Entering Jagoda Kaloper’s former studio inspired Nina Kurtela to embark on multi-related and concomitant activities. One of the approaches to the symbolically inherited ‘room of her own’ is her project under the title Jagoda: Spaces of the Invisible, on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in the Triggers cycle.

In the studio, Nina finds traces of Jagoda’s activities and, subsequently, sensing Jagoda’s invisible presence, she creates emotional, memory and (self-)reflexive connections with her work and life. Soon after taking over the studio Nina launched a research project Future Repairs – Room of Leisure, Care and Persistence which charts, explores and critically reviews Jagoda Kaloper’s artistic work and life. With this project Nina Kurtela, along with different collaborators from different media and generations, systematically builds and provides new insights into local conceptual, artistic and audiovisual heritage.

A treasury of knowledge and experiences created thus far, which becomes a pledge for the future, is made available to the public in the form on an online archive at www.j-a-g-o-d-a.com.

In the Museum of Contemporary Art, Nina Kurtela makes invisible traces visible by presenting the so-called art studio ‘wire model’ – a steel structure outlining the edges of the walls of Jagoda’s former and now her own studio, turned by means of a conceptual gesture into an exhibition space, i.e. a place of performance of diverse communities.

Sparked by the ideas of Italian theorist Teresa De Lauretis on the construct of woman artist in representational and self-representational practices (Alice Doesn’t – Language, Discourse, Society, 1984), Nina Kurtela explores Kaloper’s self-reflexive, self-critical and socially conscious activity, examining the fact that her artistic career as an author was often shadowed by her career as an actress. Creating in Jagoda’s studio, Nina establishes multifaceted relationships with Jagoda and finds subtle and versatile connections with her work. The newly created transgenerational female space is now observed by means of the studio space itself (including the objects in it) which exists as a physical entity, as well as an experiential space which has hosted the creativity of two artists.

The autobiographical relationship with Jagoda’s work and space developed by Nina Kurtela in the project Jagoda: Spaces of the Invisible is intersubjective and persists on communication and intimacy with the persons connecting both lives. Unveiling traces, referring to Jagoda’s work, quoting – all these become roadmaps for a better understanding of one’s own experience and, at the same time, insights into sexuality, politics, art, community and other topics. Such transtextual relationships take place by means of other human beings, stories, texts and different protagonists, making a palimpsestic formation of new theories and knowledge possible. In a correlation with Nina Kurtela’s artistic practices, also on the crossroads between the performative and the visual, between interpretation and authorship, intermedia, hybrid and fluid creative strategies are investigated and other models of conveying knowledge, experience and action from one generation to another are examined.

Nina Kurtela says that “the imaginary space Jagoda leaves behind with all its non-material, intangible and invisible aspects is seen as a space of memory which remains ingrained in it. We explore how these spaces/objects/landscapes become tools for a further development of our artistic idea, how they reactivate and transform and become potential, immediate space, a place where materials connect in terms of content and discourse (…).” Besides, Nina points out that, even though the studio has only 25 square meters, Kaloper’s and now ‘a room of her own’ survives as a safe female space for unhindered development of different artistic knowledge, ideas, practices, but also a space of care, togetherness, solidarity, inclusion and exchange. It is this safe female space and the importance of ‘a room of one’s own’ in female intellectual and artistic activities that becomes red thread and the starting point for the making of new works.

With rewriting one traces of memories over other traces of lived experience in mind, Nina presents an (auto)biographical practice of relational and reflexive doing, writing, reading, performing or presenting, describing personal experience of making art as a discourse, framework or way of thinking, simultaneously rejecting objectivity or neutrality of the art history discipline, i.e. the complementary theory Jagoda Kaloper’s work undoubtedly belongs to.

Nina Kurtela is a multimedia artist from Zagreb involved in choreographic and site-specific practices, combining performance dance and visual art. In her conceptual, often intangible and time-based art practice she uses the methodology of stamina, presence, persistence, ritual, everyday practice and coincidence, focusing on the issues of intangible work, identity, intimacy, belonging, home and their fictions. She creates in a broad range of forms, including video, installation, performance, choreography and dance. Her works have been presented internationally in different contexts – in museums and galleries, at theatre, dance and film festivals, and in public spaces: Kunsthaus Graz, Kunsthal Aarhus, Mucem Marseille, KW Berlin, MUMOK Vienna, MSU Zagreb, HKW Berlin, 104 Paris, Tokyo Opera City Gallery, MMOMA Moscow, Royal Albert Hall London, Ars Aevi Sarajevo, Tanz Im August Berlin, Transmediale Berlin, Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Survival Kit Riga, X-border Art Biennial Sweden and others.

She was an artist-in-residence at Fondazione Pistoletto, Amant Siena, Q21 MuseumsQuartier Vienna, Cité Intérnationale des Arts Paris, THAV Taipei, HIAP Helsinki, GeoAIR Tbilisi, CEC ArtsLink Portland Oregon, KulturKontakt Austria Vienna. A Berlin Art Prize nominee (2018) and a winner of the following honours: Japanese Media Arts New Face Award Tokyo, X-border Art Biennial Award Sweden, Henkel Art Award (Young Artist’s Prize CEE) Vienna, Essl Art Award CEE Vienna. She is the founder of the Zagreb-based non-profit art organisation Jagoda.
 

JAGODA Art Organisation is a non-profit art and production platform for interdisciplinary and international collaboration exploring and opening new fields of communication and exchange of experiences, knowledge, tools through innovative art practices. After the City of Zagreb granted artist Nina Kurtela the studio formerly used by Jagoda Kaloper, in July 2017 Nina Kurtela established the JAGODA Art Organisation with the aim of opening the art studio to the public, to the associates, to players on the local, regional and international art scene. The association is active in an interdisciplinary range from performance to visual and film arts, establishing innovative methodologies of creative work with a deflection from the dominant forms of structure in art. It explores new and specific ties between art, theory and science which intertwine, complement each other and fluctuate through different media and formats. By connecting artists hailing from different disciplines, generations, inclination and aesthetics, and by fostering community, it creates an inclusive and open space for an exchange of ideas, critical re-examination and reflection of one’s own and other people’s work. Referring to Kaloper’s artistic legacy and position, the fact that her career in art was shadowed by her career in acting is addressed. Paying homage and tribute to her life and work and increasing the visibility of her creative oeuvre is considered essential for further development. The Association is aiming to address the position of women artists in society from a critical point of view. By increasing visibility and understanding of the often neglected women’s art legacy, with the name ‘Jagoda’ that becomes a symbol, the Association critically speaks up about objectification, stigmatisation, mystification and tokenisation of women artists. JAGODA Art Organisation’s activity branches into three main programmes: building visibility and archiving the neglected women’s art legacy, discursive and educational participatory events including the broader community, and the production of contemporary original works in collaboration with creatives from different disciplines.

THANK YOU:
Ana Dana Beroš (display design)
Hrvoje Spudić (display design and technical support)
Bojan Gagić (light design)
Petar Kurtela and Igor Banović (structure)
Sara Simić (research)
We thank our associates from the Teaching Institute of Public Health ‘Andrija Štampar’:
Ivančica Kovaček, PhD, medical doctor, specialist of medical microbiology and parasitology
Zdenko Mlinar, PhD, university technical specialist of nutrition, sanitation engineer
Eva Kraljević

www.j-a-g-o-d-a.com
www.instagram.com/atelje_jagoda/
www.ninakurtela.com