Man of Great Gesture
Man of Great Gesture
ARCHITECT AND EXTREMIST. Milan Mijalkovic is, in every aspect, willing to give space. If this space is infinite, even the better.
Milan
Mijalkovic seems
to dance on the sympathetic fine line of self-irony and
self-inflation. Sitting in the non-smoking area of Vienna’s Café
Stein with a notebook in front of him, which helps him to deconstruct
his „dumpling-like thoughts“, as he calls them. Actually,
it is a collection of theses, whereby he knows their most important
representatives he already knows, while introducing his thoughts with
words like „I just recently found out that…“.
What
he just found out, is that it is easy to categorize irony. He found out that superstition is the best working system for
everyday life. „I can just leave responsibility to my grandma and
black cats.“
In
the case of Mijalkovic, we really deal with a fanatic when it comes
to responsibility. This is also connected to his profession. Being an
applied architect, he states: „Architecture is an art form with a
very high standard of responsibility. The aesthetic and planning
responsibility for living space lies in your hand, how people will
live for generations.“
Hence, whoever wants to be an architect, has
to take responsibility, he argues.
Two
years ago, he did this in the biggest style imaginable. „I, Milan
Mijalkovic, take full responsibility for all natural disasters of the
last 2,000 years.“ He printed this statement on a poster. To
enable others to take their part in this martyr-like gesture, he
auctioned the responsibilities in well documented portions. A scenic
act of privatizing, in conscious opposition to his actual ideas and
goals.
In
the centre of those goals we find democracy and its development. In
the Red Carpet Showroom, Mijalkovic presents a flag showing on it the
simple yet powerful slogan EVERYTHING (German ALLES), as a reaction
to pessimistic future scenarios as well as wrong handling of Europe’s
integration politics. Everything, he claims, demands the necessary
democratizing of everything: The room, the strength, and the
infinity.
2015
Text: Mareike Boysen
English translation: Carsten Schmidt
Magazine: VORMagazin
Thanks to: Manuel Gras and Red Carpet
Text: Mareike Boysen
English translation: Carsten Schmidt
Magazine: VORMagazin
Thanks to: Manuel Gras and Red Carpet
Copyright: Milan Mijalkovic, 2020