From Head to Crown

“Od glave do tjemena” translates most accurately as “From Head to Crown” (where “tjeme” refers specifically to the crown or top of the head). This linguistic precision is significant, as it suggests not merely a physical description but a philosophical journey through the self.

In this installation, Tudić continues his characteristic exploration of dualities that have preoccupied philosophers since Descartes – particularly the relationship between body and mind, material and spiritual. The scattered, fragmented figures fashioned from styrofoam and wrapped in black nylon create a compelling visual metaphor for disintegration and reintegration of the self.

The use of industrially manufactured materials (styrofoam, nylon) juxtaposed with anthropomorphic forms evokes Heidegger’s concept of “things” versus “equipment” – these sculptures occupy an unsettling middle ground between pure objecthood and human representation. The black nylon, with its simultaneously reflective and absorptive qualities, recalls Hegel’s dialectical understanding of consciousness as both reflecting upon itself and absorbing the external world.

What’s particularly striking is how these fragmented figures seem to exist in a state of harmonious disharmony – much like Nietzsche’s concept of the Apollonian and Dionysian forces in perpetual tension. The installation transforms the exhibition space into a philosophical playground where the viewer physically navigates these tensions between completeness and fragmentation, presence and absence.

The artist’s consistent preoccupation with harmony amid apparent chaos suggests a deeply Hegelian approach, where thesis and antithesis exist not as irreconcilable opposites but as necessary components of a larger synthesis. Through this installation, Tudić invites us into a physical manifestation of philosophical inquiry – not merely representing ideas, but creating an embodied experience of them.

The progression “from head to crown” itself suggests both a circular journey and a hierarchical ascension – perhaps nodding to the philosophical tradition of viewing consciousness as both self-contained and transcendent. In this sense, Tudić’s work operates as both aesthetic experience and philosophical proposition.