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Group exhibition titled: Corrective Measures

Venue: NGVU - Nova Galerija Vizuelnih Umjetnosti (Belgrade, Serbia)

February 2022

Work title: from the series Dead End 

digital prints; gifs

*Find gifs here -  https://vimeo.com/387196659; https://vimeo.com/714947140

Other participants: Sonja Radaković and Katarina Allfa 

Curator: Vladimir Bjeličić

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Group exhibition titled: Revolution of everyday life 

Venue: Gallery ART, Museum and Galleries in Podgorica (Montenegro)

October 2021

Work title: Mala 

 installation; digital print; natural soil 

100x60 cm 

Other participants:  Branka Kovačević, Jovana Vujanović, Jelena Iličković and Tomić, Milica

Curator: Maša Vlaović

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Group exhibition titled: Off Season Tourism Agency

Venue:  Boulevard Art and Media Institue, Tirana (Albania) ; Goethe Institut Bucharest, (Romania) 

October-November 2021

Work title: Wait for it 

2021 

video art, 5 min

* Find full video here - shorturl.at/vABH6

Other participants:  Anna Baranowski, Valentina Bonizzi, Vlad Brateanu, Ioana Vreme Moser 

Curators: Dan Angelescu, Flaviu Rogojan, Donika Cina, Elian Stefa

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Some photos from an exhibition titled Out of the blue in New York City where I also spend a two-month residency at @residencyunlimited. The exhibition was placed at the Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space in August 2021. Besides me, the other participants were: Cecilia Abed,  Sharon Poliakine and  Predrag Pavić. 

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Work title: Matter Dolorosa

2021

Venue: Ulcinj (Montenegro)

installation; black trash bags filled with plastic waste

I have been collecting plastic waste in the different areas in my hometown for almost two months (April-May). This resulted in creating an installation made from black trash bags which I later set in my family pool. 

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Title: Dead End

Milčik Award, Young Visual Artist Award 2019

December 6 - 28, 2019

Technique: Digital print, tablet

Dimensions: 230 x 50 cm

Venue: Petrovic Njegos Foundation, Podgorica

"Dead End" is the name of the project that consists of a vector drawing of a black speck, in digital print on a wall, and a series of digital scenes of natural and nuclear explosions in GIF format, found on the Internet and assembled in a new entity. This conception is the result of a two-year process in which I have researched the black hole phenomenon, starting with the work "Roads" (2017) and continuing with the project "The Moon is Wet and Wild" (2019).

Project “Dead End”, which was conceived for this exhibition, highlights elements of natural phenomena which were significant within the previous research and works. However, in this piece, these elements are presented through a more abstracted form. The black speck, now augmented to the size of a human figure, strikes the observer straight in the face with its "impersonality" which denies any possibility of rational identification. This lack of identification is further amplified by the abstract, distorted smoke and fire signals in different colors, which alternate on a screen alongside. The image of red-hot glowing gas being sucked into a black hole has been a challenge to scientists for years. It could only be imagined and assumed until this year, but by no means objectively visualized, despite optical technological achievements in satellite analysis and observations of cosmical and terrestrial phenomena. After working a little over a decade, this spring an international team of NASA-sponsored astronomers and IT experts released the first ever shot of a black hole or its silhouette in space, achieving what was previously considered impossible.

On that celestial screen, pulling the observers eye into the unfamiliar space of the "unimaginable" veiled in shadow (of a black hole, for example), and the virtual movement along the paths of differently perceived realities are crucial to my questioning of the image and the visual world in general.

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Title: The Moon is Wet and Wild 

October 19 – 28, 2019

Technique: acrylic paintings 

Dimensions: 100x80 cm ; 60x45 cm

Venue:  The Balšić Tower – Art Gallery of the City Museum of Ulcinj

Brigita Antoni's first solo exhibition in Ulcinj opens on Saturday, October 19, 2019, at the premises of the Art Gallery of the City Museum (The Balšić Tower) in the Old Town of Ulcinj. After three solo exhibitions in Montenegro – "Softness of Being" at the Gallery Atelier Dado in Cetinje (2017), "Intrigue" at the Center Gallery in Podgorica (2015) and "Sometimes, something..." at the Sue Ryder Gallery in Herceg Novi (2012) – and several collective exhibitions between 2014 and 2018 (among which those in Podgorica, Belgrade and Cetinje), this artist, born in 1987 in Bar, finally presents her work in Ulcinj, the town where she lives and works.

Stepping away from her usual, predominantly digital visual practice (informed by the knowledge she gained during her studies in graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cetinje), Brigita Antoni now addresses the local audience while experimenting in a "new" medium: a series of paintings under the common and mysterious title "The Moon is Wet and Wild." This cycle of nine acrylic paintings on canvas – supplemented by a selection of miniature black and white drawings that preceded it, as well as by a subsequently conceptualized object in space – forms a spatial installation that, at first glance, deviates from the expression by which the artist is recognizable on the Montenegrin scene. The basic question posed by an observer who is familiar, or totally unfamiliar, with her past practice might be: what is this "moon" in Brigita's constellation and why does she envision it like that – as a black spongy stain of variable shapes and sizes or a shadow that reflects almost invisible light from the surface of the canvas, as it intersects the striking line of the horizon against a background of vibrant colors in stark contrast?

Brigita Antoni's new works, rather not "dry and tame", were created during 2019 in her living and working environment – in a house surrounded by a huge cultivated garden close to the urban area of Ulcinj or, more precisely, where the Bojana River flows into the Adriatic Sea. Emphasizing the time and place of their creation – and, in particular, emphasizing the connection between their content and the natural (aquatic, but also celestial) ambience in which they were created – is not arbitrary at all, but crucial to understanding this exhibition. Why? Because art exhibitions are not to be merely understood as artworks set in an exhibition space.

 Take this exhibition for example: it is a product of what Croats would call, discreet worldview of a thirty-two-year-old woman whose self-conscious and critical perspective, however unobtrusive, is discretely directed in a particular direction – toward a predominantly patriarchal, macho and sexist environment of human relations, politicized to the point of banality that maintains the general social state of one or more local communities in a perpetual status quo. The mysterious light that Brigita's "moon" casts on the observers actually lands on their state of inertia, passivity, stagnation and immobility, or on that state of consciousness that holds the masses in a tacit, universally accepted but false sense of security. Like a black stain on her canvases, or its monstrous, nightmarish shadow, such a deformed sense of security emits only but an unpleasant smell of mold – much like the object at the entrance to the exhibition space.

But it is exactly from that moldy position of the "monster", from the point of the distorted body in the painting, that Brigita summons the image of the anamorphic skull from the sixteenth-century painting by Hans Holbein the Younger ("The Ambassadors") and sends a secretive, not always visible message to her present-day observers: she calls for a movement, for breaking off from the supposedly stable, straight-line position, for at least a small physical and mental shift that would, like with Holbein, give the observers a new chance for a different, angular perspective on the world in which they live today. That speck, which opens the possibility of a minimal, yet necessary correction of the observers' worldview, originates in Brigita's personal perception of nature and society around her: the synthesis of intellectual, emotional and cosmic energy from which this series of works, instead of a visual scream, shapes into a poetic manifestation of public protest speech as a discreet gesture of non-conformity to the given, static state of affairs.

Negatively motivated by the current state, the artist now explores the intimate side of her fascination with "seascapes" (in the conventional sense of the term), in order to understand their relation to physically distant, lesser known and less visible phenomena (astrological, for example). In her own visions of that celestial constellation reflected on the surface of the sea, the non-painter Brigita Antoni finds an inexhaustible source for analysis, interpretation and understanding of individual and collective relationships within the terrestrial constellation – verging on a shaman who "mixes some colors" on the surface of the canvas and interprets their possible meanings at the spot where the sea touches the sky. From that vital line of the horizon, her new cycle of works invites observers to meditate on "that which is above" while touching "what is below", on transience, transitions and collisions, on tactile and mental, physical and spiritual, and even discreetly sexual relationships and interactions of people and events. Or exactly on those local and global phenomena (natural just as social, and vice versa) that are much discussed in the public sphere today with a seeming lack of understanding and willingness for a concrete action to be taken.

Text written by: Marko Stamenkovic

Translated by: Isidora Glisic

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Title: Terrains of the body  

November 2018

A group show with Jovana Vujanovic and Teodora Nikcevic 

Venue: Gallery U10  Belgrade

"The body is simultaneously the firmest, most unattainable, illusionary, metaphorical, omnipresent and eternally distant object – a place, an instrument, environment, singularity and plurality. The body is the most immediate and direct property of my social being, the necessary characteristic of my social position and personal awareness while at the same time an aspect of my personal alienation from my surroundings."

Living in the contemporary world firstly means living in a time filled with uncertainty and risk. In such a system, the "search for the time lost" is a sentimental idea, replaced by the far more complex and constant search for the lost, faded self, where the phenomenon of the overemphasized interest for the body comes naturally. When the macro-universe turns out to be painfully insecure, the micro-universe becomes the only zone of security, and the return to "myself" a universal answer of the individual. "Myself" is the only place of control and stronghold of identity, which makes the body the place of direct inscription and projection of want. In this new order, heterogeneity and hybridity install themselves as the basic characteristics which are evident in the works of all three artists, becoming the basic unit of the new subjectivity in which manifold potentials prevail, and the individual is met with an array of questions: how is identity even formed in such a constellation? What has influence on this identity – the society, experience, individual? Is there a constant that defines it? Am I my body and if not, who am I? Playing with the categories of "authentic" and "created" identity, and its flexibility in face of itself and the society at large, the exhibition Terrains of the Body actualizes the return to self and activates an array of questions regarding identity and body as a tool of mapping the world surrounding us. It scrutinizes the effect of structural factors on the position of the body in the contemporary society, where the creators of Terrains of the Body construct an authentic terrain for a joint field of action, and offer a kaleidoscopic answer of sorts – fluid, multifaceted, rather a spectrum of possibilities than a determined solution, such as identity is in itself. If we understand identity as a process of continuous mutation that produces and reproduces unique narratives of the self, as Giddens proposes, it becomes a reflexive project and an object of individual responsibility in a perpetual process of becoming. In this constructive process, the body has a role of being a tool in its definition and constitution, and as such exerts the syntagma "body as a project". In this way it turns more and more into a personal project, the object of autocreation while simultaneously being susceptible to external influences. This cause-and-effect relationship of mutual interaction of the world and the individual is most directly confirmed through the performative part of Jovana’s work where traces of everything surrounding her become an integral part of her being, reflecting in herself. Jovana poses as a tabula rasa capable of taking on any role, identity, emotion, that she scrutinizes in the video project "Ever after" confirming to what extent playing a role can allow for the activation of countless possibilities of transformation. On the other hand, though countless the possibilities may be, Teodora turns to that which is most well-known in her work "Champion" – her own body. Ironically, reduced only to the "shell", multiplicated, abstract and torn from its natural context, the body becomes an unknown with its own rules or lack thereof, serving to examine the need for adaptation and the deformations that it carries. From ground zero and Jovana’s physical body, through Teodora’s (de)materialization, Brigita finally "lets go" of the body entirely. Thanks to virtual reality being "released from" the natural, or at least the physical body is entirely possible, which we strive for as well as establishing relationships without physical presence, presenting ourselves though a more experimental vision of self. The ultimate contemporary transcendentality. If we take into account that one of the fundamental defects of the human body are its boundaries, then Terrains of the Body certainly resist them through its fluidity andheterogeneity, thus becoming the perfect agent of being. Text written by: Teodora Jeremić

Photos by: Miloš Radunović

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Title: Magical waters Curated by: Ludmila Belova 

May 2018

Technical details: digital print (70x50cm), glass bottles, tarot cards, crystal, rosemary leaf, ceramic sculpture, rubber band, laurel leaf, chair and table

Venue:  Alexander Gallery 

Water, as a natural element, can be a transformative force in our life. It is an element that is not limited to rivers, lakes and oceans; it is the source of life and affects the existence of flora and fauna, the future of mankind and the planet. Therefore, it is a place of infinite reflection. Knowing the force of water and its transformative power, people have always used it for healing purposes. The interesting thing is that in alternative medicine, apart from being used for a skin treatment, it was used to treat traumatic psychological conditions and even to heal the electromagnetic field of our body. In Balkans and beyond exists so-called incantations which are generally made by older women for such cases. Using natural materials such as coal or plumb, with water and a prayer, they make a medicine that is used periodically and serves to treat a condition or illness from which a person suffers. Widely around the world there are also known so-called magic waters that are made for various psychological conditions or as a kind of protection of human aura. Although none of this has been scientifically proven, people continue to believe and they achieved a placebo effect, so for them this way of using water helps. The truth may be that our conviction and belief that something like this heals helps. This could also be explained by the work of a famous Japanese researcher of alternative medicine and photographer Masaru Emoto who claimed that human consciousness influences the molecular structure of water. Emoto’s assumption has developed over the years, and his early work explored the belief that water can react to positive thoughts and words, and contaminated water can be cleaned through prayer and positive visualization. He managed to show it through the pictures of icy waters that turned into beautiful forms of crystals using the words Thank You and I love you. 

My goal was to transform this theme into a fairy tale story through the form of artistic installation, connecting it with the esoteric way of making water through magic. I do this by making my personal magic recipe with waters, used for various healing purposes. The waters are exposed in various glass containers and placed on a shelf, and above them is a textual explanation of the name of the water and what treatment it serves. As part of this installation, a workplace is also set up - a table and chair along with tools, crystals and various materials that were used during water making. Above the workplace there’s a digital drawing in which, in an abstract way, it is shown a bad energy field and its breakdown when in contact with the alchemical symbol of water. 

Through this exhibition I would like to bring to the observer some hope that perhaps it is possible to treat ourselves through creative and magical methods that we devise by ourselves. 

Photos by: Mireille Besnard

[brigitaantoni]

Title: Roads

Milčik Award 2017 finalists exhibition 

Technical details: digital prints,  rock

Dimensions:  200x130 cm ; 30x40 cm

Venue:  Gallery Miodrag Dado Đurić

Memory is one of the most important determinants of our identity, whether it is the memory of a society or an individual. It is significant because it points us to transience, to the changes that are taking place in relation to the past. In my previous work, this is a topic that has gripped my attention and it also runs through the cycle Roads. With the flow of memory (remembrances) recollections fade, events are lost, they become deprived of points (counts) of support and sense, they no longer have any significance, and because of this, these events lose their identity through oblivion. How important is memory to us that much is the oblivion required (needed), hence the black hole metaphor in this cycle of works that refers to its loss, at zero point, to nothing. Like the infinite nature of the black hole so is the oblivion, it is infinite, leading to scattering and fragmentation that resists every addition. I perceive forgetting as a deletion of every trail, as an infinite withdrawal. I was interested in the state of forgetting as a specific moment in the continuity of memory, I visualized this state of affairs and presented it through the relationship between black surface, stain, darkening and the photography of driving on the roads. The photos of the driving increases the flow of life, time, transient nature of all things, speed. And just as, from the angle of astronomy, nothing can escape the black hole due to its gravitational power, so in life, in all our paths of oblivion, the space of memory is swallowed.

Photo by: Jovan Milosevic

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Title: Landscapes 

August 2017

Art residency in Novi Pazar, Serbia

Technical details:  acrylic on canvas

Dimensions: 80x60 cm

#painting #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart #nature #natureinart #acrylicpainting

