[spectre] exhibition Critical Tourism . grey) (area

[Darko Fritz]

Critical Tourism

Kortil Gallery, Rijeka
7 - 29 May 2024.

Artists: Boris Cvjetanović, Jana Dabac, Vitar Drinković, Katerina Duda, Darko Fritz, Dina Gligo i Vedran Gligo, Igor Grubić, Božena Končić Badurina, Andreja Kulunčić, Jelena Lovrec, Maja Marković, Edita Pecotić, Ivan Ramljak, projekt Reciplaža (Valerija Jurjević, Sanda Hančević, Darko Fritz), Ilija Šoškić, Vice Tomasović
Curator: Darko Fritz

Critical tourism implies a critique of haphazard touristification and the reflection of its social and aesthetic connotations. Critical tourism is aimed at modelling an interdisciplinary critical discourse that challenges the commercial strive for mono-economy of tourism in Croatia and elsewhere, and its consequences on cultural, social and spatial development. The exhibition represents a selection of works of artists produced or coproduced by the grey) (area association, a space of contemporary and media art from Korčula, with three of its members also being exhibitors: Darko Fritz, Edita Pecotić, and Ivan Ramljak.
On the one hand, grey) (area seeks to actively include contemporary local and international creativity within the existing framework of so-called cultural tourism, which primarily relies on traditional contents of cultural heritage. With the programme of artistic residencies, production of works in Korčula and personal presence of artists and guest curators in programme implementation, grey) (area contributes to the active participation of artists/visitors, whereby it displaces them from the passive/consumerist position of a tourist. On the other hand, through one of the programme lines entitled Critical Tourism, grey) (area presents a selection of artistic works and projects reflecting on various, primarily negative consequences of tourism, with emphasis on the concept of common goods of a community, such as public space and infrastructure. The exhibition represents a selection of works of artists who critically thematise tourism in general through artistic interpretations of said topic, using them as tools for commenting and criticising the dominant sociocultural and political-economic practices while putting emphasis on and directing the view towards the ethics, poetics, and policies of space. As case studies, its methodologies can be applied to similar tourist locations/destinations all over the world.

The starting point of all activities of grey) (area is learning and knowledge through practice. The same methodology is applied to artistic and curatorial research: the projects do not depart from set premises, but rather establish themselves in theoretical discoveries during the project, through practice. I term this methodology curatorial practice a posteriori, curating as praxis. In this very notion I see a significant deviation from the dominant curatorial practices of contemporary art in recent decades, ever since the curators have taken over the role of main authors who often illustrate with the artworks their own, previously set theses, postulates, and theories. This achieves merely an illusion of curatorial and artistic interactions since the hypotheses have been set in advance, with the top-down method, and primarily represent the curator’s aesthetics, while the artworks are merely a tool of its actualisation. I term such aspect a priori curating. Contrary to this, grey) (area operates through curatorial practices a posteriori, through the application of praxis in the context of contemporary art, where discoveries are accumulated and aesthetics are formed through years-long programmatic guidelines following the merely indicated starting positions of curatorial initiations. In the field of common interest of the curator and the artist, the curator listens to art instead of imposing it. This is how the programmatic guideline of grey) (area entitled Critical Tourism developed, which is achieved through a years-long, open programme. The results of the second programmatic guideline, entitled History of Contemporaneity, offer possible solutions to questions opened up by Critical Tourism, thus indicating good cultural and artistic practices from the history of the 21st century and the specificity of the island of Korčula as the model of sustainable insular development. Through the project guideline History of Contemporaneity, grey) (area actualises a series of years-long scientific and research projects that include the production and presentation of new artworks. The scientific research Industrial Heritage of the Island of Korčula, led by Marija Borovičkić and Lea Vene, was represented at the exhibition with the artist’s book If the Factory Honked by Božena Končić Badurina, issued following the workshop Fabrikivanje, Industrial Heritage of Vela Luka. The scientific and artistic research International Artists’ Meetings in Vela Luka 1960–1972, led by Darko Fritz, was presented with his experimental film Imagined Futures: Tourism. The research on architect and designer Bernardo Bernardi with emphasis on projects implemented on the island of Korčula, led by Darko Fritz and Sani Sardelić, was presented through the artwork Interior Standstill by Maja Marković, created following the artistic residency in Korčula. The production of the art poster by Igor Grubić, related to Korčula Summer School and the journal Praxis – the gathering place of philosophers and thinkers from all over the world in the period between 1963 and 1974 – was also initiated. grey) (area was the first on the island of Korčula to present the film works by Mihovil Pansini, born in the town of Korčula, while Ivan Ramljak and Darko Fritz led the research project Cinematography of Adriatic Islands, encompassing the research of history of film screening and the mapping of all locations at which cinemas functioned permanently or temporarily, as well as providing an insight into the programme and distribution of films. The scientific and artistic research encompasses the interdisciplinary approach of curators, artists, cultural anthropologists and other experts, as well as the local community, institutions, associations and initiatives presented in a series of exhibitions, artistic projects, scientific symposia, texts, public lectures, and on the Association’s website.

The project guidelines Critical Tourism and History of Contemporaneity offer new models of recognising and valorising cultural and artistic heritage by starting from the island of Korčula, but also by transgressing the established territorial framework. These areas of artistic and cultural practices are noted and singled out as relevant for the contemporary moment that is in dialogue with the future. The set topics are elaborated over a longer time as presentations and productions of relevant content, whereby aesthetic potential is accumulated and the theoretical framework is potentially formed. The attitude is cognised and accepted based on experience and perception, a posteriori, unlike the today-dominating curatorial practice which a prioriconditions the aesthetics of that which is shown, wherewith the presentation of these artworks can be comprehended as an open system for the accumulation of knowledge through aesthetic perception.

Darko Fritz


Critical tourism
travelling group exhibition created in collaboration with:
Kortil gallery, HKD, Rijeka (May 7 - 29, 2024)
Striegl gallery, Sisak (June 14 - September 15, 2024)
Flora Media Library, Dubrovnik (June 14 - September 15, 2024)
Museum of Red History, Dubrovnik (November 5 - November 30, 2024)
gray) (area, Korčula

Gallery Kortil
Strossmayerova 1, Rijeka
Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m
on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m

More information:
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