NN is delighted to present the first solo exhibition in the UK by Mladen Miljanović. The exhibition brings together a number of his recent artworks including the eponymous Garden of Delights. This central piece contains more than one hundred tombstone motifs found and collected in the Central Balkans and engraved onto a triptych of granite slabs mounted on a metal frame. Before enrolling at the Academy of Arts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Miljanović worked engraving tombstones. These motifs were chosen as illustrations of their indulgences and because they wish to see them immortalised by means of the realistic, a practice that became popular during the rise of kitsch and turbo-folk culture in the 1980—1990s. Referencing Hieronymus Bosch’s Renaissance painting

The Garden of Earthly Delights, the form of the image of a personal indulgence becomes an expression of the collective absurd and discord. For Miljanović the graveyard is an area storing an encyclopaedia of images of individual lives joined to form a garden of a collective eternity.

About the artist

Mladen Miljanović was born in Zenica in 1981 and completed secondary school in Doboj. After secondary school, he attended the Reserve Officer School where he earned the rank of sergeant, in which he went on to train 30 privates. After completion of the military term he enrolled at the Academy of Arts (Department of Painting, BA–MA) in Banja Luka and continues to live and work in Banja Luka. Miljanović has exhibited internationally with solo and group exhibitions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, USA, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Serbia, The Netherlands, South Korea and represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.

Image: “The Garden of Delights” engraved drawing on granite, installation view, 2013 photo Drago Vejnovic

A Stone Garden courtesy National Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska, commissioners of the Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina at 55th Venice Biennale.

Part of our Northampton Multiverse season.

Events

SeeNN Launch Gaming Weekend

3–5 October 2014.

This summer NN’s Youth Arts Collective, SeeNN, were part of Playworld at NN. Throughout the exhibition, the group developed a role-playing game inspired by the myths and legends of Northamptonshire.

On Friday 3 October, 6 pm the group will be launching their gaming weekend with Something Diabolical in the Project Space at NN.

From Art To Commerce

Saturday 11 October 2014, 11am–1pm / Values And Ambition

Saturday 15 November 2014, 11am–1pm / Business Modelling

Saturday 6 December 2014, 11am–1pm / Argh…I Need A Cash Flow

Are you looking to turn your creative practise into a business? Each session has a particular business focus from business modelling to marketing and finance with an opportunity to share ideas and network with others. Free, all welcome. For further information contact Tracey Clarke, Tracey@NNContemporaryArt.org.

Artist talks: Sound Art & Ideology, Katharina Stadler

20 October 2014, 2 pm

Venue: The University of Northampton, Avenue Campus, Northampton NN2 6JD

Vienna born conceptual artist and curator, Kathaina Stadler will be talking about art and ideology. She has been based in Tbilisi since 2010 and is the founder of the recently established ‘Concept and Theory – Tbilisi’.

Crit Group

28 October 2014, 7 pm

NN hosts the Crit Group for artists at all stages of their career to come together to discuss their work in progress.

Film Night

6 November 2014, 7 pm

To accompany the exhibition by Mladen Miljanović, NN is screening his A Sweet Symphony of Absurdity and a feature from the Balkans.

Write Club

20 November 2014, 7 pm

Write Club is for anyone wanting to brush up on their art writing from artist statements to critical texts, get together for peer critique over a coffee in the Café. This session will look at application writing. For further information contact Catherine Hemelryk, Catherine@NNContemporaryArt.org.

The Social

21 November 2014, 8 pm

A social night to bring together anyone and everyone working in the creative sector across Northamptonshire.