Milica Milićević
Milica Milićević (1979) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade and completed her master’s studies there. She also attended the Transmedia Master’s program at Hogeschool Sint-Lukas in Brussels. Since 2005, she has been collaborating with Milan Bosnić on joint projects within the art duo diSTRUKTURA. Through various media forms (painting, drawing, video, photography, installation), they explore their positions within the contemporary landscape.
Apart from several solo exhibitions following my studies, my artistic practice over the past 20 years has been tied to working within the art duo diSTRUKTURA, which I co-founded with my partner, Milan Bosnić, in 2005. In that sense, my work evolved through processes of dialogue, alignment, compromise, and questioning. This often allowed elements to enter the work that were not controlled, enabling me to view it from perspectives I had never had access to. I was drawn to the element of surprise that emerges when you let yourself be influenced by another, as it leads you to places you didn’t intend to visit or didn’t even know existed. On one hand, this means stepping out of your comfort zone and taking risks when venturing into unknown territory, while on the other, it reveals an exciting artistic process that resembles a journey. We also incorporated various media into our work, giving me the opportunity to expand my interests from painting and drawing to photography, video, installation, and more.
The choice of themes intersected our mutual interests, and through the theme of the landscape, we unified topics that fascinated both of us: ecology, social upheavals, and migrations. What attracted us both were different ways of observing and presenting the contemporary environment—landscapes shaped by the industrial, technological, and digital revolution. Our first joint work was the photograph Face to Face (Missing Hill 1). 1 In it, we recreated a Caspar David Friedrich-inspired scene infused with so-called postmodern nostalgia, where two figures face a devastated mining landscape (in Majdanpek). This setting led us to reflect on nature that has suffered—and continues to suffer—the impact of humanity, as humans, through industrial and technological advancements, mold their landscapes primarily for the needs of a capitalist system focused on mass production and exploitation of nature, with minimal regard for ecological well-being. 2
Another interesting and important aspect of our work is the way nature is perceived. I am particularly referring to digital perception—a view mediated by chips and screens that transforms nature into pixels (allowing us to see landscapes we have never seen or would never have the chance to see) but also becomes a field for intervention and manipulation. 3 Understanding the landscape as a (cultural) construction (Burchardt, Mitchell)—that is, a social agreement—and placing people at its center, we created combinations of aesthetic, social, economic, symbolic, and spatial elements that reflect our contemporary moment. 4
In this way, we contemplate the landscape through the connection and mutual interdependence of humans and their environment, analyzing and understanding our position in a post-war society that is (still) in transition. These changes and newly formed liminal spaces within a large construction project in Belgrade’s Savamala district were the focus of our project No Longer and Not Yet, which we presented at the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade in 2019. This borderline zone or in-between space, where urban, architectural, as well as social and political transformation takes place, is read as a place of transition, waiting, and disorientation, situated temporally between what once was and what is yet to come. 5
In anticipation of such an inevitable transitional future, my partner and I decided to move to Krčedin, a village in Vojvodina on the Danube River, where, free from the tensions of the big city, we strive to create a situation that allows us to focus more on art and creativity. This has been a significant challenge, especially since I became a mother and had to learn to balance different life roles in favor of the role of an artist, where I feel most comfortable (though not necessarily the most secure).
1
Image: Face to Face (Missing Hill 1), print on aluminum, 2005.
Photo: diSTRUKTURA
2
Image: Possibilities of Sublime (big canceling), from the project Social Landscape, oil on canvas, 150 x 390 cm, 2024.
Photo: Dejan Kijevčanin
3
Image: Maybe this was his last view (Portbou) 1, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 2018. Photo: diSTRUKTURA
4
Image: We are living in a beautiful wOURld – Austria, a complex multimedia project from 2013–2016, addressing the still ongoing issue of migration and so-called brain drain from the former Yugoslav territories through a psycho-geographic landscape. Photo: Martin Krusche
5
Image: Exhibition No Longer and Not Yet, Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, 2019. Photo: Bojana Janjić
Milica Milićević (1979) je završila Fakultet likovnih umetnosti u Beogradu i master studije na istom fakultetu. Pohađala je i Transmedia master program na Hogeschool Sint-Lukas u Briselu. Od 2005, zajedno sa Milanom Bosnićem, radi na zajedničkim projektima u okviru umetničkog dua diSTRUKTURA, u kojima kroz različite medijske forme (slika, crtež, video, fotografija, instalacija) istražuju vlastite pozicije u okviru savremenog pejzaža.
Osim nekoliko samostalnih nastupanja nakon završetka studija, moja umetnička praksa poslednjih 20 godina vezana je za rad u okviru umetničkog dua diSTRUKTURA, koji sam, sa svojim partnerom, Milanom Bosnićem, formirala 2005. godine. U tom smislu, moj rad se razvijao kroz procese konverzacije, usaglašavanja, kompromisa i propitivanja. To je često omogućavalo upliv nekih elemenata u rad koji nisu bili kontrolisani, a što mi je dozvoljavalo da ga sagledam iz uglova koji mi nikada nisu bili dostupni. Privlačio me je element iznenađenja koji se javlja kada se prepustite uticajima drugog, jer bivate odvedeni na mesta koja niste imali nameru da posetite ili niste ni znali da postoje. S jedne strane, to podrazumeva napuštanje zone komfora, preuzimanje rizika kada se ulazi na nepoznatu teritoriju, dok s druge otkrivam uzbudljiv umetnički postupak koji nalikuje putovanju. Takođe, u rad smo uključili i različite medije, pa sam tako dobila priliku da svoje polje interesovanja proširim sa slikarstva i crteža, na fotografiju, video, instalaciju…
Izbor tema ukrstio je naše zajedničke interese, a kroz temu pejzaža objedinili smo one koje su nas oboje zanimali: ekologiju, društvena previranja, migracije. Ono što nas je oboje privlačilo su različiti načini posmatranja i prezentovanja savremenog okruženja, tj. pejzaža nakon industrijske, tehnološke i digitalne revolucije. Prvi rad koji smo zajedno uradili bila je fotografija Face to Face (Missing Hill 1 1, Na njoj smo rekreirali jednu Kaspar-Fridrihovsku situaciju obojenu tzv. postmodernističkom nostalgijom, gde se dve figure suočavaju s devastiranim pejzažom rudničkog kopa (u Majdanpeku). Na tom mestu počeli smo da razmišljamo o prirodi koja je pretrpela, i još uvek trpi, uticaj čoveka, koji pak pomoću industrijskih i tehnoloških dostignuća kroji svoj pejzaž, u najvećoj meri, za potrebe kapitalističkog sistema orijentisanog na masovnu proizvodnju i eksploataciju prirode, s minimalnim osvrtom na ekološku dobrobit. 2
Još jedan, za nas interesantan i važan aspekt u našem radu je i način na koji se priroda opaža. Prvenstveno mislim na digitalnu percepciju, pogled posredovan čipovima i ekranima, koji prirodu pretvara u piksele (što nam omogućava da vidimo predele koje nikada nismo videli ili nikada ne bismo imali priliku da vidimo), ali takođe postaje i polje za intervenciju i manipulaciju. 3Shvatajući pejzaž kao (kulturološku) konstrukciju (Burchardt, Mitchell) tj. društveni dogovor, te postavljajući čoveka u njegovo središte, stvarali smo kombinacije estetskih, socijalnih, ekonomskih, simboličnih i prostornih elemenata, koji oslikavaju naš savremeni trenutak. 4
Na taj način promišljamo pejzaž kroz vezu i međusobnu uslovljenost čoveka i njegovog okruženja, analizirajući I razumevajući našu poziciju u jednom posleratnom društvu, koje je (i dalje) u tranziciji. Takve promene i novonastali liminalni prostori u okviru velikog građevinskog poduhvata u beogradskoj Savamali, bili su tema našeg projekta No Longer and Not Yet, koji smo predstavili u Salonu Muzeja savremene umetnosti u Beogradu 2019. godine. Ova granična zona ili međuprostor u kome se odigrava urbana, arhitektonska ali i socijalna i politička transformacija, čita se kao mesto tranzicije, čekanja i dezorijentacije, koje se vremenski nalazi između onoga što je bilo i onoga što će biti. 5
U iščekivanju takve neminovne tranzicijske budućnosti, moj partner i ja odlučili smo da se preselimo u Krčedin, vojvođansko selo na Dunavu, gde rasterećeni tenzije velikog grada pokušavamo da izgradimo situaciju u kojoj bismo se najviše posvetili umetnosti i stvaranju. To je veliki izazov ponajviše od trenutka kada sam postala majka i kada sam morala da naučim da uravnotežim različite životne uloge u korist uloge umetnice u kojoj se najprijatnije (ne nužno i najsigurnije) osećam.
1
Slika: Face to Face (Missing Hill 1), print on aluminum, 2005.
Foto: diSTRUKTURA
2
Slika: Possibilities of Sublime (big canceling), from the project Social Landscape, oil on canvas, 150 x 390 cm, 2024.
Foto: Dejan Kijevčanin
3
Slika: Maybe this was his last view (Portbou) 1, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 2018. Photo: diSTRUKTURA
4
Slika: We are living in a beautiful wOURld – Austria, a complex multimedia project from 2013–2016, addressing the still ongoing issue of migration and so-called brain drain from the former Yugoslav territories through a psycho-geographic landscape. Foto: Martin Krusche
5
Slika: Exhibition No Longer and Not Yet, Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, 2019. Photo: Bojana Janjić
