Compelled by Fright and Beauty

Opens Saturday, May 9 At Palazzo Zorzi, in the exhibition Compelled by Fright and Beauty, Dubravka Lošić will present an assembly of works, in an ambient that invites the audience to a sober, vulnerable contemplation in a space between the frightening and the beautiful. In different materials, from hard metals to soft wool, Lošić creates strict structures and then she opens up to impulses, deciding what to contain and protect, what to reveal and let flow out. Creating each work becomes a meditative, almost musical process, blending melancholy and hope, essential to her practice and resonating with this year's theme, In Minor Keys. Lošić often exhibits in unconventional spaces: abandoned factories, shrapnel-scarred hotels, desacralised churches, and 15th-century fortresses. Each space is full of history and context that she respects and acknowledges, but does not provide explicit commentary to. Instead, Lošić creates places of contemplation and awareness. In Minor Keys also speaks of places for rest and deep listening. Accordingly, Palazzo Zorzi will become a place of refuge. It will not offer escapism, but calm and consolation, away from the crowds and the chaos within and without. The Croatian Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia – is commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia. Commissioner: Ministry of Culture and Media Curator: Branko Franceschi