Mladen Miljanović
artist
(*1981, Zenica, former Yugoslavia)
Mladen Miljanović completed the secondary school in Doboj. After the secondary school he attended the Reserve Officer Military School. In 2002 he enrolled at the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka department of painting. Beside his artistic practice and research, he is teaching New Media Art at The Academy of Arts, University of Banja Luka.
At the early stage of art practice he was included in the international selection of artists under 33 "Younger Than Jesus - Artist directory" by New Museum curators Laura Hoptman and Massimiliano Gioni, he participated 55th Venice Biennale, 15th Busan Video biennale and recently 13th Cairo Biennale among other group shows. His solo shows and projects were at MUMOK - Vienna, Gallery MC - New York, ACB Gallery - Budapest, Antje Wachs Gallery - Berlin, Neue Galerie Graz and many others.
His conceptual and provocative approach is questioning its own surrounding and living conditions: on one hand his work is influenced by the experience of growing up during the war and its aftermath in the destroyed, impoverished, ethnically and territorially divided, and externally isolated country. On the other hand it is his formal education (Reserve Officer Military School and work at tombstones workshop). The consequences of the war, and knowledge gained in the military school make the basic field of reference of his work as an artist. From the primary education of being painter now he combines performative and conceptual strategies into pluralistic, socially engaged and subversive contemporary art approach. In that approach art is not a goal, but more a tool.