The catalogue of Darja Bajagić's exhibition for the Pavilion of Montenegro at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.
This catalogue is published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition, commissioned by Vladislav Šćepanović, and curated by Ana Simona Zelenović for the Pavilion of Montenegro at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Through painting and sculpture, the artist examines and reflects upon themes such as the culture of collective memory and our relationship to shared historical heritage, focusing on the complex and multidimensional history of the Montenegrin island of Mamula. Bajagić's project valorizes the island's heritage, utilizing its history and present as content to raise pressing universal questions relevant to contemporary art and greater society. Focusing on laden contemporary and historical issues, the artist courageously delves into and tackles complex issues, positing questions such as whether the precondition for evil is, on the one hand, the neglectful disregard of history or, on the other hand, its commodification.
Darja Bajagić was born in 1990 in Podgorica, Montenegro, and raised in Egypt and the United States. In 2014, she became the first national of Montenegro to graduate with a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale University School of Art.
Bajagić explores the ambivalence of the image, that is, dualistic representation, symbolism, and meaning. Referencing a diverse range of sources, such as dark-web sites, news media content, and religious histories, to name a few, her works—complex iconographical representations that are composed of layers of contemplated phenomena—unravel and develop before us in stages.
Selected institutional solo exhibitions include Goregeous, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France (2020); Born Losers, Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (2018); Unlimited Hate, Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien (KM-), Graz, Austria (2016). Selected institutional group exhibitions have taken place at National Gallery Prague, Czech Republic (2021); Casino Luxembourg (2020); Futura Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic (2019); Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma, Spain (2018); Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania (2018); LUMA Westbau, Zürich (2017, 2015, 2014); Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (2015); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2015); Museum of Modern Art Warsaw (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca (2014); Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna (2013). Her work has been included in the 42nd Montenegrin Salon of Visual Arts, Cetinje, Mexico (2020); the 57th October Salon, Belgrade, Serbia (2018); and the 13th Baltic Triennial of International Art, Vilnius, Lithuania (2018).
