The Museum of Contemporary Art (, often abbreviated to MSU) is a

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

located on

Dubrovnik Avenue Dubrovnik Avenue () is an avenue located in the Novi Zagreb part of Zagreb, Croatia. It is mostly six or eight lanes wide. Built in the mid 1950s, it runs for 4 kilometers between the roundabout beneath the southward extension of the Youth Bridge ( ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country. Vesna Meštrić is current director of MSU, replacing

Zdenka Badovinac Zdenka Badovinac is a curator and writer, was the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia. She served between 1993 and 2021 as director of the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana, comprised since 2011 of two locations: the Museum ...

in late 2023 first temporarily and as of 2024 officially.

History

The museum traces its origins from the ''City Gallery of Contemporary Art'' which was established in 1954. The gallery was located at the Kulmer Palace in the Upper Town area and also housed the ''Center for Photography, Film and Television'' and a museum library. Due to lack of space the original museum never had a permanent display.

Architecture

In 1998, a decision was made to move the museum to a brand new building on the corner of Dubrovnik and Većeslav Holjevac avenues in

Novi Zagreb Novi Zagreb () is the part of the city of Zagreb located south of the Sava, Sava river. Novi Zagreb forms a distinct whole because it is separated from the northern part of the city both by the river and by the levees around Sava. At the same time ...

district. A competition for the building's design was held, and architect Igor Franić's design was chosen out of 85 entries submitted. The cornerstone for the new building was laid in November 2003, and the new museum finally opened on 11 December 2009, after six years of construction which was beset with several delays. Originally planned to cost around 200 million HRK, the cost eventually amounted to 450 million HRK (around 84 million

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

), invested in equal parts by the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

and the City of Zagreb. Msu-museum-contemporary-art-zagreb-2

The present building has a total area of 14,600 m², out of which 3,500 m² is reserved for its permanent collection and around 1,500 m² is designated for occasional exhibitions. The building also houses a library, a multimedia hall, a bookstore, cafe and a restaurant.

Permanent Collection

The museum houses a total of 12,000 objects (of which around 600 are on permanent display) and numerous works by contemporary Croatian artists, including

Vojin Bakić Vojin Bakić ( sr-cyrl, Војин Бакић; 5 June 1915 – 18 December 1992) was a prominent Yugoslav sculptor. Educated at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and by Ivan Meštrović and Frano Kršin ...

, Boris Bućan,

Tošo Dabac Tošo Dabac (; 18 May 1907 – 9 May 1970) was a Croatian photographer of international renown. Although his work was often exhibited and prized abroad, Dabac spent nearly his entire working career in Zagreb. While he worked on many different ...

Braco Dimitrijević Slobodan "Braco" Dimitrijević (born 18 June 1948) is a former Yugoslav and French conceptual artist. His works deal mainly with history and the individual's place in it. He lives and works in Paris, France since 1980s. He has exhibited intern ...

, Tomislav Gotovac, Benko Horvat,

Alexandar Battista Ilić Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

Sanja Iveković Sanja Iveković (born 1949 in Zagreb) is a Croatian photographer, performer, sculptor and installation artist. Her work is known to tackle such issues as female identity, media, consumerism, and political strife. Considered to be one of the leading ...

Anto Jerković Anto or Antos may refer to: * Anto (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name * Antos (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name * Antofagasta PLC, stock symbol ANTO * Antăș (Hungarian: ''Antos''), ...

Julije Knifer Julije Knifer (23 April 1924 – 7 December 2004) was a Croatian abstract painter and a founding member of the 1960s Croatian art collective known as the Gorgona Group. The central motif of Knifer's art is the exploration of Meander (art), meander ...

, Zlatko Kopljar,

Ivan Kožarić Ivan Kožarić (10 June 1921, Petrinja – 15 November 2020, Zagreb) was a Croatian artist who worked primarily with sculpture but also in a wide variety of media, including permanent and temporary sculptures, assemblages, proclamations, photograph ...

Vlado Kristl Vladislav "Vlado" Kristl (24 January 1923, Zagreb, Croatia – 7 July 2004, Munich, Germany) was a filmmaker and artist, best known for his animations and short films. Biography Vladislav "Vlado" Kristl was born 24 January 1923 in Zagreb, Croat ...

, Vlado Martek, Dalibor Martinis, Ivan Picelj,

Vjenceslav Richter Vjenceslav Richter (; 8 April 1917 – 2 December 2002) was a Croatian architect. He was also known for his work in the fields of urbanism, sculpture, graphic arts, painting, and stage design. Career In 1949, Richter graduated at the Department ...

