Scene
Lauba – House for People and Art opened its 2026 program with the exhibition WORDS, IMAGES AND DREAMS – POSTERS FROM THE PETAR SMILJANIĆ COLLECTION. The exhibition opened on January 9 at 8:00 PM and can be visited until January 24, 2026.
The exhibition presents more than 400 posters from the Smiljanić Collection, which comprises several tens of thousands of works created from the early decades of the 20th century to the early 2000s. It is structured around four major thematic sections, offering insight into some of the most compelling film and theatre posters, posters for various events ranging from politics, sports, and trade fairs to music and visual arts, as well as posters presented as autonomous works of art.
Highlighted are selected works by renowned designers and artists such as Boris Bućan, Mihajlo Arsovski, Mirko Ilić, Ivan Picelj, Boris Ljubičić, Slobodan and Saveta Mašić, Matjaž Vipotnik, Ferenc Baráth, Dalibor Martinis, Drago Ivanišević, Andrija Maurović, Edo Murtić, as well as groups such as Novi Kolektivizem.
Within the film section, the exhibition explores, among other themes, a strongly typographic approach to design, posters dominated by the human body as a central motif, and characteristic design elements associated with specific genres such as science fiction.
The theatre poster segment focuses on works from the 1960s to the 1980s, highlighting the emergence of surreal and magical atmospheres often present in theatre design, as well as provocative design approaches that collide ideas of everyday life with the realities of the stage.
Another section of the exhibition presents the poster as a medium of visual art, an artistic statement or artifact in its own right. This segment primarily features works from the 1960s and 1970s, including pieces by the OHO group, Goran Trbuljak, Tomislav Gotovac, Sanja Iveković, Dimitrije Bašičević Mangelos, Vlado Martek, and many others.
The exhibition is organized by Lauba in collaboration with HDD – the Croatian Designers Association. The curator is Marko Golub, assisted by Tena Lovrenčić.
The exhibition is open Monday to Saturday from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and on Sundays from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Admission is €10, with a 50% discount for students and pensioners.
