AN ASYNCHRONOUS EQUILIBRIUM

JAGODE BUIĆ’S ANTHOLOGY AT THE MAXXI MUSEUM IN ROME

 

A great retrospective exhibition of works by Jagoda Buić titled Asynchronous equilibrium opens at the Roman MAXXI museum (Extra MAXXI and Corner MAXXI) and will be on view from 20 September to 1 October 2017. 
 

The artist, who has exhibited at the Venice Biennale three times, is internationally known for her works displayed at some of the world’s great museums; from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in Paris to The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. She has received many highest awards, such as the Itamaraty Grand Prix at the Biennale of São Paulo and the UNESCO Picasso medal.

The curator of the Asynchronous equilibrium exhibition is Tonko Maroević, art historian, art critic and one of the leading experts on the European cultural scene. Jagoda Buić personally designed the exhibition setup, prepared especially for the MAXXI museum. 

 

The project is realised in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the Italian Republic, with the support of the City of Zagreb, Zagreb Tourist Board and the MAXXI Museum. The organizer of the exhibition is the Oris House of Architecture.

 

The exhibition explores a suggestive dialogue between artworks and the space of the MAXXI museum and shows the evolution of the artist and her artistic journey, in an asynchronous equilibrium and constant change of the material chosen for artworks; textile, paper and iron.  

 

A deep connection of Jagoda Buić with the theatre, an important chapter in her life, results with an apparent scenographic approach to the setup of her artworks; figures, columns, volumes, panels, forms inspired by the sea, always in dialogue or a dramatic interaction with the space they are situated in.

 

Textile installations

 

The first part of the exhibition includes Buić’s most representative works – tapestries, weavings in wool, sackcloth or horsehair – forms woven by hand that give life to the impressive structures. They emphasize the creative strength and the dramatic quality of the forms, which evoke myths, tradition and heritage. They also contain an intact strength and the emotion of the artist’s country by the sea – tormented, but rich in history and beauty. 

 

Paper collages

 

The journey continues with paper collages, presented in extraordinary sizes. The way the fragile material – paper – transforms into an expressive strength, characteristic for Jagoda Buić’s work, is amazing. The presentation of the collage ends with the Hommage à Lampedusa cycle – powerful, emotional composition that consists of six large collages.

 

Iron sculptures

 

Jagoda Buić’s most recent works demonstrate her continuing quest for new languages of expression. Extremely expressive sculptures created out of the pieces of iron found on a dumpsite indicate a new chapter in her work.  

 

Jagoda Buić’s works are real and true sculptures, as defined by Gillo Dorfles in his text written for the catalogue of the exhibition titled Theatrum Mundi (Trieste, Museo Revoltella, 2013). For an artist as original as Jagoda, every season represents an unexpected change. In this particular case, the artist I have already known, gifted with imagination and manual dexterity, evolved into a completely modern individual who used new technological and imagination discoveries. 

 

In the text written on the occasion of the exhibition Tonko Maroević says: In a way, her work synthesizes the profound tradition of the environment from which it stems, building upon it the radicalism and essentialism of contemporary sensibility. The balance it establishes is more than dynamic: it is, actually, complementary with its oppositions, it deals playfully with the element of time – it is, in fact, asynchronous. 

 

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