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SUMMARY

This program booklet documents the “Thinking Sculpture” workshop held in Split in 2018 and 2019 as part of a research project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. The workshop focuses on Vasko Lipovac’s sculptural legacy in the public spaces of Split, with special emphasis on the fate of the “Blue Tree” sculpture, modular sculptures in the Split 3 neighborhood, and the famous “Cyclists”. The booklet includes an editorial by Dalibor Prančević and four critical essays by young researchers (Petra Dajak, Dora Derado, Božo Kesić, Mirela Plenković) examining the relationship between institutions, politics, and the public regarding Lipovac’s work.

INTEGRAL TEXT

THINKING SCULPTURE

THINKING SCULPTURE — PROGRAM BOOKLET AND WORKSHOP MATERIALS Workshop accompanying the research project of the Croatian Science Foundation Appearances of Modern Sculpture in Croatia: Sculpture at the Crossroads of Socio-Political Pragmatism, Economic Possibilities, and Aesthetic Contemplation, number IP-2016-06-2112

WORKSHOP PROGRAM OCTOBER 5, 2018 Conversation with Mario Lipovac 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Head of the Vasko Lipovac Atelier, Vasko Lipovac Atelier Split) and Prof. Mag. Tadej Vukovarska 8a, Split Glažar (Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana) Vasko Lipovac and the Significance of His Work for the Culture of the City of Split OCTOBER 6, 2018 Conversation with Barbara 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM Vujanović (Senior Curator of the Meštrović Gallery Meštrović Atelier, Zagreb) Šetalište Ivana Possibilities of Interpreting Meštrovića 46, Split a Sculptural Practice: Zlatko Bourek and His Artistic Habitus NOVEMBER – Research, realization, and submission DECEMBER 2018 of working essays on the issues of Vasko Lipovac’s works in Split FEBRUARY 27, 2019 Discussion panel of workshop 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM participants Council Hall of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split Poljička cesta 35, Split ORGANIZERS AND Dalibor Prančević, WORKSHOP LEADERS Barbara Vujanović WORKSHOP Petra Dajak, Dora Derado, PARTICIPANTS Božo Kesić, Maja Kodžoman, Mia Kragujević, Mirela Plenković

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL — Asst. Prof. Dalibor Prančević, PhD The Thinking Sculpture workshop was conceived as a platform for the dissemination of knowledge about sculpture, i.e., as a discursive place for examining its characteristics and contemporary appearances, but also for its critical questioning. The workshop was organized as part of the research project of the Croatian Science Foundation Appearances of Modern Sculpture in Croatia: Sculpture at the Crossroads of Socio-Political Pragmatism, Economic Possibilities, and Aesthetic Contemplation, whose fundamental task is to temporally determine, spatially examine, and terminologically define twentieth-century sculpture in Croatia, as well as to synchronically and diachronically observe its stylistic and morphological changes. This workshop is intended for the general public, although the target group is young researchers and students in the fields of humanities and social sciences, primarily art history. The sculptural legacy of Vasko Lipovac, one of the most important but inexplicably little-present sculptors in the public space of the city of Split, served as the thematic framework for reflection. His works intended for the public sphere, which are today subject to various processes of interpretation, served as the starting point for reflection. It is interesting how Lipovac’s sculptures appeared and disappeared in the public space of the city, how they are absent although extremely important, known to everyone, yet marked as phantom presences: you would swear they are there around the corner, but they are not! Considering the possibility of permanently extracting the work and legacy of Vasko Lipovac from the city of Split served as a leitmotif for writing the four critical texts presented in this booklet and as a way of asking questions about the relative slowness of the realization of “bringing” Vasko’s works to the public space of Split with all the truth of their sculptural, aesthetic, and semantic meaning. One should, for example, ask where those seductive Cyclists of Vasko’s are? When will they set off for Rovinj, Lausanne, or perhaps even further, to New York?

SCULPTURES WITH WHICH VASKO LIPOVAC MANAGED TO ENRICH THE SPACE, BUT NOT THE MAN… — Petra Dajak Vasko Lipovac deeply believed that people have a need for art. He does not think of an artwork as a gallery exhibit, but as an artwork intended for the space in which we move daily (Kovačić, 1975). Therefore, he believed that sculptures or any other form of fine art in public space are necessary to beautify man’s “rough everyday life” (Mlivončić, 1974). This text will discuss the modular sculptures of Vasko Lipovac that were supposed to be placed in Ruđer Bošković Street, as defined by the Smrdečac urban development plan back in 1970. The placement of sculptures in that street never occurred, so this text will also reflect on a related one-day intervention by Lipovac in another part of Split 3, which actually preceded the implementation plan for Ruđer Bošković Street. In order to more clearly consider possible artistic solutions and the artist’s intentions for sculptures in the newly built part of the city, this text will attempt to explain more closely the logic by which the artist creates sculptures for public space. Although he left little written about projects for public sculptures in the streets of Split 3, numerous newspaper articles and interviews testify to the artist’s worldview and reflections. Observing the current situation in the city, the artist decides on a self-initiated intervention of making and placing sculptures in the newly built settlements of Split 3. He decided to show his ideas with a concrete example and placed some of his modular sculptures in Braće Borozan Street (today Šime Ljubić Street). Lipovac began working on the sculptures for the “trial intervention” in the new Split 3 settlement a year earlier, self-initiatedly because, as he states, “hardly anyone dares to invite an author or announce a competition to enrich the free space with some form” (Škunca, 1975), and the goal of his one-day installation in Braće Borozan Street was to show that a simple intervention can give a human note to the space. The sculptures were placed as a one-day installation, photographed, and then removed. Lipovac’s objects for “enriching the space” consisted mainly of spherical and semi-spherical elements and rounded cubes that were solid in shape or with “slice-like cutouts” (Kečkemet, 1975), and the artist arranged them by placing several independent elements on top of each other in a vertical composition. His sculptures are characterized by simplicity and rationally determined relationships of shape and color. The “cut-out” parts gave a stronger impression of volume, and the play of light and shadow creates an impression of dynamics (Kečkemet, 1975). Vasko’s sculptures are a perfect blend of geometric purity and organic forms that form a harmonious composition. In addition, interconnected independent volumes also try to create a harmonious relationship with the environment in which they are located. By varying several different heights, the sculptures in Braće Borozan Street create their own rhythm and dynamics, and by stacking several independent simplified elements on top of each other, Lipovac creates a composition that corresponds to the architecture and landscape of the newly built settlement. The importance of Vasko Lipovac’s sculptures is not in the content, but they are the result of cooperation with architects and an attempt to establish a relationship between architecture and the artwork. Conversations with the designers of Split 3 led him to think about an open children’s kindergarten, which explains the kind of “play” of colors and shapes in the space (Škunca, 1975). Also, by vertically placing the sculptures, the artist enriches the space of that street without taking away its basic function of passability and social component. After his one-day intervention in Trstenik, Vasko Lipovac exhibits his sculptures for “new urban spaces” at a solo exhibition in the “Art Salon” in Split in June 1974. The exhibition was conceived by the artist himself to point to possible artistic-plastic interventions in the areas of Split 3 that had been built up until then (Kolacio, 1974). Small-scale sculptures (models) were exhibited at the exhibition, as well as sculptures in their full size. The models