President Milanović Attends Presentation of the Monograph “God Save Us from the Nineties”
The President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović attended the presentation of the monograph “God Save Us from the Nineties – A Chronicle of the Times Through the Visuals of Albin Uršić and Boris Kuk,” held on Thursday evening at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.
The design duo Albino Uršić and Boris Kuk, known to the public by their nicknames Bino and Boro, used their posters, album covers, campaigns and original artistic interventions throughout the 1990s to comment on war, politics, nationalism, censorship, human rights, the Church, the media, consumerism, popular culture and everyday life.
Featuring works by the “Božesačuvaj” duo and texts by a range of prominent contributors, the monograph offers a different perspective on Croatia in the 1990s – a decade marked by the establishment of the state and democratic institutions, but also by the struggle to create space for freedom of thought, criticism and cultural pluralism. The works are accompanied by newspaper articles, documents, interviews and personal recollections, forming a multifaceted chronicle of the era. Contributors include Slavenka Drakulić, Mirko Ilić, Miljenko Jergović, Darko Glavan, Feđa Vukić, Aleksandar Dragaš and other figures from the fields of literature, design, art history, journalism and music criticism.
The monograph was presented by Maja Rožman, Ph. D., Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Zagreb; Rujana Jeger, the monograph’s editor; and the authors, Albin Uršić and Boris Kuk. The presentation highlighted how “Božesačuvaj” serves as a reminder that freedom of expression and critical thinking are not values that society can take for granted once they have been achieved. A vinyl compilation, “Božesačuvaj nas devedesetih – Glazbena slikovnica” (God Save Us from the Nineties – A Musical Picture Book), was also presented alongside the monograph. Serving as both a musical companion to the publication and an overview of Croatia’s 1990s rock scene, the compilation celebrates the music to which Albino Uršić and Boris Kuk gave a visual identity through their design work.
President Milanović was accompanied by the Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic Bartol Šimunić and the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Education Jadranka Žarković at the presentation of the monograph.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta