Vedran Perkov’s exhibition title The Things That Dreams are Made of reveals a lot. Indeed, what are our dreams made of? Those are the dreams of typical consumers of the contemporary society and popular culture, that are at the same time dreams of the adult, “serious” people who nevertheless have a childlike hope that heroes truly exist. And even more, what if we can identify with that brave, almighty, handsome, almost perfect superhero…?
All of Vedran’s works have specific humour and self-irony. Their value lies in the fact that they always remain within the safe border between the simply funny and ironic, never to cross into any of the extremes. The author bravely puts himself in the situation in which he honestly daydreams of superheroes, powerful aircrafts, creates spaces of childlike imagination, sharing with the visitor his own intimate space, at the same time giving a clear social and critical note. Often that note is present through certain uneasiness, such as in the work entitled The Beast (Circus, Nova Gallery, Zagreb 2004) The beast is in fact a huge teddy bear stuffed with straw that takes up almost the whole exhibition room, and as times goes by it gets worn out. Perkov uses similar procedure in the works connected to the icons of popular culture, such as StarTrek. At the exhibition at Josip Račić Studio (with Marko Tadić, Zagreb 2005) the author exhibited the work entitled The Final Frontier. Out of plastic material, he constructed the mythical space ship Voyager that floated in the exhibition room supported by the wire cables.
The air was blown into the body of the spaceship, but as the joints didn’t “hold” the air was moving out, creating the impression that the installation was barely holding its given share. Thematically continuing the last exhibition, Vedran has created one new spaceship and two spacesuits. Works entitled Starship Captain’s Extravehicular Suit, Heavycruiser Battleunit Commander’s Suit – 3rd generation, and Interstellar Thunderbird (prototype) lead us again into the world of interstellar travel. The spaceship prototype is exhibited in a manner of some car show, completely ready for the test drive. Spacesuits constructed in detail are meant for crucial battles or stroll allong same remote world, readily await commander Riker. Or maybe not?
Vedran does not insist on the perfection of the way the work looks, and remains at a safe distance from the demanding production of special effects (although his constructions are complex and elaborate). His objects always remain charmingly imperfect, revealing the true inability of fulfilling their original function, reminding us that all this is after all, merely a dream.

William T. Riker is the character from the Star Trek TV series