The ancient Roman city is a feast for contemporary art

Pula (Pola to the Romans) is notable for its many old Roman structures, the most famous of which is the Pula Arena, one of the best surviving Roman amphitheatres. The city has a rich history of wine production, fishing, shipbuilding, and tourism. From ancient Roman times until recently, it served as the administrative centre of Istria.
It was settled by Neolithic tribes much before the Romans. From the Illyrians to the Greeks to the Slavs, this beautiful land has been inhabited by successive waves of people.

Pula Arena, a large amphitheatre built between 27 BC and 68 AD, is still in use for music and theatre performances today and has a small, fascinating museum.

Walking around I noticed that the city’s historic area, dominated by Mediaeval and Renaissance structures, is still paved in ancient Roman paving stones. There were a number of small galleries in the old town and a few looked pretty interesting. I stumbled across the Galerija Makina, which was striking because of the window display of ancient cameras.

The gallery was not actually open but I slipped in and asked if I could look at the cameras, and was welcomed. I noticed an exhibition going up. Although the installation was not complete I could tell it was a superb show. An exhibition of photographs “One Who Is Not Me” by Irma Markulin. Markulin is a Berlin-based Croatian artist working in photography, printmaking and other forms. ‘One Who Is Not Me’ is a collection of large-scale self portraits of high finesse and expression, that have been laser-cut with intricate snowflake patterns. I did not take photos of this as it felt it was unfair to photograph an exhibition being installed, but I had a good look at the work and was highly impressed. You can see the work on Markulin’s website

Once I had looked at the amphitheatre, I found the Museum of Contemporary Art of Istria. This was a particularly interesting exhibition looking back on the COVID-19 pandemic. Truly there have been plenty of exhibitions looking back at the pandemic and at first I thought ‘Not that again – do I really want to see this?’ But since I was already there I thought, ‘okay I’ll go in and have a look’. I was very pleasantly surprised by how different and insightful the exhibition was.

Very interesting, very creative and well thought through. Lively curation and some absolutely remarkable artworks. I particularly liked the work of Sofijasilvia. I did not take photos but you can see it here on her website: http://sofijasilvia.com/

Art in Croatia

My brief visit to Croatia showed me that the state of art practice in the country is lively and producing some powerful work and significant artists. I just wish they were better known. It seems to me that I have to do a bit more Art Travelling in Croatia in the coming years to really get the most out of this fascinating country and its cultural expression.

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Galerija Makina – Kapitolinski trg 1, Pula 52100 ONLINE

Roman Pula

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