




In the softly lit spaces of the Matica Hrvatska Gallery, Josip Kresović and Iris Poljan are questioning what culture means to us as workers in culture, or more importantly, what could become of it. Their durational and interactive performance The Cell approaches this task in two ways. Does this work criticize the administrative tangles that define the outcome of cultural content or is it a symbolic insurgence of two young artists who are slowly but surely losing themselves within the walls of the bureaucratic labyrinth? This dichotomy takes its form in a set of Microsoft Excel tables printed on a standardized A4 paper format by a printer placed in the middle of the gallery. Although stereotypically uniformed in the performance, the artists’ idiosyncrasies manifest themselves through a subtle but unique typing speed, in the ways in which their fingers hit the keys, through the positions of their bodies on the chairs, and designs of their coffee mugs from which they drink during the working day. All of this is in spite of but also for the system. The duality with which they are working points out the complexity of their status, actions, and ways of navigating the aforementioned labyrinth, all while trying to maintain their individuality. Their reactions exist as an embodiment of the dichotomy through 58 chosen words, that replace their brush and chisel while the rhythmicity and repetitiveness followed by the sound of typing, emphasizes the relationship between the mechanic and the artistic, summarizing the complex interplay of creativity and bureaucracy. (…) (Marta Radman, curator)
durational performance / 11 hours and 30 minutes
performers / Josip Kresović & Iris Poljan
Matica hrvatska Gallery, November, 2023
curator / Marta Radman
camera, sound, color & edit / Tomislav Paviša
photographers / Luka Pešun, Vedran Husremović
acknowledgments / Vanja Babić, Gregor Sirotić Marušić, Ivica Batinić, Jelena Šimunić Bendić, Anđela Tenšek, Vedran Husremović, Luka Pešun, Tomislav Beganovi
Josip Kresović & Iris Poljan: Publication of the printed material created during performance The Cell Matica hrvatska Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia – self-published; limited edition, 30 pcs)

