NMG@PRAKTIKA_ŠIMUN BUĆAN: Samostoj

March 26^th – April 2^nd 2026

CLUB KOCKA GALLERY, YOUTH CENTER SPLIT

Opening: Thursday, March 26^th at 8 PM

The exhibition is open to visitors from Monday to Thursday during the gallery’s working hours from 17:00 to 20:00

Club Kocka Gallery, Youth Center Split, Ulica Slobode 28

ABOUT THE WORK

Leonardo da Vinci once wrote: “Impara a vedere. Realizza che tutto è connesso’’ – learn to see, and realize that everything is connected. It is this act of careful observation and renegotiation of reality that forms the basis of Šimun Bućan’s exhibition, Samostoj.

In place of linear narrative, Bućan’s work is borne out of a confluence of different perspectives – some personal, others material or historical – and out of an intuitive research process which attempts to attain novel knowledge of the self and one’s environment. The installation comprises a collection of family heirlooms which the author “re-cognizes” following the passing of different family members. His interaction with these items generates a twofold process: on the one hand an emotional reckoning tied to the personal experience of loss, and on the other an archival undertaking consisting of unpacking, assessing and (re)defining a suite of material remains.

Everyday objects thus begin to lose their original functions and to become repositories of memory. Displayed together, they almost resemble reliquaries, appearing as fragments of a unique family history, manipulated here into a peculiar assemblage of material and space. Bućan groups the items into Tableaus, each a separate Plateau, a kind of conceptual platform or symbolic dais, dedicated to particular family members – his mother, father, grandfather and grandmother – framing each of them into a wider multigenerational context.

They are unified by Tableau V, the artist’s own Plateau, conceived as a moving performance piece representing a space in which all this family inheritance may be brought back to life and extruded into the present moment through the artist’s physical presence. Bućan therefore becomes a link in the chain which connects these objects into a common point in and across time. This can be seen, for instance, in how the artist approaches solving the Dalmatiner IOI puzzle after so many years, while using the illustrated box it came in to mark the pieces that are missing. The screenshot on the poster titled Historia 2025 documents the artist’s everyday life and routine in archival photographs created during different periods of isolation. By revealing to the audience select personal fragments, the artist discovers their inherent figurative and abstract elements, which in turn lead to a deeper understanding of his own senses, capabilities, and personalities.

The installation with the chair, carpet, and 16 drawings explores the process of learning and mastering the skill of tracing out regular and harmonious lines, which began in 2012. Just like the grandfather of the family closely followed his daughter’s and then the artist’s own development, so too does Bućan’s general practice, in art and in society in general, concern itself with the exploration of the quality of lines and handwriting. Among the drawings, one that stands out is the hyperreal apple, a balancing act of visual chaos. The grandfather’s chair alludes to the vacant 9th century chair of St Peter from Bernini’s bronze throne (lat. Cathedra Petri, 17th century) depicting the labors of Hercules and the constellations. By contrasting the chair with drawings created after his grandfather’s and father’s passing in the span of 10 years, Bućan unifies them in a temporal autoportrait, staging and playing out the moment he learned of their deaths using Duplo toy blocks. Displaying his father’s personal effects, brought back to his hometown following his passing, likewise establishes a temporal throughline connecting three generations.

The exhibition thus keeps unfolding Plus Ultra, ever beyond, expanding the boundaries of inheritance toward new meanings and new semiotics. Samostoj. is not a complete or finished thing, it is a process in which the acts of observing, recombining and reinterpreting become the tools for reckoning with and understanding one’s own past.

ABOUT THE AUTOR

Šimun Bućan (1993) completed undergraduate studies in Art Education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, and is currently completing a graduate degree in New Media at the same institution. He works as a professional photographer in Culture and Fashion. He is the winner of the 18th Erste Fragments art competition as well as the Rector’s award of the University of Zagreb for his project titled Plastic Sea Turtle. He has exhibited at the 36th Youth Salon: “Parasites”, organized by the Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HDLU) in 2022, as well as the 37th Youth Salon: “The Clock Fell Into the Well” which took place at the Archeological Museum as part of the larger exhibition program titled “Situation” in 2024. Bućan’s debut solo exhibit, Once Upon a Time In Bed was held at the Bratska Kuća in Grohote. His second independent show, (p)O(d)STAV/A, took place in 2026 at the SC Gallery in Zagreb.