THE ARTISTS’ MANOR – INTO THE SKY MADE OF CLOUDS

Exhibition authors: Koraljka Jurčec Kos, Museum Advisor, and Anamarija Komesarović, Curator (Klovićevi dvori Gallery)
Co-author of the exhibition: Alen Novoselec, Academic Sculptor (Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb)
Curators: Koraljka Jurčec Kos and Anamarija Komesarović
Visual identity author: Sanja Bachrach Krištofić
14 May – 28 June 2026
1st floor, Klovićevi dvori Gallery

With the exhibition The Artists’ Manor / Into the Sky Made of Clouds, we continue a cycle of exhibitions dedicated to Zagreb’s painting and sculpture studios of the second half of the 20th and the first half of the 21st century. The cycle began with the highly successful exhibition The Studios in Medulićeva / Remembering Forgotten Times in 2023, followed by Atelijeri Žitnjak – From Periphery to Centree in autumn 2024.

This time, we present artists connected with the studios at Oršić Castle – Jakovlje and its International Sculpture Park. The project has been conceived to adapt the layered themes to our audience in the most effective way, to highlight the environmental value of the park and the castle, and, at a moment when the comprehensive structural and energy renovation of the existing part of the castle has been completed, to emphasise the outstanding achievements of selected contemporary Croatian artists.

The Jakovlje estate was first mentioned in a document from 1546, when it was purchased by Jakov Sekelj of Ormož. The castle and its estate, including outbuildings, were constructed in the 18th century by the noble Oršić family. Over the decades, it passed through the hands of various noble owners—the Gottals, Rauchs, Josipovićs, and Kronfelds—before being acquired in the early 20th century by the Sixta family, landowners of Czech origin, under whose name it was once known. After the Second World War, it was nationalised, and in 1972 it became a space for artistic creation, hence its name “Artists’ Castle”. Two professional associations of visual artists—the Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU) and the Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts (ULUPUH)—then became the owners of the estate.

The exhibition will offer an overview of the work of artists who created at the castle from 1973 onwards, as well as those who participated in one of the 17 International Art Colonies held on the estate between 1993 and 2014, founded and led until his death (2010) by Ratko Petrić. The park currently contains 64 sculptures, works of diverse poetics and origins, which together provide a representative cross-section of Croatian sculpture of the second half of the 20th century. The Republic of Croatia has declared the Jakovlje International Sculpture Park a permanently protected cultural asset of national significance.

Oršić Castle is currently in the final phase of structural restoration. This exhibition is therefore also an opportunity, alongside the artworks, to recall, through selected archival and photographic material, the efforts invested in the realisation of the restoration. In doing so, we add a museological dimension to the exhibition by presenting the studios within an urban context, accompanied by relevant artistic and archival material, as well as related cultural activities.