Bogomir Doringer

Bogomir Doringer (Serbia, 1983) grew up in Yugoslavia as it began to vanish. Nevertheless he managed to experience and collect traces of the country’s unique culture. Film introduced him to methods of portraying a layered understanding of hidden horror, human destruction and finally, injustice.

Having grown up in this environment and having witnessed the loss of human values through war, he was inevitably led to a life of critical thought and deep examinations of socio-political issues, which he chose to explore through film, art and fashion. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy where his work was nominated for the best graduation work and graduated cum laude from the Master of Film programme of the Nederlandse Film en Televisie Academie. While studying art, he noticed that his projects tend to translate the construction of the film narrative. He would arrange elements of his projects as if they were on a film timeline and then extend them within the physical space, instead of on the screen. This way, the spectator of his work could move through the work.

In his projects, he works with fabricated socio-political issues represented by mass media that he finds intriguing because of their content or the way in which they are treated by media or society. Doringer starts his work from media fabrications, and use them as a basis to challenge the relationship between fiction and reality. In this respect, Doringer takes fiction as something temporary, something that has an expiry date. Depending on the subject that Doringer is working with, he will choose the medium to express himself. Doringer’s projects work on different platforms, divided in elements that can work independently or together, thus confronting different groups of participants. This way, he hopes it will lead the audience to think about or discuss the questions that his work poses. He sees himself as a storyteller of ‘unwanted stories’.

Previous education
BA Gerrit Rietveld Academie - VAV (Amsterdam, NL)

Hospitality - director, screenplay, sound, production

Artist's statement: ‘I see myself as a storyteller’
After countless readings together with my family of 'The World’s Best Fairy Tales', it was the film that introduced me into the world of fantasy. It brought me in states of levitation. It lifted me upwards at times, far above an environment that was then being demolished. I grew up in vanishing Yugoslavia, when our unique culture was still present in the film programming on local television.

Film introduced me to a layered understanding of hidden horror, human destruction and, finally, injustice. For somebody like me, who grew up in this kind of environment and thus witnessed the loss of human values due to war, it became impossible to avoid socio-political issues and thinking uncritically. I grew up with the idea that one day I would change something more than just myself; apply my experience to a creative form and bring it to others. While studying art, I noticed that my projects tended to translate the construction of the film narrative. I would arrange elements of my projects as if they were on a film timeline and then extend them within the physical space, instead of on the screen. This way, the spectator of my work could move through the work.

In my projects, I work with fabricated socio-political issues represented by mass media that I find intriguing because of their content or the way in which they are treated by media or society. I start my work from media fabrications, and use them as a basis to challenge the relationship between fiction and reality. In this respect, I take fiction as something temporary, something that has an expiry date. My socio-political subjects are often described as being ‘dark’ and ‘heavy’. I translate them into the uncanny; I try to see beyond them. Depending on the subject that I am working with, I will choose the medium to express myself. My projects work on different platforms, divided in elements that can work independently or together, thus confronting different groups of participants. This way, I hope it will lead them to think about or discuss the questions my work poses. I see myself as a storyteller.

Overige projecten

Works
- Curator of exhibition 'FACELESS' part 1 and part 2 (2013)
- 'Hospitality' (2011)
Nominated to represent Serbia at the Venice Biennale 2013
- 'Fashion and Despair' (artist in residence project, Vienna, 2008; exhibition Stockholm, 2009)
- 'Deranged' (2008)
- 'Conflict Box' (2007)
- 'Illegal Chair' (2006)