Artists of ‘14 x 14 – Survey of the Danube Region. Positions in Contemporary Art’ Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia, 29. August - 28. September 2014
Ivan Bazak | Pavel Brăila | Anetta Mona Chişa & Lucia Tkáčová | Alexandra Croitoru | István Csákány | Biljana Djurdjević (special guest) | Igor Grubić | Pravdoliub Ivanov | Magdalena Jetelová | Mladen Miljanović | Julian Palacz | Lazar Pejović | Tadej Pogačar | Herbert Stolz | Andrea Palasti (special guest)
‘14 x 14 – Survey of the Danube Region. Positions in Contemporary Art’, the initiator of the donumenta, Regina Hellwig-Schmid invited the artists to use their camera to explore their homeland.
Ivan Bazak
*1980
Ukraine
Ivan Bazak studied at the National Academy of Arts and Architecture in Kiev and the Art Academy in Düsseldorf where he was a student of Prof. Karl Kneidl. He lives in Berlin and Kiev and works in various theatres as a stage designer.
A recurrent theme for the winner of the Henkel Prize is the use of buildings and spaces as a symbol for the starting point of social upheaval and revolution. In his paintings, models, photographs and videos, the artist poses the question: What is the connection between architecture and power?
Pavel Braila
*1971
Republic of Moldova
Pavel Braila has done a great deal in his life: he began as a trained chef and during his studies (at four universities) he was one of his country’s most successful wrestlers. He then finally came to art. Pavel never lost his fascination for people daily lives. His camera captures this everyday life to introduce us topics which are relevant for society. He lives and works in Berlin and Chișinău.
Anetta Mona Chisa & Lucia Tkáčová
Anetta Mona Chişa, Romania *1975
Lucia Tkáčová, Slovakia *1977
They both graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia and have been working together since 2001.
The artist-duo has been together since 2000 and uses performances, installations and videos, often in a playful, humorous manner to question gender issues and the achievements of feminism in our society. Although they play about with clichés their works have historical, economic and philosophical fundaments.
Alexandra Croitoru
* 1975
Romania
She studied at the National Academy of Arts, where she currently teaches at the Photo-Video Department. She holds a PhD from the National University of Bucharest.
Croitoru is one of the leading creative artists of her generation in Romania. Her frequently ironical and cynical photographs, installations and videos mostly have a strong political background.
István Csákány
* 1978
Hungary
The artist studied at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest, in the class of Dóra Maurer. István Csákány belongs to the discoveries of the dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, the world’s largest exhibition of contemporary art. His works often focus on provincialism, work and the disappearance of the working classes. His sculptures and objects are great achievements of craftsmanship.
Biljana Djurdjević
*1973
Serbia
She graduated at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Department Painting, where she currently teaches.
In her first exhibition in 2001 in Regensburg, the then unknown young artist made a name for herself with her large-scale, realistic oil paintings. In the meantime her works have come to attract high prices and can be found in the most renowned collections and museums in the world. Violence, aggression and trauma: these are the subjects which plague her war-marked generation and which Djurdjević addresses in her pictures.
Igor Grubić
* 1969
Croatia
Igor Grubić is a performance-artist, photographer and journalist.
He studied at the University of Dramatic Arts, Academy of fine Arts as well as at the Jesuit University of Philosophy in Zagreb.
Pravdoliub Ivanov
*1964
Bulgaria
The artist graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia and lives and works in Sofia. He is Assistant Professor at National Academy for Fine Arts of Bulgaria and Member of Institute of Contemporary Art in Sofia.
At the donumenta-artist talk 2012, he was asked how he saw the relationship between art and ‘real’ life. The artist answered that the wars in the Balkans had radically changed his understanding of art. His earlier minimalist objects now appear to him to be far too distant from reality. Now he frequently exhibits temporary works of art in which the relationship between art and life is apparent.
Magdalena Jetelová
*1946
Czech Republic
Magdalena Jetelová studied both at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and at the Accademia di Brera in Italien. She teached at the Art Academies in Prague, Munich and Düsseldorf and is well-known in Regensburg, mainly because of the imposing slanting red columns in front of the Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie. She was awarded the Lovis Corinth Prize in Regensburg. The Czech-born artist has been living in Germany and Prague since 1985.
Mladen Miljanović
* 1981
Bosnia and Herzegovina
He was an instructor in the military forces; he then studied at the Art Academy in Banja Luka, Department of Painting where he currently teaches as assistant at the Intermedia and Spatial Theory Department. He is a Henkel prize-winner and one of the most exciting international artists from Bosnia and Herzegovina. His major concerns are the responsibility of art and artists in society and he deals with the social and therapeutic aspects of art, being the initiator of the workshops for the disabled.
Julian Palacz
* 1983
Austria
The media artist and creative programmer studied digital art at the University of Applied Sciences in Vienna. He works with the images of a collective memory by assembling individual frames out of various Austrian films.
Lazar Pejović
*1969
Montenegro
Pejović graduated from Faculty of Fine Arts in Cetinje and completed postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Applied Arts and Design in Belgrade. He is professor of photography at the Faculty for Fine Arts in Cetinje.
Tadej Pogačar
*1960
Slovenia
The artist, curator and lecturer Tadej Pogačar studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Ljubljana and was a founding member and director (1993-2012) of the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia. His works are based on the idea of actionism and also often involve participation; they draw attention to shortcomings in our society in a humorous but absolutely socially critical manner.
Herbert Stolz
*1960
Germany
The Regensburg photographer specializes in industrial, architectural and aerial photography. He teaches architectural photography at the University of Regensburg.
