If you like modern art, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that there are two art exhibitions on Lopud Island for you to enjoy in this summer organized by TBA21-Academy. One takes place at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Cave, while the other is nestled in a sloping terrain of cypress trees, cacti and olive groves in a newly built Art Pavilone.

Oceans. Imagining a Tidalectic Worldview | Franciscan monastery |  July 4 – September 30, 2018 | Adult ticket 100 kn

Oceans. Imagining a Tidalectic Worldview presents 17 artists whose works cast oceanic perspectives on the cultural, political, and biological dimensions of the oceans, some examining the effects of human-made issues such as climate change and sea-level rise, and others reimagining human and “more-than-human” relationships. Organized by TBA21-Academy and the Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik,  is presented in two parts, at the Museum of Modern Art in Dubrovnik and at the newly restored Franciscan Monastery on the island of Lopud. The symposium Return to the Sea spanned across the opening of Oceans in its two locations to inaugurate the exhibition by focusing on the important issues facing the oceans today and on the policies that could bring about change as seen through the lens of art.

…like the movement of the ocean she’s walking on, coming from one continent/continuum, touching another, and then receding (“reading”) from the island(s) into the perhaps creative chaos of the(ir) future… —Kamau Brathwaite

Coined by the Barbadian poet-historian Kamau Brathwaite, the term tidalectics describes a worldview that draws on “the movement of the water backwards and forwards as a kind of cyclic motion, rather than linear.” In this spirit the exhibition suggests a different way of engaging with the oceans and the world we inhabit. Unbound by land-based modes of thinking and living, it is reflective of the rhythmic fluidity of water and the incessant swelling and receding of the tides.  Curated by Stefanie Hessler, Oceans is comprised of nine new commissions, many the result of the Academy’s expeditions in the Pacific Ocean, alongside some exceptional pieces from the TBA21 collection.

You can find out more about the exhibition and download booklet here. The entrance to the exhibition is 100 kuna and you can buy them online here.

*Note: Photos have been taken from tba21 web site. The authors of the photos are Miljenko Bernfes (1 & 2) and Michael Strasser (3 & 4)

Olafur Eliasson and David Adjaye | Your black horizon Art Pavilion |  May 18 – September 30, 2018 | Free entrance

Your black horizon Art Pavilion is an interdisciplinary project by artist Olafur Eliasson and architect David Adjaye, commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, in which the fields of art and architecture are merged into an “interlocking equation”, wherein ephemeral visual appearance and architectural formulations exist simultaneously. Inaugurated in June 2005 as an official project at the 51st Bienniale di Venezia, the pavilion has moved to the island of Lopud in Croatia in 2007, where it found an (im)permanent home. 2017 marks the 10th anniversary on of the iconic artwork on Lopud.

Embedded in Lopud’s rich Renaissance heritage and preserved nature, nestled in a sloping terrain of cypress trees, cacti and olive groves, Your black horizon Art Pavilion reveals new meanings of the Mediterranean landscape. The pavilion seeks new modes of artistic and architectural engagement with the given locality, to embrace an interaction with nature and local communities and to engage a wider appreciation of the role of art in unexpected sites and circumstances.

Following the idea of sharing a wider appreciation of art and architecture in unconventional locations, the pavilion establishes a daring interdisciplinary collaboration. The visitors are welcomed to the pavilion through a louvered outdoor corridor, which also serves as an observation platform of the landscape. The ramped passage performs an orchestrated move, which slows the journey and focuses the attention. Once inside the windowless pavilion, a thin horizontal line of light directed through a narrow gap at eye level, encircles and invades the black space, uninterrupted by any visual obstruction. Eliasson describes the spatial and visual experience of accessing the pavilion and being drawn into the light installation as follows: “Both pavilion and horizon work with sequentiality and light: The visitor moves from the entrance of the pavilion, to seeing natural daylight filtered through its louvers, to the passageway leading into the interior (…), which brings one into the black space with your black horizon.” Adjaye added: “This project affords a unique opportunity in which the artist and architect share the same studio (albeit metaphorically) to engage, to respond to one another, and to respond to the site specified for the pavilion.”

You can find out more about the exhibition, download detailed info catalog and brochure here. The entrance to the exhibition is completely free.

*Note: Information on the exhibition has been taken from tba21 web site.