, Edita Schubert,

Mladen Stilinović Mladen Stilinović (10 April 1947 – 18 July 2016) was a Croatian conceptual artist and one of the leading figures of the so-called "New Art Practice" in Croatia. He lived and worked in Zagreb, Croatia. Early life Stilinović was born in Belgr ...

Miroslav Šutej Miroslav Šutej (29 April 1936 – 13 May 2005) was a Croatian avant-garde painter and graphic artist. Biography Šutej was born in Duga Resa in 1936. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb and was an associate in Krsto Hegedu� ...

; as well as international contemporary artists such as

Getulio Alviani Getulio Alviani (5 September 1939 in Udine – 24 February 2018 in Milan) was an Italian painting, painter based in Milan. He is considered to be an important International Op Art, Optical - Kinetic art, kinetic artist. Life and work Alviani w ...

, Alberto Biasi,

Max Bill Max Bill (22 December 1908 – 9 December 1994) was a Swiss architect, artist, painter, typeface designer, industrial designer and graphic designer. Early life and education Bill was born in Winterthur. After an apprenticeship as a silversmit ...

Piero Dorazio Piero Dorazio (Rome, June 29, 1927 - Perugia, May 17, 2005) was an Italian painter. His work was related to color field painting, lyrical abstraction and other forms of abstract art. Early life Dorazio was born in Rome. His father was a civil s ...

Julio Le Parc Julio Le Parc (born September 23, 1928) is an Argentina-born artist who focuses on both modern op art and kinetic art. Le Parc attended the School of Fine Arts in Argentina. A founding member of Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) and award ...

Richard Mortensen Richard Mortensen (23 October 1910 – 6 January 1993) was a Danish painter. Biography Richard Strange Mortensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied between 1931 and 1932 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Influenced by the ...

Otto Piene Otto Piene (, 18 April 1928 – 17 July 2014) was a German-American artist specializing in kinetic art, kinetic and technology-based art, often working collaboratively. He lived and worked in Düsseldorf, Germany; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and G ...

Jesús Rafael Soto Jesús Rafael Soto (June 5, 1923 – January 14, 2005) was a Venezuelan Kinetic art, kinetic and Op art, op artist, a sculptor and a painter. His works can be found in the collections of the main museums of the world, including Tate Modern, Tate ...

Victor Vasarely Victor Vasarely (; born Győző Vásárhelyi, ; 9 April 1906 – 15 March 1997) was a Hungarian-French artist, who is widely accepted as a "grandfather" and leader of the Op art movement. His work titled ''Zebra'', created in 1937, i ...

Marina Abramović Marina Abramović ( sr-Cyrl, Марина Абрамовић, ; born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, the relationship between the performer and audience, the limit ...

Dorothy Cross Dorothy Cross (born 1956) is an Irish artist. Working with differing media, including sculpture, photography, video and installation art, installation, she represented Republic of Ireland, Ireland at the 1993 Venice Biennale. Central to her work ...

Katarzyna Kozyra Katarzyna Kozyra (born 1963) is a Polish video artist. She studied German studies at the Warsaw University, University of Warsaw (1985–1988). In 1993, she also graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where she studied sculpture and Hoc ...

, etc. The '' Test Site'' metal sculpture by

Carsten Höller Carsten Höller (born December 1961) is a German artist. He lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.Alice Rawsthorn (January 2012)"Cliff Hanger - The Ghanaian home of artists Carsten Höller and Marcel Odenbach goes above—and beyond" '' W Magazin ...

was installed in the entrance hall of the museum in time for the official opening, as were installations by

and

Mirosław Bałka Miroslaw Balka (born 16 December 1958) is a Polish contemporary sculptor and video artist. Life and career Miroslaw Balka is a sculptor also active in the field of experimental video and drawing, born in Warsaw, Poland. In 1985 he graduated fr ...

( Eyes of Purification) in front of the building's south side entrance.

References

External links

Official websiteBrochure with basic information about the museum in EnglishArticle about museum's history
published in ''

Vijenac ''Vijenac'' ( English: '' The Wreath'') is a biweekly magazine for literature, art and science, established in December 1993 and published by ''Matica hrvatska'', the central national cultural institution in Croatia. Historical background The ...

'' {{authority control Art museums and galleries in Zagreb Contemporary art galleries in Europe Novi Zagreb 1954 establishments in Croatia Art museums and galleries established in 1954 Art museums and galleries established in 2009 Modernist architecture in Croatia Recipients of the Charter of the Republic of Croatia

History

Architecture

Permanent Collection

See also

References

External links