Third Text, 2023

Vol. 37, No. 4, 525–542, https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2023.2292897

‘We all came from Soros’

Continuities and Discontinuities in
the Croatian Visual Arts Scene in
the 1990s and 2000s

Sanja Sekelj and Željka Tonković

1 For further information on

the SCCA-Budapest, and the
formation of the SCCA
Introduction
network, refer to: Nina
Czegledy and Andrea One of the big stories in the visual arts scene of the 1990s is undoubt-
Szekeres, ‘Agents of Change.
The Contemporary Art
edly the formation of the network of Soros Centres of Contemporary
Centres of the Soros Art (SCCA), initiated by the American philanthropist and investor of
Foundation and C3’, Third Hungarian descent, George Soros. The establishment of a Documen-
Text 98, vol 23, issue 3, May
2009, special issue, Sean
tation Centre in Budapest in 1985 laid the foundations of the
Cubitt, José-Carlos network,1 which started growing at the beginning of the 1990s and
Mariátegui and Gunalan by 1998 consisted of twenty centres in eighteen countries, predomi-
Nadarajan, eds, ‘Social
Formations of Global Media nantly in post-communist Eastern Europe. The basic structure of
Art, pp 217−228. pp 251– national offices, as well as their general mission and working models,
259; Kristóf Nagy, ‘From were prescribed in the SCCA Procedures Manual, and are well
Fringe Interest to Hegemony:
The Emergence of the Soros known in the field.2 However, although the working models were
Network in Eastern Europe’, largely predetermined, each SCCA had to adapt to a different, specific
in Beáta Hock and Anu Allas, context and find ways to adjust the prescribed guidelines to the local
eds, Globalising East
European Art Histories: Past situation. If the context of the establishment and functioning of each
and Present, Routledge, centre is framed in this way, then each of them inevitably occupies a
London and New York,
2018, pp 53–63.
different position in the visual arts network on a global, regional and
local scale. In other words, when we approach the interpretation of
2 Each office had three to four their role and influence, we must consider the described differences
employees and a board
composed of esteemed, in their spatio-temporal positionality.
mostly local, curators, art In this article we are primarily concerned with positioning the role of
critics and art historians. The the Soros Foundation in Croatia, both in relation to the general structure
SCCA was meant to serve as
a cultural centre of the local of the visual arts scene in the country, and to the meanings that the scene’s
Open Society Foundation, actors attributed to it. Until now, research on the SCCA network has
and was to be adjoined – in largely focused on exhibition histories,3 the so-called ‘Soros realism’
cases in which this was
possible – to an existing phenomenon and the centres’ role in introducing ‘Eastern European

© 2024 Third Text

 526

modern or contemporary art art’ to the global art markets,4 or their role in the development of free-
institution. Its activities were
centred on grant-giving, market relations in post-socialist artworlds, and the formation of cultural
documentation, annual elites through the network.5 While building on previous scholarship, this
exhibitions, and networks research is characterised by a change in perspective – its starting points
and exchange. See SCCA
Procedures Manual, https:// are not the characteristics of the imposed model, but an emphasis on
monoskop.org/images/d/db/ the complexities of a specific time-place, and the agency of local actors
SCCA_Procedures_Manual_ in the processes of its negotiation and translation. How did the local
1994.pdf, accessed 9
November 2023. actors perceive the influence of the Soros Foundation and its spin-offs?
Did these organisations produce a radical rupture in the structure of
3 Željka Tonković and Sanja the visual arts scene in Croatia? What was, if any, the Soros Foundation’s
Sekelj, ‘Annual Exhibitions role in the development of the independent cultural scene as the emergent
of the Soros Center for
Contemporary Art Zagreb
organisational field in the visual arts at the turn of the millennium?
as a Place of Networking’, The above-mentioned complexities of a specific space-time encompass
Život umjetnosti 99, the inter-relationship of a multitude of different actors, including multiple
December 2016, pp 78–93;
Amila Puzić, ‘Izložba kao Soros Foundation organisations, as well as already existing and newly
socijalna intervencija – developed structures, ties and meanings. To grasp this intricate and multi-
godišnje izložbe SCCA- plex network, we developed a mixed-method approach that represents a
Sarajevo: Meeting-Point
(1997), Beyond the Mirror theoretical and methodological innovation to previous research on the
(1998), Under Construction Soros network. The first section of the article provides a conceptual
(1999)’ (Exhibition as Social framework for understanding the role of these organisations through
Intervention: Annual SCCA-
Sarajevo Exhibitions: the notions of network and complexity. After the data and methods
Meeting-Point (1997), section, the main part of the article presents findings from the quantitative
Beyond the Mirror (1998), and qualitative analysis, which are then discussed in the final section.
Under Construction
(1999))’, Peristil, vol 59, no
1, 2016, pp 137–145; Izabel
Galliera, Socially Engaged
Art After Socialism: Art and
A Relational Approach to the Soros Network
Civil Society in Central and
Eastern Europe, IB Tauris, The art field in general can be regarded as a complex network of social
London and New York,
2017, pp 81–111; Octavian
relations, through which identities and meanings are shared, and value
Esanu, ‘CarbonART 96 and is produced. It is complex because it incorporates a multitude of different
The 6th Kilometer, SCCA individual and collective, human and non-human, actors, connected
Chişinău 1996’, in Octavian
Esanu, ed, Contemporary
through a multiplicity of always-changing direct and indirect ties,
Art and Capitalist shared or diverging stories. In addition, it is complex because it is charac-
Modernization: A terised by ‘emergence’, meaning that the interaction of different agents
Transregional Perspective,
Routledge, London and produces entities with properties not present in any of its parts.6
New York, 2021, pp 184– Approaching the Soros Foundation and its spin-offs through the
205; Amila Puzić, ‘Meeting notions of network and complexity allows us to consider it from multiple
Point, SCCA Sarajevo,
1997’, in Octavian Esanu, perspectives. An obvious possibility is, for example, to think about it
ed, Contemporary Art and through the identification of rules that were imposed top-down (‘guide-
Capitalist Modernization, lines’), with the intention of analysing how they were translated into
op cit, pp 206–221
different local contexts. Such an approach could reveal specificities of a
4 Miško Šuvaković, ‘The
Ideology of Exhibition: On
given ‘national culture’, differences that existed between the countries
the Ideologies of Manifesta’, in adopting the prescribed models, and ultimately provide a greater
PlatformaSCCA 3, January understanding of the model itself. While it could be claimed that this
2002, http://www.ljudmila.
org/scca/platforma3/
approach is centred on the ‘model’, another approach, which is our start-
suvakoviceng.htm, accessed ing point in this article, is to focus on the complex network of relations
6 November 2023; Georg already in place at a given space-time, when the model was introduced.
Schöllhammer, ‘Art in the
Era of Globalization. Some The implementation of the model to a specific local context plays an
Remarks on the Period of important role here as well, the difference being that such a perspective
Soros-Realisms’, Art-e-Fact emphasises the agency of a variety of actors,7 whose interactions made
4, 2005, http://web.archive.
org/web/20070613072100/ up the structure of the field in question, and who influenced the trans-
artefact.mi2.hr/_a04/lang_ lation processes whether or not they were directly involved with them.
527

en/theory_schollhammer_ Our goal here is to describe one such specific complex constellation,
en.htm, accessed 6
November 2023; Mária namely the institutional structure of the visual arts scene in Croatia,
Hlavajová, ‘Towards the and to determine the position of Soros Foundation organisations within
Normal: Negotiating the it. This structure comprises a variety of actors in terms of their longevity,
“Former East”’, in Barbara
Vanderlinden and Elena scale, mission, ideological and aesthetic preferences, and – consequently –
Filipovic, eds, The Manifesta in terms of the way they view the role of art in society. Apart from this
Decade: Debates on institutional structure, the network is also affected by ‘cultural struc-
Contemporary Art
Exhibitions and Biennials in tures’, cultural ‘idioms or mixture of idioms [that are] available to be
Post-Wall Europe, MIT drawn upon by different groups’ at certain space-times.8 Although it
Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp
153–165; Anthony Gardner,
could be claimed that both of these ‘types of structure’ enable and limit
‘Politically Unbecoming: the activities of its actors, social actors have ‘the capacity… to transform
Critiques of ‘Democracy’ as well as to reproduce long-standing structures, frameworks, and net-
and Postsocialist Art From
Europe’, doctoral
works of interaction’.9 Since all of the mentioned network elements are
dissertation, University of in constant flux, our focus is on the quality of the process, temporality
New South Wales, Sydney, and the dynamics of this network over a longer period of time.
2008, pp 163–171
This interplay of structure, agency, and socio-political and cultural
5 Paul Stubbs, ‘Flex Actors
context can be productively approached through the prism of the
and Philanthropy in (Post-) network on a methodological level as well, by combining well-established
Conflict Arenas: Soros’ methods in art history with those developed in social network analysis
Open Society Foundations in
the Post-Yugoslav Space’, and relational sociology. In other words, a network approach in this
Croatian Political Science sense entails using both quantitative and qualitative methods.10 While
Review, vol 50, no 5, 2013, the former contributes to our understanding of the structure of the
pp 114–138; Hlavajová,
‘Towards the Normal’, op visual arts scene in Croatia, the latter helps us to understand the influence
cit; Octavian Esanu, ‘What of the context on this structure, the circulations and exchanges of mean-
Was Contemporary Art?’, ings, as well as the judgements and decisions of the actors who partici-
ARTMargins, vol 1, no 1,
May 2012, pp 5–28 pated in the network, their actions and/or inactions.11 In this way, the
6 For more on emergence as
visual structure of the arts scene is used as the backdrop to reflect on
the key characteristic of the position of the Soros Foundation organisations within it.
complex systems see John
H Holland, Complexity:
A Very Short Introduction,
Oxford University Press, Data and Methods
Oxford, 2014, pp 49–58.

7 The term ‘agency’ is used To analyse the institutional structure of the visual arts scene, we used data
according to Mustafa on exhibitions, extracted from art criticism published in four cultural
Emirbayer and John
Goodwin: ‘Human periodicals in Croatia (Arkzin, Kontura, Vijenac, Zarez).12 From the
agency… entails the capacity art criticism, we extracted data on institutions that were organisers of
of socially embedded actors contemporary art events (exhibitions, screenings, performances, festi-
to appropriate, reproduce,
and, potentially, to innovate vals). Since the periodicals vary in terms of editorial policy and thematic
upon received cultural focus (ie each of them represents a symbolic gathering place of a specific
categories and conditions of social circle on the scene),13 the data sample includes a greater variety of
actions in accordance with
their personal and collective different events and institutions. In other words, it moves away from
ideals, interests, and basing the analysis on only a couple of ‘consecrated’ actors.
commitments.’ See Mustafa
Emirbayer and John
From the dataset we constructed a set of unimodal networks14 in
Goodwin, ‘Network which two organisations are connected if they are mentioned in the
Analysis, Culture, and the same art critique.15 Since an art critique typically revolves around a
Problem of Agency’,
American Journal of
single art event, a mention in the same contribution indicates that the
Sociology, vol 99, no 6, May mentioned institutions collaborated in its organisation. The entire
1994, pp 1442–1443. dataset was extracted from a total of 4497 art critiques, published in
8 Ibid, p 1440. Understood in the period between 1994 and 2006, and it included 817 unique insti-
this way, the specific space- tutions. Of these, 380 are based in Croatia, while the remaining 437
time in question could be
called a ‘conjuncture’. See are international (based mostly in Europe and the United States).
Stubbs, ‘Flex Actors and Although we are focused on the analysis of the institutional structure of
 528

Philanthropy in (Post-) the visual arts scene in Croatia, this information indicates from the very
Conflict Arenas’, op cit,
p 116. beginning that the art geography we are focusing on is by no means
limited by national borders.
9 Emirbayer and Goodwin, The qualitative part of the research encompassed twenty-nine narra-
‘Network Analysis, Culture, tive semi-structured interviews, conducted with key protagonists of the
and the Problem of Agency’,
op cit, p 1442 visual arts scene during the time period in question.16 The profile of the
10 A more recent development
interviewed actors included curators, artists, producers and cultural
of network theory, as policy experts, out of which approximately one third was more directly
exemplified in the work of involved with the Soros Foundation organisations, either as employees
Jan Fuhse, Ann Mische, Nick
Crossley, Elisa Bellotti and
in different spin-offs or as board members.17 The protagonists were
others, departs from the asked about their networking practices during this period, to describe
more formalist approach of the structure of the scene, its main actors and the quality of their ties,
network analysis in favour of
the idea that social relations
about the values disseminated through the network, and about the influ-
are shaped and reshaped by ence of the socio-political and cultural contexts on their networking prac-
subjective dispositions of tices. Following a qualitative structural analysis approach,18 a structure-
social actors and their
interpretations of reality. In
focused, an actor-focused and a tie-focused analysis of the interviews was
this regard, mixed-method applied, with a particular emphasis on the Soros Foundation organisa-
approaches that combine tions. The narrative dataset served as a basis for the development and
quantitative and qualitative
methods are important as interpretation of analytic concepts, with the help of ‘thematic
they enable deeper coding’.19 The results of both the quantitative and qualitative research
understanding of the were further interpreted through findings from the Croatian State
relational nature of the social
world. Mixed-methods Archives.20
strategies are especially The decision to situate the timeframe of the research between 1994
valuable in the research of and 2006 is based on broader developments in the art field in Croatia,
‘cultural structures’, as is the
case in our study of the Soros but also on the dynamics of the Soros Foundation’s Croatia-based organ-
network. isations. The bulk of the analysis is concentrated on the Open Society
11 By way of using both Institute – Croatia (OSI-Croatia), founded in 1992, and the SCCA-
quantitative and qualitative Zagreb, established in 1993. However, it also takes into account other
methods, this research falls
within the fields of digital
Soros spin-offs that relate to the visual arts scene, such as the Centre
humanities and digital art for Dramatic Art (CDA), established in 1995,21 and the Multimedia Insti-
history, which rely on tute (mi2/MaMa), a nongovernmental organisation, established in 1999,
‘analytic techniques enabled
by computational
that works at the intersection of culture, art, technology and activism,
technology’. Johnna and that grew out of the internet section of OSI-Croatia. Although the
Drucker, ‘Is There a “Digital” SCCA-Zagreb started its activities in 1993, its first annual exhibition
Art History?’, Visual
Resources, vol 29, nos 1–2, was mounted in 1994. Furthermore, while it awarded its first grants in
March 2013, p 7. See also the year it was founded, most of them were intended for programmes
Kathryn Brown, ed, The happening in 1994. OSI-Croatia assisted a couple of cultural projects in
Routledge Companion to
Digital Humanities and Art the first two years of its existence, however this help was marginal, as it
History, Routledge, London was primarily focused on humanitarian aid in war-affected areas. Apart
and New York, 2020. from OSI-Croatia, which closed in 2006,22 all the other Soros spin-offs
12 Arkzin (1991–1998) started still exist today.23
out as a fanzine of the Anti-
War Campaign in Croatia,
but eventually turned into a
hybrid magazine for culture, The Structure of the Visual Arts Scene in Croatia
politics, and new media;
Kontura (1991–) is focused
almost exclusively on the To understand the position and potential rupture that Soros Foundation
visual arts and is connected organisations made in the structure of the visual arts scene, it is first and
to a homonymous
commercial gallery and
foremost important to recognise the ‘historical configurations of action
auction house; Vijenac that shape[d] and transform[ed] pregiven social structures in the first
(1993–) is a bi-monthly place’.24 In this specific case, the well-known position that Yugoslavia
published by Matica
hrvatska, one of the oldest held during the Cold War is worth recalling, as is the lively cultural
cultural institutions in activity that it gave rise to. Zagreb possessed an adequately developed
529

Croatia, founded in the

nineteenth century as part of
the national revival Table 1. General characteristics of one-mode networks
movement; Zarez (1999–
2006) was a bi-monthly
1994–1998 1999–2006
more connected with the
independent cultural scene,
which presented a more Number of nodes 355 621
critical stance toward Number of edges 737 1559
contemporary cultural Number of components 43 75
phenomena. Both Vijenac
and Zarez followed
Giant component 55.8% 62.9%
contemporary art events in a Network diameter 10 10
number of different artistic Average clustering coefficient 0.789 0.727
fields, from visual arts to Average path length 4.5 3.709
theatre, dance, literature and
music. For more information
on these periodicals refer to
Sanja Sekelj, ‘Digitalna
povijest umjetnosti i
umjetničke mreže u
Hrvatskoj 1990-ih i 2000-ih,
cultural infrastructure, including contemporary art institutions and gal-
doktorska disertacija leries, and a rich history of international cultural exchange.25 Conse-
(Digital Art History and quently, what functioned as a point of reference in art production in
Artists’ Networks in Croatia
of the 1990s and 2000s, the 1990s was not ‘the trauma of communism’, but the ‘trauma of
doctoral dissertation)’, war’, as rightly observed by Piotr Piotrowski.26 An added traumatic
University of Zadar, Zadar, aspect was the instrumentalisation of culture by the dominant factions
2021, pp 79–115.
in society, which was supposed to legitimise the ‘centuries old’ national
13 For a thorough analysis of cultural identity. Contemporary art and its institutions were condemned,
these periodicals as or neglected at best, since the avant-garde tendencies were seen as part of
cohesive social circles, refer
to Sekelj, ‘Digital Art a common Yugoslav heritage.27
History’, 2021. These ‘historical configurations of action’ are an important factor
14 Unlike two-mode when interpreting the structure of the visual arts scene in the post-socialist
networks, which consist of period. Basic structural characteristics of the two complete networks
two sets of actors (eg,
people and events),
(Table 1), representing institutional collaboration in two different time
unimodal (or one-mode) periods (1994–1998, 1999–2006), show the exponential growth of the
networks include only one scene in terms of nodes and established relations over time, but they
type of actor. For more see
Christina Prell, Social
also demonstrate some similar structural characteristics: most of the
Network Analysis: History, network is composed of a well-connected giant component and a
Theory & Methodology, number of isolated components, with no links to the ‘centre’ of the
Sage, London, 2012.
scene.28
15 The data was structured in Although the majority of the structure is made up of institutions based
the CAN_IS database,
developed at the Institute of in Croatia, the map reveals that the immediate structure of the Croatian
Art History in Zagreb, visual arts scene is international. The percentage of Croatian institutions
while the visualisations in the network decreases over time, indicating a widening of the artistic
were made with the help of
the open-source platform geography present on the Croatian visual arts scene, a fact which is
Gephi. All of the further strengthened by an ever-wider list of included countries.29 Most
visualisations were made
by the corresponding
of the network is made up of institutions based in Europe, and only a
author of the article. See: couple of them are consistently better represented.30 Nonetheless, the
ARTNET, https://www. relatively short average path length and the high clustering coefficient
art-net-ipu.org/#:~:text=
artnet%20is%20a%
point to the fact that the visual arts scene can be described in terms of
20research%20project, a ‘small world’,31 ie that national boundaries or geographical distance
modern%20and% do not play a determining role in establishing ties or that they hinder pro-
20contemporary%20artist
%20networks. The data
cesses of circulation, transfer and mobility. Theoretically, each organisa-
that support the findings of tion is only about four steps away from any other node in the network.
this research, and the However, not every agent is able or even willing to establish connections
network visualisations with
all of the node labels, that with any other node. The agents in the network have diverging values and
are presented in this article goals, and they use different strategies to obtain them.
 530

Map 1, spatial distribution of institutions in the networks, 1994–2006

are openly available in the

PODEST Repository:
It is reasonable, therefore, to approach the structure of the scene
https://podest.ipu.hr/ through the identification and visualisation of different social circles
islandora/object/ipu:220, simultaneously active within the scene, which gives a broader context
reference urn:nbn:
hr:254:923971.
to the position of Soros Foundation organisations in Croatia.32 When
examining the two visualisations (relating to 1994–1998 and 1999–
2006), it is apparent that the structure of the visual arts scene displays
16 The interviews were some continuities, as well as discontinuities. Although the network has
conducted within the a greater number of communities after 1999 (twenty-five compared to
ARTNET project between
2015 and 2017, funded by thirteen until 1998), the continuities are visible first and foremost in
the Croatian Science the perseverance of a number of central and peripheral clusters, their
Foundation (ARTNET, similar positions and the mechanisms that form the basis of this cohe-
HRZZ 6270, Institute of
Art History, 2014–2018). sion. In most cases, organisations are usually well connected within
A number of team members their own community, with only one or a couple of nodes performing
participated in this part of
the research: Sanja
a bridging role between them. Communities are mostly formed around
Horvatinčić, Ivana central organisations, based on spatial proximity, or both. In some
Meštrov, Dalibor cases, it is possible to identify similar values and interests as the basis
Prančević, Sanja Sekelj and
Željka Tonković.
for community cohesion.33 However, changes are also visible: the
appearance of new communities, changing alliances or disappearance
17 Participation in the study
was voluntary and all
of some organisations.
participants were The continuity of structure is possibly best represented by the persist-
guaranteed anonymity and ence of three clusters organised around some of the most representative
data confidentiality. The
interviews were transcribed contemporary art institutions in Croatia, such as the Museum of Contem-
and archived in the porary Art (MCA), the Klovićevi dvori Gallery (GKD), as well as cultural
documentation department institutions with a tradition going back to the end of the nineteenth
of the Institute of Art
History in Zagreb. century, such as the Art Pavilion or the Croatian Association of Artists
531

