Zagreb, 22 February 2017 - Erste Bank has announced a funding competition for the 13^th edition of Erste Fragments, supporting young artists age 30 and below, and students of academies of fine arts by buying their works (sculptures, paintings, graphics, and installations). The author of the best work will also receive a prize of HRK 10.000,00, as well as support for their solo exhibition. This will also be another year in which the Audience award of HRK 3.000,00, and a yearly scholarship will be awarded, for which students of academies of fine arts in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, and Split can compete. All purchased and prizewinning works will be displayed at an exhibition at Zagreb’s Kranjcar Gallery.

Works to be purchased will be selected by an expert committee composed of: Head of Matica hrvatska Gallery Vanja Babic,  Dean of Zagreb’s Academy of Fine Arts Aleksandar Battista Ilic, Jutarnji list’s art critic Patricia Kis, academy-trained painter Sebastijan Dracic, curator and art manager Vanja Zanko, and the Head of Erste Bank’s urban culture platform “Urbanka” Antonia Juric.

The Erste Fragments competition started in 2002, and during its previous editions, 170 works of young Croatian artists have been purchased, and today they adorn more than 130 locations (branches and offices) of Erste Bank in Croatia. Authors of many purchased works, such as Tanja Deman, Sebastijan Dracic, Ivan Fijolic, Alem Korkut, Ines Matijevic Cakic, Lala Rascic, Zlatan Vehabovic, Matko Vekic, and many others, have since become renowned and esteemed names in the Croatian art scene.