You started making art in Montenegro, when that country was still part of communist Yugoslavia. How was this system for artists?
It was a system that certainly invested much more in art and culture than the current political systems rooted in some Balkan countries, including Montenegro. It is difficult to determine whether President Josip Broz Tito contributed to this or not, but he was certainly someone with much more culture and style than many of our 21st century statesmen and politicians.
I believe that as an undisputed leader, he contributed to such a development of contemporary art even in the middle of the 20th century. The only thing that could not be developed in the art of the SFRY at that time was an artistic practice based on political discourse and criticism of the system of the time. Everything else was supported and promoted.
Today we only have Marina Abramović, a Montenegrin who has become world famous.
It is also important to mention that in the 60s of the 20th century, at the World Biennial of Modern Art in Sao Paulo, which was attended by Picasso, Miro, Braque and many other famous artists, it was the Montenegrin painter Petar Lubarda who won the main prize, returning as the winner of this great artistic event.
Today, our capital does not have a single contemporary art museum, even though we have an abundance of works, authors and content for such an institution. No one in the EU has noticed this, even though we have been leaders in the Balkan region in negotiations for membership of the European Union for years.
Today we only have Marina Abramović, a Montenegrin who has become world famous, but unfortunately without the support of our institutions. She fought her own battles and built her career in a secure and dedicated manner. I met her in 1996 in Cetinje and since then we have been friends and she has been my support when many did not see or understand the concept of my work dedicated to our early childhood.
How would you describe your art? Your recent work has focused on childhood. What do you find interesting about this?
My work is above all a deeply lived prayer to the truth of man and his origin… on its duration and its meaning in relation to nature, life and the truth of our existence. I deeply believe that it is in childhood that our truth is most visible and most sincere in relation to all these values.
I see my art as records that bear witness to our earliest memories. As such, they are documents that preserve certain forgotten truths and values that we grew up with and have deeply embedded in the established habits of daily life and work.
This is why my art is a spontaneous creative game of truth in which there is no loser, but which invites everyone to discover and preserve the essential values that childhood has for each of us.
Is your art political?
No, I believe there are no politics in my work and I’m sure there won’t be. Children are also not involved in politics and things are not strictly related to childhood and growing up.
I deeply believe that it is in childhood that our truth is most visible.
The AMOC museum, on which I have worked for more than 20 years, is an international institution which will bring together artists who have contributed to the development of the theme of childhood through their work or their work.. The only subject that will have no place in this institution is politics, if I have the possibility to decide on it.
What is your connection with Berlin?
If I had to make a joke here, I would probably say the teddy bear, one of the most compelling toys of the 20th century, created outside of Germany but given its full visual identity and production in Germany, especially in Berlin. Indeed, my connection with Berlin was spontaneous and gave a very beautiful meaning to my work and the relationship with the local public as early as 2019, when I successfully presented myself for the first time at the Berlin Museum of Communication.
I met many great artists and wonderful people who live and feel the true values of art, like Olga Lystsova, Mark Gisbourne, Wilfried Dickhoff, Herman Noack and many others, and that’s exactly what I considers it the greatest wealth and advantage that Berlin as a city possesses.
Your work encompasses drawing, painting, performance and sculpture. Do you have a preference? What are the challenges and benefits of each form?
I have no favorites in this regard, each discipline has its advantages and I try to discover them with the same sincerity and dedication.
I believe that dedicated work always brings results. When you’re trying hardest and almost floating in the studio with fatigue over a problem that’s keeping you up, God’s help appears. This cosmically wise energy then transports you and directs you to the right solution if you are wise enough to read the secret signs it shows you.
Collage and assemblage is something that has always appealed to me, despite having a strong background in the classical arts. By combining two things, you get a new value and establish a third. It is the same with life and nature in its secret of fertilization. This is why I believe that art best describes one’s creativity in such actions.
You spent time teaching and working within the academy. To what extent do you think art can be taught?
Contemporary art in particular can be learned at such a level that you can freely participate in the Venice Biennale. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to create masterpieces that will last centuries after you’re gone.
For true works of art, apart from learning, there must also be the feeling of a primordial creative thread with which the artist as a being has passed through his life and with which he has connected his dreams and his ideas in the right way.
Some of your works have titles like Pinocchio and the Metamorphoses. Are you very influenced by literature?
Not so much literature, but definitely fairy tales and fables. Of course, they can also be considered literature, which is why I certainly like to include them in the context of ancient traditions, myths, legends, etc.
Pinocchio is a fundamentally important fairy tale that will only now, in the post-human era, get its much greater epilogue and significance.
Let us not forget that even the greatest religions in the world come from such traditions and myths. Pinocchio is a fundamentally important fairy tale that will only now, in the post-human era, get its much greater epilogue and significance.
Who are your favorite artists, living and dead?
This is always a very difficult question for me because the choice is not limited. Among those I love and appreciate deeply, I would certainly cite two: Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh.
Among the artists of the 20th century, these would mainly be Constantin Brankusi, Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio Morandi, Baltus and the one I remember from my early youth, Alberto Giacometti.
What are you going to work on next?
My next project is definitely the AMOC, a Museum of Contemporary Art dedicated to childhood. I have been working on it intensively for over 25 years, and the time has come for me to develop the project if I can find partners and patrons who will only provide us with space. We’ve already secured everything else.
I am also working on organizing my major retrospective exhibition at the National Museum in Cetinje, where more than 1,500 works representing my research and work in the field of childhood and its symbols over the course of 35 years will be exhibited. I am very honored that Dr Mark Gisbourne, one of the most internationally recognized and respected curators and art historians in Europe, has agreed to open the exhibition and is the author of the texts of publication.
See the works of Nikola Marković here.