Mladen Stilinović (1947, Belgrade) starting his career in the early seventies, is one of the most significant representatives of Central European neo-avant-garde art. The retrospective show in Ludwig Museum is his first exhibition of such large scale in Hungary as well as in the region, presenting his most important installations, collages, photographs, artist’s books, films, paintings and objects. Most of his films are shown in an exhibition for the first time.
Throughout his diversified work, Stilinović explores ideological signs and their social aspects. His works criticise the language of politics, the institutional hierarchy within art, and the role of money and labour in society using the devices of irony, paradox and manipulation.
From 1975 he was member of The Group of Six Artists with his brother and friends, whose outside exhibitions-actions were an occasion for talk about art with a public that otherwise would never have gone into a gallery.
An interest in language was at the base of most of his earlier works: primarily language related with the visual sign in collages in which he used poetic speech, political and everyday expressions. In his artist’s books and Stilinović started to use slogans on the theme of work in which production and progress were celebrated, Marxist phrases about the revolution of the working class, metaphors and symbols, particularly the symbolism of red. In many of his works, like the installation Red-Pink (1970s), Stilinović attempted to have a more normal and de-ideologised use of the colour.
During the 1980s, he created a group of works comprised of several hundred pieces under the title, Exploitation of the Dead, in which he explored “dead signs”; i.e., emptied signs that had lost their meaning, whether they belonged to symbols of Communist ideology or to bygone artistic practices, such as the Russian avant-garde or Socialist Realism. Stilinović believes that an artist, including himself, has to be aware of the fact that using these dead symbols means exploitation. His critical interest in the social significance of money, in the rituals, conventions and ideologies that define the functions of money in society, is displayed in the Works with Money in its many facets. Sing! (1980), a work from which the exhibition took its title, shows the artist with a banknote pasted on his forehead, ironically referring to the position of an artist exposed to the functioning of society, whereby he must sing as others tell him to. The role of an artist is in the focus of several other works, such as the Artist at Work (1978), a photographic series belonging to the Ludwig Museum's collection (being showcased at the exhibition of the collection), or the caption that has become one of his signature works, stating that AN ARTIST WHO CANNOT SPEAK ENGLISH IS NO ARTIST (1992).
Accompanying to the exhibition a comprehensive catalogue is going to be published, including essays by Branka Stipančić, Georg Schöllhammer, Ellen Blumenstein, Ana Janevski et al.
Curated by: Branka Stipančić
Coordinated by: Katalin Székely
The exhibition is supported by:
Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Budapest / Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia
Related contents
Through the Artist`s Eye: Mladen Stilinović 4. June, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Exclusive guided tour at the Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition with János Szoboszlai, art historian.
Guided Tour in Hungarian: Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective 2. June, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Free complementary guided tour in Hungarian. Thursdays at 18.00.
Family Matinee: Messages Made of Red, Objects and Letters 28. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Creative session for children in connection with the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Guided Tour in English: Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective 26. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Free complementary guided tour in English. Thursdays at 19.00.
LumiMini Wednesday 25. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
LumiMini Wednesdays are for families with small children. While the little ones can play on baby mats at the exhibition space, their parents may take a tour at the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Wednesdays from 10.00 to 13.00.
Integrated Family Matinee: Messages Made of Red, Objects and Letters 21. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Integrated creative session for children, including those with special needs, in connection with the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Guided Tour in Hungarian: Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective 19. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Free complementary guided tour in Hungarian. Thursdays at 18.00.
LumiMini Wednesday 18. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
LumiMini Wednesdays are for families with small children. While the little ones can play on baby mats at the exhibition space, their parents may take a tour at the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Wednesdays from 10.00 to 13.00.
Family Matinee: Messages Made of Red, Objects and Letters 14. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Creative session for children in connection with the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Guided Tour in English: Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective 12. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Free complementary guided tour in English. Thursdays at 19.00.
LumiMini Wednesday 11. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
LumiMini Wednesdays are for families with small children. While the little ones can play on baby mats at the exhibition space, their parents may take a tour at the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Wednesdays from 10.00 to 13.00.
Integrated Family Matinee: Sign (De)Coder 7. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Integrated creative session for children, including those with special needs, in connection with the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Guided Tour in English: Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective 5. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Free complementary guided tour in English. Thursdays at 19.00.
LumiMini Wednesday 4. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
LumiMini Wednesdays are for families with small children. While the little ones can play on baby mats at the exhibition space, their parents may take a tour at the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Wednesdays from 10.00 to 13.00.
Teacher`s Tuesday 3. May, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Regular museum education workshop for teachers.
Today`s Topics:
- Creative possibilities in connection with the Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition
- Events of the Marshall McLuhan Media Month at Ludwig Museum
The workshop is in Hungarian.
Family Matinee: Sign (De)Coder 30. April, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Creative session for children in connection with the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Guided Tour in Hungarian: Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective 28. April, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Free complementary guided tour in Hungarian. Thursdays at 18.00.
LumiMini Wednesday 27. April, 2011, 00:00–00:00
LumiMini Wednesdays are for families with small children. While the little ones can play on baby mats at the exhibition space, their parents may take a tour at the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
Wednesdays from 10.00 to 13.00.
Integrated Family Matinee: Sign (De)Coder 23. April, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Integrated creative session for children, including those with special needs, in connection with the Sing! - Mladen Stilinović Retrospective exhibition.
SING! Opening of the Mladen Stilinović exhibition 21. April, 2011, 00:00–00:00
Greeting by H.E. Mr. Ivan Bandić, Ambassador, Croatian Embassy
Opening speech by Georg Schöllhammer, editor in chief, Springerin
Curated by: Branka Stipančić.
Coordinated by: Katalin Székely.
The exhibition is on view until July 3, 2011.