Lab 1

Kristina Kinkela Valčić is a visual artist who specializes in abstract art.

Her exclusively abstract work allows her to constantly explore new painting techniques, inviting the viewer to see and feel her art in diverse ways. In her expressive-emotional manner, she is transmitting abstract mental maps onto the canvas. That manifests in multiple layers of acrylic and mixed media. All those layers intertwine, complement, flirt and negate each other and form harmonious imaginary landscapes.

Kristina Kinkela Valčić received her MA in Art Education and Art History at the Academy of Applied Arts, University of Rijeka and she is also a Ph.D. student in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology at the University of Zagreb.

She exhibited both nationally and internationally and she is a member of the Croatian Association of Artists, Salvador Club and the online art project Art Ćakula.  She works in her studio in Opatija and teaches Visual Arts at Adria international school, also in Opatija, Croatia.

Nataša Ivančević is the director of the Croatian Museum of Tourism. She graduated in Art History and Comparative Literature from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, where she also obtained her Ph.D. She worked as a museum advisor and head of the Collections Department and the Sculpture Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb. She has participated in numerous significant exhibition projects and has also worked at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka.

The Croatian Museum of Tourism, located in a one hundred and seventy year old villa in the center of Opatija’s Angiolina Park, tells the story of tourism in Croatia and how tourism affects us all today – how our cities change, how we change while traveling and welcoming travelers.

Tanja Blašković is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural entrepreneur, currently the Head of Development and an active member of  Urbani Separe. Her work merges contemporary art, design, culture, and socially engaged practices with the goal of creating new models of collaboration and sustainable development through art. In her practice, she explores the intersections of art, ecology, and community, believing that creative collaboration is the foundation for regenerative development and cultural sustainability.

Urbani separe was founded in 2014 in Rijeka with the aim of strengthening communities and their public and natural spaces through a juicy blend of participation and culture. Via tactical urbanism and urban pedagogy they question problematic areas of their city and region. Through long-term, layered and participatory methodologies, they bring culture and green practices to places and communities where they are truly lacking.