KRAK Center for contemporary culture, in Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina), is established in 2020 as a result of endeavors in the field of critical theory, art/design practice and civic engagement. Its conceptual context is framed by post-socialist and post-industrial characteristics – unsuccessful and painful transformation from Yugoslav socialism into post-Yugoslav neoliberal capitalism. Main marks of that period are conflicted relations, depopulation, poverty and trauma. KRAK focus is on contemporary culture including visual arts, design and social theory as a frame for proactive practice. It is imagined as a participative project with different protagonists who use the tools of social engagement and urban transformation to foster process of learning, informal education and cultural exchange. KRAK launched its first program in 2021 where questions of migrations, identity, public space and visual culture were critically addressed and bespoken.
Irfan Hošić holds a PhD from the Department of Art History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb. His field of research is Bosnian art of the 20th and 21st century. He won the BIRN Journalism Award (Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Belgrade) in 2012 and the Patterns Lectures Award from the Erste Stiftung and WUS Austria in Vienna in 2016. Irfan Hošić was the curator of the Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), entitled Garden of Delights by the artist Mladen Miljanović. In 2013, he was a lecturer at the Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan and in 2019 at the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University (USA). He won the Basileus Scholarship for a ten-month postdoctoral research stay at the University of Ghent (Belgium) in 2013/2014 academic year, Weiser scholarships for a research project at the University of Michigan (USA) in 2015 and Green Tech scholarships for a research stay at the University of Paderborn (Germany) in 2017. During 2019/2020, as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar, he attended the College for Creative Studies and Wayne State University in Detroit (USA). He founded the Revizor Foundation in 2017. Hošić holds a position of Associate Professor at the University of Bihać. He writes reviews and works as a curator.
Bosnia-Herzegovina and plethora of borders
Since the fall of Yugoslavia in the nineties, Bosnia-Herzegovina as one of the six former Yugoslav republics, is still caught in a complicated political situation saturated by Serbian/Croatian separatism and Bosnian unitarism. Divided into two semi-autonomous and self-governing units, and under an extensive international supervision, Bosnia-Herzegovina is tormented by an unsuccessful transition from socialism to capitalism, and from war to peace. Verified by the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995, the country emerged as a dynamic laboratory for global diplomacy efforts and a variety of social experiments. In that context the question of borders has been a focal point for diverse artistic research. Artists are using state-, regional-, cantonal- or mental borders as an artistic element loaded with various meanings. The spectrum of interpretation of that artistic vocabulary spans from narration to fiction. In the Bosnian case, border has been perceived as isolation, division, enslavement, insecurity, threat and conflict. This presentation examines artworks made by Gordana Anđelić Galić, Lovro Artuković, Maja Bajević, Nermin Duraković, Šejla Kamerić, Mladen Miljanović, Borjana Mrđa, Alma Suljević and some others.
Mehmed Mahmutović graduated from the Faculty of Economics, University of Bihać, Department of Marketing and Management in 2021. From 2017 to 2018, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Youth Press Association in BiH. In 2018, on behalf of the Schüler Helfen Leben Foundation in BiH, he was appointed Ambassador of Youth and Activism in BiH for his activist work. The same year, at the Brave New Media Festival in Belgrade, he won the award for the best photograph given by Deutsche Welle. He is the winner of the Recognition for the contribution and promotion of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Bihać and the Letter of Appreciation for the contribution to the work and development of this institution on the occasion of 20 years of work and existence. He also won an Award for the use of the library and other services awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education. He worked as a correspondent for the BHRT Youth Program. He is a member of the editorial board of the youth magazine Karike. He writes poetry and prose, which is published on several regional web portals, such as Insp.rs and Blacksheep.rs.
Silence and Echoes of a Landscape
A conversation with poet, photographer, and cultural worker Mehmed Mahmutović about the landscape, human heritage, family history, and social, political, cultural, and environmental complexities of a homeland. Mehmed will share stories of his art-practice shaped by the post-genocide and postwar context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the everyday echoes demand attention and reflection. Participants will hear selected poems from his debut poetry book Nikakav plivač (Unresourceful Swimmer)- a culmination of reflections on attempting to navigate the society in which he grew up and was shaped. Book consists of 57 poems through which the poet digs and sifts through the rules and norms of the surroundings. He will reflect on his activist path and projects like Urban Poetry, an initiative that brings poetry into the public space.
This poetry picnic is an invitation to pause, listen, reflect, transform, and make a dialogue more open.
Adnan Suljkanović graduated from the Department of Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Sarajevo in 2008. From 2006, he worked in the marketing agencies Direct Media and BBDO, where he gained experience working with clients such as m:tel, UNDP and EUPM. He has been working as a freelance designer since 2010, his clients include Collegium Artisticum City Gallery, Bosniak Institute, Gazi Husrev-beg Library and others. He has won numerous recognitions and awards, such as the Golden Badge of the University of Sarajevo and the Student of the Generation of the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo in 2008, Favorite design award for packaging design in 2016. His work has been exhibited at the Pera Museum in Istanbul and the Magdalena Festival in Maribor, and has been included in Asim Đelilović's book Museum in Exile. He is a member of ULUPUBiH. He is currently pursuing postgraduate studies at the Department of Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Sarajevo.
KRAK guest:
Nermin Duraković is a visual artist and educator who works within the field of social and politically engaged art. He has been working as an Associate Professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and over the past two decades, he has contributed to the development of various cultural and social initiatives. Among other projects, Duraković has been working with the structural understanding of migration politics, making a number of art projects, exhibitions and lectures that relates to this topic.
Artist's webpage.
Addressing Migration Politics through Art
On May 9th 2025, he will discuss how visual artists can engage with and address the complexities of migration politics. The lecture will be structured around some of his own projects and reflections, connecting art production with the ethical and moral questions that often emerge when working within this topic.
