MAGNET ARTWorks created during the Artist Residency in Magnet House, Veliki Gaj, Serbia2026 CATALOGUE

MAGNET ART CATALOGUE 2026 Published on the occasion of the exhibition MAGNET ART, held at Magnet House, Veliki Gaj, Serbia on 12 September 2026 The artworks were created during the art residency in Magnet House, 21-31 August 2026 Organised by: Magnet Association Thanks to the artists for their artworks and contributions to the independent art scene in rural Serbia Supported by: SIDRO Foundation Curated by: Jelena Ristić and Zmaja Marija Popović Photography by Jelena Ristić, with additional photographs provided by the artists. Published by: Magnet Association All rights reserved. www.magnet.house

ARTISTS Ana Betsaida Lozano Pintado - Guanajuato, Mexico / based in Berlin, Germany Angelina Marković - Loznica, Serbia Darko Pandurski - Zrenjanin, Serbia Inés Álvarez Blanco - Gijón, Spain Maja Ćatić - Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina Laura Érsek - Budapest, Hungary Lenke Lamm - Budapest, Hungary Konstantin Evdokimov - Jekaterinburg, Russia / based in Tivat, Montenegro Sophia Steinwender - Vienna, Austria Ylber Zulfiqari - Gostivar, North Macedonia

Magnet Art brings together works developed during the Artist residency held at Magnet House in Veliki Gaj from 21 to 31 August 2026. Ten artists arrived from different places and disciplines, bringing distinct practices, histories and questions. No common theme was imposed. The shared point of departure was the place itself: a house bearing visible traces of change, a garden and village landscape at the end of summer, and a temporary community formed through living and working together. That openness did not result in disconnected works. Across painting, sculpture, textiles, photography, drawing, zines and participatory practice, recurring concerns emerged: the body and the forces that shape it; memory held in material; relationships between labour, care and identity; roots and belonging; and the ways light, colour and gesture allow experience to become visible. Magnet House’s old windows and unfinished surfaces, flowers and dried plants, surrounding fields, animals, local architecture and daily encounters entered the works as subjects, materials and metaphors. Some artists began new works in direct response to their surroundings. Others returned to earlier ideas and allowed a new context to transform their meaning. Meals, conversations, walks and shared working time became part of the conditions from which the work grew.Magnet Art Catalogue04 Magnet House Curators’ input

The exhibition and this catalogue do not attempt to force these practices into a single narrative. Their coherence lies in encounter: between artist and place, individual practice and communal life, existing intention and unexpected discovery. The curatorial task has therefore been one of listening, selection and creating relationships between different voices while preserving their particularity. Together, these works propose Magnet House as an active site of contemporary art—capable of generating cultural life. They show what can emerge when artists are offered time, hospitality and freedom, and when a rural setting is approached as a collaborator. Jelena Ristić and Zmaja Marija Popović Magnet House curators

ANA BETSAIDA LOZANO PINTADOGUANAJUATO, MEXICOTerritoriestitleAna Betsaida Lozano PintadoartistMixed media: acrylic paint, cardboard and thread on fabrictechnique“The work draws on the textures and materials I observed at Magnet House, particularly the way its reconstruction gives the space a distinctive character. This process of layering led me to reflect on how societies are similarly shaped through accumulated values and judgements. The overlapping textures suggest how identities are continually constructed and reconstructed through external influences. Inherited social judgements and ideals are transmitted over time and integrated into collective and individual identities as cracks and fragments.” A. B. Lozano Pintado artist’s interpretationMagnet Art Catalogue06

Echoes withintitleAna Betsaida Lozano PintadoartistMixed media: acrylic paint and thread on fabrictechnique“The work questions the extent to which we possess autonomy over our bodies and individual identities, and whether individual choice is conditioned. The act of self-construction is juxtaposed with an external force that sews and shapes the body, reflecting the struggle between holding on to individuality and recognising a self continually formed by forces beyond one’s control.” A. B. Lozano PintadoMagnet Art Catalogue06 artist’s interpretation

ANA BETSAIDA LOZANO PINTADOGUANAJUATO, MEXICOIn Territories and Echoes within, Ana Betsaida Lozano Pintado approaches identity as something assembled rather than given. Cardboard, fabric, pigment and thread carry visible traces of handling, pressure and repair, allowing material processes to become metaphors for the ways bodies and societies are formed. The layered and fractured surfaces of Territories echo the unfinished architecture of Magnet House, transforming reconstruction into an image of cultural inheritance: values, judgements and histories accumulate within us like marks embedded in a wall. In Echoes within, this process becomes more intimate. Fragmented figures and recurring faces appear suspended between emergence and erasure, while stitching suggests both care and constraint. Across both works, fragility is not presented as weakness, but as evidence of continual transformation—the unresolved negotiation between self-authorship and the forces that shape us. curator’s note

Ana Betsaida Lozano Pintadoabout the artist Ana Betsaida Lozano Pintado is a Mexican visual artist and communication designer based in Berlin. She holds an MA in Communication Design from the University of Europe for Applied Sciences in Berlin and a BA in Art and Design from UNAM, complemented by studies at Sabancı University in Istanbul. Her work has been presented in numerous group exhibitions across Germany, Mexico, Finland, Türkiye and the United States, including INTAC: Home Is a Feeling in Tampere, the UE Art & Design Graduation Exhibition and Pirouette Phase II in Berlin, Creadoras del Tiempo in Irapuato, and Recolectores: Gráfica de la Polinización in Chicago. Instagram: @betsyliuv Mail: betsaida.lozano@gmail.comMagnet Art Catalogue09

Art reveals what shapes usMy experience of Magnet House became a starting point for reflecting on the relationship between past and present. The layered textures produced by its reconstruction led me to consider how similar processes shape the body: how social expectations accumulate and become part of both individual and collective identity. A central part of my practice is observing social dynamics and the ways individuals are shaped by the environments and structures they inhabit. Like the body, Magnet House is continually transformed through interaction.A. B. Lozano PintadoMagnet Art Catalogue11

FlowerstitleAngelina MarkovićartistAcrylic on raw canvas technique In Flowers, Angelina Marković brings the sensitivity of her textile practice to raw canvas, allowing the material itself to remain visibly present. Flowers observed in the Magnet House garden, alongside dried specimens arranged inside the house, are translated into fine contours, translucent washes and a restrained palette of earthy tones. Rather than forming a conventional botanical study, the composition develops like a textile surface: motifs overlap, repeat and fade, while open areas preserve the rhythm of the underlying weave. The work transforms the surrounding vegetation into an intimate record of place, material and sustained attention. curator’s noteANGELINA MARKOVIĆ LOZNICA, SERBIA

AtmospheretitleAngelina Marković artistAcrylic on canvas technique In Atmosphere, the old windows of Magnet House become a point of departure rather than a literal subject. Marković translates their weathered surfaces, filtered light and accumulated traces of time into overlapping fields of pink, blue, violet and green. Broad passages of colour are interrupted by delicate botanical forms and repeated marks, creating an image that feels at once interior and expansive. Her textile sensibility remains present in the layering, rhythm and pattern of the painted surface. Rather than describing a particular room, the work reconstructs the experience of inhabiting it, allowing colour to carry the warmth and quiet intimacy of the residency. curator’s noteMagnet Art Catalogue13

Art is the freedom to express yourself in alignment with who you are

“As a textile designer, I chose raw canvas for Flowers. The floral forms were inspired by the nature surrounding the village during the residency, while the palette draws on natural, earthy tones.” A. Marković

ANGELINA MARKOVIĆ LOZNICA, SERBIAAngelina Markovićabout the artist Angelina Marković is a Serbian visual artist and textile designer based in Loznica. She graduated in Textile Design from the Faculty of Applied Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade, in 2012, and completed her master’s degree in textile printing in 2013. She subsequently worked as a teaching associate at the Faculty and has led art workshops for children and adults in Serbia and abroad. Her multidisciplinary practice encompasses textile installations, surface-pattern design, drawing, painting and performance. Centred on floral forms, natural materials and the expressive possibilities of colour, her work explores femininity, emotion and the relationship between human beings and nature. She has presented her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions and currently runs her own art studio in Loznica. She describes herself as a colourist who creates art with a feminine signature. Instagram: @flora.art.angelina

“Created during the residency in Veliki Gaj, Atmosphere was inspired by the old windows of Magnet House. Through an emphasis on colour, I sought to convey the warmth and intimacy I experienced there.” A. Marković

DARKO PANDURSKI ZRENJANIN, SERBIASoil: Plots / The plain / Black earthtitleDarko Pandurski artistMixed-media sculptural headpieces: braided hair, textiles, stones and dried plant material on mannequin heads techniquePLOTS SUGGESTS DIVISION, RHYTHM AND CULTIVATED LAND. THE PLAIN EVOKES OPENNESS, HORIZON AND SPATIAL CONTINUITY. BLACK EARTH INTRODUCES DEPTH, FERTILITY, ORIGIN AND MORTALITY.

Art carries thought through formMagnet Art Catalogue19

DARKO PANDURSKI ZRENJANIN, SERBIAIn Soil, three sculptural headpieces—Plots, The plain and Black earth—trace a passage between two places and two moments in an evolving artistic process. Originally created within the context of the London fashion scene in 2014, the works are revisited twelve years later at Magnet House, where their relationship to the landscape of Veliki Gaj generates new meanings. Braided hair, textile fragments, stones and dried plants transform the head into a territory shaped by cultivation, memory and belonging. Each form proposes a different encounter with the land: its divisions and rhythms, the openness of the horizon, and the dark matter from which life emerges. Rather than returning nostalgically to an earlier body of work, Pandurski allows it to continue—moving from the London runway to the Vojvodina plain, and from fashion object to a meditation on origin, place and transformation. The three sculptural headpieces presented in the catalogue demonstrate how Pandurski moves beyond conventional hair design into contemporary artistic practice. Through material, silhouette and symbolism, the three headpieces construct wearable narratives and imagined identities. Their unexpected combinations challenge familiar ideas of beauty, fashion and the body, positioning the head as both an exhibition space and a site of transformation. This approach continues in the participatory workshop Wear what you think, where inner states and personal stories are translated into visible, wearable forms. Across both objects and workshops, Pandurski moves from styling to storytelling, from ornament to meaning, and from individual expression to shared creative experience.curator’s note

“Soil is not a return to an earlier work, but its continuation—from a form that was worn to the thought that form carries; from the London runway to the Vojvodina plain.” D. PandurskiMagnet Art Catalogue21

DARKO PANDURSKI ZRENJANIN, SERBIA

Darko Pandurskiabout the artist Darko Pandurski, known professionally as UCHA, is a Serbian interdisciplinary artist, award-winning hair stylist, educator, creative-expression coach and practitioner of integrative art psychotherapy from Zrenjanin, based in Belgrade, Serbia. Originally trained as a primary-school teacher, he worked in education for a decade before transforming his long-standing interest in form, identity and personal expression into a professional practice in hair design. In 2012, Pandurski was named joint International Stylist of the Year at the Black Beauty/Sensationnel Hair Awards in London. He was subsequently selected as a finalist in both the Avant-Garde Stylist and Barber of the Year categories in 2016. His work has also entered the field of fashion, including hair design for George Styler’s presentation at London Fashion Week. Working across the body, sculptural form and participatory practice, Pandurski approaches appearance as a language through which identity, thought and emotion can become visible. In his work as a creative-expression coach and practitioner of integrative art psychotherapy, artistic processes become instruments of reflection, communication and personal development. His recent practice extends this exploration into wearable objects, creative facilitation and workshops, including Wear what you think. Instagram: @ucha.rsMagnet Art Catalogue23

A week in Veliki GajtitleInés Álvarez Blanco artist Digital photography and bilingual text arranged through editorial design; digitally printed artist’s zine technique “During my stay in Veliki Gaj, I developed a travel zine as a personal visual record of the experience, bringing together photographs that capture the atmosphere, daily life and particular character of the village. Through photography and graphic design, I explored the relationship between place, memory and personal experience, paying particular attention to ordinary scenes, surfaces and details that often go unnoticed.” I. Álvarez Blanco artist’s interpretation

In A week in Veliki Gaj, Inés Álvarez Blanco constructs a visual diary through fragments rather than offering a comprehensive portrait of the village. Photographs, short texts and carefully observed details translate her first encounter with Serbia into an intimate narrative of place. Movement through the landscape becomes a method of looking, while architecture, agricultural rhythms and spontaneous encounters reveal how a place is gradually experienced and remembered. The catalogue selection represents five dimensions of the zine—movement, agricultural landscape, human encounter, poetic observation and local architecture—together conveying the quiet attentiveness that defines the work. curator’s noteMagnet Art Catalogue25

“I was especially drawn to the shadow. It almost looks like there are two trees, and the wall becomes a kind of living mural because the image changes depending on the position of the sun.” I. Álvarez Blanco

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“What caught my attention is the contrast between the very ordered, stacked cylinders and the irregular shapes of the clouds. I also like the loose hay in the foreground, which looks much more messy and organic. Even though it almost becomes one single mass, you can still see the different piles and volumes within it.” I. Álvarez Blanco

Magnet Art Catalogue29“The photograph of the hórreo is especially meaningful to me. It appears surrounded by nature, almost as if the landscape itself were framing it. It also made me feel connected to home. I come from Asturias, in northern Spain, where hórreos are very common and rural life has some similarities with what I found in Veliki Gaj. Seeing this structure there was one of those small things that stayed with me during the trip.” I. Álvarez Blanco

Art reveals the stories hidden in ordinary places.

Inés Álvarez Blancoabout the artist Inés Álvarez Blanco is a product designer and photographer from Gijón, Spain. She studied at the School of Art and Design of Asturias, developing a practice shaped by close attention to textures, materials and overlooked details of everyday environments. Her work has been presented in several photography exhibitions in Avilés, including series exploring abandoned places and spaces. Working across photography and editorial design, she uses observation and visual storytelling to construct personal narratives of place. Instagram: @b0rrosoMagnet Art Catalogue31

MAJA ĆATIĆBANJA LUKA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINAIn Conversation with Lazar VujaklijatitleMaja Ćatić artist Textile assemblage with appliqué, hand stitching and embroidery on recycled and vintage fabrics technique Created as the second work in Maja Ćatić’s series In conversation with Lazar Vujaklija, this textile wall hanging responds to one of Vujaklija’s untitled oil paintings by translating its symbolic figure into fabric, stitching and embroidery. Rather than reproducing the painting, Ćatić reinterprets its visual language through the tactile irregularities of recycled and vintage textiles. The sun-like head, flower, geometric body and recurring circular forms retain the archetypal directness of Vujaklija’s imagery, while visible seams, folds and contrasting textures introduce associations with memory, repair and transformation. By moving the image from painted canvas into a medium historically associated with domestic space and women’s labour, Ćatić extends Vujaklija’s belief that art should travel beyond the gallery wall and enter everyday life. The work becomes both homage and conversation —between two artists, two historical moments, and different traditions of making. curator’s note

Maja Ćatićabout the artist Maja Ćatić is a textile artist and former political scientist based in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Working with recycled and vintage textiles, stitching and embroidery, she creates wall hangings and wearable pieces that explore the tensions between tradition and modernity, rootedness and exile, linear and cyclical time, and gendered spaces. Her practice is shaped by years lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada and Türkiye, as well as by her earlier research into power, memory, conflict and political violence. Ćatić holds degrees from the University of Toronto and a PhD in Political Science from Brandeis University, and previously taught at Canadian Forces College. Her current series, In Conversation with Lazar Vujaklija, translates the Serbian-Yugoslav artist’s symbolic visual language into layered textile compositions, extending his belief that painting should move beyond the gallery wall and enter everyday material life.dfdfddfkjfkdfkdlsjflkdsArt mends what power dividesMagnet Art Catalogue33

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Fruits of our labour: A field guide to bodies under capitalismtitleLenke Lamm artistPhotography, digital drawing and text; artist’s zine designed for risograph printing and presented as a digital print techniqueLENKE LAMM BUDAPEST, HUNGARY In Fruits of our labour: A field guide to bodies under capitalism, Lenke Lamm transforms the botanical handbook into a political anatomy of labour. Fruits and plants gathered in Veliki Gaj become metaphors for bodies cultivated by systems that demand continual productivity while separating workers from the value of what they create. The garden, conventionally understood as a place of care and reciprocal growth, is recast as a site of extraction: what the body nurtures is harvested for the benefit of others. Combining photography, digital drawing, comics and text, Lamm moves between scientific classification and visual absurdity, using humour to sharpen rather than soften the work’s critique. Bodies appear as gardens, commodities and machines, yet they never become entirely passive. Their unruly forms resist orderly categorisation, preserving the possibility of pleasure, interdependence and collective refusal. The zine asks not only what capitalism takes from the body, but what kinds of work—and life—might allow it to flourish. curator’s note

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“This zine explores the relationship between work and the body during capitalism through a critical lens. It looks at what happens when workers become estranged from what they produce, while their bodies are exhausted by a system that constantly demands productivity and creativity. I spent a bit of time in the Magnet House garden. In the artwork, the garden becomes a metaphor for our bodies and what we are willing to grow within ourselves, only for it to be given up as a sacrifice for the rich. The booklet’s visual language draws on fruits and plants collected in the village, using them to depict the destruction of care, growth and connection: all the things that work could be. The result is a hybrid of comic, text, image and illustration, taking the form of a handmade botanical handbook.” L. Lamm artist’s interpretation

LENKE LAMM BUDAPEST, HUNGARYMagnet Art Catalogue39

Lenke Lammabout the artist Lenke Lamm is a Hungarian comic artist, teacher, writer, zine maker and graphic designer based between Budapest and Helsinki. They graduated in Graphic Design from the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) in 2023, where they subsequently worked as a print-shop assistant and course teacher. Their interdisciplinary practice brings together writing, illustration, photography, printmaking, bookbinding and self-publishing. Rooted in queer and antifascist perspectives, their work explores bodies, identity, relationships and the cultural and political forces that shape human experience. They participated in the WOMCOM artist residency in Novi Sad, and their work has appeared in publications by KutiKuti, Martian Press, T’Art Press, BP Zines, Komikaze, Ciceró and OHOHO. Alongside their independent practice, they organise workshops and illustration-related events that approach comics as a space for empathy, exchange and community-building. Instagram: @checkoutmyshittyart_LENKE LAMM BUDAPEST, HUNGARYArt begins in the bodyMagnet Art Catalogue41

RoothtitleKonstantin Evdokimovartist Pigmented concrete sculpturetechnique “Rooth is a play on the word roots. On the first day of the residency, we spoke about history, development and origins. I had conceived the basic form—a tall figure with a small head—some time ago, but the intertwining roots, representing the foundations of our thinking, emerged here during the residency. We cannot lose our roots.” K. Evdokimov artist’s interpretationKONSTANTIN EVDOKIMOVJEKATERINBURG, RUSSIA

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ShetitleKonstantin Evdokimov artistPigmented concrete sculpture technique In She, Evdokimov brings the weight of concrete into tension with an unexpectedly fluid, upward movement. A female head emerges from a structure that resembles roots, branches, flames or strands of hair, while a small bird rests within the rising form. The figure is neither a conventional portrait nor an allegorical monument; she appears to be generated by the material surrounding her, at once grounded and in transformation. Openings in the structure allow space and light to enter the sculpture, softening the density of concrete. Through this interplay of mass and permeability, Evdokimov presents feminine presence as organic, resilient and continually becoming. curator’s noteKONSTANTIN EVDOKIMOVJEKATERINBURG, RUSSIA

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KONSTANTIN EVDOKIMOVJEKATERINBURG, RUSSIAKonstantin Evdokimovabout the artist Konstantin Evdokimov is a sculptor, architect and multidisciplinary artist educated at the Ural State Academy of Art and Architecture. Since 2002, he has created sculptures and large-scale public and land-art works in ice, snow, sand, wood, stone, metal, hay and straw. His work has been presented and awarded at numerous international festivals and symposia across Europe and beyond. In 2014, he founded the Guild of Contemporary Sculpture, an initiative promoting contemporary sculpture through artistic projects and events. He also founded and organised the OSTROVA.ART land-art festival in 2020 and 2021.SCULPTURES LAND ART ART IN PUBLIC SPACES Instagram:@evdokimov.sculpture Website: www.ostrova.art, www.evdokimov.art

Art takes root in space“A sculpture is not decoration. It is the detail that defines the atmosphere, anchors the visual identity of the space, and stays in the memory of everyone who passes through.”K.Evdokimov

“The idea for this piece grew out of my all- consuming love for dogs. After meeting Ju, the princess of the Magnet House castle, I knew who I wanted to dedicate the painting to.” S. SteinwenderSOPHIA STEINWENDERVIENNA, AUSTRIA

Dog with starstitleSophia Steinwender artistOil on canvas technique In Dog with stars, Sophia Steinwender transforms Ju, the dog she encountered at Magnet House, from an affectionate companion into a vivid, dreamlike presence. The animal’s elongated body curves across the canvas in shifting blues, violets and pinks, resisting naturalistic representation while preserving an unmistakable sense of attentiveness and character. Red, vein-like lines connect the body to its surroundings, while the radiant form above suggests a star, protective spirit or source of energy. Through colour and fluid distortion, Steinwender turns a personal dedication into an image of attachment that extends beyond portraiture. Ju appears at once familiar and otherworldly—a loved animal reimagined through memory, emotion and the artist’s exuberant visual language. curator’s noteMagnet Art Catalogue49

SOPHIA STEINWENDERVIENNA, AUSTRIAStarboytitleSophia Steinwender artistOil on canvas technique In Starboy, a long-held inner image becomes a meditation on memory, consequence and what cannot be recovered. Elongated golden figures move across an expansive blue field, their bodies reaching beyond human proportion as if shaped by desire, recollection or an inescapable force. Below them, a hare appears poised between stillness and flight. Its vulnerability introduces a quiet sense of urgency: something is approaching, yet escape may already be impossible. Steinwender’s fluid distortions and vivid colour transform the scene into a psychological landscape in which tenderness, danger and regret coexist. Dedicated to “what once was but never will be again,” the work reflects on the moments we allow to unfold—and on how differently everything might have ended, if only the bunny had moved a little faster. curator’s note

“An image I had carried in my head for a long time found its way onto the canvas here in Serbia. Dedicated to what once was but never will be again, this piece shows what can happen if you let it. If only the bunny had hopped a little faster.” S.SteinwenderMagnet Art Catalogue51

ThroattitleSophia Steinwender artistColoured pencil on paper technique In Throat, the sunflower fields surrounding Magnet House are transformed into a bodily and psychological landscape. Their hanging heads, observed by Steinwender as no longer turning towards the sun, become fluid forms that hover between flowers, faces and internal organs. The title directs attention towards the throat as a passage for breath, voice and what remains unspoken, while the drooping stems evoke exhaustion, withdrawal and lost vitality. Once associated with adoration and an instinctive movement towards light, the sunflower here appears estranged from that symbolic role. Through intricate coloured-pencil lines and continual metamorphosis, Steinwender allows the botanical and the bodily to merge, creating a work in which tenderness, fatigue and muted longing coexist. curator’s noteSOPHIA STEINWENDERVIENNA, AUSTRIA

“The inspiration came from the sunflower fields surrounding Magnet House. At the end of summer, they no longer look up, letting their heads hang in total disregard. Once they were different; once they were used to express adoration.” S. SteinwenderMagnet Art Catalogue53

Sophia Steinwenderabout the artist Sophia Steinwender is an Austrian visual artist born in Klagenfurt and based in Vienna. Trained as a graphic designer, she has also studied educational sciences and is continuing her artistic education at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her practice moves between figurative and abstract approaches, with a particular focus on portraits, bodies and animals. Through vivid, often unexpected colour combinations, she explores emotional states, personal connections and the ways in which inner experience becomes visible. Her work has been presented in several exhibitions in Vienna, including the solo exhibition People and Faces as Mirrors of Time at Gallery Twenty Six. Instagram: @everythinglooksblueSOPHIA STEINWENDERVIENNA, AUSTRIA

Art grows where creativity is freeI grew up in the countryside, on a farm far from distractions and neighbours, where I was free to express my creativity in whatever way I wanted for as long as I can remember. Art has always been an important part of my life, even though my surroundings had no particular connection to it.S.Steinwender

YLBER ZULFIQARI GOSTIVAR, NORTH MACEDONIAStardust at the dawn of existencetitleYlber Zulfiqari artistAcrylic on canvas technique In Stardust at the dawn of existence, Zulfiqari imagines creation as an expansion from darkness into form. A radiant central field opens within dense layers of red, black and violet, while branching cellular structures spread across the surface like living tissue, roots or primordial matter. The painting shifts continually between the microscopic and the cosmic: what resembles a biological membrane may also suggest a constellation, a geological formation or a universe coming into being. Through accumulated texture and luminous colour, existence appears not as a completed state, but as an ongoing transformation in which chaos gradually generates its own order. curator’s note

Stardust at the dawn of lighttitleYlber Zulfiqari artistAcrylic on canvas technique In Stardust at the dawn of light, illumination emerges from within a dense and turbulent material field. Dark, granular forms gather across the canvas, interrupted by a pale network that seems to carry light through the composition like energy moving between cells. The horizontal format intensifies the sense of a threshold: the fiery upper passage evokes a horizon at the first moment of dawn, while the darker regions below retain the weight of matter and night. Zulfiqari presents light not simply as brightness, but as a generative force—one that reveals structure, awakens movement and transforms the substance through which it travels. curator’s noteMagnet Art Catalogue57

Ylber Zulfiqariabout the artist Ylber Zulfiqari is a visual artist, sculptor, graphic artist, conservator and art educator from Gostivar, North Macedonia. He studied graphic arts at the Academy of Arts, State University of Tetovo and has participated in national and international exhibitions and art colonies since 1998. His multidisciplinary practice encompasses painting, public sculpture and cultural heritage conservation, combining contemporary artistic exploration with a sustained engagement with history, material and craftsmanship. He has created several monumental public sculptures and contributed to the conservation and documentation of sculptural, architectural, religious and rural heritage in North Macedonia. He has also served as director of the National Institution Cultural Centre ASNOM and the National Institution Conservation Centre in Gostivar, where he currently lives and works. His current abstract painting practice explores creation, memory and the relationship between matter and light through layered colour, texture and gesture. www.ylberzulfiqari.comYLBER ZULFIQARIGOSTIVAR, NORTH MACEDONIA

Art begins where matter meets lightMy work moves between painting, sculpture and cultural heritage conservation, allowing me to explore both the creation of new works and the preservation of historical ones. I am interested in how texture, gesture and colour can communicate emotions and ideas beyond representation.Y. Zulfiqari

about Magnet House Magnet House is an independent rural centre for art, culture and non-formal education in Veliki Gaj, Serbia. It is managed by Magnet, a non-profit civil society organisation founded in 2017 to foster inclusion, participation in culture, active citizenship and exchange across communities. Through residencies, workshops, international projects and public programmes, Magnet House brings together artists, educators, activists and local residents, offering space for experimentation, collaboration and rest while connecting contemporary cultural practice with rural life. This publication is Magnet’s first art catalogue and forms part of our continuing commitment to creating space for artistic work and meaningful encounters beyond established cultural centres. www.magnet.house