Mladen Miljanović – I serve art (Zvono award)

Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo)
September 16 – October 01, 2008

Exhibition of Mladen Miljanović – “I serve art”, the 2007 ZVONO Award Winner .

“I serve art“ is a multidisciplinary project which comprises several works produced during my voluntary isolation inside the former military base “Vrbas” in Banja Luka (Bosnia and   Herzegovina).
My isolation, as well my site-specific performance and production of these works, started at the beginning of October 2006 and lasted until July 2007. I found the former military base to be emblematic of the totalitarian regime apparatus which had built it, the totalitarian regime whose traumatic consequences are still present in our society. The project is about the deconstruction of that place’s identity. It is also about my personal experience of nine months spent in isolation while documenting my activities related to this site-specific performance.

A personal attitude to a similar environment already existed. I’ve completed the nine-month training at the military school, where I trained 30 soldiers in the final tree months. I simply tried to repeat the same experience, but now in the context of art. I was using art as a means of decontaminating the space and for its deconstruction. This work combines various concepts such as the Big Brother TV show, military service and the zoo.
The project is also an investigation. It criticizes local art which serves as a mechanism of ideological interpellation.” (Mladen Miljanović)