Damir Avdagic’s practice explores themes of historical memory and identity through text, performance and video. The conflict in Ex-Yugoslavia (1991-1995) makes up a central part of Avdagic’s family history and he uses this event as an entry point to address themes such as shifting political systems, migration and the relationship between generations.
Avdagic’s main materials are words; spoken narratives which he collects through conversations with members of the Ex-Yugoslav community. This material is activated through various strategies of performance (re-enactments, translations, readings etc.) and developed into moving image installations. In his work narratives become transmissible between “author” and performer. By having members of one generation perform the words and actions of another, Avdagic seeks to reflect on how history stretches across time and how the past echoes in the present. All the participants in Avdagic’s work are tied to the same history.
Damir Avdagic is educated at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (MFA, 2008-2014) and from The University of California (MFA, 2013-2016) He is a Fulbright Fellow and recipient of other prestigious grants from the Norway-America Foundation, Office of Contemporary Art & Norwegian Cultural Council to mention a few.
Avdagic’s work has been shown at The Young Artists´ Society, Oslo, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Whitechapel Gallery, London, Changwon Sculpture Bienniale, South Korea, Kunsthall Charlottenborg Copenhagen & Kristiansand Kunsthall Norway amongst many others. He was awarded the BKH’s Photo Art Prize at Fotogalleriet, Oslo in 2014.
CONTACT: damir.avdagic@gmail.com