Dalibor Prančević
Untitled (Archive Pharmacy)

The abandoned pharmacy in the historic centre of Vodnjan – now the Space for Contemporary Art known as Apoteka – serves as the starting coordinate for Viktor Popović’s artistic intervention. While it is crucial to acknowledge the physical characteristics of this venue, the artist minimally engages with them in his work. Instead, he focuses on constructing a vivid interpretation of his own experience of the space, enriched by a complementary exploration of its lost content. The space itself bears a physical reminder of its former function, with its striking white pharmaceutical furnishings now devoid of their original contents. Indeed, the glazed sections of the cabinets and their closed drawers no longer hold the distinctive ceramic or glass apothecary jars, measuring instruments, specialist books, or other items. Nevertheless, the space unmistakably retains a memory of these objects. It appears that the emphasis on this phantom presence is a key element of the artist’s work in Vodnjan. The exploration of archives and the personal interpretation of their contents has long been integral to Viktor Popović’s artistic research methodology. In this approach, the artist examines the presence and meaning of historical sites or documents within the context of contemporary concerns. Popović views the archive as a dynamic material that prompts investigation into various topics, which, in a broad sense, could encompass concepts such as health and hygiene in the modern era.

This new, specific exploration of pharmaceutical history – coupled with the absence of inventory from the old Vodnjan pharmacy – led the artist to the Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria in Pula. There, he discovered the complete inventory of the Imperial-Royal Naval Hospital’s pharmacy (including furniture, jars, books, and other items), which has been preserved and musealised since the early 1990s. From this collection, he selected twenty of the most intriguing apothecary jars, photographed them, and used silkscreen printing technique to reproduce their images on black print sheets. In several of his recent exhibitions, Viktor has showcased the distinctive nature of his graphic experimentation. Specifically, he uses materials that have a direct connection to the space or subject matter he is addressing as pigments. Previously, he mainly used dust collected from exhibition venues, which he then extracted to create pigments for printing. Now, he is using powders from active pharmaceutical ingredients, which serve as the primary “colour” for depicting apothecary jars that once held isolated plant substances, each marked with specific titles and processing information.

Furthermore, Viktor uses a series of his own photographs displayed in lightboxes to interpret the layered intricacies of the pharmacy space. These images primarily showcase fragments of the artist’s gaze, sometimes further complexified by multiple reflections. By focusing on emptiness and the passage of time, the artist shrouds the old pharmacy space in an aura of metaphysicality, using his meticulously refined aesthetic to convey what exists beyond sensory perception. This effect is evident both in the clear silhouettes of the photographs displayed in lightboxes and in the ethereal texture of the prints depicting the phantom apothecary vessels.