Mladen Stilinović (10 April 1947 – 18 July 2016) was a Croatian conceptual artist and one of the leading figures of the so-called "New Art Practice" in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. He lived and worked in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia.

Early life

Stilinović was born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, to father Marijan Stilinović, who early in his career was an editor of the newspaper '' Borba,'' ambassador to Argentina, and later head of

Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb The Museum of Contemporary Art ( hr, Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, often abbreviated to MSU) is a contemporary art museum located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country. History The museum ...

, and mother Nada Stilinović (née Popović).

Career

Stilinović's works are based on the idea of social and art critique. They are often witty, and come with a dose of irony and cynicism illustrated for example in his work, ''Money is Money, Art is Art''. He was one of the founding members of the informal neo-avantgarde,

Group of Six Artists The Group of Six Artists ( hr, Grupa šestorice autora) was an artist collective founded in 1975 by the Croatian artists Mladen, Sven Stilinović, Fedor Vučemilović, Boris Demur, Vlado Martek and Željko Jerman in Zagreb, Croatia. In defiance o ...

(''Grupa šestorice autora''), together with Vladimir Martek, Boris Demur,

Željko Jerman Željko Jerman (born 1949 in Zagreb, Croatia, died, 2006 in Korčula, Croatia) was a Croatian photographer who experimented the possibilities of photography as a medium. He was one of the founding members of the informal neo-avantgarde Grupa šesto ...

, Sven Stilinović and Fedomir Vučemilović. The group was active in Zagreb from 1975 to 1979. In addition to his artistic creative output, he also managed the Extended Media Gallery (1981–1991), and was one of the co-founders of the Podroom Gallery (1978–1980). From 1969 to 1976 he was dedicated to experimental film. He collaborated with the group

IRWIN Irwin may refer to: Places ;United States * Irwin, California * Irwin, Idaho * Irwin, Illinois * Irwin, Iowa * Irwin, Nebraska * Irwin, Ohio * Irwin, Pennsylvania * Irwin, South Carolina * Irwin County, Georgia * Irwin Township, Venango County, Pe ...

on the project ''Retroavangarde'' (1994). He is especially famous for his ''Exploitation of the Dead'' series (1984–1990) which has been exhibited at many shows, such as

documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

in Kassel (2007).

Exhibitions

He has had many exhibitions in Croatia and abroad, among the more recent being: ''The Cynicism of the Poor'',

, (2001–2002), ''In Search of Balkania'', Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz, (2002), ''Blood & Honey – Art in the Balkans'', Klosterneuburg, Vienna (2003), Sing!, Ludwig Múzeum (2011) and ''In the Gorges of the Balkans'' which was shown in the Kunsthalle Fridericianeum (Kassel, 2003),

Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center The contemporary art institution Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center opened in 2001 and was located on the pedestrian Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul, Turkey. Platform Garanti organized exhibitions; conferences and events; hosted an internationa ...

(Istanbul, 2007) and Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, 2008). Igor Zabel, the renowned Slovenian curator, chose him as a guest artist at the 50th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(2003) where Stilinović exhibited his work ''Dictionary – Pain'' (2000–2003) in which he used white colour to blank out many of the definitions of words in a dictionary replacing them with the word pain.. In 2017, he was selected as one of 120 artists in the world to participate in the 57th International Art Exhibition, VIVA ARTE VIVA, curated by Christine Macel. His works belong to many museum and gallery collections, including the

Museum of Modern Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

and

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

in Paris, museums of modern art collections in Stockholm, Vienna, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Banja Luka and in private collections such as the

Filip Trade Collection The Filip Trade Collection (Croatian: ''Zbirka Filip Trade'') is a large private collection of contemporary Croatian art. The collection is a subsidiary of Filip Trade, a distribution company with its offices located in the capital city of Croatia, ...

, Zagreb.

Works and publications

:* Stilinović, Mladen, ''I Want to Go Home – Artist Book 1927–2006'' (Centre for Women's Studies, Zagreb, 2008). :* Beroš, Nada, Milovac, Tihomir, Stipančić, Branka & Zabel, Igor, ''Mladen Stilinović: Pain'' (exh. catalogue, Venice Biennale, MSU, Zagreb, 2003). :* Beroš, Nada, Milovac, Tihomir & Dragojević Danijel, ''Mladen Stilinović: Exploitation of the Dead'' (exh. catalogue; MSU, Zagreb, 2001).

References

External links

Mladen Stilinović
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stilinovic, Mladen 1947 births 2016 deaths Croatian contemporary artists Artists from Belgrade Artists from Zagreb