MRDJAN BAJIC
(Belgrado, Serbia, 1957)
Mrdjan Bajić was born in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1957.
Nowadays he lives and works in Belgrade and Paris. His artistic research investigates the possibilities offered by different interpretations of history. Moving from Serbian recent history, Bajić builds up complex and evocative projects, in which an imaginative combination of different frames -absolutely self-sufficient- are matched together. While using different media, such as sculpture and drawing, collage and photography, the Serbian artist creates a constellation of memories. Tito’s fallen regime, Yugoslavian civil war, Milošević’s era are part of this process of re-construction of the plot of history. Although Bajić’s imagery is not only made by official and public memories, but also by intimate and personal reminiscences. Official paths constitute a sort of “social grammar” that co-operates with the emotional world of the artist.
Mrdjan Bajić has showed his works at the Serbian Pavillon, for the second time during the 52nd Venice Biennale, in 2007. At the Biennale he presented a project devoted to the reconstruction of the past seven years in Serbia. In 2008 he and the British artist Richard Deacon have been involved in “The Kalmegdan Bridge Collaboration”. The two artists worked together to the design of a new footbridge in Belgrade. This bridge rose on a symbolic place: the point of confluence of rivers Danube and Sava and the Kalmegdan, one of the busiest road of Belgrade. In 2022 he realised an anthological exhibition, entitled “Unreliable Narrator”, in the MoCAB – Museum of Contemporary Art of Belgrado. The artist had shown his works also at CZKD, Yugomuzej, of Belgrade, at Musee d’Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne Metropole, France, at the Sao Paolo Biennial in Brazil at the Kunsthalle Wien project space in Wien, the Museo Ludwig in Budapest and at the Biennal of Venice.
Main solo & group show
2024
Miart, Galleria Paola Verrengia, Milano.
2023
Mrdjan Bajic: Frontière, Galerie RX, Paris.
2022
Unreliable Narrator, MoCAB – Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrado.
UpCycle. Quando l’arte reinventa il mondo, Residenza dell’Ambasciata d’Italia, Berna, Svizzera.
2020
Galerija Rima, Beograd, Serbia.
Drawing Now, Galerie RX, Paris, Francia.
2019
Bring me Back, Galleria Paola Verrengia, Museo Archeologico Provinciale, Salerno.
Betes de Scene, Fondation Villa Datais, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Francia.
2018
Transversales, Galerie RX, Paris, Francia.
2017
Architecture as Metaphor, Griffin Gallery, Londra.
Art of the Postcard, Handel Street Projects, Londra.
2015
Galerija Rima, Kragujevac, Serbia.
2014
Arte Fiera Bologna, Galleria Paola Verrengia, Bologne, Italy.
2013
Contemporary Istanbul, Galleria Paola Verrengia, Istanbul, Turkey.
GSU Smederevo, Smederevo, Serbia.
Galleria RX, Paris, Francia.
Lo straniero, Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Florence, Italy.
Happy New Art, 23 marzo – 7 aprile. Rome, Italy.
2012
Arte Fiera Bologna, Galleria Paola Verrengia, Bologne, Italy.
Centre Culturel de Serbie, Paris, France.
Happy New Art, 10 – 24 marzo. Rome, Italy.
2011
Galerija Rima, Kragujevac, Serbie.
2010
La mostra è aperta – artisti in dialogo con Harald Szeemann, Fondazione Filiberto Menna, Salerno, Italia.
Avventure minime, MM MAC, Archivio Generale, Salerno, Italia.
Arte Fiera Bologna, Galleria Paola Verrengia, Bologna, Italia.
2009
The Solo Project Art Fair, Galleria Paola Verrengia, Basilea
The Kalmegdan Bridge Collaboration, progetto per un nuovo ponte in collaborazione con l’artista inglese Richard Deacon, Belgrado.
Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Thessalonica.
Arte Fiera Bologna , Galleria Paola Verrengia, Bologna, Italia.
2008
Mikro-narratives, Musee d’Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne Metropole, Francia
Arte Galerija, (one-man) Belgrade, Serbia.
Le porte del Mediterraneo, Palazzo Piozzo, Rivoli, Italia (a cura di Martina Corgnati).
2007
Backup Stories Galleria Paola Verrengia, Salerno, Italia (a cura di A. d’Avossa).
Serbian Hall, 52nd Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, Italia.
Mediterraneo Contemporaneo – 19 artists from identity to diversity, Castello Aragonese Taranto, Italia (a cura di Antonio d’Avossa).
2006
Protection of Nature, XII Biennial of Serbia, Pancevo, Serbia (curata da Lidia Merenik).
Mobile studios, Public art Lab Berlin, Belgrade, Serbia (curata da Maja Ciric).
2004
Belgrade art INC. Secession, Vienna, Austria (curata da Stevan Vukovic).
2003
Centre Culturel Français, Belgrado, Serbia.
2002
Kunsthalle Wien project space, Vienna, Austria.
Biennal de Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo, Brasile.
2001
CZKD, Yugomuzej, Belgrado, Serbia.
2000
Aspekte/Positionen, 50 Jahre Kunst aus Mitteleuropa 1949-1999, Museum Moderner Kunst; Budapest, Museum Ludwig (curata da Lorand Hegyi).
1999
Galerie Ingrid Dacic (1995,1993,1988,1984), Tübingen, Germania.
1996
Galerie Rabouan-Moussion (1992,1990), Parigi, Francia.
1995
New Europe-Supranational Art,Le Zitelle, Giudecca, Venezia, Italia.
1992
Galerie Olsson, Stokholm, Svezia.
Europa Nieznana/Europe Unknown, Palac Sztuki & Wks Wawel, Krakow, Polonia (a cura di Anda Rottenberg).
Quelque chose de reste, Galerie Jacqueline Moussion, Parigi, Francia. (a cura di Alain Bonfand).
1990
The Ready Made Boomerang, VIIIth Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (a cura di Renè Block).
APERTO, La Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, Italia.(a cura di Renato Barilli).
1989
Metaphysical Visions – Middle Europe, Artists Space, New York, Stati Uniti (a cura di Valerie Smith).
1986
MANDELZOOM, Lago di Bolsena. Canino, Italia (a cura di Antonio d’Avossa).
Lo Spazio: Belgrado, Sala Uno, Roma (a cura di Filiberto Menna).
1983
Clessidre, Fortezza da Basso, Firenze
Art in the eighties, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia