; Sat 10am-1pm
Admission: FREE