The murals have made Sisak an important street art destination in Europe, already attracting tourists to this town of under 50.000 residents
The town of Sisak, located an hour due south of the country’s capital Zagreb, is a town of failed industries and refineries, increasingly being inundated with the grey colour of worn-out facades and streets. Fighting this trend are street artists and their huge murals on buildings and walls, with bright colours shining a new light on this forgotten town, as Jutarnji List reported on November 24, 2017.
Sisak can thus be named the Croatian capital of murals. In the last two years some fifteen of the best Croatian and world muralists, modern street artist, painted 17 facades. This is a result of the street art festival Re:Think Sisak, held for the past two summers. The third edition is already scheduled.
Facades of buildings in Strossmayerova, Hefeleova, Oktavijanova, Bakranova, Čuligova, Križanićeva, Starčevićeva and others now brandish a new look thanks to the artists, while Sisak is gaining a new identity and locals and visitors can enjoy a permanent open air exhibition.
The team of organisers behind this story includes Alma Trauber, Dahna Prskalo Peco and Dean Zlovolić. “So many bad things have happened to our town, so we are overjoyed that we succeeded in our intent to make life prettier. And judging by the reactions of the locals who ceded their building facades to artists, we did,” said Peco.
All the works thrilled critics and the audience, and the Totem mural, created by Mexican artist Farid Rueda this past summer in Čuligova street, has spread word of the Sisak murals around the world. A respected online portal dedicated to street art has listed the Totem mural among the seven best in the world in July of 2017.
The murals have made Sisak an important street art destination in Europe, already attracting tourists to this town of under 50.000 residents. The third Re:Think Sisak is in the works, with a dozen female artists to be invited. “You heard well, in 2018 we plan to invite only women to the festival, to paint new murals in the Caprag area,” said Dahna Prskalo Peco.
Translated from Jutarnji List.
