Image: Тhe Gallery of Matica srpska, Novi Sad
The Gallery of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad will open ‘50 Years Later’, an exhibition of photographs by Ivan Karlavaris, on 3 September 2026. The presentation will survey five decades of the artist’s photographic practice and teaching, and will remain on view through 13 September in the gallery’s Room for Surrender to Art.
Karlavaris is described by the institution as a photographer, photography designer, educator and donor to the Gallery of Matica Srpska. His professional work has encompassed artistic and applied photography, design and visual communication. The gallery characterises his approach through aesthetic consideration, technical precision and sustained attention to the way a photographic image communicates with its viewer.
The exhibition also places emphasis on Karlavaris’s role in the development of photography education in Novi Sad and the surrounding region. From 1974, he taught photography at the Bogdan Šuput School of Design in Novi Sad, where he worked with successive generations of young artists. From 1996, he served as a professional associate at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and from 2002 participated in the establishment of its Photography study programme. He has also collaborated with the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka since 2004.
Born in 1947 in Crvenka, Karlavaris studied in Novi Sad and later advanced his training in utilitarian photography in Germany. Over the course of his career, he has held solo exhibitions in Kastav, Novi Sad, Opatija, Futog and Kaluga, while taking part in group exhibitions regularly since 1976. His distinctions include first prizes in Yugoslav competitions for monumental sculpture and design, a provincial award for teaching in the visual arts, and the Crystal Plaque of the World Biennial of Student Photography and Poster.
The Gallery of Matica Srpska presents the exhibition as more than a chronological review of one photographer’s output. Its accompanying text frames the project as an account of Karlavaris’s long commitment to photography, education and visual culture, as well as his influence on photographers and designers in Novi Sad and the wider region. The exhibition follows a broader understanding of photography as a medium requiring technical knowledge, visual analysis and awareness of the context in which images are produced and received.
The opening is scheduled for Thursday, 3 September, at 8pm. Speakers are listed as Tijana Palkovljević Bugarski, director of the Gallery of Matica Srpska; Branimir Karanović, professor emeritus of photography; Ervin Dubrović, an art historian; and Irina Subotić, professor emerita and art historian. Ivica Lukanović, župan of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, will open the exhibition. Admission is listed at 400 Serbian dinars, and the exhibition is intended for visitors of all ages. The Gallery of Matica Srpska is located at Trg galerija 1 in Novi Sad.
