Boris Štromar is a type of person we like the most here at Just Zagreb. He’s a local enthusiasts who, by doing the things he loves while keeping a low profile, makes the city intangibly richer without asking for any recognition. It’s not so much about what people like him do (well, as long as it’s a positive thing for the community, and this is), as much the approach they have to doing it. One of those people that, even if you have no interest in the projects they do, you are glad to hear there are folks doing those things. Since we love to collaborate with those people, Boris has worked on a few projects with Just Zagreb.
Štromar is the founder of Zagreb’s Astronomy Society Beskraj (Abyss) that organizes practical astronomy workshops for kids, stargazing parties, night photography sessions and other astronomy related activities. The photography part is probably his favorite, as he is a photographer himself and his favorite subjects are the stars – the real ones. One other thing the society is passionate about is the problem of light pollution, it’s effects on people and the ecosystem in Zagreb and ways to solve it.
Bringing his photography and activism together, Štromar has set up an exhibition Croatia Full of Stars which aims to promote using sustainable light solutions in the city by showing us what we are missing out on living in the city – the beauty of night sky.
‘Even though light pollution leaves a lasting damage to the ecosystem, the health of people and their security, this exhibition aims to show how we’re missing out on beauties of a starry night which UNESCO declared a protected natural heritage’, said Štromar announcing the exhibition, pointing out that the society has had to continuously go further and further away from the city to host their activities.
If we set aside the problems facing every big city in the world (but we shouldn’t), we are still left with an interesting exhibition of different phenomena in the sky above Zagreb that demands awe. Croatia Full of Stars opens Thursday, September 29th at the extended gallery of the iconic Pod Starim Krovovima (Under the Old Rooftops) tavern, the oldest existing in Zagreb and will be set up until October 13th. The gallery is at Besaričekova street 9, and the exhibition opens at 7pm.
