The solo exhibition of German artist Timo Herbst entitled Autogestion – Common Places presents a series of newly created works by the author. The exhibition is inspired by Zagreb´s modernist architecture observed through research into Henri Lefebvre´s concept of ‘self-governance’ (franc. autogestion) as an idea that transcends economic and political frameworks, becoming a social and spatial process. Lefebvre understood self-governance as a permanent practice of creation and participation, from intimate everyday gestures to shaping communal life in the city. In the modernist architecture and urbanism of Zagreb, especially New Zagreb, one can recognize an echo of this thought, especially in attempts to shape spaces of collectivity, encounter, and joint action. Herbst takes Lefebvre´s concept and transforms it into an artistic gesture by exploring the architectural forms of Zagreb. He fragments, rearranges, and translates them into drawings, prints, videos, and painted concrete sculptures that invite active interpretation and participation. The exhibition is based on the results of the author´s research conducted during his residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb in 2024. During his residency, the author explored the architecture and urbanism of Zagreb, with a special emphasis on New Zagreb, with the aim ofcreating drawings based on specific elements of modernist architecture of individual locations. The research area encompassed locations from the Zagreb Fair (Zagrebački Velesajam) to various elements found in individual residential neighborhoods of New Zagreb, through which the development of the specific Zagreb modernist style, and public or collective space in that area, is visible. Elements of Herbst's drawings are rearranged, with forms merging into each other and creating a continuous and fragmented composition that resonates with the essence of Zagreb´s modernist forms at the same time. Herbst´s practice as a whole is focused on gesture and movement, whether it is dance choreography, political manifestations, or the everyday choreographies of urban life. In Zagreb, this interest is connected with Lefebvre's thoughts on space as a location for creation and participation; the observation, construction, and interpretation of space become foundations of a new reading of modernist heritage.

Simultaneously with the exhibition at the CEKAO Gallery of the Open University (Pučko otvoreno učilište) in Zagreb, a spatial installation in the form of a concrete platform imprinted with Herbst´s drawings was installed on the southern plateau of the MSU. Elements of New Zagreb´s architecture are mapped onto the surface of the platform, creating a basis for contemplation, interpretation, and active use of the urban New Zagreb space. The platform is not just an object, it becomes a place of gathering, movement, and participation. There, the dynamics of visitors, from passers-by or skateboarders and other rollerbladers, to random users, become an integral part of the artwork. In this way, the spatial installation in Zagreb continues the author's research that began with work in the Parc de la Villette in Paris, where a ramp with imprints of architectural fragments functioned as a spatial intervention open to the public. A special segment of the exhibition is the video work Rhythmanalyse, in which film recordings of locations from New Zagreb are rearranged through the analysis of motion data. Architectural forms flicker and transform, while fragments of original recordings wander through compositions in real time. In this way, Herbst connects Lefebvre´s rhythmanalysis; with a contemporary urban experience, opening up a space in which architecture, movement, and everyday social life become equally important elements of the composition. The artwork, which the author has been developing since 2019, in its Zagreb version includes the spaces in front of the MSU, and articulates their rhythmic logic through gestures of everyday movement.

The CEKAO Gallery, as part of the interior of one of the representative examples of Zagreb´s modernist architecture, provides an ideal context for Herbst´s work, while the simultaneous intervention on the MSU plateau extends the exhibition´s themes to the city's public space. Self- governance thus becomes more than a title; in Timo Herbst´s work, it manifests itself as an artistic gesture that explores the legacy of modernism, questions the social role of space, and calls for the co-creation of new forms of urban experience.

Ana Škegro, Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) Zagreb

September 2025