Periodical with two blank folios and card insert
Lacking a formal manifesto or program, the Gorgona group aimed to exist, as founder Josip Vaništa once enigmatically stated, “in the sphere of ideas.” In addition to Vaništa, Gorgona comprised Miljenko Horvat, Marijan Jevšovar, Julije Knifer, Ivan Kožarić, Mangelos, and Đuro Seder. Their first official group exhibition took place at the Gallery of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, in 1977, years after they were no longer a group. They also self-organized exhibitions in Studio G, a space that had formerly been a framing shop; published the “anti-magazine” Gorgona; and held discussions. Group members shared correspondence with each other in a series titled “Thoughts of the Month,” in which they would send selections of quotes that were most reflective of their current thinking.
2025
Gallery label from 2025
From 1961 to 1966, Gorgona published eleven issues of the “anti-magazine” Gorgona. Unlike other art periodicals, it did not offer scholarly essays or reproductions of art; instead, each issue was prepared as an original artwork by a single artist. Contributors included members of the core group as well as international artists like Dieter Roth, Harold Pinter, and Victor Vasarely. Josip Vaništa conceived the first issue, which consisted of the same photograph of a shelf in an empty shop window, repeated on every page. Julije Knifer designed the second issue, filling it with what he called a “meander”—a serpentine black line on a white field.
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Invitation: Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
Gallery 406Situated between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc, the socialist country of Yugoslavia (1945–91) was notably open to international influence and enjoyed broad cultural freedom.
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