What, How & for Whom/WHW is a curatorial collective formed in 1999 in Zagreb, based in Berlin and Zagreb. Its members are curators Ivet Ćurlin, Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić, and Sabina Sabolović, and designer and publicist Dejan Kršić. What, how and for whom, the three basic questions of every economic organization, also concern the planning, concept, and realization of exhibitions, as well as the production and distribution of artworks and the artist’s position in the labor market.
In her talk, member of What, How & for Whom/WHW collective Ivet Ćurlin will discuss ways in which the local perspective of working in Zagreb continuously influences their curatorial practice. As many other European countries, Croatia is facing the devastating side-effects of radical right-wing populism and historical revisionism. How can we rethink exhibitions as interventionist forms in ideological, political and material circumstances of high adversity? The presentation will touch upon several projects from different periods, from the very beginning of their practice to the most recent ones.
These questions what, how and for whom formed the title of WHW’s first project dedicated to the 152nd anniversary of the Communist Manifesto, in 2000 in Zagreb, and became the motto of WHW’s work and the title of the collective. Over the years, WHW developed projects in different geographical and cultural contexts and on different institutional scales, inspired by queer-feminist, anti-fascist and decolonizing ideas and with a goal to set impulses for aesthetic and ideological debates in the field of contemporary art.
From 2003 to 2023, the WHW collective ran a program at the city-owned gallery Gallery Nova in Zagreb. In 2018, WHW launched a new international and experimental education program for emerging artists called WHW Akademija, based in Zagreb. From 2019 to 2024, Ivet Ćurlin, Nataša Ilić, and Sabina Sabolović were working as artistic directors of Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, while activities in Zagreb have continued under leadership of Ana Dević. Among other things they curated the 11th Istanbul Biennale (2009) and the Croatian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011). In 2024, Ivet Ćurlin, Nataša Ilić and Sabina Sabolović were appointed as Artistic Directors of the next edition of Skulptur Projekte Münster, to be held in 2027.
Ivet Ćurlin’s lecture is held within the framework of her participation in the International Curators Visiting Program, initiated by ΕΜΣΤ with the aim of promoting the work of contemporary Greek artists beyond the borders of Greece.
Τhe talk will be in English.
TICKETS
Free entrance – A limited number of tickets will be available half an hour before the event at the Museum’s tickets office, on a first-come, first-served basis.
ΕΜΣΤ INTERNATIONAL CURATORS VISITING PROGRAMME-GREECE 2.0
The EMΣΤ International Curators Visiting Programme and Ivet Ćurlin’s lecture are implemented within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
