Mihael Milunovic (Belgrade, 1967) grew up in an artistic family environment, while both his father and grandfather were well-known Serbian artists and his mother is a renowned Croatian sculptor.
Milunovic attended the Belgrade Faculty of Fine Arts, then the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, where he studied with visiting professors Marina Abramovic and Tony Brown, among others. Remarked, he became the Laureate of the Foundation RENOIR (worked and lived in Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s atelier).
His work encompasses a wide range of disciplines, from painting, drawing and photography through to large-scale sculptures and installations. By decontextualising everyday objects, symbols or situations, Milunovic provokes unease in the observer, a blend of alienation and curiosity. The artist confronts us with uncomfortable realities of contemporary crisis situations and with tension-laden, aggressive, explosive conflicts which, on the one hand, are so widespread today that we perceive them no longer as extreme but as normal, and, on the other hand, have become so absurd that we apprehend them as unreal improbabilities, that we no longer recognise them as actual threats but assess them instead as absurd phantasms.
Since the mid 90s, Milunovic has participated in numerous exhibitions across Europe and held solo shows in France, UK, Italy and Morocco. His works are featured in prestigious museum collections including MUMOK, Vienna; the Musuem of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; Palazzo Forti, Verona; and Musée d’Art et d’Industrie, Saint-Étienne, France.
He lives and works between Belgrade and Paris.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2019
Obsolete Future, Galerie Sechzig, Feldkirch, Austria
2018
Gallery Rima, Kagujevac, Serbia
2017
Paintings, Galerija, Belgrade, Serbia (Under the Management of Austrian Embassy)
Vision, Monumental Urban Installation, Vienna, Austria
Installation on the Ringturm Tower (4000m2) in the heart of the historic center of Vienna, Following an exhibition in the Ringturm Art Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2016
Genealogies, Galerie Marguerite Milin, Paris, France
Carte e Muri, Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy
2015
Collaboration 7, Maximillians Forum, Munich, Germany
Paintings and Drawings, Funnel Contemporary, Bucharest, Romania
2014
The place where I used to stand, Contemporary Art Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
2013
L’Ombre du Réel, Galerie Crous, Paris, France
2011
Voice Gallery, Marrakech, Morocco
Antimonde, Galeria Nova, Belgrade, Serbia
2010
Acumular, Fundacio Vallpalou, Lleida, Espagne
2009
Mothership, 9BIS, Saint-Etienne, France
Any Atom of Fear, AirBase MQ, Vienna, Austria
2008
Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Submit To, Galleria Changing Role, Naples, Italy
Hollow Charge/Charge Creuse, Galerie Georges Verney Carron, Lyon, France
2007/2008
Bounds, Galerie Guy Bærtschi, Geneve, Switzerland
2007
Uncomfortable Realities, Galerie Piece Unique, Paris, France
2006
Memory, Gallery Langhans, Prague, Czech Republic
2005
Photographies, Gallery Hilger Contemporary, Vienna, Autstria
2004
Sacred Weapon, Galerie La Serre, Beaux-Arts and Design, Saint Etienne, France
2003
Balkan Matrix, Cornerhouse Gallery, Manchester, UK
2002
Drawings, photographies and Paintings, Centre Culturel Yougoslave, Paris, France
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019
Art Bodensee, Dornbirn, Austria
Pareidolia, The Space Station Gallery and Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
2018
Gallery Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris, France
Klangwolke La Fura Dels Baus Brucknerhaus, Linz, Austria
Gallery Alpha Delta, Athens, Greece
Vienna Contemporary (Gallery Rima), Vienna, Austria
Project at National Gallery, Cacak, Serbia
Kissing the Flag Performance, Liege, Belgium
Volta 14, Alpha Delta Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2017
A journey through Contemporary Serbian Art, China Art Museum Shanghai, Shanghai, China
In between us was intimate, Galerija Navigator, Belgrade, Serbia
Art Athens with Gallery Alpha Delta, Athens, Greece
C4 Art group, Cultural Centre of Serbia, Paris, France
2016
Festival A-Part “Body in Movement”, Beaux de Provence, France
2015
Road to Europe – Return of the Bullet, Cultural Centre of Serbia, Paris, France
2012
Expo Collective, Galerie Guy Baertschi, Geneva, Switzerland
Underrealism, Cultural Centre of Serbia, Paris, France
2011
F for FAKE, Belvedere di S. Leucio, Caserta, Italy
2010
FAKE!, Stedelijk Museum, Aalst, Belgium
New Collection, Esterhazy Foundation, Eisenstadt, Austria
2008
Poznan Biennale, Poznan, Poland
Walls and Gateways, Existentie-ACEC, Gand, Belgium
Prix Antoine Marin, Arcueil, France
2006
Art, Life and Confusion, 47th October Salon under the artistic direction of Rene Block, Belgrade, Serbia
Seven Perspectives on Desire, Espace Sol, Seoul, South Korea
Giardino – Luoghi della piccola realta, Palazzo d'Arte Napoli- Contemporary Art Museum, Naples, Italy
2005
Domicile, Art Modern Museum, Saint Etienne, France
On Normality /Nineties, Contemporary Art Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
The Giving Person, Palazzo d'Arte Napoli- Contemporary Art Museum Naples, Italy
2004
Belgrade Art Inc, Secession Haus, Vienna, Austria
Mois de la Photographie, Vienna, Austria
Passage d’Europe, Art Modern Museum, Saint Etienne, France
2003
Urban Fog of Belgrade, Bikini Haus, Berlin, Germany
In Gorges of Balkans, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
II Biennale de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Real Utopia, project “Good News”, Graz, Austria
2002
Balkan Konsulat, Gallery Rotor, Graz, Austria
2001
Young dialogues, Ernst Hilger Space, Paris, France
Conversations, Contemporary Art Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
FIAC, Paris, France.
Die Sammlung, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
Central: artlab, Neue Kunst aus Mitteleuropa, Museums Quartier, Vienna, Austria
Témoins Oculaires, CAUE Gallery de Petit Château, Sceaux, France
2000
L’autre moitie de l’Europe, Gallery Nationale de Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
1999
Dessiner le Monde, Cité des Sciences, Paris, France
Collections
MUMOK-Museum Ludwig, Vienna, Austria
Musee d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Etienne, France
Moet & Chandon LVMH, France
Siemens AG, Vienne, Austria
Wiener Städtische, Austria & Serbia
Sammlung Esterhazy, Eisenstadt, Austria
Contemporary Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
Coleccion Solo, Madrid, Spain
Telenor Collection, Oslo, Norway
Renoir Collection, France
Maia Picasso Collection, Paris, France
Leube Collection, Salzburg, Austria
Palazzo Forti Collection, Verona, Italy
Azraq Collection, Marrakech, Morocco
Barzai-Hollander Collection, Brussels, Belgium
Awards
2018
Prize of Foundations Roux & Tronchet for painting, Solemn Session, Dome Academy of France
Education
1996
Art Specialization, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
1995
MA in Fine Arts, University of Arts Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia