Tomislav Gotovac & Ivan Posavec: Zagreb, I love you

Gotovac is considered the precursor of performance art in Yugoslavia and an important figure in developing the artistic avant-garde in Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. He began his career with works in the photographic medium and then moved on to produce collages, films, performances, and actions. The artist made many avant-garde structuralist films that positioned him as one of the most relevant experimental filmmakers in the European historical context. Gotovac’s artistic expression was based on persistence in identifying art and life. Beginning in 1970, Gotovac began to portray daily activities within the sphere of art through public performances. In 1981, he conducted a performance entitled Zagreb, I love you (running naked, kissing the asphalt) that shocked Zagreb's public and ended with his arrest. The performance was recorded by his friend, renowned photographer Ivan Posavec. Posavec's cycle itself bears a strong visual message, marking the role of the artist's body as both subject and object in the work of art.