Viktor Popović Croatia, b. 1972

Viktor Popović lives and works in Split, Croatia, where he is the head of the Painting Department of the Arts Academy. In his work he often uses found objects and raw industrial materials in installations that probe the relationship between artwork (or object), audience, history of the exhibition space, and the environment or location of the gallery itself. Popović's recent work explores the Modernist heritage of the socialist period in former Yugoslavia, a project that was started in 2015, focusing on the re-contextualization of the 1960s architecture of Split, Croatia. His 2020 series Untitled (Archive: Zenčišće), explores 1970s, late Modern Croatian architecture of the former resort/rehabilitation center for children from Belgrade at the Zenčišće Bay in Jelsaon, on the island of Hvar, Croatia, presently almost completely in ruins, beyond hope of reconstruction. The work examines its complex present-day perception as an unwanted relic of socialist, former Yugoslavia by juxtaposing past and present images and the means with which we perceive and transform memory into future. Popović has been awarded numerous distinguished grants and awards, and his work has been collected by major public institutions throughout Croatia.