Biography
Art BIOGRAPHY of Dragan Ilic
Born in 1948 in Belgrade, artist Dragan Ilic is a Serbian – Australian – American artist, living
and working in New York and Belgrade.
He studied art at ANU (Australian National University) School of Art Canberra, BFA, 1974-75. Also, studied at the Millennium Film Lab, Dov S-S Simens’ Film Program, New York, in 1986. He was active within the Australian art scene, before moving to New York, where he lived and worked over the next several decades. In 2007, Ilic returned to Belgrade, where he founded the experimental performance space ITS-Z1, a platform for the intersection of art and
science, in 2009, hosting acclaimed artists such as Stelarc as well as many other international artists.
Over the years Ilic’s work has been featured on television (ARTE) and in many gallery and museum spaces, including: Document, PS 1 MoMa, the Center for Cultural Decontamination in Belgrade, Queens Museum of Art, NYC, and, in April 2010, at the Museum of Science in Boston, as a part of National Robotics Week. Also, notable were his two appearances and human/robot art performances at the famous Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria in 2016 and 2017, as well as his participation at the International Triennial of Expanded Media, Multimedia Art, and New Media Art – Reconection 2019, in Belgrade. In the same year (2019), his major solo retrospective exhibition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade was highly acclaimed and was accompanied by
a special voluminous printed exhibition monograph/catalog.
In 2022, his feature length artistic experimental documentary film (Re)Evolution 2.0: Cyber Quest, premiered at the BELDOCS International Documentary Film Festival.
In his artistic oeuvre over the past four-and-a-half decades he has created numerous sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs, films, as well as videos, audio works, electro-acoustic music, body art, performance art works, installations, etc., and he has experimented with and used virtually all types of media, intentionally combining them in novel and effective ways, starting from the most archaic materials such as stone, minerals, charcoal, graphite, color pigments, and pencils, across a whole range of standard artistic mediums/materials/substances like metal, glass, wood, plastic, fire, water, acids, chemicals, texts, as well as his own body, culminating with the utilization of high-tech industrial robots, lasers, BCI devices, cell phones, AI, etc.
He is represented by GV Art London, UK.
Solo Exhibitions
2012 Plus 20, ITS-Z1, Ritopek, Belgrade, Serbia 2003 Drawing/Devices, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY 1988 Cluster Z-II, Experimental Film/Video Festival, Tokyo 1986 Aesthetics of OuterSpace, Ground Zero, Manhattan, NY 1985 Video, painting, sculpture exhibition, Tamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1985 Video, painting, sculpture exhibition, Civilian Warfare, Manhattan, NY 1982 Sculpture and painting installation, Offen Gallery, Koln, Germany 1982 Sculpture and painting installation, Gallery ’73, Belgrade, Yugoslavia 1982 Don’t Carry Mugger Money, Street performance, Manhattan, NY 1981 Sculpture, drawing, and xerox work, Gallery “A”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1981 Gallery Cogeime, Brussels, Belgium 1981 Painting, drawing, film installation, Laura Vincy Galerie, Paris, France 1980 Sculpture, drawing, film installation, Braathen-Gallozzi Gallery, Manhattan, NY 1978 Drawing, painting, and sculpture, Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL 1977 Sculpture and painting installation, Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 1976 Paintings, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, Australia strong>1976 Video and sculpture installation, Goethe Institute, Canberra, Australia 1975 Drawings and sculptures, Solander Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Group Exhibitions
1987 Eye of A Storm photo show, Tamura, Tokyo, Japan 1987 Eye of A Storm photo show, Sugizaki Gallery, Sendai, Japan 1987 Eye of A Storm photo show, Les Bois, Osaka, Japan 1985 Paintings, Semaphore, Manhattan, NY 1985 Projections for ’85, Kamakazi, Manhattan, NY 1984 Sculptures, 25,000 Sculptures, Civilian Warfare, Manhattan, NY 1984 Paintings, Limbo Lounge at P.S. 1, Long Island City, NY 1984 East Village sculpture, Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, CA 1983 Don’t Carry Mugger Money, Pier 34, Manhattan, NY 1983 Food for the Soup Kitchens performance, Fashion Moda, Bronx, NY 1983 Multiple sculptures (a Colab project), Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA 1983 Paintings and sculpture installation (a Colab project), The Ritz, Washington, D.C. 1983 Sculpture installation, Terminal New York, Brooklyn, NY 1983 Paintings, Fashion Moda, South Bronx, NY 1983 Post-card installation, ABC No Rio, Manhattan, NY 1982 Sculptures, Monumental Redefined, Brooklyn, NY 1982 Ten Yugoslav Artists, sculpture, Alternative Museum, Manhattan, NY 1982 Multiple liquid sculptures, Fashion Moda Group, including Kiki Smith, Joseph Beuys, Tom Otterness, Claes Oldenburg, Joseph Nechvatal, Joe Lewis, Chris Kohlhofer, Jenny Holzer, Keith Haring, and Stefan Eins; Documenta, Kassel, Germany 1981 Performance-Festival ‘81, Kölner Kunstchule, featuring Wolf Vostell, Valie Export, and Orlan 1980 New York Avant Garde Festival, Pier 81, featuring Jeanette Ingberman and Charlotte Moorman 1980 Sculptures, Braathen-Gallozzi Gallery, Manhattan, NY 1980 Paintings, Wagga Wagga Invitational, Wagga Wagga, Australia 1980 Sculptures and drawings, Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 1980 Drawings, West Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia 1972 Sculptures, Centre Cineman Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Selected Performances
2012 The People I Don’t Like, Performance and Installation, organized by Peter Silver, professor at University of Westminster, London, UK 2011 RoboAction 9, Performance and Installation, Studio View, Brooklyn, NY 2011 RoboAction 8, Performance and Installation, Studio View, Brooklyn, NY 2010 Roboaction 8, Interactive Site-Specific Drawing, ID Space, New York 2010 Roboaction 7, Museum of Science in Boston, National Robotics Week 2009 Roboaction 5, Interactive performance and installation, Fluid v2, Queens Museum of Art, New York 2008 The People I Don’t Like, Interactive performance and installation wherein artist repeated the names of people he didn’t like and audience members threw 50,000 pencils at him; performance was stopped after nine minutes due to injuries to the artist’s face, CZKD, Center for Cultural Decontamination 2004 Roboaction II, Interactive Drawing Installation, Gallery of SKC, Belgrade 1987 Untitled, multi-media performance, Art Space, organized by Shozo Shimamoto of Gutai group, Nishinomiya, Kyoto, Japan 1986 Untitled, Kamakazi, Manhattan, NY 1986 Thunder HB2, Danceteria, Manhattan, NY 1983 The People I Don’t Like, #5 (a COLAB project featuring Kiki Smith and Scott Pfaffman), The Ritz, Washington D.C. 1983 Elemental Voltage, Terminal New York, Brooklyn, NY 1983 The People I Don’t Like, #4, Danceteria, Manhattan, NY 1983 Performance and audio/visual exhibition, No Se No, Manhattan, NY 1983 Kitchen Soup Exhibition for Jesse Jackson, Storefront for Art & Architecture, Manhattan, NY 1981 Untitled, Lara Vincey Gallery, Paris, France 1981 Untitled outdoor performance, Gallery “A”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1981 Untitled, Mixage Gallery, Caen, Normandy, France 1981 Untitled, Performance Festival ’81, Koln, Germany 1980 Electronic Pencils XVII, Apple Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1980 Installation performance, featuring fifty artists including Otto Piene, curated by Charlotte Moorman and Jeanette Ingberman, New York Avant Garde Festival, Manhattan, NY 1979 Electronic Pencils XIII, Adelaide Festival Centre, Trust Gallery Adelaide, Australia 1979 Electronic Pencils XII, Sculpture Centre, Sydney, Australia 1979 Electronic Pencils XI, Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, Australia 1979 Electronic Pencils XV, Adelaide College of the Arts & Education, Adelaide, Australia 1978 Electronic Pencils X, Sculpture Centre, Sydney, Australia 1978 Electronic Pencils XIII, N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, IL 1978 Electronic Pencils IX, Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL 1977 Speeding Art II, commissioned by Arts Council, Commonwealth Gardens, Canberra, Australia 1977 Electronic Pencils III, Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 1977 Electronic Pencils IV, Atliner Gallery, Bungadore, Australia 1977 Electronic Pencils IV, Sculpture Centre, Sydney, Australia 1977 Electronic Pencils VII, Chanel 10, Sydney, Australia 1976 Speeding Art I, Avalon Beach, Sydney, Australia 1976 Electronic Pencils I, Film & TV School, Sydney, Australia 1976 Electronic Pencils II, Conservatory of Music, Sydney, Australia
Selected Video Presentations
1983 Speeding Art II, Plexus, Manhattan, NY 1982 Electronic Pencils XII, Grand Theater, Groonijen, Belgium 1981 Electronic Pencils XII, Joh Borutshosjkole, Copenhagen, Denmark 1981 Electronic Pencils XII, Studio de la Musique, Paris, France
Selected Film Presentations
1987 Fifth, Park & Madison, New York Film Festival, Downtown 1986 Cluster Z 1, New York Film Festival, Downtown 1984 Electronic Pencils XII, New York Film Festival, Downtown
Television
2010 RTS Belgrade. Interview presentation. 1983 Manhattan Cable, Channel J. Untitled performance. 1983 Manhattan Cable, Channel J. “X Art 35,” ten minute untitled performance. 1978 Channel 7. Sydney, Australia. Fragments of “Electronic Pencils – X.” 1978 NBC Channel 7 News. April, Chicago, IL. Fragments of “Electronic Pencils – XIII.” 1978 ABC Channel 5. April, Chicago, IL. Fragments of “Electronic Pencils – XII.” 1977 Channel 9. Sydney, Australia. Fragments of “Electronic Pencils – VI.”
Bibliography
2010 Istorjia Umetnosti u Srbiji xx Vek, Photographs, by Misko Suvakovic. 2008 Glas Srpske, Photographs and feature, by Dejan Vujanic. 2008 Politika, Feature, by Marijia Djordjevic. 1990 Anniversary Founding Yon G: Newspaper Festival, “Dragan Ilic & Mu Se Jung,” Korea. 1987 Art World Magazine, Interview, Seoul, South Korea. 1987 Bijutsu Techno Art Magazine, “Now East Village”,Tokyo, Japan. 1987 Cover, “Film Festival Downtown,” by Michael Carter, New York, NY. 1987 The Phoenix, “East Village Art, Brooklyn Artists,” by Baird Jones. 1986 East Village, Documentary, by Roland Haggenberg. 1985 East Village Eye, Review, April, by Celeste-Monique Lindsey. 1985 Bijutsu Techno, “East Village,” Tokyo, Japan. 1985 ABC No Rio, DeNero, pp. 120, 179. 1984 East Village Eye, “Psycho Dragan,” July, by Dorothy Friedman. 1983 The New York Times, “‘Elemental Voltage’ in Brooklyn,” by Bernard Holland. 1983 Bijutsu Techno, “No Se No,” Tokyo, Japan. 1983 New York Daily News, Installation photo, September. 1983 The Village Voice, Reproduction of drawing as a musical score, October. 1983 East Village Eye, “Dragan Ilic at Limbo Lounge,” by Carlo McCormick & Walter Windshield. 1983 The National Times, Interview, December, by Elisabeth Wynhausen, Australia. 1983 High Performance, Photographs of performance, “The People I Don’t Like, #3,” November, by Kyung Park, Los Angeles. 1982 Kunstforum International, Color photograph and short item on sculpture, August, by Annelie Pohlen, Germany. 1981 Attribune, Photographs and feature, May, Brussels, Belgium. 1981 Arts Magazine, “Second Biennial of Yugoslav Art,” February, by Barbara Cavaliere 1980 NIN, “Craziness and Brazil Coffee at Venice Biennial,” June, by Steven Stanic, Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 1980 +-0, Article, by Terry Reid. 1979 The Australian, “Pushing Pencil Power,” November, by Sandra McGrath. 1979 Sydney Morning Herald, “Packing an Artistic Punch,” by Nancy Borlase. 1979 Cleo, “Pencil Pushing,” September, by John Davies. 1979 Adelaide Sunday Mail, “Penciling in Some Gaps,” April, by Noel Sheridan. 1979 The Adelaide Advertiser, “Sculptor Makes His Point,” by Peter Farrell. 1979 Aspects, “Performance Art is Australia,” Summer issue, by Mike Parr. 1978 Cantrille Film Notes, “Dragan Ilic at Pinacotheca,” May, Melbourne, Australia. 1978 76 Pages, Photograph of sculpture, by Robert Jacks. 1977 The Canberra Times, “Showmanship and Spark of Genius,” by John Reid. 1976 Sydney Morning Herald, “Art Hits the Beach,” February. 1974 The Canberra Times, “There’s Art in Them Thar Hills,” October, by Edna Boling.
Guest Lectures and Workshops
2012 Westminster University, London. 2009 Guest lecturer, Academy of Fine Art, Belgrade. 1985 Guest lecturer with performance, organized by performance artist Stelarc, International School, Yokohama, Japan. 1985 Guest lecturer with presentation, School of Visual Arts, Manhattan, NY.