“Tlocrti odsutnosti: Slojevi ateljea” is a light intervention developed for the space of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. The project is based on the layered history of the Academy complex: from Herman Bollé’s first studios (around 1895), through later additions until 1957, unrealised architectural plans, to the renovation following the 2020 Zagreb earthquake.

The intervention uses flexible LED lines placed on the floor, wall, or the junction of the floor and wall, depending on the location within the Academy. These lines are not decoration, but temporary spatial drawings that trace the invisible layers of the location: the rhythm of former studios, the importance of natural light, the building’s architectural phases, and unrealised plans.

The project continues the logic of “Tlocrti odsutnosti”, a light intervention previously developed in abandoned spaces in Montenegro (the Housing Factory in Spuž, the Sports Hall in Zeta, the Titeks Factory in Murino). There, LED strips outlined plans and contours, connecting the intervention with the former function and the memory of the location.

For Zagreb Design Week, the work moves to an active educational and artistic institution. The Academy is viewed as a space of production, learning, renovation, and continuity. Since its first studios were designed around light, large glass surfaces, and artistic work, the intervention treats the building as an architectural instrument for capturing light, and the LED lines temporarily restore this logic to visibility.

The aim of the installation is to make visible what is usually hidden within architecture: traces of functions, construction phases, unrealised plans, the memory of work, and renovation after damage. Instead of a material reconstruction of the past, the work evokes it with minimal elements: line, light, and surface.

The work is intended for visitors interested in contemporary design, architecture, spatial installations, light art, and cultural memory. It is also accessible to a broader festival audience thanks to simple visual elements (light, line, and movement) that invite a different reading of the space.