25 Aug 2011

Lauba Art House: New Contemporary Art Space in Zagreb, Croatia

For its opening, Lauba is showing a combination of the works from the Filip Trade Collection and current art production. Works by the younger and middle generation of artists that have been systematically purchased by the Filip Trade Collection will finally have their exhibition space in the city. Lauba will present their current work, but also serve as a laboratory for art experiments and a place of cultural innovation.

During its first year, Lauba will present works from the Filip Trade Collection. The concept is called a Non-permanent exhibition as some of its segments will change on a monthly basis and thus continually offer the possibility of interpreting new stories. Such a non-permanent exhibition concept reflects the need for new and different interpretations and contextualizations of Modern and Contemporary art.

During each sequence of the Non-permanent exhibition concept, we will organize parallel exhibitions and different events, which will together form the interactive Lauba program. The difference between permanent displays and temporary exhibitions no longer exist, they are set up side by side and are mutually complementary. Artists with whom we collaborate will also continuously shape the program through their knowledge and skills. Our Collection enjoys the rare privilege of developing a personal relationship and direct communication with the people who are shaping the contemporary art scene. Our desire is to become a meeting place for artists and curators, artists and their audience – Lauba is a physical space that will finally allow us to create our own public programs, after years of secret collecting and frequent production and organization of exhibitions at our partners' institutions.

One of the guiding lines of our presentation of contemporary Croatian art is to develop a sense of continuity. Croatia has a great artistic tradition, which has resulted in many aesthetic tensions in our time, however radically different they may be in their form. Therefore, we are pleased to open our doors to show this rich collection of works from the time of Exat 51, New Tendencies, Gorgona Group, to the present day. Lauba brings together the past and the present, the established and the experimental, the old and the new.

Lauba encourages cooperation and the exchange of knowledge and exhibitions with similar institutions in order to monitor and support the current art production in Croatia and help it join the international trends. Through creative and interesting exhibition concepts and various additional programs, Lauba offers the general public an encounter with contemporary visual art. It is open to visiting curatorial concepts and art projects, who are invited to join us in creating the program in accordance with Lauba's mission.

The Lauba House program is headed by the Lauba art group and its curator Vanja Žanko. Our aim is to present and help discover new forms of artistic expression by Croatian visual artists, contribute to raising public awareness about Croatian Modern and Contemporary art, and participate in international cultural trends.

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You may have been wondering what the word Lauba means... This is a very personal word for a very personal space. Lauba stands for a circular venue and it was coined in the minds of a few boys who spent their childhood days in Vrbovec. We can probably find its origin in German word laub, which means leaves. A circular avenue with tree tops barely touching was a place for games as well as competitions. To run the entire Lauba without touching the ground, surpassing oneself. This was the sacred mission. When it was achieved, there was a new impossible challenge – to make a complete round with as few cuts as possible in the shortest period of time. Lauba has remained a synonym for initiation through a game. Lauba is now a place of experience, learning, entertainment and social interaction.