Dario VUGER

assistant professor (Art History Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Osijek, Croatia); freelance curator
Email: dvuger(at)gmail(dot)com | dvuger(at)ffos(dot)hr WhatsApp: (oo385)925o38913 Instagram: @losafotografija

BIOGRAPHY

Dario Vuger graduated (MA) in Philosophy (with Rector's Award in 2015, Award for Excellence in Studies, 2017), Art History (Modern and Contemporary Art Module), and Museology and Heritage Management from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia (2019). In 2023, he defended his PhD dissertation titled "Spectacle and Time in Contemporary Philosophy" under the mentorship of prof.Dean Komel, PhD and prof.Žarko Paić, PhD at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Through Erasmus+ projects, he studied at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia, academic year 2014/2015) and attended the Summer School Diversity in Visual Arts in Thessaloniki (Greece, academic year 2017/2018), as well as various workshops and professional development sessions across Europe (University of Porto, University of Cyprus, International Summer School on Urban Morphology in Rome,...). He completed his professional training in Museology at the Tošo Dabac Archive of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb and interned at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb.

Since November 2021, he has been employed as the projects coordinator for the non-governmental organisation SF:ius (Social Fringe: Interesting Untold Stories). He is currently the president of the organisation. From August 2022, he is the chair of the art advisory board of the Crta Gallery at the Maksimir Center for Culture and Information in Zagreb. In the academic year 2022/2023, he was appointed as TA at the Academy of Arts and Culture (AUKOS) and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FFOS) (J.J.Strossmayer University in Osijek), where he held graduate seminars on Scopic Regimes: From Representation to Virtual Reality and Theory and Critique of Contemporary Art (AUKOS), Contemporary Architecture (FFOS) and Visual studies and new image theories (FFOS).

Specialised in Heideggerian phenomenology and visual studies, his areas of interest include phenomenology, comparative philosophy with emphasis on Japanese intellectual tradition, visual studies, philosophy of technology and contemporary popular culture, art, and theory, with a special focus on the history of the Situationist International.

He has worked as a curator in several institutions (Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb [Collection of photographic equipment] and Museum of Fine Arts in Osijek [Collection of Prints and Drawings, 1st half 20th c.]) as well as freelance (in collab with SF:ius, Croatian Designers Society, etc.). He completed vocational school in Photography (as his high school vocation) and has been engaged with photography in both theoretical and practical aspects for more than fifteen years.

Currently employed as an assistant professor at the Art History Department where he teaches graduate courses in Photography and Visual Culture, Visual Studies and New Image Theories, Protection and Documentation of Museum Objects and The elements of Japanese Art and Visual Culture.

He is fluent in English and has passive knowledge of French and Slovenian, self-learning Japanese.

Theses and Dissertations

• Spectacle and Time in Contemporary Philosophy (Spektakel in čas v sodobnoj filozofiji), PhD Dissertation, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, 2023.

• Street Art and the Art of the Street: A Theoretical Approach and the Problem of Art and the Everyday, Master’s Thesis in Art History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, 2019.

• The Museum of Museums and the Museum of Heritage: A Problematic Approach to the Economy and Epistemology of Heritage and Museum Phenomena, Master’s Thesis in Museum Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, 2019.

• The Aesthetics of the Situationist International, Master’s Thesis in Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, 2017.

Further Education and Workshops

• Diversity in Visual Arts Vol. 2 (DIVA II), Erasmus+ (United Societies of Balkans), Thessaloniki, Greece, 6/2018.

• Business Models Workshop I, KAEBUP - Knowledge Alliance for Evidence-Based Urban Practices, Nicosia, Cyprus, 4/2022.

• Professional Development Session, ISSUM - International Summer School on Urban Morphology, Rome, Italy, 6/2022.

• Business Models Workshop II, KAEBUP - Knowledge Alliance for Evidence-Based Urban Practices, Porto, Portugal, 7/2022.

Publications – Edited Books

• Vuger, Dario (ed.) Introducing Nostalgia Movements. Zagreb: Center for Visual Studies & SF:ius, 2023.

(open access at https://www.sfius.org/publication-introducing-nostalgia-movements/)

Book Chapters

• Vuger, Dario. "Ekspozicija i anti-slika: od dekonstrukcije znaka do ontologije vizualnog." in Slika i anti-slika: Julije Knifer i problem reprezentacije, edited by Krešimir Purgar. Zagreb: Center for Visual Studies, 2017.

• Vuger, Dario. "Ontologija knjige u doba digitalne estetike." in Zbornik radova međunarodnog znanstvenog simpozija u počast Nadeždi Čačinovič, edited by Ankica Čakardić. Zagreb: FF Press, University of Zagreb, 2019.

• Vuger, Dario. "Digital Landscapes of the Internet: Glitch Art, Spectacular Cyberspace, Vaporwave.", in Iconology of Abstraction – Non-Figurative Images and the Modern World, edited by Krešimir Purgar. London: Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies, 2020.

• Vuger, Dario. "The Technical Image in Vilem Flusser.", in The Palgrave Handbook of Image Studies, edited by Krešimir Purgar. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

• Vuger, Dario “Konceptualna svakodnevica: dizajniranje ideje radikalne umjetničke prakse.”, in Umjetnost kao ideja. Konceptualne prakse u Hrvatskoj, edited by Mirela Ramljak Purgar. Zagreb: Center for Visual Studies, 2021.

• Vuger, Dario “Od crnog kvadrata do crne kutije: dizajniranje spektakla.”, in Situacije slike, edited by Blaženka Perica, Split: Academy of Arts, 2021.

• Vuger, Dario. "On Circumlocution as Method: From Heidegger and Debord Towards a Philosophical Praxis.", in Thinking Togetherness: Phenomenology and Sociality, edited by Andrej Božič. Ljubljana: Institute Nova Revija for Humanities, 2023.

• Vuger, Dario “Znanost kao metoda u umjetničkom radu.”, in Povijest umjetnosti kao otvoreni projekt, edited by Silva Kalčić. Split: University of Split, Faculty of Humanities, 2024.

Scientific Papers

• Vuger, Dario. "Incubation of Evil: Evil as the Problem of Human Thinking and Praxis.", Synthesis philosophica, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017. DOI: 10.21464/sp32104

• Vuger, Dario. "Situacionistički grad i/ili situacija arhitekture.", Phainomena, No. 104-105, 2018. DOI: 10.32022/PHI27.2018.104-105.8

• Vuger, Dario. "Doba filma svijeta: Guy Debord i obrana ideje društva spektakla.", In medias res: Journal of Philosophy of Media, Vol. 8, No. 14, 2019.

• Vuger, Dario. „Hiperrealno – Heidegger, Baudrillard i iskustvo kraja poslije stvarnosti.“, Tvrđa, No. 1-2, 2019.

• Vuger, Dario. "Filmski spektakl i kinematička kultura: filmski horor u doba slike svijeta.", Filozofska Istraživanja, No. 157/2020. DOI: 10.21464/fi40303

• Vuger, Dario. "Diskretno doba: Spektakl i vrijeme", Tvrđa, No. 1-2, 2021.

• Vuger, Dario “Od vizualne kulture do kulture vizualizacija – post-medijska kritika?”., In medias res: Journal of Philosophy of Media, Vol. 11, No. 21, 2022. DOI: 10.46640/imr.11.21.7

• Vuger, Dario. "Spectacle and Time in Contemporary Philosophy.", Phainomena - Journal for Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, Vol. 32, 2023.

• Vuger, Dario "Tehnologija kao kultura - tehnika kao gesta: kritika kibernetičkog projekta kod Heideggera i Simondona.", In medias res: Journal of Philosophy of Media, Vol. 12, No. 23, 2023.

• Vuger, Dario "Između slike i ideala. O realizaciji Europske ideje 1988.", Filozofska Istraživanja, Vol. 42, No. 2, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21464/fi43210

Professional Articles

• Vuger, Dario. “Foto-amaterizam i grafika Tomislava Krizmana: fotografije Sarajeva?”, Prilozi za poznavanje historije Sarajeva, No.8/9, 2020.

