Jelena Jureša: Choreographies of Violence

The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art presents Choreographies of Violence, the first major solo exhibition by Jelena Jureša in Croatia, bringing together an overview of her recent film, video, and video installation works. In her practice, Jelena Jureša explores questions of identity, the politics of memory and forgetting, the relationship between observer and observed, and the (im)possibilities of visual representation. By investigating the complex relations between collective memory and political responsibility, Jureša’s artistic practice examines the ways in which history is reflected and reproduced within contemporary society.

The exhibition Choreographies of Violence brings together four works installed in the museum’s large central halls as immersive audiovisual installations that create poetics and politics of moving images between the documentary and the performative, completely transforming the exhibition space. These include the new experimental film and video installation Don’t Take It Personally (2025), the experimental film Ubundu (2019), and the monumental and complex work Aphasia (2019) – a feature-length film essay structured in three chapters that also develops into a multi-channel installation documenting the eponymous multimedia performance (Aphasia, Score for Monitors, 2025). Most of the works are being shown in Croatia for the first time.

Jelena Jureša is a visual artist. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Belgium, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Greece, Italy, France, and the United States. Recent international exhibitions include the Manifesta Biennale (Pristina, Kosovo); Contour Biennale (Mechelen, Belgium); and the Industrial Art Biennale (Labin, Croatia). Solo exhibitions include Argos Centre for Audiovisual Arts, Brussels; kunstencentrum nona, Mechelen; Künstlerhaus Graz; and the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade. Her films have been screened at FIDMarseille, DocLisboa, Ji.hlava, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Cinematek Brussels, and the Artists’ Cinema at the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb. She has participated in artist residencies in Paris, Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, MQ21 in Vienna, and Kamov Residency in Rijeka. She holds a PhD from Ghent University and the KASK Conservatory, where she teaches. Born in Novi Sad (SFRY), she lives and works in Ghent, Belgium.

The exhibition is accompanied by a program of talks, workshops, and screenings, as well as a forthcoming publication realized in collaboration with CAS – Center for Advanced Studies of Southeastern Europe, University of Rijeka.

Education: Ivana Golob Mihić, Ana Žarković
Design: Maša Poljanec, Oaza
Cover photo: Jelena Jureša, Aphasia, 2019, video still

The exhibition is supported by the City of Rijeka, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.