Artist Name: Milena Ivić
Residency Dates: May – June 2026
Born: 1995
Hometown: Novi Sad, Serbia
Lives & Works: Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
URL: milenaivic.com | Instagram: @mileenaivic
Education:
Currently Involved – MFA in Painting and Intermedia Art, Academy of Arts, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2019 – BA in Graphic Design, Academy of Arts, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bio/Statement:
Milena Ivić is the winner of the 2025 ZVONO Art Award for Young Visual Artist in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Milena Ivić is an artist, designer and activist based in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She works across various media, such as public intervention, installation, objects, performance, and video. Her practice examines the paradox of freedom in a post-war divided country, within political, economic, religious, ethno-national, and cultural contexts. Experiences of institutional censorship in her city of residence have influenced her practice to occupy public space. Employing conceptual, performative, and feminist strategies through a provocative and socially engaged approach, she continuously explores whether art can disrupt dominant paradigms and intervene in reality, going beyond institutional confines.
Milena’s graduate work was awarded a solo exhibition by MSURS, Banja Luka, B&H (2019). Her critical engagement with MSURS’s Gallery Plus during the solo exhibition project What Do We Do with All This Freedom? (2020) earned her the status of a dissident artist. Her recent group exhibitions include Invisible Tissue, ZVONO Award (YVAA) finalist exhibition, KRAK Center for Contemporary Culture Bihać, B&H (2025); April Meetings, the blocked Student Cultural Center, Belgrade, Serbia (2025) and the feminist exhibition Blue, Purple, Green, Yellow, Crvena, Sarajevo, B&H (2024). Her work is featured on Secondary Archive, a web platform for women artists from Central and Eastern Europe. She has participated in artist residencies and contributed to panels, workshops, and symposiums such as Art of Peace: Art after War, Sarajevo, B&H and Perth, Australia (2024). Milena is a member of the Association for Culture and Art Crvena and co-founder of the SOBA initiative.
Support: Milena Ivić’s residency is made possible with support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
