In her talk, member of What, How & for Whom / WHW collective, Ivet Ćurlin will discuss how the specific perspective of working in Zagreb has continuously influenced her collective curatorial practice. As many other European countries, Croatia faces the devastating side effects of radical right-wing populism and historical revisionism. At the same time, it has a particular history of liberation, socialism, multi-ethnic federation, and national independence in the form of corrupt free market capitalism that shapes its present. How can we rethink exhibitions as interventionist forms in ideological, social, and material circumstances in conditions of economic and political adversity? Her presentation will touch upon several projects from different periods that cover WHW’s work from the very beginning of their practice up to the present.

What, How & for Whom / WHW is a curatorial collective formed in 1999 in Zagreb and based in Berlin and Zagreb. Its founding members are curators Ivet Ćurlin, Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić, Sabina Sabolović, and designer and publicist Dejan Kršić. From 2003 to 2023, the WHW collective ran a program at the city-owned gallery Gallery Nova in Zagreb. In 2018, WHW launched a new international and experimental education program for emerging artists called WHW Akademija, based in Zagreb. From 2019 to 2024, Ivet Ćurlin, Nataša Ilić, and Sabina Sabolović worked as artistic directors of Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, while activities in Zagreb continued under the leadership of Ana Dević. In 2024, Ivet Ćurlin, Nataša Ilić, and Sabina Sabolović were appointed as Artistic Directors of the next edition of Skulptur Projekte Münster, to be held in 2027.

Image credit: Julius Koller, Why? (Anti-Picture), 1969, installed at the Croatian Association of Artists Building as part of My Sweet Little Lamb (Everything we see could also be otherwise) curated by WHW and Kathrin Rhomberg, 2016. Photo: Damir Žižić