Underground Galaxy

Museum of Science and Technology

At the exhibition Underground Galaxy, running from 12 June to 15 September 2026 at the Museum of Science and Technology, photographs and exhibits from the private collection of minerals and crystals of collector Irina Tomić will be presented.

The path Irina travelled, from the idea to the collection, is shaped by personal stories, choices and long-standing dedication to collecting. The selection of minerals attests to a deep connection between scientific curiosity and personal experience, while the exhibition itself creates a meeting space between the visible and the hidden, the material and the imaginative, the scientific and the intimate.

In addition to the displayed exhibits, the author presents macrophotographs of carefully selected specimens, revealing their complex structures, textures and visual details that often remain invisible to the naked eye. These scenes not only possess aesthetic value but also deepen the relationship between the viewer and the collection, allowing a new reading of already familiar objects. In this way, the collection does not end with the physical possession of objects but expands into the realm of the image, where science, art and personal experience intertwine, and each mineral acquires a dual status: as a physical object and as an image, as a scientific specimen and as an aesthetic phenomenon. The exhibition layout further emphasizes this idea through the organization of photographs into “constellations”, establishing a symbolic link between underground structures and cosmic spaces.

In a broader museological context, this exhibition highlights the importance of private collections as particular forms of knowledge and experience. They arise from personal fascination and dedication, but in contact with an institutional framework they gain a new dimension, becoming part of the collective understanding of nature, science and culture.

Displaying mineral exhibits and other geological samples from museum collections and private collections is an excellent way to bring the significance of geological heritage closer to the general public, stimulate interest in science and preserve awareness of natural riches for future generations.

As a kind of complement to Irina Tomić's Underground Galaxy, the exhibition also presents exhibits from the collections of the Museum of Science and Technology, the Mineral and Rock Collection of the Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, and the company "Ametrin" from Subotica.

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