Viktor Popović employs found materials, archival sources, and raw industrial elements in his work, producing installations and objects that negotiate the intersections between architecture, archive, memory, and the social production of space. Popović investigates the relationships between artwork, audience, and exhibition space, drawing on the historical and physical context of the locations where his work is installed or displayed.
In his recent work, Popović focuses on the modernist legacy of the social period in Croatia, as well as former Yugoslavia more generally. Popović’s work questions the position of personal and social memory in relation to the heritage of modernist architecture, recontextualizing architectural histories and institutional narratives through photography, installation, sculpture, and site-specific interventions.
Popović received an MFA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1997. Currently living and working in Split, Croatia, Popović also teaches at the Arts Academy of the University of Split, where he was promoted to the position of tenured full professor in 2018. His work has been exhibited extensively within Croatia and across Europe, including major solo and two-person exhibitions at the Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb (2006), Portland Art Center (2006), the Museum of Fine Arts in Split (2011), the City Loggia Exhibition Pavilion in the Gallery of Fine Arts at the Civic Museum Zadar in Croatia (2011), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb (2018), the Armory Show in New York (2020), Kula Gallery in Split (2021), A:D: Curatorial in Berlin (2022), Filodrammatica Gallery in Rijeka, Croatia (2023), the Josip Račić Gallery of the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb (2023), the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb (2024), Ravne Gallery of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška, Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenia (2024), the Museum of Modern and Contemporary art in Rijeka (2025), the 15th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture in Zagreb (2025), and Studio 21 in Split (2026), among others.
Popović is the recipient of numerous distinguished awards and fellowships, including a Special Commendation at the 15th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture in Zagreb (2025), the Ex Aequo Award at the 29th and 27th Slavonian Biennials in Osijek, Croatia (2024, 2020), the Grand Prix at the 9th Croatian Triennial of Graphic Arts in Zagreb (2024), Award of the Croatian Section of the International Association of Art Critics at the 54th Zagreb Salon (2019); Award of the 36th Split Salon (2009), and the Grand Award of the 8th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture in Zagreb (2003), as well as several residencies, including the A:D: Residency Program in Berlin (2019), the Art Omi Residency Program in New York (2017), and the ArtsLink Residency Program in Portland, Oregon (2006). His work is held in major public collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, the Gallery of Fine Arts in Split, the Gallery of Fine Arts in Zadar, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, as well as the Carinthian Gallery of Fine Arts in Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia.