An exhibition focused on new artistic practices and creative impulses of the generation shaping the contemporary Montenegrin art scene, called "Ad iuventas 2025", opened on Wednesday evening in Podgorica, at the Gallery of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU).
An exhibition designed by three curators, selectors, and art historians: Ljiljana Karadzic, Svetlana Racanovic i Masha Vlaović, brings exactly that and opens up a space for quiet but precise shifts, both in terms of artistic techniques, motifs and approaches, and in the perception and criticism of everyday life.
Such are the works of award-winning artists - Jovane Vujanovic which presented itself with the work "The Lost Levels Vol. III" and Ana Novaković i Mase Lakovic who jointly sign the work "Out of Blue". These two artistic projects were equally and unanimously awarded, emphasized the expert jury consisting of members of the Department of Art of the Academy of Sciences and Arts, namely: president Anka Burić and members Pavle Pejović i Branko Baletic, as an associate member of CANU. The monetary award is 2.000 euros.
"Through the multimedia interactive installation 'The Lost Levels Vol. III', Jovana Vujanović, through the movement of her own figure, reexamines her relationship to space and creativity," Burić emphasized in explaining the jury's decision.
Vujanović thus builds an intimate relationship between body, space and movement, and by using his own figure, he further emphasizes and encourages reflection on questioning the relativity of space and time, but also thinking outside the framework of the creative process. Seemingly continuous, but actually limited movement, does not evoke a sense of spectacle, but of presence, concentration and awareness, about life, but also about the body, oneself, existence, lifestyle, art...
Novaković and Laković, also through the installation, called "Out of Blue", express an aestheticized relationship towards light and the cosmos, added Burić.
The exhibition, which is characterized as a representative display of contemporary creativity by young Montenegrin artists, presents the artistic works of 15 young authors, namely: Jovana Vujović, Milica Živković, Jovan Vujanovic, Stefan Delić, Milka Delibasic, Milena Vukoslavović, Srdja Dragović, Željka Jovićević, Luka Mrkaić, Ana Novakovic, Maša Lakovic, Ivana Mašanović, Marko Kilibarda, Mijat Bojović i Sandra Đurović.
Burić pointed out that, due to the high quality of all the exhibited works, the jury suggested that CANU purchase two works, which they confirmed, and the works in question are "More Pictures from Today's Walk" by the author Srđe Dragović i "Black box" autora So Kilibarde.
"Dragović has upgraded everyday scenes with exceptionally spiritual interventions, giving them new content and meaning. In his work, Kilibarda inspiringly combines visual elements of the archaic and the contemporary," said Burić.
Dragović is known to the wider public precisely for his cycle "More Pictures from Today's Walk", in which, due to his interventions, everyday scenes become a field of upgraded and thoughtful reality, often humorous, but also critical and engaged. His drawing and graphic interventions do not impose a narrative, but rather discreetly suggest it and act as short visual notes that change the context of a familiar space, leaving the observer between recognition and surprise.
The exhibition was officially opened by the Vice President of CANU, Academician Žarko Mirković, and the selectors also addressed the attendees. The exhibition is authentic and full of diversity, which is perhaps best evidenced by the wide range of artistic approaches, from painting, drawing and sculpture to installations and interdisciplinary forms, but also different motifs, occupations and approaches.
So different and full of individuality that it works perfectly as a whole, the exhibition "Ad iuventas 2025" depicts a generation that insists on thoughtful work, precise language and openness towards interdisciplinary practices, but also openness, openness to interpretation, movement, experience and criticism..., which is reflected through subtle interventions, fragments and shifts that extract a new, often unexpected reading of reality from something seemingly ordinary.
The exhibition is open to visitors until the second half of February 2026, on weekdays from 10 am to 14 pm and from 17 pm to 19 pm.
Bonus video:
