ĐURO GAVRAN

LONG LIVE THE NATIONAL CULTURE!
2008
Intervention in public space

I find it very hard to accept the fact that in order to own a television I must pay the TV tax to the state. Regardless of whether I watch national television channels or not, I must pay the tax just for owning the device. In a conversation with HRT (Croatian television) staff, they confirmed to me that the only way to stop paying the TV tax is to get rid of my TV set. On the official HRT website I read a text that further explained the meaning and function of the TV tax: “In order to nurture our national culture, we need to continue with the production of our program, which can only be achieved if the public radio and television have enough resources at their disposal. Commercial TV companies - as we know from the experiences of other countries in transition, have different agendas and priorities, which are not aimed at nurturing culture”. I am openly and unquestioningly committed to preserving the life of national culture. I want to share the national culture with those who cannot consume it. (Because: “Public radio and public television must fulfill a clear and precise demand: to be the television or radio for all, in other words, for every citizen of the country in which they operate. They communicate their programs to every citizen regardless of age, education or living standard.”)
Therefore I have decided officially to revoke my obligation to pay the TV tax. I have notarized the document and have placed the TV set, together with an indoor antenna, on state (city) property near the HDLU exhibition space.
Since the TV tax is the problem of the TV set’s owner, during the exhibition, my TV set will be owned by the state. The state will thus be obliged to pay the TV tax to its own company, the Croatian television. Whether the state or the city will allow someone to place their property on state-owned territory is another question. Whether they will allow it in the name of art - this is again a different question. Maybe someone will steal the TV and thus oblige themselves to pay the TV tax while at the same time unconsciously stimulating the expansion of national culture. Many answers are sought by this installation.
(Đ.G.)
ĐURO GAVRAN (1982, Bjelovar, HR) graduated at the Zagreb Faculty of Graphic design in 2007. In 2008 he became a member of ULUPUH (Croatian Association of Applied Art), multimedia department. In 2005 he founded the independent organization Nature and Society, after which he initiated the project “West Sahara - the last African colony”. He has actively taken part in numerous projects concerning the growth of civil society in Croatia. To date he has taken part in about thirty exhibitions and festivals in Croatia and abroad (Europa 2020, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb, Print to art, MMC Luka, Pula, the 15th Days of Croatian Film Festival, SC, Zagreb, 7th TEST! - student theater and multimedia festival, SC, Zagreb, I don’t have the bonus coupon, Galerija Nova, Zagreb. He lives in Zagreb and Bjelovar, where he works as a freelancer in the field of multimedia (design, photography, video, documentaries).