• Vuger, Dario. “Three Layers of Image: Miletić and Dabac at the Church of Our Lady of the Snow.”, in Tošo Dabac within the frame: Photographing cultural heritage, edited by M. Benažić and L. Lovrenčić. Zagreb: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2017

• Vuger, Dario “Vaporwave, spektakl i umjetnost: Digitalni krajolici Mreže”, Art Magazin Kontura, No. 134-135, 2018.

• Vuger, Dario „Slijedeći izlaz: situacija zvuka i slike - David Bowie”, Journal for Theory, Culture, and Visual Arts - Tvrđa, No. 1-2, 2017.

Reviews and reports

• Vuger, Dario “Politika i estetika igara” (Liam Mitchel, Ludopolitics: Videogames against control, New York: Zero Books, 2018), New theories=Nove teorije, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2019.

• Vuger, Dario “Žarko Paić: Tehnosfera I - Tehnosfera II” (Žarko Paić, Tehnosfera I, Zagreb: Sandorf/Mizantrop, 2019), Phainomena 28, 108-109, 2019. 

• Vuger, Dario "Mapiranje virtualne stvarnosti" (Paul Roquet, The Immersive Enclosure: Virtual Reality in Japan, New York: Columbia University Press, 2022), New theories=Nove teorije, Vol. 2 No. 2., 2023.

• Vuger, Dario "Horizont nostalgične suvremenosti" (International interdisciplinary conference on nostalgia movements, 15-16.12.2022, Multimedijalni Institut Zagreb), New theories=Nove teorije, Vol.2 No.2, 2023.

Conference Presentations (selection, since 2021)

• September 2021 - Conference: Filozofija medija: Filozofijska misao u vremenu Fake Newsa, Govora mržnje, infodemije, manipuliranja i neslobode medija (Croatian Philosophical Society - online) – Presentation title: Od vizualne kulture ka kulturi vizualizacija - post-medijska kritika?

• November 2021 - Conference: Godišnji simpozij Hrvatskog filozofskog društva - Europska unija: Jučer, Danas, Sutra (Faculty of humanities and social sciences in Zagreb - online) – Presentation title: Europa 1987-2022: između realizacije ideje i opadanja ideala.

• December 2021 - International Conference: The 6th Conference of the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology – Phenomenology and Sociality (CEESP, Institute Nova Revija, Ljubljana, Slovenia - online) – Presentation: Circumlocution as the Method: Heidegger and the Possibility of Philosophy as Praxis.

• September 2022 - International Conference: Filozofija medija: izvedbe identiteta u digitalnoj kulturi (Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb) – Presentation title: Tehnologija kao kultura – tehnika kao gesta: kritika kibernetičkog projekta kod Simondona i Heideggera.

• November 2022 - Invited Lecture: 2nd Forum Julije Knifer (Doctoral School, University of Osijek) – Lecture title: The Image - Philosophy and Phenomenology.

• November 2022 - Conference: Godišnja konferencija Hrvatskog filozofskog društva, Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb) – Presentation title: Knjiga u radikalnim filozofijama 20.stoljeća - aspekti filozofije kao samo-dokidajućeg projekta.

• December 2022 - International Conference: Annual Conference of the Institute of Philosophy "Philosophy and Literature in Dialogue" (Institute for Philosophy, Matica Hrvatska, Zagreb) – Presentation title: Literary Devices, Vernacularism, and Radical Simplicity in Heidegger's and Nishida's Philosophy.

• September 2023 - Conference: Godišnja konferencija Centra za filozofiju medija "Refrakcija" (Croatian Philosophical Society, Cultural-Informative Center BiH, Zagreb) – Presentation title: Umjetnost svijeta - imerzija i 'nostalgični obrat' suvremene kulture.

