Oliver Musovik
15. 11. 2017 – 15. 12. 2017
Born 1971 in Skopje, Macedonia (then Yugoslavia). Lives and works in Skopje. Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje in 1997, MFA in 2004.
He had more than 15 solo exhibitions in Macedonia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Serbia, Australia and Montenegro. He had participated at numerous international exhibitions, among others "AFTERMATH. CHANGING CULTURAL LANDSCAPE - Tendencies of Engaged Post-Yugoslav Contemporary Photography, 2012-14; “HISTORY, MEMORY, IDENTITY: Contemporary Photography from Eastern Europe” in Modena in 2009; the 3rd Bucharest Biennale in 2008, 1st Biennale of Contemporary Art “Heterotopia” in Thessaloniki in 2007, “The Gorges of the Balkans” in Kassel in 2003, Manifesta 4 – European Biennale of Contemporary Art in Frankfurt in 2002, 6th Istanbul Biennale in 1999.
Participated at five artist-in-residency programs: Embassy of Foreign Artists, Geneva, Switzerland, 2016; Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, Korea, 2014; Domaine de Kerguehennec, Bignan, France, 2008; Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, USA, 2006 (ArtsLink); Kuenstlerhaus Boswil , Switzerland, 1999. His works are part of several public collections like the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje; Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana; National Museum of Montenegro, Cetinje; Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena. His works have been published in art magazines and books, including “Autobiography” (Thames and Hudson, 2004), “Vitamin Ph – New Perspectives in Photography”, (Phaidon, 2006), “Photo Art, Photography in the 21st. Century”, (Dumont 2007 / Aperture, 2008).
'In my works, I explore the variety of human behaviors and actions, examining the concept of identity in close relations to the notions of place and the everyday. I primarily work with photography and installations in combination with texts, usually short anecdotal stories from personal experience that are organized according to my own subjective taxonomy. My photographic style is unassuming, somewhere between home snapshots, and ethnographic and police photography. My artworks fluctuate between the dialogue with the art history and personal, intimate inspiration. As an artist from former Yugoslavia (now Macedonia), with humor and self-referential irony, I often draw from my experience of the contemporary post-socialist transitional society, as I deal with local history, place memory, alienation, stereotypes and social relations in that specific socio-cultural context.'
Within the stay at the Brno AiR he is hoping to work on a photography based research project of the socialist modernist architectural heritage - a subject that is receiving increased attention as attempts to preserve this heritage are initiated. He is hoping to discover parallels in the socialist modernist architecture of the two cities, Brno and his home city - Skopje.