BIOGRAPHY

IVAN CIVIC - Born 1979 in Sarajevo, BiH; lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

Ivan Civic studied at the Braunschweig Arts Academy under Marina Abramovic and has already been active for several years in the international art scene thanks to his participations in events at some of the most prestigious art spaces in the world (P.S.1, New York; Irish Museum for Modern Art, Dublin; Marta Herford; Galleria Civica, Trento; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Venice Biennale; etc.).

The work of Ivan Civic (performance video installation photography and design) concentrates on the analysis of society and its structures, searching for limits inside conventional unions (like the family nucleus, relationship, cultural and intellectual enviroments) that form an effectively real bond. Through the use of icons, symbols and fetishes instinctively obtained from the domestic circles (intimate, private) and from the public scene (fashion, advertisement, hyper-beauty, status symbols), the artist expresses mechanisms, dynamics, contradictions and conflicts of any kind of relational enviroment.

Through extreme self critical and humorous attitude, captivating images and sophisticated objects (reinterpreted in a creative personal manner rather than taken and presented as “ready made“), Civic intends to bring to life the fact that each one, in his own way, assumes an ambivalent role inside of his own family nucleus, assuming alternatly the guise of a victim and that of an executioner, not only in a precise family situation but, in general, in affectionate and social relationships that are interweaved every day. The purpose is to solicit in the spectator a direct interaction of the artistic experience and simultaneusly of the emotional tension that the artist, through his energetic actions and imagination, aims to solicit.

Emanuela Nobile Mino.

CURRICULUM VITAE
download updated CV.

EDUCATION

Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig, 1999 - 2006
Film & performnce by Mara Mattuschka
Performance by Marina Abramovic
Film & video by Birgit Hein
Meisterschueler by Marina Abramovic, 2005 - 2006

SELECTED SOLO & GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS

Spacetacular, Tashkeel art center, Dubai, UAE, 2008. Curated by Sam Bardaouil
M4 Tachometer, Galerie Nord, Berlin, Germany, 2008. Curated by Richard Rabensaat
Art for rent, Dubai, UAE, 2007. Curated by Sam Bardaouil
Hruby domaci produkt II, M'ARS Gallery, Moscow, Russia, 2007. Curated by Alena Boika
La nuit blanche, FLORIDA 240, Le Generateur, Paris, France, 2007.
Nobile - Ivan Civic, Artists Space, New York, USA, 2007. Curated by Marina Abramovic
BODY & EROS, Venice Biennale, Italy, 2007. Curated by Marina Abramovic
BANKROT, Karlin Studios, Prague, Czech Republic, 2007. Curated by Alberto Di Stefano
Want it, get it, fake it!, Galleria L'Union, Roma, Italy, 2006. Curated by Emanuela Nobile Mino
IPG Uncensored with Illy at Moroso, Milano, Italy, 2006.
Premio internazionale della performance, Trento, Italy, 2006.
Breeding brass pearls, galleria Estro, Padova, Italy, 2006.
Galleria Illy, New York, NY, U.S.A., 2005.
72 hours festival Transpedeguine, Paris, France, 2005.
Glücksgott Berlin-Sarajevo, Berlin, Germany, 2005.
Budva festival, Montenegro, 2005.
Futura, Prague, The Czech republic, 2005.
Performance event at the Paul Klee Museum, Bern, Switzerland, 2005.
La galleria dell’ amore, IPG love inn, Galleria civica di Trento, Trento, Italy, 2005.
The shelf, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2005.
Glücksgott2 Berlin - Sarajevo, Goetheinstitut Sarajevo, 2004.
Raumkonzepte, Marta Herford, Herford, 2004.
Love it, or leave it, Cetinje Biennial V, Montenegro, 2004. Curated by René Block
Faxe Kondi, Futura, Prague, 2004. Curated by Emanuela Nobile Mino
Performance loop, PS1, New York, 2004. Curated by Jimena Blázquez
Volume!, Rome, 2004.
Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, Switzerland, 2004
International performance festival Odense, Denmark, 2003. Curated by Else Jespersen
In den Schluchten des Balkan, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 2003. Curated by René Block
Performance at the Kunsthalle, Kassel, Germany, 2003.
50th Venice Biennale, Vivere Venezia 2, Venice, Italy, 2003. Curated by Angela Vettese
As soon as possible, PAC, Milano, Italy, 2003
Body power, power play, Würtembergische Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany, 2002
13th Impakt filmfestival, voormalige Rechtbank, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2002
Pret-â-Perform, Viafarini, Milano, Italy, 2002
Transart 02, Fortezza, Italy, 2002
Cleaning the house, Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, 2002
A little bit of history repeated, Kunst Werke, Berlin, Germany, 2001. Curated by Jens Hoffman
Marking the territory, Irish Museum of modern art, Dublin, 2001.
12th Impakt filmfestival, Central Museum, Utrecht, 2001

GRANTS & PRIZES

resiDEnce, GERMAN-CZECH FUTURE FOND and residence at FUTURA, Prague, Czech Republic, 2006
PREMIO INTERNAZIONALE DELLA PERFORMANCE, semifinali locali, first prize to Ivan Civic, Trento, Italy, 2006
DAAD, german grant for the best international student of the year at the Arts acadamy Braunschweig, 2003

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Julie Brener, "How to take your time", Artnews, NY, november 2006 edition. p. 152, 153, 154.
Miroslav Minic, "Ivan Civic - an artist that doesn't separate life from performance. Opening the intimate sphere", Republika, Montenegro, 17.8.2005
Emanuela Nobile Mino, "Ivan Civic", Faxe Kondi catalogue, Futura, Prague, 2005. p. 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Emanuela Nobile Mino, "Ivan Civic", Work art in progress, Periodico trimetrale della Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea di Trento,Italy, Trento, 2005. p. cover, 28, 29
Emanuela Nobile Mino, "Some kind of family odyssey", Love it, or leave it, Cetinje Biennial V catalogue, Tiskara Zelina & Hrvatska, Croatia, 2004. p. 44, 113, 120
Marina Abramovic, "Student body", edizioni Charta, Italy, 2003, p. 11, 19-21, 37,119-120, 170- 177, 464-465, 468, 475-476, 481, 483, 485-486, 491, 499, 525
In den Schluchten des Balkan, catalogue, Kunsthalle Fridericianum Kassel, 2003 p. 52, 135, insert
4th international performance festival odense catalogue, Else Jespersen, Clausen Offset, 2003 p. 1, 3, 10, 11, 27, 28
Antje Hartmann, "Fünf Stunden kraxeln im Familien-Film", Braunschweiger Zeitung, Germany, 23 october 2003, p. 30
Kristina v. Klot, "Aufbruch nach Europa", Mobil, Germany, 09/03, p. 75
arti performative, "una nuova guardia?", Flash Art, Italia, no. 232, febbraio - marzo 2002, p. 56
Melissa de Raaf, "Stardom", Impakt guide bulletin, Utrecht, no. 13, November 2002, p.11
Frank Werner, "Summercollection", HBK Film, Salon Verlag Köln, Berlin, November 2000, p. 156