(HDLU), all of them located in Zagreb. Their position of power within

18 See Andreas Herz, Luisa the network is demonstrated with both high immediate connectivity
Peters and Inga Truschkat, and their bridging position between communities. It could be claimed
‘How to Do Qualitative
Structural Analysis: The that they represent the symbolic centre of the scene, and that their pos-
Qualitative Interpretation ition points to the fact that the scene is extremely centralised around
of Network Maps and the capital city. Furthermore, similarities between periods are visible in
Narrative Interviews’,
Forum: Qualitative Social the persistence of a couple of strong regional communities on the Croa-
Research, vol 16, no 1, tian coast (such as Split or Rijeka), the structural position of SCCA, or
January 2015
the relatively high presence of Slovenian institutions, which oftentimes
19 Kathy Charmaz, also play a bridging role toward other international communities.
Constructing Grounded
Theory: A Practical
While the structural position of the Art Pavilion and the HDLU
Guide through remains similar in both time periods, in the sense of a balanced division
Qualitative Analysis, of power,34 the same does not hold true for MCA and GKD. Although
Thousand Oaks, Sage
Publications, London and
they remained some of the most powerful actors in the scene after
New Delhi, 2006 1999, the visualisation shows that both of them, by basically forming
20 Croatian State Archives,
their own clusters, have a slightly distanced relationship to other commu-
Open Society Institute – nities.
Croatia, Fund no. HR- A major change in the network after 1999 is the emergence of one
HDA-1931, 1–5
completely new central community – the independent scene cluster,
21 CDA had a similar role in located in direct proximity to the MCA and the Zagreb galleries clusters.
performing arts as SCCA
had in the visual arts, in the Its defining feature is the fact that it ties together NGOs which share
sense that it was a grant- similar organisational, aesthetic, political and ideological values.35 It
giving institution. The includes a great number of newly established actors, whose proliferation
difference was that its
establishment was initiated around the year 2000 was enabled by the changed legislative frame-
locally, hence it was not work,36 as well as a number of organisations that were initiated during
part of a bigger network of
similar institutions. Its role
the 1990s, and that previously occupied positions within the Zagreb gal-
in the visual arts structure leries community. Compared to the three already-mentioned central com-
was minimal during the munities, the independent scene cluster is specific in the sense that one of
1990s, however it is
included in the analysis
its defining characteristics is the existence of horizontal relations between
since it was part of the its members, with no actor being able to completely seize control of the
independent cultural scene information flow within the cluster. All of the nodes are of similar size,
at the turn of the
millennium.
even though the community incorporates some of the most powerful
actors in the entire network when it comes to their betweenness centrality,
22 OSI-Croatia still financed
some cultural projects in and the number of directly established relations (such as mi2 or the curator-
the very beginning of the ial collective What, How and for Whom/WHW). Another new feature in the
2000s, but it changed network after 1999 is the growing importance of cultural programmes of
direction and completely
backed out of the culture Austrian institutions, as well as a greater accessibility to institutions in the
sector in 2004. One of United States and Western Europe. Access to these is mostly granted
the reasons for the through connections with the Slovenian scene, especially after the 2000
gradual withdrawal was
the change in government edition of the Manifesta biennial, held in Ljubljana. It is important to
in 2000, which was more note, however, that the independent scene cluster incorporates a number
open to contemporary art
practices. From that point
of Austrian and Slovenian actors, with whom they established direct ties.37
onwards, OSI-Croatia
saw itself more as a
partner to the government
that would help change
existing cultural policies,
The Position and Influence of Soros Foundation
than as a lifeline to
‘inappropriate’ practices.
Organisations In The Visual Arts Scene
The conclusion is based
on OSI-Croatia’s The basic structural characteristics of the visual arts scene, the inter-
strategies from the relationship of its central communities, and their change over time are
beginning of the 2000s.
See Croatian State an important starting point to determine the position and influence of
Archives, Open Society Soros Foundation organisations in the Croatian context. Here,
 532

Visualisation 1, communities in the visual arts scene 1994–1998 (giant component), nodes belonging to the same
community are grouped by colour; their size corresponds to the value of betweenness centrality, the list of commu-
nities can be found in Table 2
533

Institute – Croatia, Fund

no. HR-HDA-1931-3.
Table 2. List of clusters obtained by the Girwan-Newman
23 Institute of Contemporary
Art–SCCA, http://www.
method for the period 1994–1998 (Vis. 1)
institute.hr/en/homepage/;
Centre for Dramatic Art, Percentage of
https://cdu.home.blog/; members in the
Multimedia Institute,
https://mi2.hr/en/
Cluster Name of cluster network Representative nodes
24 Emirbayer and Goodwin, 1 [bright Zagreb Galleries 15.7 Croatian Association of Fine
‘Network Analysis, Culture
and the Problem of
mauve] Artists (HDLU), Art
Agency’, op cit, p 1425 Pavilion, Matica hrvatska
Gallery
25 Ljiljana Kolešnik, ‘Decade
of Freedom, Hope and Lost
2 [bright Museum of 13.6 Museum of Contemporary
Illusions. Yugoslav Society green] Contemporary Art Art Zagreb
in the 1960s as a (MCA) cluster
Framework for New 3 [light Gallery Klovićevi 12.1 Museum and Gallery Centre
Tendencies’, Radovi
Instituta za povijest
blue] dvori (GKD)
umjetnosti 34, 2010, pp cluster
211–224. For further 4 [black] Traditional arts scene 11.6 Gallery Brešan, City Museum
information on in Split Split
contemporary art practices
5 [red] Slovenian and Italian 9.6 Modern Gallery in Ljubljana,
in Zagreb during socialism
see, for example, Armin cluster Venice Biennial
Medosch, ‘Cutting the 6 [pink] Regional cluster 9.6 Vjekoslav Karas Gallery in
Networks in Former Karlovac, Museum of
Yugoslavia: From New ̵
Medimurje in Č akovec,
Tendencies to the New Art
Practice’, Third Text 153, Gallery Galženica in Velika
vol 32, issue 4, July 2018, Gorica
special issue, Guest Editor, 7 [teal] Dubrovnik cluster 7.6 Art Workshop Lazareti
Reuben Fowkes, ‘Actually 8 [orange] Rijeka cluster 5.6 Filodrammatica, Modern
Existing Artworlds of
Socialism’, pp 546–561;
Gallery
Ivana Bago, ‘The City as a 9 [yellow] SCCA cluster 5.1 SCCA
Space of Plastic Happening: 10 [grey] Gallery Kapelica 2.5 Gallery Kapelica in Ljubljana
From Grand Proposals to cluster
Exceptional Gestures in the
Art of the 1970s in Zagreb’,
11 [grey] New arts scene in 2.5 The Cellars of Diocletian’s
Journal of Urban History, Split Palace, Gripe Fortress
vol 44, no 1, 2018, pp 26– 12 [dark documenta cluster 2.5 documenta
53; Ivana Bago, blue]
‘Dematerialization and
13 [grey] Gallery Forum 2.0 Gallery Forum
Politicisation of the
Exhibition: Curation as cluster
Institutional Critique in
Yugoslavia during the
1960s and 1970s’, Museum
and Curatorial Studies
Review, vol 2, no 1, spring however, we are also interested in the meanings the cultural actors attrib-
2014, pp 7–37. It is worth uted to them.
mentioning in this context
that practices in art
The network for the period until 1998 (Vis 1) includes three insti-
documentation were also tutions directly related to the Soros network, only one of which is
established during based in Croatia – the SCCA-Zagreb, while the other two are the Open
socialism: apart from the
Gallery (today Museum) of
Society Foundation-Slovenia (OSF-Slovenia) and the SCCA-Sarajevo.
Contemporary Art, Zagreb The organisation of exhibitions and other arts events was but one
had a specialised institution smaller part of the SCCA activities,38 hence it is not surprising that
for collecting
documentation on artists
SCCA-Zagreb has a much smaller number of established co-operations
and exhibitions (the than the most central nodes in the network, such as the MCA or the
Archive of Fine Arts of the HDLU.39 It is important to note, however, that its immediate connectivity
Croatian Academy of
Sciences and Arts), as well is still higher than most of the other institutions in the network. The pos-
as a developed museum ition of SCCA-Zagreb in the visualisation could still be seen as represen-
 534

Visualisation 2, communities in the visual arts scene 1999–2006 (giant component), nodes belonging to the same
community are grouped by colour; their size corresponds to the value of betweenness centrality, the list of commu-
nities can be found in Table 3
535

network supported by the

Museum Documentation
Centre. Table 3. List of clusters obtained by the Girwan-Newman
26 Piotr Piotrowski, Art and
method for the period 1999–200670 (Vis. 2)
Democracy in Post-
Communist Europe, Anna Percentage of
Brzyski, trans, Reaktion members in the
Books, London, 2012,
p 175
Cluster Name of cluster network Representative nodes

27 See footnote 29 in 1 [magenta] Independent scene 16.1 WHW, mi2, Labin Art
Tonković and Sekelj,
Express, Art Workshop
‘Annual Exhibitions of the
Soros Center for Lazareti
Contemporary Art Zagreb 2 [mauve] Zagreb Galleries 15.6 Croatian Association of
as a Place of Networking’, Fine Artists (HDLU), Art
op cit, p 92. For a short Pavilion, Gallery
description of changes in
the culture sector from the Miroslav Kraljević,
late 1980s to the early Glyptotheque
2000s see, for example, 3 [orange] Rijeka cluster 6.9 Modern Gallery,
Tomislav Medak, ‘Culture Multimedia Center
as a Common Good’, in
Ivana Pejić and Matija
Palach, Filodrammatica
Mrakovčić, eds, Culture as 4 [bright Museum of 5.9 Museum of Contemporary
a Factor in green] Contemporary Art Art
Democratisation: Practices, (MCA) cluster
Collaborations and Models
of Work on the
5 [red] Slovenian and 5.9 Modern Gallery in
Independent Cultural German cluster Ljubljana, documenta,
Scene, Kurziv, Zagreb, Manifesta
2021, pp 42–59. 6 [light blue] Austrian Cluster 6.4 Camera Austria, rotor,
28 The giant component is a Steirischer Herbst
connected component of a 7 [yellow] ICA (SCCA) cluster 5.6 ICA
network, containing a 8 [black] Split cluster 5.5 Museum of Fine Art, Art
significant proportion of all
of the nodes.
Academy
9 [dark blue] International cluster 5.1 Kunsthalle Wien, Tate
29 The percentage of Modern, Solomon R
institutions based in
Croatia amounted to
Guggenheim Museum
around 53 per cent in the 10 [grey] North Croatian 3.6 City Museum Varaždin,
1990s, and around 45 per cluster Gallery Centre Varaždin
cent in the 2000s. 11 [grey] Slovenian 3.1 Gallery Kapelica,
30 Institutions in independent scene Kiberpipa, Tovarna Rog
neighbouring countries 12 [cyan] Gallery Klovićevi 2.8 Gallery Klovićevi dvori
such as Slovenia, in the dvori (GKD)
USA or Western European
countries, such as
cluster
Germany. 13 [grey] Private galleries 2.6 Gallery Beck, Gallery
Arteria, Gallery Adris
31 The average path length
corresponds to the average 14 [grey] Film and TV cluster 2.6 Croatian Film Association,
number of intermediaries Croatian Radiotelevision
needed to connect two 15 [grey] Photography cluster 2.1 Fotogallery Lang in
nodes in the network. The Samobor, Fotofo festival,
clustering coefficient can be
defined as a measure of
Central European House
local density, or the extent of Photography
to which the nearest 16 [grey] Regional cluster 2.1 Gallery Koprivnica, Gallery
neighbours of a node were Waldinger in Osijek,
connected with one
another. As proposed by
Centre for Culture
Watts and Strogatz in Č akovec
1998, small world
networks are those with a 70 The table includes clusters that have a percentage of two or higher. There are twenty-five clusters in
high clustering coefficient total; the ones that are not named in the table have from two to four community members, with each
and a small average of them occupying less than 1 per cent of the network.
shortest path length. In
 536

other words, small world tative of its role in the visual arts scene. With a relatively high between-
networks are
simultaneously ness centrality, it acts as a gatekeeper to a specific community which
characterised by dense would otherwise be very poorly connected to the rest of the scene. It is
social circles and relations positioned between several different communities of cultural organisa-
that span across the
network. This type of tions, hence its role can be described as bridging. In particular, it finds
network structure appears itself in direct proximity to the most powerful actors in the scene (such
frequently in different as the MCA), serving as a bridge between Zagreb, regional clusters and
contexts, and is typical of
collaborative networks in the international cluster, represented mostly by actors from Slovenia
the artistic field. See Brian and Italy.
Uzzi, Luis AN Amaral,
Felix Reed-Tsochas, ‘Small-
The position of the OSF-Slovenia and SCCA-Sarajevo in the visual-
world Networks and isation is the result of art critics following and writing about only a
Management Science handful of events organised in their immediate surroundings, which is
Research: A Review’,
European Management
why there are no direct connections between them and the SCCA-
Review 4, 2007, pp 77–91; Zagreb, even though in reality the SCCA-Zagreb and SCCA-Sarajevo
Brian Uzzi and Jarrett collaborated frequently and intensively.40 Apart from the Sarajevo
Spiro, ‘Collaboration and
Creativity: The Small
branch, the former SCCA-Zagreb employees recall strong ties with
World Problem’, American centres in other ex-Yugoslav republics and the Baltic states, as well
Journal of Sociology, vol as the ones in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary and the Czech Republic.41
111, no 2, 2005, pp 447–
504. See also Albert-László However, the network opened communication channels between all
Barabási, Linked: The New of the centres: through annual meetings, informal gatherings during
Science of Networks, the openings of large-scale international exhibitions, and a short-lived
Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, joint magazine entitled Quarterly, while information-sharing and col-
2002. laboration through the SCARP programme were greatly facilitated as
a result of the development of new communication technologies. As
32 The social circles within the stated by one of the former SCCA-Zagreb employees, ‘our job was to
giant components in both
time periods were
communicate within the network, so that’s what we did. All of us com-
determined with the help of municated.’42 In fact, the network-building potential of the SCCA is
the Girwan-Newman often highlighted in the Croatian context as one of its most important
method – a procedure that
relies on betweenness
effects. ‘Soros’s idea to strengthen, promote and develop contemporary
centrality to detect different art and art history was welcome in our case, but in the sense of
communities in the overall improvement and opening of these contacts,’43 since Croatia was a
network structure.
Betweenness centrality is milieu with an adequately developed cultural infrastructure. Further-
used to detect nodes that more, the SCCA employees, most of whom had started their careers
act as gatekeepers or
bridges in network
within the complex of ‘new artistic practice’ in Zagreb and Belgrade,
structure, ie that potentially emphasise that their space of action was ‘never local, or national. It
control information flow or was always international.’44 This space of action went through a
connect communities that
otherwise would not have
radical reduction in the beginning of the 1990s, which is why this
any or many connections. network-building impulse, provided by SCCA, is almost exclusively
Nodes with the highest seen in a positive way:
betweenness act as
community boundaries
when applying the Girwan-
Newman method. See this really played a crucial role in the dark 1990s, when all of the excellent
Stephen P Borgatti, Martin professional ties of the MCA were cut off. It was a catastrophe, everything
G Everett and Jeffrey C ̵
was disappearing and falling apart, this Tudman-like darkness took root
Johnson, Analyzing Social
Networks, Sage, London,
with the idea of national art… No matter how small we were, only a
2013, pp 233–239. few people, we had the money, we could act.45
33 It is important to note that
naming a cluster based on
spatial proximity does not
Most of the scene’s actors agree that the establishment of SCCA-Zagreb
signify that all of the nodes was a milestone in the development of their transnational networks. It
within a community have seems, however, that their awareness of the entire structure of the
the same location, but that
the community SCCA network was only partial, which is why some of them understood
encompasses such a the SCCA role more in the sense of ‘producing, documenting and archiv-
537

