Art Installation: It All started with the Grounded Sun by Kožarić

One can learn about the solar system in many ways. Citizens and visitors of Zagreb have one additional way to learn, which is original and interesting.

Visitors who come to the centre of Zagreb often pause in Bogovićeva Street where, in addition to popular coffee houses, they can see an interesting bronze sculpture entitled the Grounded Sun. It is the work of a recently deceased artist Ivan Kožarić which was installed in 1994. Ten years later artist Davor Preis designed an ambiental installation Nine Views which, together with the recently thoroughly renovated Sun by Kožarić, makes up the ambiental art installation the Grounded Solar System.

Preis’s planets are spheres made of stainless steel whose diameters were calculated based on the diameter of the sculpture by Kožarić. In addition, the steel planets were installed proportionally in relation to the Sun as the starting point in such a way to reflect the real distance between a particular planet and the Sun as the central star. You will find the sculpture of Mercury in Margaretska Street at a distance of 88 meters from the Sun, Venus is located at Ban Josip Jelačić Square, the Earth is 211 meters away in Varšavska Street and so on. The most distant installation is Pluto, whose status of a planet was downgraded to that of a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union. It is located at a distance of 8800 meters from the Sun.

A member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Science, a sculptor famous in Croatia and abroad, Ivan Kožarić, passed away in mid-November in his hundredth year. His artwork can be found in numerous world museums and private collections.