The Almissa Open Art contemporary art festival in Omiš was launched in 2010 with the aim of extending contemporary art within the milieus that are, as a rule, always isolated from these and similar events. With this, the Omiš population and their guests, in the middle of the tourist season, met with still unknown forms of artistic expression. With this shift, both in access and in geography, it has sensitized and included a wider range of audiences, and the long-standing practice of the festival has grown with locals.
At the very beginning, the festival included various exhibitions, installations, performance programs, mostly taking place on Mirabela Fortress, gradually descending into the city. The approach that includes artists’ unannounced and unconventional strolls in the streets and between people abolishes the traditional festival form and the boundaries between the audience and the artists. All of them became part of the artistic process, and the classical term “audience” is avoided. This non-typical approach, devoid of isolation and pretentiousness, connects artists and people. Art is created in their co-existence, and it is not a separate entity. Every year, a number of local and affiliated Croatian artists are participating in the program. The specificity of Almissa is also emphasized by the deletion of classic forms of organization and exhibiting — the role of the curator is played each year by another artists. The curator – artist chooses the theme of the festival, they invite artists and take care of the mediation of the whole process. The boundaries of the roles are gone, and it is art itself what unites them. Almissa aims to bring its program closer to everyone; it does not remain deaf to comments and criticism, which represent a kind of inspiration as well. An experimental approach to the role of artists, audiences and art is a specificity of Almissa and opens up more new possibilities.
Ana Bratić