Animation in galleries is represented with two interesting exhibitions. The Croatian puppet-film panorama in the central programme of Animafest 2014 is accompanied by the exhibition Puppet in Croatian Animated Film, curated by Božidar Trkulja, an accomplished filmmaker working in this technique, at ULUPUH Gallery (Ivan Tkalčić Street 14, Tue-Sat 10-20 h, Sun 10-13 h).

The exhibition presents puppets and models used to make ten Croatian puppet films, including those appearing in the Animafest 2014 selection, but also exclusives like the unfinished or recently finished works Jure Grando: Štrigun iz Kringe by Martin Babić, Tajni laboratorij Nikole Tesle by Bruno Razum, Arktički pirat by David Peroš Bonnot, and Visina by Sanja Šantak. A special guest is the Slovenian filmmaker Špela Čadež, whose film Boles, winning over 30 awards in the last year, is screened in Animafest 2014 Grand Panorama. Following some rare classics from the time of the Zagreb School of Animation, puppet animation in Croatia saw a renaissance only in the mid-2000s. The exhibition of Croatian puppet film at ULUPUH Gallery, opening on Wednesday, 4 June, provides a sort of insight into this interesting trend in local animation.

Lea Vidaković’s triptych Sisters, a puppet film shown in Animafest 2014 Student Competition, will be accompanied by a namesake exhibition at the Matica hrvatska Gallery (Matica hrvatska Street 2, Mon-Fri 13-19 h, Sat 11-13 h), opening on Tuesday, 3 June. The exhibition, previously displayed at the Royal Academy of Art KASK in Ghent and the Koksijde Chapel, includes a synchronised projection of the triptych and a miniature scale model of a room which is only highlighted in the film, and the visitor is given a full voyeuristic view as a possible key to understanding the film.

The exhibition reveals an inspiration with the melancholia of Flemish painters, but also acts as an experiment exploring the possibilities of out-of-frame narration – expanded cinema and animated film in a gallery context. Lea Vidaković, a multimedia artist born in Vojvodina, graduated in Zagreb and now lives and works in Belgium.