Interview: Slaven Kosanovic- Lunar
Street art is an essential part of modern and contemporary culture, so we wanted to introduce you to a very cool Croatian artist- Slaven Kosanovic- Lunar. As a very well-known and respected artist, we know he knows best about urban vibes and the other perspective Zagreb and Croatia have to offer to young people and art lovers. We chatted with him about the Croatian mentality, languages, interesting spots, and things he loves sharing, sincerely, without holding himself back. So, let's start!
Hello Slaven! Would you please present yourself in a few sentences to the OLS users?
Hello, I am Slaven Kosanovic, also known as Lunar. I was born and raised in Zagreb, the same place where I live today.
Your work is very well known in Croatia. Can you tell us a little bit about Lunar, when did it all get started?
I was a kid who always loved to draw from a very early age and was lucky enough to be encouraged by my parents. I tried to connect two worlds, one from the books I read and the real one surrounding where I lived :)
The later stage came somehow spontaneously: I met peers who shared the same passion for graffiti, and I started to travel and meet more people and practice even more.
Looking over the fence was not intended only in order to find new adventures but out of simple curiosity, which actually resulted in plenty of new challenges. First destinations were closer, then the more distant ones came to the table.
Are you working on some cool projects at the present moment?
I returned to Zagreb recently after several weeks on the road: Painting 3 huge gas tanks in Rijeka along Mosk was the first task, setting up and opening my exhibition 'Recycle or try' in Maribor UGM Studio along studio Trampolin and with massive help from my brother Smack and friend Tomislav Katinic was the second. The third task was a meeting in Marseille MUCEM, where some of my works were requested, and the fourth one was getting back to Rijeka to paint two works in the interior of the Scenic Eclipse yacht. Now I am back home for some projects scheduled here and some festivals in the neighbourhood.
Once you were a student yourself. What are the countries you always wanted to visit while young?
Perhaps I could simplify this; When you are young, you can find a lot of time to travel but there is barely a budget, so you have to improvise. When you are older, there is enough money but insufficient time. I was curious to see the exotic distant countries, but I am happy now I did not find a way to travel there too young.
How would you describe Croatia to someone who's never been here?
It is a wonderful country, full of potential and natural diversity and the biggest obstacles lay in some of its inhabitants who are treating their own potential as if it was their enemies.
Sadly, what I just said could be applied all over the world.
And Zagreb?
Same story, our city is neither too big nor too small, it is perfectly sized for a comfortable life. Unfortunately, endless greed constantly tends to turn it into a trap for both: its inhabitants and tourists. That is a process that is happening everywhere, destroying the old, building new, huge structures, exploiting every square centimetre, and filling it up with shallow content some believe to be endlessly money-making. Well, it is not. the overall state of mind, the soul of the city is visible even if you just pass the city once: hazard games, football hooligan graffiti + tags everywhere, loan shark illegal ads, bars, soulless massive buildings slowly taking over, neo-folk music joints, all of those contents tell a sad story: Perhaps it would be too much to say that people do not respect their own, more precisely put, I'd say people are not even aware anymore of what their legacy is and what is taken away or input from outside. Erasing knowledge and awareness is a perfect way to wipe out cultural identity. I hope these changes are for the better in the future.
What are your favorite Zagreb spots?
Botanical garden, parks like Jelenovac, Maksimir, Tuskanac, Jabukovac, and all places still green, which haven't been reached by infection of greedy human fancy cars' loving goblins.
Many young people are interested in graffiti art and murals. If you want to see great stuff in Croatia, recommend to us where to go!
There are several places where people paint, maybe the one with the most work is the unfinished hospital in Blato, the southern exit from Zagreb. I see it as the symbol of incompetence and corruption, for which our parents gave away millions, believing in a better tomorrow. Here it is, today, still standing as a blind witness, unfinished and most of the elements installed ruined by hordes of local kids crashing the windows and scavengers unscrewing every piece of metal off the construction which they can grab, to sell it to other scavengers, melting metals into something else. When people do not have a feeling of what is theirs, once they lose respect for the legacy and the future, I don't see much hope there. We witnessed that in too many examples to name here. So now at least I feel like we are doing something symbolic there, leaving some colourful works, breathing some life into that cursed structure.
Besides that, there are several other locations with less work, but the important thing is there is not a single legal graffiti location within the Zagreb area. The only one was Rotor, which is not anymore, after the reconstruction.
Why is art important for young people and education?
I believe it is important for young people to adopt the discipline, learn how to be persistent but also to nurture emotion, not to turn into money and material goods desiring robots. Technology has helped and will help humans in so many fields, but it is an upgrade, not the foundation. The quality foundation should be set first and then the rest is the add-on, not vice versa. I don't think this is what happens today. Art might not seem like a crucial element because you think of food on the table and the roof above your head. But without soul food, and the arts in their various forms, we wouldn't be much different from the species below.
You've worked a lot abroad. What are your favorite countries and experiences?
Usually, I bond with the locals, and it is what remains in the memory of particular places, either a city or a country. For that reason, there are even some very badly tourism-infested places I love, like Amsterdam or Barcelona, for example. But people change, and places change for better or worse, so there is no continuum, therefore you always search over and over again. At a young age, I felt like many kids' parents had a house on the seaside and I thought 'Why don't we own one?' Later I realized that kids who had theirs usually went to their place yearly and stayed only there while we traveled the coast all over and the same way I continued later, through friendships and projects, which are probably among the most precious things I had, well, still have. With some years behind me, I can tell I am still interested in some exotic countries but significantly less than I used to be. Literally, a photo could spark my imagination a bit but where others feel attracted, I see a list of complications along the way and there are quite enough of those in everyday life to search for more :)
If a young person wants to start practicing any kind of street art, what would you recommend, and where to start?
Practice, practice, practice. Use cardboard, newspapers, old pieces of paper, old closets, sketchbooks, back walls of old garages, etc. There are plenty of surfaces you could actually hit prior to trying to hit any walls visible to the wider public. For some reason, most participants seem to be so desperately searching for the surfaces to irritate the entire world. I am happy we did not have social networks while growing up because we were the same. At least there is very little evidence of our beginnings.
What are the most interesting European countries for the street art scene?
Countries where graffiti first came from the US, like France, Holland, UK, or Germany always had interesting scenes. Also, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. From the end of the 1990s, the wave hit the Eastern European countries and interesting stuff started happening there as well. Couldn't pick any particular country today so I always go for the individuals. Almost every country has a variety of artists, some fantastic and some less. Zagreb is actually one of the first cities around here which had a scene back in the 1980s, which is pretty interesting to me. Several from our generation came as the second wave and sometime around 1993 is when the scene started growing.
How would you say the Croatian mentality is different from other European countries? Do you think there are some similar nations to ours?
Depends on which parts of Croatia. Each part has more in common with the nearby areas, even across the border than more distant parts of our own country. You can hear it in the language, feel it in the nature of people, the way they are. There is a fantastic book from the late writer Predrag Matvejevic, 'Mediteranski brevijar', about the etymology of our areas, depicting how the culture and legacy move along with people. That is an endless process, which started with the first hominids and will continue after us. One funny thing I heard from some of my Latin-American friends is 'Hey man, the Balkans is the Latin America of Europe' :) I guess I know which components they had in mind :)
Which languages do you speak? Any secrets while learning foreign languages?
I am fluent in English, and I used to learn German during my childhood and adolescence. I understand it but it takes a lot of focus for me to speak, even while in German-speaking countries. The reason is there are rarely German-speaking companies, usually, there is always someone from another place, so we easily switch to English. When alone with them, I try to exercise a bit. The secret of learning any language is the same as becoming good at anything: Practice, practice, practice.
Are there any languages you would like to learn or improve in the future?
I would be happy if I manage to organize myself to try learning Spanish a bit.
Thank you for your time, Slaven. We wish you all the best and great future projects worldwide!
Dear Croatian learners and polyglots. If you have any questions about Slaven's work, art or experiences worldwide share them in the comments! We love your opinions!
Lore, OLS Community Manager – Croatian