Slaven Tolj

Slaven Tolj (* 1964 in Dubrovnik ) is a Croatian performance , installation and body art artist.

life and work

Slaven Tolj studied at the Sarajevo Academy of Arts in the class of Petar Waldeg and is known to Jusuf Hadžifejzović , Božidar Jurjević and Ilija Šoškić . Tolj is one of the founders and since 1988 director of the Art Workshop Lazareti cultural center in Dubrovnik. Tolj has been director of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka since 2013 .

Slaven Tolj's early performances were created together with his wife Marija Grazio .

Topics of his early work are his experiences as a soldier (1991–1992) in the Yugoslav war as well as the collapse of the state and in particular the conquest of Dubrovnik by the Yugoslav People's Army between 1991 and 1992. The city of Dubrovnik and its history play a central role for Tolj . Since the late 1990s, Slaven Tolj has also been interested in multicultural existence and globalization .

A well-known performance is Nature & Society from 2002. Tolj hit his head, on which he had tied antlers, against an empty museum wall until the antlers break. For Tolj this action had a cathartic effect . When illuminated by a projector, the viewer has the impression that he is fighting with his own shadow. Tolj injured his neck during the performance. The antlers came from his late grandfather, who took them from a package intended as a gift for Mussolini.

In 1997 Tolj participated in the documenta X in Kassel and in 2005 in the 51st Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography of Slaven Tolj on the website of the gallery Michaela floor. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
2. ↑ Pomeranz Collection Slaven Tolj , accessed on December 3, 2018 (English).
3. ↑ performing the east Slaven Tolj , accessed on December 3, 2018 (English).