number of nodes that the ing an art practice that was neglected’ in the 1990s, then as people that
spatial determination
becomes one of its most were ‘actively working on networks and exchanges’,46 even though the
obvious features. same actors often also profited from SCCA exchanges. As for the partici-
pants who perceived the SCCA mostly through their annual exhibitions
34 Apart from a balanced
division of power, they also and publishing activities,47 their opinions differ. While some of them
allowed for the emergence highlight the importance of exhibitions that revived the interest in new
of other influential actors
within the cluster, before
artistic practice, thus establishing continuity with the socialist period,
and after 1999 (such as the some believe that their policy was conservative: ‘they filled in the gaps
Matica hrvatska Gallery or in art history. And, OK, somebody needed to fill them in, to institutiona-
the Miroslav Kraljević
Gallery).
lise conceptual art of the 1970s, but I would have been much happier if
another institution did this, and they occupied themselves more with
35 For more information on
the independent cultural
the network, which was their primary task.’48
scene, its development, Apart from SCCA-Zagreb, the other local Soros Foundation organisa-
main actors, and specific tions are not present in the network visualisation until 1998. While mi2
organisational
mechanisms, refer to: was established only in 1999, on the basis of this visualisation alone it
Željka Tonković and Sanja could be concluded that the other two organisations – OSI-Croatia and
Sekelj, ‘Duality of Culture CDA – did not have a paramount impact on the visual arts scene.
and Structure: A Network
Perspective on the However, since their principal role during the 1990s was not focused
Independent Cultural Scene on the organisation of art events, this is misleading, as is the impact of
in Zagreb and the the SCCA itself. Although all of these institutions performed multiple
Formation of the WHW
Curatorial Collective’, in roles, their impact on the local scene was mostly felt through inter-
Ljiljana Kolešnik, Sanja national programme coordination, as well as financial and infrastructural
Horvatinčić, eds, Modern support to already-existing and newly established institutions. If we take
and Contemporary Artists’
Networks: An Inquiry into into account connections established through grant-giving,49 the immedi-
Digital History of Art and ate network of OSI and SCCA takes on a different scale and meaning,
Architecture, Institute of
Art History, Zagreb, 2018,
because there is basically not a single community in the network
pp 166–213; Sepp without the presence of the Soros Foundation organisations.
Eckenhaussen, Scenes of The SCCA-Zagreb supported newly emerging groups, such as the
Independence: Cultural
Ruptures in Zagreb (1991–
Society for the Improvement of the Quality of Life or the Gripe Art
2019), Institute of Network Project, which were or would organise themselves as nongovernmental
Cultures, Amsterdam, organisations, as well as a small number of private galleries. However,
2019; Željka Tonković,
‘Yesterday, Today,
a significant amount of its funds went toward programmes being held
Tomorrow: The in public cultural institutions, often those that were for decades
Independent Cultural Scene the backbone of artistic culture in Zagreb and Croatia, as well as to
From Its Actors
Perspective’, in Ivana Pejić artists and/or institutions participating in or organising presentations
and Matija Mrakovčić, eds, within large-scale international exhibitions, such as the Venice Bien-
Culture as a Factor in nial. Although most of its support went to Zagreb-based institutions,
Democratisation: Practices,
Collaborations and Models it is nevertheless obvious that it worked toward supporting smaller
of Work on the regional centres in Croatia. This was a deliberate policy, as they saw
Independent Cultural their ‘mission in decentralising [their] activities as much as possible’,
Scene, Kurziv, Zagreb, pp
110–129; Dea Vidović, and perceived themselves as a centre ‘representing the entire
‘Tactical Practices in country’.50 Furthermore, according to the SCCA Procedures Manual,
Approaching Local
Cultural Policies in
which was nicknamed ‘the Talmud’ in Zagreb, the grants were
Zagreb’, Život umjetnosti intended for independent initiatives. However, ‘since the independent
86, June 2010, pp 22–33; scene did not exist, and we were at war so there wasn’t much chance
Marko Golub, ‘A Story
Told in Reverse: Patterns in
it would blossom, we were given permission to give grants to state
the Urban Scene of Zagreb’, institutions. This wasn’t forbidden, but the support to the independent
Život umjetnosti 73, scene was preferred.’51
December 2004, pp 30–39.
The role of OSI-Croatia in the network is smaller than the one per-
36 For more information on formed by SCCA. Most of the organisations supported through various
changes in the culture
sector around the new OSI programmes (media, publishing, civil society program, education)
millennium refer to: were primarily not working in the visual arts field, but in environment
 538

Medak, ‘Culture as a protection (Green Action), women’s rights (B.a.B.e.), human rights
Common Good’, op cit;
Tonković and Sekelj, (Amnesty International), or media and publishing (Arkzin, Bookstore
‘Duality of Structure and Moderna vremena). However, both OSI and SCCA continuously
Culture’, op cit; supported newly established organisations, defined as working in alterna-
Eckenhaussen, Scenes of
Independence, op cit, pp tive culture: Art Workshop Lazareti in Dubrovnik, Labin Art Express in
95–98. Labin and the Autonomous Cultural Factory/Attack! in Zagreb.52
Although the grant amounts were not high, the participants in the
37 It is interesting to note that scene mostly have a positive relationship to it: ‘it was chump change,
this cluster also includes but it meant a lot, I have to say’.53 The support was often seen as insti-
collaborative ties with tutional encouragement, allowing for the mere possibility of something
institutions based in Serbia,
whereas they were not to happen, which oftentimes opened the doors for other initiatives and
present at all in the projects. Because of the war and fraudulent privatisation processes, in
previous period.
the 1990s there was ‘a complete shortage of resources, people were com-
38 For more information on pletely impoverished’, and most of the art projects ‘wouldn’t have been
the annual exhibitions of
SCCA-Zagreb, refer to
possible without this support, no matter how small or marginal it
Tonković and Sekelj, was’.54 There were, however, those with a more critical stance toward
‘Annual Exhibitions of the the Soros Foundation’s financing policy, hinting that they acted merely
Soros Centre for
Contemporary Art Zagreb
as replacement institutions to those that the nationalist ruling party
as a Place of Networking’, took over: ‘They were supporting projects and trying to occupy this
op cit. place which the nationalist cultural policy forgot, rejected, didn’t want
39 For example, the to support… On the one hand, this is extremely important, on the
weighted degree of SCCA- other hand I always say it is not enough.’55
Zagreb is 13, while for
the MCA it equals 51. The visualisation encompassing collaborations in the beginning of the
The weighted degree new millennium includes a greater number of institutions directly related
signifies the number of to the Soros network (Vis 2). It includes all of the Croatia-based organi-
established relations,
which takes into account sations (SCCA-Zagreb, CDA, OSI-Croatia and mi2), as well as five other
the edge weight, the value SCCAs (Ljubljana, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Bratislava and Riga). They are
of which depends on the mostly grouped in two distinct communities on the visual arts scene:
number of collaborations
between two institutions. the SCCA cluster and the independent scene cluster.
A better presence of international SCCAs in the visualisation could be
40 Dunja Blažević, the director
of SCCA-Sarajevo, was a
seen as a sign of strength of personal and professional ties developed during
frequent guest in Zagreb, the 1990s, testifying to the fact that parts of the SCCA network persisted,
where she had established a and took on different shapes and meanings, even after the official SCCA
number of close personal
and professional network ceased to exist. All of the actors emphasise that the personal con-
relationships since the tacts were most important in terms of network-building, and they still
1970s. The SCCA-Zagreb actively take advantage of ties formed back in the 1990s: ‘If you use a
supported the
establishment of the network as a tool, then most often you establish a personal contact with
Sarajevo branch in 1996, someone and it remains long-term.’56 Based on the data, it could be
and the two institutions claimed that the presence of the SCCA network was more palpable on
also ventured toward joint
organisation of the local scene after it officially stopped existing. The use of these personal
programmes at the end of contacts was not, of course, limited to SCCA employees, but to everyone
the 1990s, such as the
curatorial workshop for
who participated in Soros-related exchanges, a fact that explains the div-
young art historians, ision of international SCCAs in two different communities.
entitled ‘Museums and The SCCA-Zagreb, which registered as a nongovernmental organisa-
Galleries of Contemporary
Art After the War’ in 1999.
tion – the Institute of Contemporary Art-SCCA – in April 1998, holds a
Lectures held within the similar position within the topology of the network to that which it held
workshop in Dubrovnik by during the 1990s, in the sense that it still acts as a gatekeeper and bridge
art historians and curators,
such as Martha Wilson,
between different communities in the visual arts scene. This holds true
Dunja Blažević or especially when it comes to its role of connecting the central Zagreb insti-
Konstantin Akinsha, are tutions with peripheral locations within Croatia. Its position in the top-
available online: Institute
of Contemporary Art- ology could be seen as a sign of continuity of relations established
SCCA, http://www. during the 1990s, while the much higher degree of centrality reflects its
539