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Title: Shadows  

October - 2016

Technical details: Ink on fabriano paper

Dimensions: 21 x 29 cm

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Title: Softness of being 

April 2017

Technical details: Digital prints inside LED panel lights

Dimensions: 60x60 cm

Venue:  Atelje Dado, Cetinje, Montenegro

On soul, in muscular times and spaces

Are all souls the same, or maybe not? The exhibition of Brigita Antoni’s works explores the essence and nature of things surrounding modern man in his daily life. What she places in the foreground is a set of the inconspicuous objects, at first glance banal, trivial or worthless, which – despite their unobtrusiveness – create the atmosphere of virtually deeper relations against the obtrusive reality. These objects allegedly have no importance or value as their presence is ‘implied’, their life is ‘short’, their meaning is ‘exhausted’ in their single use after which they are disposed of and thrown into oblivion – much faster and much earlier than the prescribed (or assumed) duration. As if observing an unwritten rule, they are left aside, emptied and deadened, to passively inhabit the periphery of so-called modern life, with a single goal: to once again, gradually but certainly, this time definitively, die out on the margins of all other, allegedly more important events in the dynamic daily routine of the ordinary man. This primarily refers to the male sex – due to its ‘superior’ and ‘exalted’ status in all atavistic and tribally defined value systems, which at the edges of Europe, have survived even at the beginning of the third millennium.

On the covers of the ‘strong’ and muscular present (still paving the way for the illusions of the stubborn Mediterranean ethos grown on the roots of the even ‘stronger’, ‘more glorious’ and ‘more heroic’ past), Brigita Antoni writes new titles and communicates new messages. They are intended for some different interpreters, the ones who are more open, more sophisticated, more thoughtful,more versatile and more educated, ready and able to search for and read new and different views in visual abstraction: views based upon the real power relations on the field, on which they are formed in long and intimate meditations and on which they pop up like sediments of hidden reality; views the arguments of which are quieter but stronger than empty rhetoric which survives even the gusts of sea wind on the rocky soil of arid hinterland (nowadays slightly more luxurious than before but sufficiently “precious” to exhaust the sense of its survival in its dazzling and deafening appearance); views which do not scruple, against the imposed and ‘widely accepted’ concept of the earthly bliss, to shatter the figural representation of thus constructed Paradise in order to place the vision of the peripheral economy of being in its centre – as an abstract picture. 

In contrast to the appearance of a warped man from the neighborhood saturated with hormones and dominated by a confident move of his own “matchless and undeniable” values, Antoni redirects the viewer’s attention to what are banal opposites to them. Her representations restore the neglected dignity of objects which, being once photographically documented, gain a new iconographic halo through the integration of the photograph with the artist’s computer intervention.  

The refined and controlled nature of the gesture determined the final intensity of the abstraction: it results in a picture with which the object, but also the viewer’s consciousness of the world’s objectivity, are now reintegrated into a whole. Instead of the intentionally senseless fragmentation, Antoni dedicates this whole to the ‘objects’ which have forgotten their subjectivity (for the simple reason that they were compelled to ‘forget’ it or they were deprived of it over and over again): to all those neglected, excluded in advance, violently removed and marginalized “soulless” figures whose visibility is continuously diminished with systematic and programed but almost imperceptible violence. Whether it is the forms of physical or psychological violence, Antoni writes down digital pages of visual poetry which animates (restores the souls to) the aborted or, in her words, ‘stillborn’ objects. 

Despite everything, with this they stimulate thought of the possibility of a different state of affairs and qualitatively more fulfilling life, devoid of populistic deceptions with the superficial constructions of the reality: reality which, in fact, is far more fragile and short-lived than the representation that the shredded male figure - multiplied/cloned/omnipresent -  is insensately trying to create of itself in the blank eyes of the headless mob.

Text written by: Marko Stamenković 

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Title: Intrigue

November 2015

Technical details: digital print

Dimensions: 100 x 70 cm 

Venue: Gallery Centar 

The title in the wall translated - The past through dreams becomes intrigued in the present

Photo: Aco Šupeljak 

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‘At home’

from the exhibition Intrigue_2015

©  Brigita Antoni

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‘Black’

It was almost noon and I went for a walk. I wanted to reach a certain field, but the path led through the woods. As I stepped deeper it was getting darker and darker. At some moment a song was stuck in my head… in the night, I wish it was you…. I am not sure if this song exists. I continue walking, now the darkness has engulfed the entire woods, including me. Am I really so black? I wonder. I can feel my silk-like blackness turning into a fluid and spilling in front of me forming narrow pathways.

from the exhibition Intrigue_2015

©  Brigita Antoni

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‘Zenski’

from the exhibition Intrigue_2015

©  Brigita Antoni