Permanent public sculpture in fron of the contemporary art museum MSU in Zagreb (Croatia)

Text by Ana Skegro about the sculpture and exhibition:

The solo exhibition of German artist Timo Herbst entitled Autogestion – Common Places presents a series of newly created works which are 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. His 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.

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 with Herbst’s drawings will get 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.

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.

Curator Ana Škegro
September 2025

Skatable Sculpture: 

Concept, research, form development, drawing composition, execution of drawing surface: Timo Herbst

Curation: Ana Škegro

Develeopment of form into skatable object: collaboration between Timo Herbst, Chris Khan (Urban Agenda Intl Limited), Domen Strazar, Roko Barbara

Execution 3D model (finished form): Chris Khan (Urban Agenda Intl Limited)

Statics: Antun Sevešek

Metal work: Strecko Prislan s.p.

Concrete work: Tonbe Skateparks

Thanks to not above mentioned: Nives Sertić, Leila Topic, Morana Matkovic, Vesna Meštrić, Danijel Sever, Marta Agicić, Ivan Tudek.