Zagreb’s art scene has a way of sneaking up on you. Beyond the big museums, the city hides pockets of creativity where nostalgia meets irony, history blends with myth, and heritage speaks with a global accent. For travelers who prefer detours to main roads, here’s where Zagreb’s cultural heart beats off the beaten track.
Morning start: Begin your day in Martićeva street, Zagreb’s design district. Grab a coffee at Program Bar or Korica bakery before heading to Gallery Trotoar for Martina Grlić’s Saccharine Idyll. Her pastel, nostalgic canvases set the mood—sweet yet unsettling, just like memory itself.
Gallery Trotoar (September 26 – November 8)
The solo exhibition Saccharine Idyll by Zagreb-based painter Martina Grlić brings pastel-colored, nostalgic scenes that seem tender and familiar, yet subtly expose unease and irony beneath their sweet appearance. Using family photographs and fragments of popular culture as a starting point, Grlić examines memory, collective illusions, and the narratives that shape identity. Martina Grlić (b. 1982, Zagreb) is a figurative artist whose practice focuses on memory, heritage, and gender perspectives. She has exhibited internationally, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Künstlerhaus Wien, and Ningbo Museum of Art in China.
Rosa Barba: Meaning Distances
MSU Zagreb, Black Box (September 23 – November 9)
The exhibition Meaning Distances by internationally acclaimed artist Rosa Barba opens this year’s 25 FPS Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. It presents a selection of her sculptural film installations that explore history, personal stories, and the sensory experience of film and sound. Often drawing on landscapes and human-driven environmental changes, Barba uses performative display as a narrative tool to question the fragility of knowledge, myths, and scientific experiments.
From Wall to Wall – From Embroidered to Virtually Shared Values
Ethnographic Museum (September 25 – December 31)
The exhibition by Gordana Viljetić, in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts and performance artist Vlasta Delimar, presents a collection of traditional embroidered wall hangings from the Museum’s collection. By comparing their visual and textual messages with the values we now share on social media and digital platforms, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on cultural heritage and contemporary communication in everyday life.
Silvio Vujičić: Nocturne
Botanical Garden, Faculty of Science (September 20 – October 20)
As part of the exhibition series Who is Elsa Fluid, That Is Known, artist Silvio Vujičić presents Nocturne in the pavilion of Zagreb’s Botanical Garden. Inspired by the dual nature of the datura plant—both poisonous and healing—the installation evokes a mysterious alchemical laboratory, blending sound, scent, and imagery of nocturnal life. Vujičić explores themes of transformation, invisibility, and the tension between science, myth, and intuition. Silvio Vujičić (b. 1978, Zagreb) is a visual artist and fashion designer whose work spans graphics, sculpture, installation, and performance. He often uses rare or volatile materials, linking art, chemistry, and cultural history in projects shown widely in Croatia and abroad.
Night encounter: Don’t miss Nora Turato’s bold takeover of the Meštrović Pavilion. Her giant typographic installation screams into the city’s night, paired with a daily vocal performance at noon. It’s art as ritual—raw, urban, unforgettable.
Nora Turato – Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
Meštrović Pavilion (HDLU), Zagreb (October 11 – January 2026)
During the renovation of the Meštrović Pavilion, internationally acclaimed artist Nora Turato presents her largest public artwork in Europe and her first solo project in Zagreb. Part of the 60th Zagreb Salon of Visual Arts, her installation Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! wraps around the Pavilion’s façade with bold typography and a daily noon audio performance, turning a raw vocal outburst into a powerful symbol of communication and ritual. Born in Zagreb in 1991 and now based in Amsterdam, Turato is recognized for her dynamic installations, performances, and murals that merge political discourse and pop culture. She has exhibited at leading institutions worldwide, including MoMA New York, Centre Pompidou Paris, and Kunsthalle Wien.
Bonus discovery: For history lovers, the Arsovski – uncovers a visual archive of life in Croatia and Macedonia from the 1920s–50s
Arsovski – Photographers
Cultural and Information Center of North Macedonia (October 16 – November 10)
The exhibition Arsovski – Photographers presents the rich yet little-known photographic legacy of the Arsovski family, active in Skopje and Zagreb across several generations. Featuring images with ethnographic, architectural, and cultural themes from Macedonia and Croatia, taken between the 1920s and late 1950s, the exhibition offers a rare visual insight into the region’s heritage. Organized in collaboration with the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb and the Museum of the City of Skopje, the show is accompanied by a bilingual Croatian-Macedonian book, which will be presented during the program.
Group Exhibition
Ethnographic Museum, Curated by WHW and Ana Kovačić, (October 16 – November 16)
Bringing together artists Sharon Hayes, Belinda Kazeem Kaminski, Gloria Lizde, David Maljković, Alban Muja, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Fette Sans, Miloš Trakilović, and Peggy Zali, this group exhibition opens a dialogue with the collection of the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. Inspired by the historic encounter between poet and decolonial thinker Aimé Césaire and Croatian linguist Petar Guberina in the 1930s, the show reflects on questions of political and national identity, transnational solidarity, cultural memory, and shared struggles.
Arts & Crafts without Borders
MUO Gallery, Ilica 163 (October 27 – November 8)
This autumn, MUO Gallery hosts Arts & Crafts without Borders, a creative exchange project that brings together cultures through workshops, exhibitions, and community gatherings. Designed for migrants and the local community, the program highlights how urban architecture shapes daily life while encouraging dialogue, creativity, and connection across cultural boundaries.
Comments