Review article
https://doi.org/10.31664/zu.2023.112.03
Museums of the Revolution: Exhibition Design by Đuka Kavurić in Croatia from 1964 to 1975
Petra Štefičar
; samostalna istraživačica, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Museums of the Revolution — a term encompassing museums throughout socialist Yugoslavia related to events during World War II, the National Liberation Movement, the workers’ movement, the history of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and related themes — ceased to exist with the dissolution of the state. In Croatia, there were numerous such museums with varying statuses. Seven specialized museums existed: the main museum was the Museum of the Revolution of the Peoples of Croatia in Zagreb. In addition to this, there was the Museum of the National Liberation Struggle of the Biokovo Region in Makarska, the Museum of the National Revolution of Istria in Pula, the Museum of the National Revolution in Rijeka, the Museum of the Workers’ and National Liberation Movement of Slavonia and Baranja in Slavonski Brod, and the Museum of the National Revolution and the Military and Naval Museum of the Navy, both in Split. Additionally, there were in situ museums within memorial sites, about ten smaller memorial museums or collections operating within larger historical and regional museums, and over a hundred collections and permanent exhibitions within various cultural and educational institutions. These newly established museums, collections, and exhibitions had the task of musealising recent history and events full of emotional intensity. This occurred in a one-party political system not open to pluralistic interpretations, posing limitations on the authors of concepts and scenarios for exhibits, as well as designers of visual layouts. One of the main challenges for every exhibition designer in museums of the revolution was the large volume of paper museum materials and the lack of striking, larger, three-dimensional exhibits, which could easily lead to monotony. This article sheds light on the architectural and visual design by Đuka Kavurić (Zagreb, 1903 – Zagreb, 1976) — a versatile artist and trained interior designer who dedicated the last two decades of his career to museum projects. This period followed the end of World War II, during which he conceived and realized spatial and visual designs for permanent and tempo - rary exhibitions in multiple museums of the revolution throughout Yugoslavia. His projects for the spatial and visual design of museum exhibitions in Croatia, such as the Museum of Vis — the Supreme Headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia and the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia, the Jasenovac Memorial Museum, the Museum of the Workers’ and National Liberation Movement of Slavonia and Baranja, the Memorial Museum of the Second Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and exhibitions like Cultural Work in the People’s Liberation War in Croatia and Struggle for the Liberation of Croatia 1944–1945 in the Museum of the Revolution of the Peoples of Croatia in Zagreb, along with preserved conceptual designs for other museums, attest to a designer who skilfully planned spatial relationships between exhibits and successfully overcame the monotony of a large number of two-dimensional paper displays. In his visual design, Kavurić relied on works of art that he utilized in a museographic fashion to complement other exhibits and enhance the aesthetic value of the displays. His museum exhibition designs were based on a deep conviction that a well-arranged exhibition effectively communicates the desired messages. Therefore, he went beyond the realm of design, actively participating in the conceptualization of exhibitions and choosing modes of interpretation, playing a role that extended beyond the task of visually designing the exhibition in a narrow sense.
Keywords
museums of the revolution; socialist heritage; museum exhibition design; Đuka Kavurić; socialist Yugoslavia
Hrčak ID:
315657
URI
Publication date:
1.7.2023.
Visits: 126 *