of the exhibited sculptures were made in wood, while the large sculptures were made of cast plastic or covered with colored plastic plaster (Kečkemet, 1975). With his artistic solutions, he paid attention not only to the shape but also to new materials that he could apply, taking into account the costs of making individual modules and placing such a sculpture in space (Kolacio, 1974). “I reduced the form to two or three elements, which does not mean, says Lipovac, either that this form is definitive, or that everything has been said by it. I reduced it to a multiple, consciously, again I would say for two reasons. First, a work that can be multiplied by stacking elements and color is cheaper in price than a unique piece in bronze. Then, modern materials are involved: asbestos brick, cement, cast concrete, polyester…” (Škunca, 1975). There are not many records about the planned sculptures for Ruđer Bošković Street, so we can only guess about their appearance. It is known that these were sculptures that were also supposed to be modular, like the sculptures temporarily placed in Braće Borozan Street. Unfortunately, we will never be able to establish with certainty what the artist actually planned, how he imagined those sculptures, or which colors and elements he planned to use. Based on Lipovac’s legacy, with the help of the artist’s family and close associates and with the professional help of art historians, we could probably reach an acceptable solution or take some of the existing templates of his modular sculptures, but it will never be completely the artist’s intervention. However, given that his sculptures do not deal with any complex issues nor are they tied to specific dates, anniversaries, or physical persons, but their goal and function is the aesthetic enrichment of space, we can ask ourselves wouldn’t other sculptures also be able to enrich the space even if they were not in the artist’s original idea? This is supported by a quote from Duško Kečkemet, who states that the artist “does not give an exclusive and final shape to those combinations of volumes of his, but allows different solutions, even individual interventions by the user. In this is the liveliness and flexibility of his objects, and at the same time a human and intimate relationship of trust towards those for whom the sculptures are intended.” (Kečkemet, 1975). The artist himself testifies to the reasons that prompted him to make the sculptures, as well as further intentions. “I started working on the form that grew into an object or sculpture a year ago, self-initiatedly, at no one’s request, for two reasons. The first is curiosity, and the second is to initiate something regardless of who will do it and where it will be done…” (Škunca, 1975). In numerous interviews, Vasko Lipovac clearly makes it known that his forms are not final and that interventions on them are possible and allowed. He certainly succeeded in his intention to initiate something, but it seems that we are not succeeding in continuing it. Unlike usual public monuments, the sculptures and other works of Vasko Lipovac deal with intimist and universal human contents that do not directly participate in daily political discussions, and they remain so even when placed in public space. Indeed, what Lipovac’s sculpture promotes are human values, which is why his sculptures are timeless (Šegvić, 2007). When he placed them in Šime Ljubić Street in Trstenik, with their artistic expression and rationality, the sculptures pointed to the modern era and the modern way of life. However, they can look the same today. Lipovac’s sculptures could be placed in the once-planned places in the Split 3 area. His sculptures would fit equally well in a park or a children’s kindergarten, as well as in a residential street, the old core, or in the newly built parts of Split. With his sculptures, Vasko Lipovac tries to reduce the weight of the dehumanized world and the new “grey and harsh” architecture. By bringing art to the street, into the spaces of man’s living and staying, he returns art to man. His aspiration was to create an atmosphere of “cheerfulness, optimism, and joy of life” so that man would feel as good as possible in the newly equipped and enriched space (Mlivončić, 1974).

