Mladen Miljanovic- “Good Night” (State of Body)

Inherent in Miljanovic work is the notion of acting as a disciplined and diligent soldier/worker, who serves in the name of art. The majority of his pieces begin with an action rooted in his own immediate environment.  He then alters the circumstances creating new possibilities that are presented to the wider world of art. As Galit Eilat & Alenka Gregoric note: “ The social and political setting of the post-war Bosnian society, as well as the effects of wars which are manifested on the daily political scene, ethnic and religious divides and social instability, are constant elements in Miljanovic’s performances, videos and installations.”

The photographic work Show With Your Hand Where You Feel Pain is a documentation of an intimate yet difficult dialogue between a married couple, capturing the struggling and often unpleasant moments of a life that slowly expires. The husband, an ex-soldier is deaf, completely disabled and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a consequence of the last Yugoslavian war. He communicates through a written diary in which the wife writes most private and personal notes. The artist creates a photo narrative confronting the viewer with an arduous daily reality by depicting extremely vulnerable and mundane instances of life.  Never portraying the human form itself, the suffering is embodied through semantics. By not representing the individual Miljanovic gives us the liberty to imagine the deteriorating body. It is through language and photography that he urges us to reflect on the boundaries and role of art. Should one accept a brutal action for the sake of art? How far is a creator allowed to push himself in the name of art?

Mladen Miljanovic (b 1981) in Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, graduated from the Academy of Art in Banja Luka. In 2007 he receives the ZVONO prize for best Bosnian young artist. He has had solo exhibitions worldwide including State of Body, A+A Gallery, Venice, (2012), Taxi To Berlin, Antje Wachs Gallery, Berlin, (2011), Museum Service, MUMOK, Vienna, (2010), Sarajevo Service, National Gallery of B & H, Sarajevo, (2010), Occupational Therapy, Center in Galerija P 74, Ljubljana (2009), Occupo, Neue Gallerie, Graz, (2007). Group exhibitions include Either/Or” MS Dockville, Hamburg (2012), 14×14″ Donumenta, Kunstforum Gallery, Regensburg (2012), Survey of the Danube region” Oberfalzer Kunstlerhaus, Schwandorf (2012), Not So Distant Memory “, Dalewer Contemporary Art Center, Wilmington (2011), “Beyond The Truth”, Mestna galerija Ljubljana, Ljubljana (2011), It`s Time We Got to Know Each Other, 53. October Salone, Belgrade (2011), “Iron Applause”, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava (2011), “No Network“ International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Konjic (2011), The End of the World as We Know It “, Kunsthalle – Mullhouse (2010), Condensations of the Social“ Smack Mellon, New York (2009).