The exhibition of young artists, participants of this year's "Milčik" project, which includes a mentoring program and an award, will be opened tomorrow, December 19 at XNUMX p.m., in the space of the Collector (former Titeks) in Podgorica. On that occasion, an award will be presented to the new laureate of Milčik, it was announced from the Institute of Contemporary Art (ISU).
Project coordinator Milena Prelevic, she reminded that the concept of the exhibition went beyond the previous framework.
"After more than a decade of experience in monitoring the work of young artists, seven years of experience in organizing competitions for the "Milčik" award, and by switching to an annual format from 2022, ISU has decided to expand the Milčik award program to a year-long mentoring educational program. The necessity of such a program developed from the intention to contribute to overcoming the problem of insufficient representation and unavailability of recent theoretical and practical knowledge in formal education, as well as underdevelopment the infrastructure of the world of art and theory that are necessary for the development of a critically thinking artistic community," the explanation points out.
Thus, the educational program of the "Milčik" award is available to all registered artists up to the age of 35 who meet the conditions of the public invitation, without the obligation to participate in the final exhibition.
"What we emphasize is that since last year we have been slowly moving away from that competition concept and focusing on the process of learning and development. This also means that we do not select who can exhibit at the final exhibition, but everyone is invited to decide for themselves. This year's applicants, after attending the mentoring program, decided to participate in the final exhibition, so 11 participants will present different artistic practices through installation, painting, sculpture, video, video-performance, performance...", Prelevic told Vijesti.
The ISU states that, in the past, the program was developed through lectures, discussions and workshops led by international and domestic lecturers from the fields of contemporary art, theory, aesthetics, philosophy and society, from April to December of this year.
"We are also developing a section dedicated to individual mentoring work, in the form of counseling and conversations necessary for research, positioning, development, articulation and production of artistic practice. In this way, we direct the focus of the mentoring program and awards to the process, learning and development, rather than to competition and winning", remind the organizers and add:
"As a long-term goal of the program, we see the creation of a space where it is possible to nurture the idea of an artistic community, to discuss issues that connect and separate art and society, and to jointly search for models for their development and overcoming".
This year's mentor program and exhibition participants are: Saška Bojić, Nikola Pavlićević, Jelena Pavićević Marković, Ivana Milić, Branka Kovačević, Azra OMK in cooperation with the collective Sredljud, Ana Raičević, Aleksandra Aranitović, Aleksandar Ostojić, Brano Martinovic i Željka Jovićević.
The jury that will announce the laureate of this year's Milčik award at the opening of the exhibition has a standard, international composition, namely: Irena Lagator Pejović, Ivan Šuković, Milica Mijajlović (last year's winner), and Roxana Fabius.
The "Milčik" award program was conceived and led by Natalija Vujošević, Ana Ivanović i Lenka Djorojevic, while the following were responsible for the organization and implementation of the exhibition: Jovan Milošević (technical realization and photography), Jelena Božović (assistant in implementation), Tanja Šipčić (proofreading), as well as Milena Prelevic. Milčik 2024 is realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro, and in cooperation with PLC Morača and the National Museum of Montenegro.
Associates and lecturers at the mentoring program were: Miodrag Šuvaković, Branislav Dimitrijevic, Domain Ograjenšek, Katja Praznik, Jelena Petrović i Bojana Videkanic.
The Milčik Award is named after the well-known work of a prominent Montenegrin artist Milije Pavićević, and the partners of the award are Trust for Mutual Understanding and Residency Unlimited from New York, while friends of the program are Milija Pavićević and Aleksandar Chilkov.
Bonus video:
