Exhibition 'Silence of Closeness' by Dragan Drazhovic Ilic

Exhibition Curator and Catalog Editor: Bojana Popovic
Text Author: Marija Radosh
Catalog Graphic Design and Visuals: Dejana Cvetkovic
Council of the Museum of Applied Arts:
Ana Eresh, Faculty of Philosophy - University of Belgrade
Slobodan Jovanovic, Museum of Applied Arts
Svetlana Jovicic, Section for Art Critique and Theory of Arts ULUPUDS
Biljana Jotic, Museum of Applied Arts, Director
Bojana Popovic, Museum of Applied Arts
Jelena Popovic, President of the Council of Contemporary Applied Arts Salon, Museum of Applied Arts
Marija Radosh, Remont - Independent Artists Association

Supporting Program
Public Guided Tours with the Artist and Curator, Saturdays, October 12th and 19th at 1 PM

At the exhibition 'Silence of Closeness,' specially designed for the Salon of Contemporary Applied Arts at the Museum of Applied Arts, Dragan Drazhovic Ilic transposes his years of studio research on dust as a complex phenomenon. It started with the observation of the aesthetic qualities of textile dust collected in a washing machine filter, and its resemblance to felt, a specific textile material used in various applications.

The exhibits at the exhibition, spatial and wall installations, carpets, and video works, are thematically grouped within two distinct setups labeled as Darkness and Light. In the darkness, visitors encounter the very structure of dust, whose wondrous beauty captivates with photographs obtained by scanning electron microscopy and digital microscope, as well as with creations made from the textile dust itself.

In the light part of the setup, the works are presented through which the author perceives dust as a unique storehouse of memories (as one of the pieces is named), in the context of long-standing beliefs about the existence of fundamental building elements of all life forms, earth, water, fire, air, and all-pervading energy. The artist uses various modern media, synthetic textile and plastic materials, digital printing, video works... to realize them. The exhibition is rounded off with the installation 'In the Sediment of Infinite Silence' (owned by the Museum of Applied Arts), which, according to art historian Marija Radosh, the author of the text in the catalog, 'carries the basic idea of the cycle of life, in which everything revolves and nothing disappears. Nothingness does not exist because it is made up of the invisible that will become visible through deposition and grouping. Like human actions, their weight, true meaning, and consequences are perceived only when they settle into historical perspectives.'