Opening: Thursday 25 July from 6 to 9 pm

Exhibition visit by appointment: 26 – 28 July
(to book: ili.ja.dincic98@gmail.com)

Zozobra is a word in Spanish described as the restlessness, affliction and anguish of the spirit, which does not allow to calm down, or by the risk that threatens, or by the evil that already suffers.

The Serbian artist Ilija Dinčić (1998), after a month-long residency in Barcelona, presents an exhibition that focuses on suffering as a passive action that transcends the individual. On this occasion he explores how to deal with it collectively from a light, almost ironic perspective.

To do so, he takes the idea of “effigy” as a starting point. Effigies are ephemeral anthropomorphic sculpturesdestined to be publicly burned. They represent a specific person or a prototypical figure, often on a natural scale. They were used in European cultures as elements of symbolic punishment in formal justice when the perpetrator could not be apprehended or in popular justice practices to inflict shame on wrongdoers or the socially excluded. This action of public burning and therefore of socialization of the individual wrongdoing, is resumed here to propose a public burning of the discomfort or suffering.

At the heart of the installation we find a “gloom box”:

“Anyone with an excess of gloom is encouraged to write the nature of it on a piece of paper and drop it in the “gloom box.” Exhibition attendees can put into it all sorts of anxiety, legal documents, divorce papers, mortgage settlements, parking tickets, and even a wedding dress… All are welcome in “Zozobra” to be turned into smoke. The burning here is not literal, but if you’re wondering, it will take effect on August 3, 2024, in the artist’s hometown. Don’t worry, your worries will serve no other purpose than to serve as fodder for the flames.”

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Ilija Dinčić (born 1998) is a Serbian visual artist based in Belgrade. His work engages with issues related to autobiography, art history, and the ephemeral nature of materiality. Employing diverse aesthetic strategies and mediums—including painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, installation and video—he examines the tensions between identity and anonymity, “Expressionism” and “Minimalism”, the urban and the rural, subculture and culture. He is influenced by symbology, religion, music, literature, and film.
Ilija graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 2021 and received an MFA in painting department in 2023. He exhibited his work in group shows both locally and abroad.

In collaboration with Belgrade Artist in Residence