institute.hr/video- different position in the scene after 1998. This means, primarily, that it
dokumentacija-90ih/.
was not a grant-giving institution anymore, a fact that placed it in a
41 Interview 1 (curator, similar position to other newly established organisations. Furthermore,
SCCA); Interview 4 it adjusted its working models to the changed circumstances: it continued
(curator, SCCA); Interview
6 (curator, SCCA);
to develop its documentation, but most of its programme was directed
Interview 7 (curator, toward establishing a new tightly knit collaborative network through
SCCA) joint organisation of programmes.
42 Interview 1 (curator, All the other Croatia-based organisations that are directly connected
SCCA) to the Soros network find themselves in the independent scene cluster.
43 Interview 6 (curator, Since they are not organisations working primarily in the field of visual
SCCA)
arts, the immediate network surroundings of OSI-Croatia and CDA are
44 Interview 7 (curator, modest. More interesting than their direct ties is precisely their position
SCCA)
within the network topology. This community, to which the participants
45 Interview 4 (curator,
SCCA)
often attribute names such as the ‘parallel scene’,57 could be described as
a result of deployment of the mechanism of value homophily,58 whereby
46 Interview 16 (curator,
independent scene)
ties are formed based on similar interests and working ethics, and transi-
tivity,59 which contribute to a certain level of homogenisation of the
47 Apart from prescribed
activities, SCCA-Zagreb
cluster. While SCCA-Zagreb developed ties with a number of different
put a special emphasis on institutional actors, it is visible that OSI-Croatia leaned exclusively
publishing by initiating the toward those that were considered as providing an alternative to the
Visual Arts Library
programme in 1997. See
regular programmes of public institutions.
the SCCA annual report in The mi2 could be considered as the embodiment of the described charac-
Croatian State Archives, teristics of the independent cultural scene: it is one of the most connected
Open Society Institute –
Croatia, Fund no. HR- organisations in the network, and – based on its position – it has the oppor-
HDA-1931-2. tunity to control the information flow between different communities in the
48 Interview 2 (artist, curator) visual arts scene. However, because the power relations within the indepen-
dent scene cluster are more evenly distributed, it could be claimed, based on
49 For a complete list of
grants, refer to OSI- the network characteristics, that mi2’s formation of relations within the arts
Croatia’s annual reports: scene was based more on the impulse of sharing information than on estab-
Croatian State Archives,
Open Society Institute –
lishing a position of encumbered power. The actors working within the
Croatia, Fund no. HR- framework of mi2 often describe themselves, at least in this earliest
HDA-1931-2 and HR- period, as a ‘community organisation’, emphasising that they were organis-
HDA-1931-3.
ing their activities around the notion that the ‘basic infrastructure of culture
50 Interview 1 (curator, are not objects and finances, but collaboration’.60 Mi2 and their club MaMa
SCCA)
in the centre of Zagreb became a hub for gatherings and collaboration, an
51 Ibid
origin point for a great deal of cultural projects of the independent scene
52 A handful of cultural in the beginning of the new millennium. As stated by one of the younger par-
institutions with longer
traditions profited from
ticipants of the scene,
OSI-Croatia’s support
mainly in the very
beginning of the 1990s, they were the first place that had this kind of social propulsivity, where
before the foundation and people gathered, and the first place that we could use free of charge,
full operation of SCCA-
Zagreb’s activities.
based on friendly relations… it was a place of our generation, a public
space, a place where you would come to check your email, drink coffee
53 Interview 2 (artist, curator) from a machine, hang around.61
54 Interview 16 (curator,
independent scene). It is
important to emphasise A general lack of resources steered a great deal of mi2’s activities toward
that the grants provided by
Soros were not large, but
the establishment of an adequate context for cultural production: from
that they were available sharing their own resources with others, such as their working space, to
pretty early in the decade, forming networks between like-minded organisations, which would
whereas state funding was
limited and mostly serve to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and programmes, make
intended for cultural their precarious position more visible, and give them a stronger bargain-
 540

projects legitimising the ing position to influence new cultural policy. Mi2 was one of the initiators
aforementioned ‘centuries
old’ national identity. of both the Clubture and the Zagreb – European Cultural Kapital 3000
networks, which were focused on sharing and exchange, and the
55 Interview 17 (designer, decentralisation of cultural programmes, and were intended to function
independent scene)
as platforms for collective action. CDA was also a member of both net-
56 Interview 5 (curator, public works, while OSI-Croatia funded the foundation of the Clubture
institution) network.62
57 Interview 4 (curator, The establishment of mi2 as a hub of the independent scene was
SCCA) mostly initiated by a younger generation of cultural workers (albeit
58 Homophily is one of the with the support of OSI-Croatia board members and internet programme
most important network coordinators) who started actively participating in the field at the end of
mechanisms, which
explains the higher
the 1990s. However, their focus on collaboration, networks, cultural
probability of tie formation policy and the imagining of alternative institutional models stems directly
between actors with similar from their experience of the 1990s. As stated by one of the actors
characteristics (eg shared
social background, values affiliated with CDA, ‘you have this generation of the 1990s that tried
or interests). This principle to start working on something, but didn’t have anywhere until they
has been confirmed in made up their own organisations’.63 Namely, the nationalist rhetoric of
numerous empirical studies
and social contexts, the beginning of the decade was accompanied by an ‘alienation’ from
including networks in the public positions of everyone considered a threat to the nationalist
art field. See Nikita Basov,
regime. A number of intellectuals emigrated from the country, some
‘The Ambivalence of
Cultural Homophily: Field retreated from public life, while others found ways to articulate social
Positions, Semantic and cultural alternatives. It is questionable whether this would have
Similarities, and Social
Network Ties in Creative
been possible without the Soros Foundation: ‘I think Soros was important
Collectives’, Poetics 78, because, in the moment of collapse, he gave sanctuary to all these people
February 2020, 101353. that were pushed out of the system or didn’t feel like they could survive in
59 Transitivity refers to the it. In this sense I think he greatly contributed to some continuity.’64 The
tendency to form ties with significance of Soros Foundation support, especially to independent
one’s relations’ relations,
which in turn results in initiatives and newly founded organisations, is perhaps best articulated
dense clusters in the by one of the actors of the independent scene: ‘We all came from Soros!’65
network. Following this
rule, we may expect that if
A is connected to B and B is
connected to C, there is a Concluding Remarks
great probability that A and
C would form a
relationship. This is a As pointed out in the introduction, the main theoretical contribution of
common characteristic of this article is reflected in the construction of an interdisciplinary theor-
social networks, unlike etical framework that relies on (digital) art history and relational soci-
randomly generated
networks. See Borgatti, ology. In line with more recent developments in network theory,
Everett and Johnson, which tries to explain the cultural, contextual and subjective embedded-
Analyzing Social
Networks, op cit, pp 155–
ness of social relationships, our analysis included both quantitative and
159. qualitative approaches. In this perspective, communities detected by a
60 Interview 12 (theoretician,
network analysis algorithm are not only clusters of collaborating insti-
mi2) tutions in the network, but also occupy different parts of the art field,
61 Interview 18 (curator,
whose actions and interactions aim to conserve or to transform the
independent scene) field, as is clear in the case of the independent-scene cluster.
62 The Clubture network still
The mixed-method approach used to analyse the position of Soros
exists, while the Cultural Foundation’s organisations in the visual arts scene revealed that OSI-
Kapital network was of a Croatia and all its spin-offs had different trajectories and strategies,
more temporary nature. It
did, however, establish
and that they occupied varying roles in the local visual arts network.
enduring ties on the By way of comparing distinct organisations and time periods, the com-
independent cultural scene. plexities of the ‘translation process’ of the imposed model into a specific
See: Clubture, https://www.
clubture.org/. For more space-time become apparent. It could be claimed in general that during
information on both the 1990s Soros Foundation’s organisations in Croatia contributed
541

