Nela Milic’s residency at Centrala is the final highlight of the 2024 Hybrid Landscapes project. Through a series of installations, performance rehearsals, panel discussions, and workshops, the residency offers a rare opportunity to witness Milic’s creative process in action and engage with powerful themes of memory, identity, conflict, and community. This immersive programme is designed to invite participation from the local community and creative professionals alike.
Centrala’s Hybrid Landscapes project, with the support of Arts Council England, has delivered a series of residencies that encompass a diverse range of artistic disciplines, including visual arts, participatory practice, performance, sound, photography, architecture, writing, curatorial practice, and art criticism. Each residency has provided unique opportunities for local communities and creative professionals to explore these fields from fresh perspectives.
As part of Digbeth First Friday, Milic’s residency launches with two thought-provoking installations —Text Illumination and Wrappery. Text Illumination explores post-conflict recovery and reconciliation, using light and text to reflect on the rebuilding of trust in divided societies. Wrappery, an evolving piece that began at the Croatia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, delves into memory preservation through interaction. This opening event also invites local artists and groups to collaborate with Milic throughout the residency.
Rehearsals for Performance
As part of Milic’s residency, early-stage rehearsals for a performance piece will delve into the creative process, utilising diverse materials such as projectors, old newspapers, books, and personal photo albums. These sessions are designed for creative exploration and reflection, offering insight into Milic’s research and performance development. Performer Tina Hofman will play a pivotal role in the open rehearsal, bringing key elements of the narrative to life and actively contributing to the unfolding of the performance.
Installation 1. Nela is presenting an installation Text Illumination, an output from the AHRC funded inter-disciplinary research project Art and Reconciliation that ran from 2016-2019. It was a collaboration between three London universities – Kings College, London, University of the Arts, London and London School of Economics and Political Science. This record of Nela’s work is on the cover of Professor Denisa Kostovicova’s book Reconciliation by Stealth (Cornell University Press, 2023) and the piece is seen live as an immersive installation at Centrala on the 4th of October for Digbeth Firsts.
Installation 2. Nela uses Centrala Space to devise an installation, continuing from her artwork Wrapper, currently exhibited at Croatia Pavilion at Venice Biennale as part of Vlatka Horvat’s By the Means at Hand. The ever-failing attempt to capture fleeting memories by the use of a variety of formats and materials is a years-long creative process Nela is engaged in and approaches sometimes on her own and other times, with the help of communities who are also interested in the developing innovative ways of heritage preservation.