In 1961 Dušan Vukotić releases his 9'40'' long animated film Surrogate1, which becomes the only Croatian film to have won the Oscar and brought Croatian animation scene, which has became known Zagreb school of animated film to foregin attention. Fifty years later a retrospective exhibtion titled Surrogate of reality examines the preocupations, sensibilities and talents of croatian animators through drawings, cells and scenographies which were used in the production of the films on display. Rather then deconstructing various processes of creation, examining the differences between the traditional and contemporary animation methods, the aim of the exhibition is to point to the the sheer range of techniques and styles comanded by group of croatian animators in the second half of the 20th century. The exhibit shows animated film as an outcome of a miriad of elements combining direction, editing and music but ultimatly rooted in pure visual impulse. The exhibition features over fifty animated films, which have all contirubted to the fame and importance of Zagreb school of animated film. As an important cultural brand of Croatia, these movies were widely shown from New York's MOMA to Paris' Center Pompidou, but never before in their proper chronology dating from 1958., until today. In June 2011, Croatian Artist Association (HDLU), together with Zagreb film in association with Ministry of Culture holds the most compete retrospective exhibition of the Zagreb school of animated film to date.

The spatial setup

Zagreb school of animated film, with its half a century of production was organised in sections and forms the main display. The animation material made the black box out of the entire gallery, with light boxes separating main screenings, organised chronologically. The ‚light box‘ approach made it possible to exhibit the original material like drawings, cells, scenography paintings and an Oscar won by Dušan Vukotić in 1961 for his animated film Surrogate. The plaster walls of the gallery had to be adapted by adding surrogate styrofoam walls to close the space in order to form an exhibition rooms, which had to be minimal in order to keep a sense of the oval character of the gallery. The screening area was filled with modular foam seats above which there were headphones fixed to the ceiling. The entrance area became a reader’s corner, and is the most flexible part of the display because it often hosts different events; workshop for children, discussion groups, lectures…