networks refer to: Emina more to maintaining continuity with the socialist period, than to intro-
Višnić, ed, A Bottom-up
Approach to Cultural ducing new values or new types of artistic production. In addition to
Policy Making: SCCA’s grant-giving strategy and local programmes, this is also evi-
Independent Culture and denced in the structure of the visual arts scene, where the central and
New Collaborative
Practices in Croatia, most powerful positions are retained by actors with long traditions,
Policies for Culture, such as the Gallery (today Museum) of Contemporary Art, founded in
Amsterdam, Bucharest and 1954. Real structural change in the scene becomes apparent only after
Zagreb, 2008; Katarina
Pavić, ‘Clubture as a 1999, when it is possible to detect a deliberate strategy to change the
Process of Exchange’, in ways the art system reproduces itself. The change the independent
Ivana Pejić and Matija
Mrakovčić, eds, Culture as
actors aspired to was, nonetheless, only partial: their activities did not
a Factor in change the entire system, but they did manage to introduce an alterna-
Democratisation: Practices, tive to the way collaborative practices within the field usually func-
Collaborations and Models
of Work on the
tioned.
Independent Cultural Needless to say, an important characteristic of the SCCA is that it
Scene, Kurziv, Zagreb, already possessed a large amount of symbolic capital at the exact
2021, pp 72–90; Tonković
and Sekelj, ‘Duality of
moment of its foundation. The economic and symbolic support to conti-
Structure and Culture’, op nuities notwithstanding, it could be claimed that all of its activities were
cit, pp 173–175. programmed in a manner to better its own position within the field. It was
always a middleman between other cultural actors, profiting perhaps
from the fact that it helped others establish connections. Furthermore,
63 Interview 20 (artist, CDA) the analysis makes it clear that the support granted locally was project-
64 Interview 12 (theoretician, based, meaning that it could have generated enduring ties that lead to
mi2) the establishment of local organised networks, but that this was not stra-
65 Ibid tegically planned. The strategies of mi2 were the exact opposite, aimed at
forming sustainable networks within the scene. However, it is a matter of
further research to establish whether they eventually, intentionally or
unintentionally, led to it becoming more of a gatekeeper than a bridge
between other actors. In other words, future research could entail the
examination of whether, and to what extent, the more connected actors
within the independent scene cluster took on the role of ‘controlling the
boundaries’ of the community.
The claim that Soros mostly served to maintain continuity in the
1990s is, however, not as straightforward. An important factor when
discussing the question of continuities and discontinuities are the gen-
erational differences of actors profiting from this support and pro-
grammes. While it is fairly easy for someone who actively participated
in the visual arts scene in the 1970s and 1980s to declare that the
66 Because of the war, the Soros Foundation mostly ‘filled in the gaps in art history’, their pro-
museum collections were grammes often represented the first encounter with these traditions for
stored in depots in the
beginning of the 1990s, and
the younger generations, which were just starting their professional
remained inaccessible activities at the end of the 1990s.66 Furthermore, the fact that the struc-
throughout the decade. tures supporting international exchanges during socialism collapsed,
67 As recalled by the scene’s and the new ones were still not functioning in a systematic manner,
actors, it is important to would have made international networking all the more inaccessible
note that the Soros
Foundation was not the
to younger generations, were it not for the Soros Foundation.67
only one financing and However, the art geography of the period in which they were starting
facilitating international their careers changed drastically, because of which their reinterpreta-
exchanges. However,
access to support from the tions of new artistic practice, or the way they established international
Soros Foundation was networks, cannot be viewed as a direct continuity of practices from
easier and its presence was the socialist period. In other words, the changes in the scene after
more strongly felt because
of the existence of national 1999 could be seen, at least partially, as the Soros Foundation’s contri-
offices. bution to discontinuities.
 542

By taking into account both structural changes in the visual arts

network, raised to a level of empirical research, and the meanings the
actors themselves attribute to them, it is possible to grasp multiple differ-
ent positions coexisting within a specific context. Such an approach
moves the research agenda away from universalist assumptions about
what the Soros Foundation and its spin-offs were supposed to be, to a
more embedded understanding of what they actually were in a specific
space-time. It helps to reconstruct and understand, to use Bourdieusian
68 Bourdieu, ‘The Field of terms, ‘the space of original possibles which, because they were part of
Cultural Production, or:
The Economic World the self-evident givens of the situation, remained unmarked’.68 The per-
Reversed’, in Pierre spective provided in this article thus puts a focus on the agency and inten-
Bourdieu, The Field of tionality of different actors within the local art scene, and opens up the
Cultural Production:
Essays on Art and possibility of a non-linear and non-deterministic approach in the
Literature, Randal interpretation of historical events. The next step in this line of investi-
Johnson, ed, Columbia
University Press,
gation will need to take into account both the subjective dispositions of
New York, 1993, p 30 social actors and their interpretations of reality, and the specificities of
69 This primarily concerns
relation- and value-formation within the art field. Because of lack of
intertwining the network space, these questions were only hinted at, but were left largely unex-
perspective with questions plored.69 However, the visualisations provided in this article could
relating to the
institutionalisation of
prove a useful first step, since the different network communities also
contemporary art in showcase a different level of involvement with the global contemporary
Eastern Europe, changing artworld. This leaves certain communities and actors on the periphery
conditions of cultural
production after the of the network; however, at least for some of them, their peripheral pos-
collapse of socialism, the ition is the result of an active choice. In conclusion, and returning to the
processes of rewriting art question of translation of the ‘imposed model’, a systematic adoption of
histories after 1989, and
their relation to the the proposed research perspective could, in the long run, enable us to
international market. For answer the question not only of how the model was translated into a
more on these topics, as given culture, but also how the different local constellations of structure,
they relate to the Soros
network, see footnotes 5 power relations, agency and meaning influenced the Soros network on a
and 6. transnational level.

This article has been produced within the framework of the project ‘New Public
Culture and Spaces of Sociability’, funded by the European Social Fund Operational
Programme Efficient Human Resources. The project coordinator is the Clubture
network. Research within the project included archival work in the Croatian State
Archives and the development of the dataset on collaborative institutional networks
in the period between 1994 and 2006. We are grateful to Paul Stubbs for comments
on an early draft of the article, to the anonymous reviewer for insightful suggestions,
and to Donato Ricci for the final design of the visualizations.

ORCID
Sanja Sekelj http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9989-6040
Željka Tonković http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5972-9491