Mila Panić
-b. 1991. in Brčko, BiH, is an artist and stand-up comedian. Her artist’s practice ranges from personal documentation to poetic visual and discursive elements through which she creates a cycle that interprets the various inheritances of migration. She is the co-founder of the collective and association Fully Funded Residencies.eV. Her most recent exhibitions were in GMK (Zagreb), eastcontemporary Gallery (Milan), Kuenstlerhaus Sootburn (Hamburg), POST (Arnhem), Autostrada Bienalle (Prizren) etc. Panic is the winner of ZVONO YVVA of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and recipient of a number of scholarships such as the NEUSTART Stiftung Kunstfond Bonn grant for 2023, Braunschweig Projects artist grant 2022/23, , Künstlerhaus Lukas, Ahrenshoop, Residency Unlimited, New York (US), etc. She is based in Berlin, Germany.
I work as a storyteller, using art, humor, and personal experience to bridge the gap between the individual and the collective.
I often find myself reflecting on language, identity, and resilience. Humor, particularly through stand-up comedy, became my outlet. 1 Writing jokes allows me to process emotions—anger, fear, and irritation—while challenging societal norms and power structures. Comedy, like art, is a punch: immediate and physical.2 The laughter that follows confirms connection and understanding.
Growing up in Bosnia shaped my understanding of trauma, humanitarian failure, and injustice. Living as an immigrant in Germany has deepened this perspective, connecting me to the notion of displacement and the complex realities of inclusion and exclusion.
These themes surface in pieces like Good Teeth Bite Strong; Made in Bosnia (Make It in Germany) 3 and Südost Paket, where humor and raw honesty transform objects and experiences into critical reflections of societal expectations.
The work Good Teeth Bite Strong 4 5 is, to me, about articulation and being able to voice yourself. Biting is many things but purely aggressive. It’s mostly about survival or protection. Not even animals bite for fun. Humans, on the other hand, don’t bite. It’s not our usual means of attack or defence. Taking a closer look at the words forming the sentence, a lot is suggested about empowerment, resilience, strength, and precarity. Teeth are important for being able to speak and form a language. Many sounds that come from our throats bounce off our teeth or can be produced just with the help of them. If you don’t have teeth, it’s harder to voice yourself.
I have spoken on many occasions about how difficult it is to explore and express emotions, all of them, but the most interesting one for me is anger expressed in a foreign language (in my case English and German). Immigrants very often worry not to offend someone – therefore we self-correct and self-censor because we (I) are afraid. Fear of being out-woked, sent back, red flagged, not good enough, pressured to perform well, etc. Being Southeastern European is an interesting position in Western Europe. There are daily microaggressions that I notice but it’s tricky to pin the exact title on those unjust behaviours. It’s like – we are white, but we stink.
Südost Paket6 7 8 is an installation made of bus tires filled with different objects. I choose the objects by feeling. Items that remind me of home, or funny storries and events that I have seen or heard about trips and smuggeling with buses from Bosnia. These objects became a personification of our identity and folklore, and together with the bus tire they are like a monument for me. A monument to the microcosm that gets created in the bus during the 20-24 hours of crossing the border (physically and morally) while traveling from Bosnia to Germany and vice versa. Many things happen on that bus. A lot of fear, anxiety, sadness, smuggling of simple goods and knowledge in some way, but also laughter, excitement and solidarity – depending on the direction of the bus.
I strive to be unapologetic in my work—direct, and sometimes confrontational. My comedy and self-portraits explore unfiltered emotions, often blending humor and critique. Whether through a joke, installation, or drawing, I aim to make others question societal constructs while staying true to my voice.
The text was written in collaboration with Adna Muslija (2024).
1Mila Panić,"If I stop smiling, they will see how angry I am", MADNESS, 2024,installation view, Courtesy of the artist and eastcontemporary, Milan
2Mila Panić, stand-up comedy performance 'Jokes' STURM AND SLANG , Pickle Bar, Berlin, 2024
3Mila Panić, Make it in Germany (2022); courtesy of the artist
4Mila Panić, Good Teeth Bite Strong, 2023, installation view at ‘All Images Will Disappear, One Day’ Autostrada Biennale 2023, Prizren, Kosovo, Photo: Tuğhan Anıt
5Mila Panić, Good Teeth Bite Strong, 2023, installation view at ‘All Images Will Disappear, One Day’ Autostrada Biennale 2023, Prizren, Kosovo, Photo: Tuğhan Anıt
6 Mila Panić, Südost Paket (ongoing); Installation view at ‘Good Teeth Bite Strong’, 2023, Kuenstlerhaus Sootburn, Hamburg, Germany 2023; courtesy of the artist
7 Mila Panić, Südost Paket (ongoing); Installation view at ‘Good Teeth Bite Strong’, 2023, Kuenstlerhaus Sootburn, Hamburg, Germany 2023; courtesy of the artist
8 Mila Panić, Südost Paket (ongoing); Installation view at ‘Good Teeth Bite Strong’, 2023, Kuenstlerhaus Sootburn, Hamburg, Germany 2023; courtesy of the artist
-r. 1991, Brčko, BiH, je umjetnica i stand-up komičarka. Njena umjetnička praksa obuhvata ličnu dokumentaciju, kao i poetske vizuelne i diskurzivne elemente kroz koje stvara cikluse koji interpretiraju različita naslijeđa migracija. Suosnivačica je kolektiva i udruženja Fully Funded Residencies e.V. Njene najnovije izložbe održane su u GMK-u (Zagreb), eastcontemporary Gallery (Milano), Künstlerhaus Sootbörn (Hamburg), POST-u (Arnhem), Autostrada Biennalu (Prizren), itd. Panic je dobitnica nagrade ZVONO YVVA Bosne i Hercegovine te brojnih stipendija, uključujući NEUSTART Stiftung Kunstfond Bonn grant za 2023, Braunschweig Projects artist grant 2022/23, rezidencije Künstlerhaus Lukas (Ahrenshoop), Residency Unlimited (New York, SAD), itd. Živi i radi u Berlinu, Njemačka.
Radim kao pripovjedač, koristeći umjetnost, humor i lično iskustvo kako bih premostila jaz između pojedinca i kolektiva. Često se bavim razmišljanjem o jeziku, identitetu i otpornosti. Humor, posebno kroz stand-up komediju, postao je moj ventil. 1 Pisanje šala omogućava mi da procesuiram emocije – bijes, strah i iritaciju – dok istovremeno preispitujem društvene norme i strukture moći. Komedija, kao i umjetnost, je udarac: direktan i fizički. 2 Smijeh koji slijedi potvrđuje povezanost i razumijevanje.
Odrastanje u Bosni oblikovalo je moje shvatanje traume, humanitarnih neuspjeha i nepravde. Život kao imigrant u Njemačkoj dodatno je produbio ovu perspektivu, povezujući me sa konceptom raseljenosti i složenim realnostima inkluzije i isključenja.
Ove teme su prisutne u radovima kao što su Good Teeth Bite Strong, Made in Bosnia (Make It in Germany) 3 i Südost Paket, gdje humor i sirova iskrenost transformišu predmete i iskustva u kritički osvrt na društvena očekivanja.
Rad Good Teeth Bite Strong 4 5za mene predstavlja artikulaciju i sposobnost da izraziš sebe. Ugriz nije samo agresivan čin, već je najčešće povezan s preživljavanjem ili zaštitom. Čak ni životinje ne grizu iz zabave. Ljudi, s druge strane, obično ne koriste ugriz kao sredstvo napada ili odbrane. Kada pažljivo pogledamo riječi koje čine ovu rečenicu, mnogo toga sugeriše osnaživanje, otpornost, snagu i nesigurnost. Zubi su važni za sposobnost govora i formiranje jezika. Mnogi zvukovi koji dolaze iz naših grla odjekuju preko zuba ili se proizvode uz njihovu pomoć. Ako nemaš zube, teže je izraziti se.
Često sam govorila o tome koliko je teško istražiti i izraziti emocije, sve njih, ali za mene je najzanimljiviji bijes izražen na stranom jeziku (u mom slučaju engleski i njemački). Imigranti često brinu da ne uvrijede nekoga – zbog toga se autocenzurišemo i korigujemo, jer se bojimo. Strah od toga da budemo “previše probuđeni”, deportovani, označeni crvenom zastavicom, nedovoljno dobri, pod pritiskom da se dokažemo, i slično. Biti jugoistočni Evropljanin u Zapadnoj Evropi je zanimljiva pozicija. Svakodnevno primijetim mikroagresije, ali je teško tačno imenovati te nepravde. Nešto kao “we are white but we stink”.
Südost Paket 6 7 8 je instalacija napravljena od autobuske gume ispunjene različitim predmetima. Predmete biram intuitivno – stvari koje me podsjećaju na kuću ili na priče i događaje vezane za putovanja i krijumčarenje autobusima iz Bosne. Ovi predmeti postaju personifikacija našeg identiteta i folklora, a zajedno s autobuskom gumom čine za mene svojevrstan spomenik. Spomenik mikrokosmosu koji nastaje u autobusu tokom 20-24 sata prelaska granice (fizički i moralno) dok se putuje iz Bosne u Njemačku i obrnuto. Mnogo toga se dešava u tom autobusu – strah, anksioznost, tuga, krijumčarenje jednostavnih dobara i na neki način znanja, ali i smijeh, uzbuđenje i solidarnost – u zavisnosti od pravca kretanja autobusa.
Trudim se da budem beskompromisna u svom radu – direktna, ponekad i konfrontirajuća. Moja komedija i autoportreti istražuju nefiltrovane emocije, često spajajući humor i kritiku. Bilo kroz šalu, instalaciju ili crtež, želim da podstaknem druge da preispitaju društvene konstrukte, dok ostajem vjerna svom glasu.
Tekst je napisan u konsultaciji sa Adnom Muslija (2024.)
1Mila Panić,"If I stop smiling, they will see how angry I am", MADNESS, 2024,instalacija, ljubaznošću umjetnice i eastcontemporary, Milan
2Mila Panić, performans stand-up komedije 'Jokes' STURM AND SLANG , Pickle Bar, Berlin, 2024
3Mila Panić, Make it in Germany (2022); ljubaznošću umjetnice
4Mila Panić, Good Teeth Bite Strong, 2023, instalacija, ‘All Images Will Disappear, One Day’ Autostrada Biennale 2023, Prizren, Kosovo, Foto: Tuğhan Anıt
5Mila Panić, Good Teeth Bite Strong, 2023, instalacija, ‘All Images Will Disappear, One Day’ Autostrada Biennale 2023, Prizren, Kosovo, Foto: Tuğhan Anıt
6 Mila Panić, Südost Paket (-); instalacija, ‘Good Teeth Bite Strong’, 2023, Kuenstlerhaus Sootburn, Hamburg, Germany 2023; ljubaznošću umjetnice
7 Mila Panić, Südost Paket (-); instalacija, ‘Good Teeth Bite Strong’, 2023, Kuenstlerhaus Sootburn, Hamburg, Germany 2023; ljubaznošću umjetnice
8 Mila Panić, Südost Paket (-); instalacija, ‘Good Teeth Bite Strong’, 2023, Kuenstlerhaus Sootburn, Hamburg, Germany 2023; ljubaznošću umjetnice
