Lana Stojićević
Betonicus
With the aim of deconstructing and depicting the ways in which neo-styles imitate historical styles for the purposes of tourism, Lana Stojićević applies a combination of architectural, artistic, documentary, and theatrical techniques.
Lana Stojičević, Betonicus, 2020, photo: Goran Radošević. Courtesy of the artist. 
Lana Stojičević, Betonicus, 2020, photo: Lana Stojićević. Courtesy of the artist.
Lana Stojičević, Betonicus, 2020, photo: Lana Stojićević. Courtesy of the artist.
In Betonicus (2020), she focuses on Diocletian’s Palace which is fraught with historical styles, or rather adjuncts from various time periods. The Peristyle is singled out as a symbol of these processes, as an actual piece of ancient heritage filled with historical appendices which, to this day, are scenographically built upon for the purposes of the Split Summer Theater Festival. Stojićević provides the Peristyle with a scenography of its own, in the form of a model, for an imaginary performance.
The scenographic addendum to the Peristyle introduced by Stojićević is precisely the kind that often characterizes illegal construction. Of all architectural elements which are added onto the Peristyle, Stojićević calls attention to the neo-Corinthian column and PVC door as the exponents of contemporary neo-styles which proliferate throughout Dalmatia. She personifies them as characters in a neo-ancient tragedy: Betonicus and Plasticus. In order to create a believable illusion of the personification of a concrete neo-Corinthian column and PVC door, Stojićević makes costumes and dresses herself up in them, documenting this in a series of photographs.
Sonja Jankov, excerpt from the text The Detheatralization of Contemporaneity, translated by Dora Derando
Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Split.
The scenographic addendum to the Peristyle introduced by Stojićević is precisely the kind that often characterizes illegal construction. Of all architectural elements which are added onto the Peristyle, Stojićević calls attention to the neo-Corinthian column and PVC door as the exponents of contemporary neo-styles which proliferate throughout Dalmatia. She personifies them as characters in a neo-ancient tragedy: Betonicus and Plasticus. In order to create a believable illusion of the personification of a concrete neo-Corinthian column and PVC door, Stojićević makes costumes and dresses herself up in them, documenting this in a series of photographs.
Sonja Jankov, excerpt from the text The Detheatralization of Contemporaneity, translated by Dora Derando
Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Split.
Lana Stojičević, Betonicus, 2020, photo: Lana Stojićević. Courtesy of the artist.
Lana Stojičević, Betonicus, 2020, photo: Goran Radošević. Courtesy of the artist.Lana Stojićević (1989) lives and works in Split, Croatia. She has exhibited in numerous exhibitions, including OSTRALE Biennale in Dresden and OFF-Biennale in Budapest. She is the winner of numerous awards, including the 2021 Radoslav Putar Award. She uses various media, such as costumes and architectural models that she executes for the needs of staged photographic series. Her work deals with themes of illegal constructions, ecological pollution, architectural and industrial heritage.
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