Stroll ‘around’ the beautiful side of Zagreb

by croatiaweek
August 19, 2020
in Entertainment

(Photo: Okolo)

Zagreb, 19 August 2020 – In cooperation with the Zagreb Tourist Board, the art project “Okolo” (around), which revives hidden streets, forgotten passages, canopies of Zagreb parks and corners of the Upper Town, will be held from 20 to 30 August 2020.

This year, “Okolo” will be dedicated to the “wounded” city and creating a more optimistic image of Zagreb. Together with local artists, they will conduct a series of urban interventions aimed at revitalising selected public spaces and gathering the community around positive and beautiful ideas.

Numerous artists will beautify the face of the city every day, and smaller and larger art stories will be waiting for the public to discover them spontaneously or intentionally at more than twenty locations in the centre of Zagreb. In this unique artistic walk, street art, light, sound, photography, green, sculptural and interactive installations will surprise at every step.

Ida Blažičko (Photo: Okolo)

At the centre of this year’s programme will be a large light and sound installation by sculptor Ida Blažičko and multimedia artist Alex Brajković – “Singing Forest”.

Singing Forest (Photo: Okolo)

The installation will find its place in the immediate vicinity of the earthquake-damaged building of the State Hydrometeorological Institute, in the Upper Town Bela IV Park, which will be transformed into an ambient oasis of contemporary sounds for this occasion.

(Photo: Okolo)

More than a thousand site-specific light and sound bodies arranged in the canopy of imposing trees will take on the role of an orchestra of “living instrumentalists” who, bathed in light, will create a “singing forest”. This self-sustaining installation will be powered by wind power, with each melody being unique and unrepeatable. During ten days, an infinite number of variations of ambient sounds will be created, and the soundscape will be able to be experienced in a different way at each new moment, while in the evening the installation will take on a completely new, light dimension.

Javier Riera (Photo: Okolo)

Along with Ida and Alex, graphic designers klasja & zita and Pavao Kuharić will play with new street forms, sculptures “Dancers” and “Tourists” by Ana Maria Maravić and Maša Barišić will briefly appear in the city, Luna Džidić will help the public discover some of the most common plants that inhabit the walls of Zagreb and Voon’s broken heart story will get its sequel.

Voona (Photo: Okolo)

Street artists Boris Bare and Tihomir Krklec – Africa will paint forgotten parts of the city, and sculptor Marko Gašparić will do a combination of murals and sculptures, while large-format photographs by Ernest Mazarekić will document “shaken” Zagreb.

Boris Bare (Photo: Okolo)

Ella & Pitr (Photo: Okolo)

“Okolo” is a project dedicated to the artistic research of the city, which was launched in 2018 by the Two of Us (Ana Mikin, Tina Kovačićek) in cooperation with the Zagreb Tourist Board.

A woolen heart that became a symbol of Zagreb’s recovery after the earthquake, a red carpet to the Upper Town, a silk sculpture in Tomićeva, a large floor mural on the playground above Dubravka Road, light installation in the canopy of Ribnjak Park, a godmother on the steps of Dolac, a sleeping giant in Petrinjska, cute street miniatures in play with urban elements and plants that play to the touch – these are just some of the interesting interventions with which “Okolo” has already enriched the streets of Zagreb and at the same time delighted locals and tourists.