• September 2023 - International Conference: 3rd Conference of the Society of East Asian Philosophy "Following the Brush - Defining Aesthetics through East Asian Philosophy" (University of Edinburgh, UK - online) – Presentation title: World Picture, Environment and the End of Philosophy between Heidegger and Nishida.

• November 2023 - Conference: Godišnji simpozij Hrvatskog Filozofskog Društva: Immanuel Kant (Croatian Philosophical Society, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb) – Presentation title: Bezinteresno i suvremenost: granice Kantove estetike.

• December 2023 - Conference: 3rd CyNUM Regional conference: From urban research to planning and design - strengthening cooperation between academia and practice (Nicosia, Cyprus - online) - Presentation title (delivered with Luciano Basauri and Dafne Berc): Psychogeography informing contemporary urban planning.

• April 2024 - 3rd Forum Julije Knifer: Znamo li zašto je Julije Knifer veliki umjetnik? (Doctoral School Josip J. Strossmayer University in Osijek) – Invited Lecture:  Ponavljanje kao metoda - meandar i filozofija slike.

• September 2-4, 2024 - The 11th International Conference "Japan: Pre-Modern, Modern, and Contemporary" (The Center for Japanese Studies, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania) – Presentation title: Natsukashii - The Future of Nostalgia in Japan through Yoko Ogawa's "The Memory Police".

• October 3-5, 2024 - International conference on the 30th Anniversary of the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology "Manggha and Manga: the Many Faces of Japan" (Department of Japanology and Sinology of the Jagiellonian University, Manggha Museum, Krakow, Poland) - Presentation title: Simplicity over subtlety - reevaluating naive expression in Taizi Harada.

• November 7-8, 2024 - Symposium on the 25th Anniversary of Tvrđa - magazine for theory, culture and visual arts "Filozofija i umjetnost u doba tehnosfere - od jezika i slike do umjetne inteligencije" (Hrvatsko Društvo Pisaca, Zagreb) - Presentation title: Jeziva dolina umjetne inteligencije - Masahiro Mori i vizualizacija mišljenja.

• December 14-15, 2024 - 4th ISEAP Conference "Science, Technology and East Asian Philosophy" (Fukuoka University, Japan) - Presentation title: Unwrapping the Future in Japan - Science Fictions and the End of Technology from Kobo Abe to William Gibson.

• May 19-20, 2025 - Philosophy of Technology and Imagination seminar (Osaka University, Japan) - Presentation title: Future perfect continued - The Cyberpunk Aesthesis and the End of Technology in Japan.

• August 28-29, 2025 - 5th ISEAP Conference "Progresive East Asian Philosophy" (National Chengchi University, Taiwan - online) - Presentation title: Situationist Philosophy in Exchange - reevaluating Zengakuren movement in Japan through Guy Debord's correspondence.

• September 3-5, 2025 - 10th Annual Conference of the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology "Phenomenology and Technology" (Riga, Latvia) - Presentation title: Technological Environments from Ghost in the Shell to Black-Boxed World - Relating Phenomenology of Technology to Japanese Techno-Culture.

• September 8-10, 2025 - 12th International Conference "Japan: Pre-Modern, Modern and Contemporary" (The Center for Japanese Studies, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania) - Presentation title: From Ultraman to Ship's Cat - Consumer Aesthetics and Contemporary Art in Japan.

Organization of Conferences, Work in Committees and Boards

• Member of the Scientific Committee, International Conference: Suvremeni film i njegove teorije, Museum of Contemporary Art, Center for Visual Studies, Journal for Theory and Visual Culture, Tvrđa, Zagreb, December 2019. (Contemporary film and its theories)

• Organising Member, Scientific Committee, NOMOS - International Interdisciplinary Conference on Nostalgia Movements, SF:ius, Center for Visual Studies, Multimedia Institute, Zagreb, December 2022.

• President, Art Advisory Board, Galerija Crta, Center for Culture and Information, Maksimir, Zagreb, 2022 – Present.

Journals

• Editorial Board Member, New Theories = Nove teorije, Academy for Arts and Culture, University of Josip J. Strossmayer, Osijek.

Projects

• "Slika i anti-slika: Julije Knifer i problem reprezentacije", Center for Visual Studies, Leader: Krešimir Purgar, 2015-2017. (Image and anti-image, Julije Knifer and the problem of representation)

• "Konceptualne prakse u Hrvatskoj", Center for Visual Studies, Leader: Mirela Ramljak-Purgar, 2018-2022. (Conceptual art practice in Croatia)

• Knowledge Alliance for Evidence Based Urban Practices, University of Cyprus, 2021-2023 (Erasmus+ in partnership with UCY, University of Porto, University of Parma, ISUF Italy, et al.).

Exhibitions (selection)

• USB_kolektiv: Half of the Exhibition: Half of the Idea, Galerija Siva, Zagreb, July 2018 (Concept, Authored with Maja Flajsig).

• Život u Boji: 30 godina izgradnje Chromosovog tornja, Zgrada Chromos, Zagreb, April 2019 (Curated with Dajana Batinić and Ivan Jukić).

• Dizajn + Izložbe: Seven Examples of Innovations, Museum Documentation Center, Croatian Designers Society, Zagreb, January 2020 (Curator with Martina Bobinac, Tena Starčević, and Ivan Šešlek).

• Petra Šabić: Neposredna Kretanja II, Pučko Otvoreno Učilište, Ivanić-Grad, June 2021 (Exhibition Curator).

• SF:ius Pop-up Event: Retrospective of the Social Fringe, Multimedia Institute, Zagreb, September 2022 (Exhibition Curator).

• International Interdisciplinary Conference on Nostalgia Movements Pop-up Event (AmioMon, Teuta Gatolin, Juraj Šantorić, Dafne Berc), group exhibition, Multimedia Institute, Zagreb, December 2023 (Exhibition Curator).

• Andrija Medulić Schiavone - Printmaking Genius of Mannerism, Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek, September-December 2023 (Professional Collaborator).

• Mirko Rački's Drawings of Dante's Divine Comedy, from the Collection of Prints and Drawings of the Cabinet of HAZU, December 2023 - February 2024, Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek (Exhibition Curator).

• Zlatko Kozina: Suvremena umjetnost 38, Salon Galić, Split, February 2024 (Exhibition Curator).

• Petra Šabić: Strujanja, Galerija ZILIK, Karlovac, April 2024 (Exhibition Curator).

• Reboot 1.0, group exhibition at FOMO artspace, Zurich, February 2025 (Professional Collaborator, text)

• Lana Ključarić: Better Days Ahead, Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek, May 2025 (Exhibition Curator)

• Anemoia, group exhibition (Amio Mon, One Cure, Ivor Glavaš, Teuta Gatolin, Zlatko Kozina), Gallery of the Cultural Center in Osijek, Croatia, May 2025 (Exhibition Curator)

• Ivan Gundić: Still Life, Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek, July 2025 (Exhibition Curator)

• 38th Youth Salon: Anemoia, Association of Croatian Artists, Zagreb, 2026 (Author, Exhibition Curator with Miran Blažek and Leandra Agazzi)

Memberships

• IMNN: International Media and Nostalgia Network

• ENOJP: European Network of Japanese Philosophy

• CEESP: Central and East European Society for Phenomenology

• HS AICA: Croatian Section of the International Association of Art Critics

• HFD: Croatian Philosophical Society

• ULUPUH: Association of Fine Artists of Applied Arts, Croatia

Awards

• Rector's Award (Rektorova nagrada) for the academic year 2014/2015 for the independent research project: "Inkubacija zla: zlo kao problem mišljenja i prakse" (Incubation of evil: evil as the problem of thought and human praxis)

• Award for Excellence in Studies in 2016 upon completion of the Master’s degree in Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zagreb.

• Zagreb County Scholarship for Excellence (2012-2018).

Interests and other appointments

• 2021-... TV monitor for NHK World Japan

• photographer by high-school vocation, continues to practice it as a hobby

• finished vocational training for a specialist in graphic design at the Algebra University in 2022/2023

• plays drums and electric guitar