David Maljkovic

The film was shot in the museum of EXAT-51 founding member Vjenceslav Richter and uses audio from a final interview with the artist and architect. EXAT-51 – short for Experimental Ateliers – was a group of Croatian avant garde artists and architects active in Zagreb between 1950 and 1956 whose practice aimed to obtain legitimacy for abstract art and experimental art practices, practices that were totally opposed to the officially sanctioned Socialist Realism. Maljkovic’s film captures the idealism of the period to prompt a consideration of our own postideological times but also to highlight the necessity of coming to terms with history in order to move into the future. 'Images With Their Own Shadows' (2008) is a 16mm film shot at the museum estate of EXAT 51 member Vjenceslav Richter and uses audio from a final interview with the artist and architect. One sees a black screen with subtitles, where Richter speaks of certain moments of his history as an artist. This alternates with scenes of young people that are shown with their mouths open as if they are about to speak, but all one can hear is the sound of the projector. The artist has constructed a scupltural framing for the projection recalling both Constructivism of the 1920s as well as the radical utopian architecture of the 1960s and 1970s.