Sources:

1. Kovačić, D. (1975). V. Lipovac, Just a tree and grass. Večernji list.
2. Kečkemet, D. (1975). Vasko Lipovac: exhibition of objects-sculptures, Art Salon, Split, June 6 – 18, 1974. Život umjetnosti, (22-23), 184–185.
3. Kolacio, Z. (1974). Lipovac’s plastic for new urban spaces. Čovjek i prostor, 21 (257), 33.
4. Mlivončić, I. (1974). Conversation with Vasko Lipovac: Enriched space. Slobodna Dalmacija.
5. Šegvić, E. (2007). KIP. Kulturna baština, (34), 309–350.
6. Škunca, J. (1975). One day of joy of Vasko Lipovac. Nedjeljni vjesnik.

Petra Dajak (Split, 1993) graduated in art history and English studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split. She is currently an intern curator- documentalist at the Meštrović Gallery.

SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PUBLIC SCULPTURE BY VASKO LIPOVAC: WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE HAVE UNTIL WE LOSE IT — Dora Derado At the end of 2017, on a wall inside the construction site where the new Split shopping center Small Mall was supposed to stand, a graffiti by an anonymous author appeared whose message read “I am withering without [the Blue Tree]” (Klarić, 2017). This silent protest against the removal of Lipovac’s sculpture from its original location in the immediate vicinity of the construction site, i.e., in front of the artist’s Atelier at the intersection of Vukovarska and Riječka streets in Split, is an echo of the prevailing feeling of disappointment, but also the civic condemnation of the people of Split towards something that could at best be called institutional neglect. Although the story of the Blue Tree ended happily when it found its “place under the sun” on the lawn in front of the Youth Home in June 2018, it can serve to illustrate the relationship of the authorities towards public sculpture and culture or, viewed somewhat more narrowly, towards the artist who is part of the fabric of the city of Split. The story of the Blue Tree begins on July 13, 2011, when this blue steel eight-meter sculpture was posthumously placed in front of the Vasko Lipovac Atelier on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the birth and 5th anniversary of the death of this versatile artist and sculptor. The sculpture was made free of charge by the workers of Brodosplit in honor of Vasko according to the artist’s designs, with the support of his family and friends and on the initiative of the VAL Association. It is important to emphasize that this is a sculpture in private ownership for which VAL received a temporary permit for placement on a public surface. Although it was originally planned that the sculpture would remain at that location only during the summer, it stood there for a full four years, until it was removed in November 2015 due to the start of work on the mentioned construction site. The removal of the Blue Tree caused stormy public reactions, and the sculpture in the meantime became a kind of symbol of resistance against the devastation of public space. After spending some time in storage, the sculpture was placed in Zagreb in 2017, in the Upper Town, as part of the artist’s retrospective exhibition at the Klovićevi dvori Gallery. That “trip” to Zagreb further emphasized the absurdity of the situation in which Split, the artist’s home city (by choice and activity), is not able to find an adequate place for one of his most recognizable works. The return of the Blue Tree to Split in 2018 and its placement at the new location at the Youth Home is the result of the persistence of the Lipovac family and public pressure. The new location, although aesthetically and spatially different from the original one, allowed the sculpture to once again become part of the everyday life of the people of Split. However, the case of the Blue Tree remains a warning about the fragility of public sculpture and the need for systematic care for artistic heritage in public space.

ON THE (IL)LOGIC OF PUBLIC SCULPTURE: THE POTENTIAL OF VASKO LIPOVAC IN SPLIT — Mirela Plenković Art in public space has often manifested itself as a sculptural form. The role and form of public sculpture are inseparable from the artistic, social, and political circumstances within which they arise and as such, whether they are in the function of aestheticization and humanization of space, marking places of public significance, or recording memories and events from collective history, they become a kind of genius loci. The memorial significance of sculpture is recognized by Rosalind Krauss as the most lasting and in the essay “Sculpture in the Expanded Field” she calls it the “logic of the monument” (1989). For centuries, the primary function of sculpture was its commemorative representation, permanently tied to a certain place. Such sculpture is mostly figurative and vertical, made in a durable material that will withstand the tooth of time and testify to the imperishability of what is depicted, and the pedestal on which it is mostly placed is a significant part of the structure because it functions as a mediator between the real place and the representative sign (Krauss, 1989). Today, a work of contemporary art in public space can no longer be analyzed “in a vacuum as an object in the context of art history” (Hackemann, 2012). Monumental sculpture is profiling itself as a dominant form of current artistic interventions in the public space of the city of Split. Initiatives for raising monuments are mostly initiated by individuals inadequate for that demanding formal and urbanistic challenge, and the opinion of the profession is ignored if it does not share the same worldviews and aesthetic (lack of) tastes. The result of that amateurish practice is as a rule anachronistic monumental plastic – figurative (understandable) sculpture, proudly wedged on a high pedestal and most often placed in a completely missed spatial environment. If the tradition of raising monuments is excluded, only a few examples of public plastic that is not of a commemorative character remain in Split (for example, Pirija by Kažimir Hraste, Blue Tree by Vasko Lipovac). An essential characteristic of Lipovac’s sculptures, and thus also of the Cyclists, is that they can be situated almost completely unobtrusively in relation to content, form, space, and observer. They are, in their “ordinariness,” easily receptive sculptures; they do not function as “incomprehensible” self-referential signs in space, they do not carry the heavy burden of history and responsibility because of it, but with a language close to everyone, they unambiguously communicate a common activity and a snippet from everyday life.

IMPRESSUM EDITIONS OF THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN SPLIT FOR THE PUBLISHER: Gloria Vickov EDITORS: Dalibor Prančević, Barbara Vujanović REVIEWERS: Frano Dulibić, Ivana Mance PROOFREADING AND CORRECTION: Ivana Bošković Ivičić ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Petra Dajak, Dora Derado, Božo Kesić, Mirela Plenković GRAPHIC DESIGN: Nikola Križanac PRINT: Dalmacijapapir, Split CIRCULATION: 200 copies Split, 2019. ISBN 978-953-352-031-5