Margareta Belančić

Apartmanization
2021.
collage, oil on canvas, wood, 350 × 220 cm
“Apartmanization, apartment, apart from reality, a part of reality”
The layering, linguistic and artistic, in this work refers to a problem, also layered, still neglected, before which the eyes are closed; the work points to the problem of apartmanization, a problem that is only spreading, but whose solution is fiction. The fact is that the problem fills the budget and that the number of overnight stays is satisfactory. The fiction is that the problem exists. There is no problem. Therefore, today we offer a landscape of buildings, villas, and apartments of mediocre quality, on Booking.com represented by skillfully used tools of the photographic camera. The brand-new façade is another façade in a series of unfinished ones, but it was supposed to be open for the season. The pool is also there, right next to the sea, because one more star wouldn’t hurt; and the tiles are blue with black joints, but in the photo they were white. The artist manipulates the real space by cutting the images of buildings, houses, apartments, and interiors from fashionable magazines and creates a fictitious space, layered and unclear. It refers to the area of accommodation units on our (Croatian) coast decorated with fake shine. It problematizes the manipulation of the representation of real space through internet pages and the disappointment of the same when visiting it live. The artist transfers her experience to a fictitious world of layered collage spaces.
Brigita Siništaj

Margareta Belančić is a student in the Teaching Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in the class of Professor Marko Tadić. During her studies, she participated in several projects, among which she stands out: the scenography for the opera “Animal Farm”, which was performed in November 2021. She is currently participating in the European project “Empowering dance” in which she works on visuals for evoking soft skills in dance practice. She exhibited at the group exhibition “Široko oko” in the Gallery of Student Center, in the Šira Gallery at the “Literature of Banija region” exhibition, and soon she will exhibit her work at the “Iskra” exhibition, which is related to the illustration of poetry.