Student exhibition "Cultural Trauma: Students Explore Spaces of Memory"

The exhibition opened on December 1, 2025, as part of the Human Rights Film Festival in Zagreb. The auditorium of the Academy of Fine Arts exhibited student works related to visits to places of suffering and resistance in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina that students explored this year during the course Cultural Trauma and the Politics of Memory at the Faculty of Political Science.

The format of the study trip includes students from several faculties of the University of Zagreb who, starting in 2022, every spring have the opportunity to visit and explore places associated with war trauma from World War II and the 1990s, as well as political violence from the era of Yugoslav socialism.

Among the locations visited this year were: Borovo Naselje, Dubrovnik, Glina, Jablanica, Jasenovac, Mostar, Stara Gradiška, Tuzla, Vrginmost and Vukovar.

The exhibition consists of several videos prepared by students of the Faculty of Political Science: a video summary of the study trips organized in the last few years with an emphasis on locations visited this year; a video with reflections and evaluations of study trip participants, and a video dedicated to the monuments of architect Bogdan Bogdanović. The attitude meter, presented as part of the exhibition, was used during the study trip to examine one's own attitudes and the attitudes of others by physically taking a position in space according to the presented statements, without a predefined answer. The exhibition panels provide context for the student works and present the locations visited in 2025.

During the opening of the exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts, the guests were addressed by the host, Prof. Tomislav Pletenac, who handed over the floor to the authors of the works: Domenica Beronić, Nina Čepo, Ela Hamzić, Ema Mokrovčak, Nives Đerek, Petra Orešković, and Ivan Validžić. Prof. Nebojša Blanuša, who teaches the course Cultural Trauma and Politics of Memory at the Faculty of Political Science, presented the „attitude meter“ method, and then Documenta director Vesna Teršelič invited all interested students to apply for the study trip next year, which will take place between April 27 and May 3.

The exhibition was opened at the Academy of Fine Arts during the Human Rights Film Festival, from December 1 to 7, 2025.

After that, on December 8, the exhibition was set up at the Faculty of Political Science. The authors presented the works they had prepared to their colleagues and shared their experiences of participating in the study trip. The exhibition was open at the Faculty of Political Science until December 22, attracting the attention of students and professors from the studies of political science and journalism.

The exhibition is organized by Documenta - Center for dealing with the past, Academy of Fine Arts, Faculty of Political Science and Faculty of Philosophy, and is realized with the support of the Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Human Rights Film Festival and Serbian National Council.

The exhibition "Cultural Trauma: Students Explore Spaces of Memory" is organized as part of the project "Response to Trauma and Destruction of Cultural Heritage" funded by the European Union from the Creative Europe program.

Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Executive Agency for Education and Culture (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA can be held responsible for them.