Location: Salon Galić Gallery (Marmontova 3)

Dates: August 22 – September 25, 2025

Curator: Ana Čukušić

The first in a series of collaborative exhibitions by HULU Split and SULUV Novi Sad presents the works of Serbian artist Darija Dragojlović at Split’s Salon Galić.

Within the carefully framed and selected exhibition, the series of drawings Artificial Creations stands out in particular. This system of interconnected linguistic and visual concepts without semantic links forms autonomous constellations of thought, which—like a manual for distinguishing the artificial from the natural—condense an anthropocentric image of the world. The focus of the work lies in illogical, satirical, and fictional combinations of unified sign systems, such as sign language, metric systems, product codes, pictograms, chemical formulas, international cartographic symbols, and political concepts. These communication systems emphasize the exclusion of nature from dialogue, implying a one-way mode of communication.

The core of the series is terminology, which enforces a violent distinction between natural and artificial, even though in reality we perceive them as intertwined. Another cycle, Natural Doubts in Artificial Space, evokes Baudrillard’s hyperreality, a world where representation can no longer be distinguished from reality, nor the artificial from the natural. Examples of such spaces include nature reserves or natural history museums, whose exhibits inspire this photographic series.

By raising biopolitical questions about the ethics of human action towards nature and the consequences of such activities, as well as about humanity’s role in maintaining and shaping ecosystems, the artist underscores the paradox of places that are intended to preserve nature and keep it alive. This paradox emerges from attempts to safeguard nature through artificially created environments, using anthropocentric mechanisms—effectively enclosing nature within artificial boundaries. By catering to human needs and interests, nature becomes colonized, transformed into an isolated fragment.

The photographs depict taxidermy specimens: original nature that has now become artificial. The cycle also includes a video interview with the artist and curator, in which Dragojlović discusses, among other things, whether her artistic practice belongs to the domain of ecological activism. The current cycle, Endangered Species, consists of drawings, the largest of which (also a triptych) bears triple authorship—signed by Darija Dragojlović, Nikola Džafo, and Nemanja Milenković. Dragojlović often develops works through dialogue with both the environment and colleagues, and is no stranger to working within artistic collectives. This drawn dialogue with artists of different generations but shared contextual and thematic concerns draws upon references ranging from daily newspapers and zoological and art-historical literature to her own previous works.

Darija’s works return to the unembellished characteristics of the Anthropocene, from which we have unintentionally distanced ourselves in our desire to transcend our own nature and discover an effective, though in reality porous, corrective to the nature surrounding us.

More information about the exhibition is available at: https://hulu-split.hr/izlozbe/darija-dragojlovic-prirodne-nedoumice-vestackom-prostoru/