At the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro, the project “Out of the Blue, I’m Swept Away” by artist Siniša Radulović and curator PhD. Prof. Svetlana Racanović—which will represent Montenegro at the 61st Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art—was officially presented.

At the press conference, speakers included  PhD. Vladislav Šćepanović, Commissioner of the Montenegrin Pavilion; Ana Ivanović, Chair of the jury that selected the project; as well as the project’s authors, artist Siniša Radulović and curator PhD. Prof. Svetlana Racanović.

Dr. Vladislav Šćepanović, Commissioner of the Montenegrin Pavilion and Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro, emphasized that this year’s competition was conducted in accordance with the highest professional standards, with clearly defined and consistently applied criteria.

“A particular quality of this year’s competition lies in the fact that the selection process was completely transparent and objective, with the involvement of an international jury composed of distinguished experts from various fields of contemporary art. Each member of the jury—art historian Ana Ivanović, artist Miroslav Balka, curator Gunnar B. Kvaran, director of the Carré d’Art Museum of Contemporary Art in Nîmes Hélène Audiffren, and architect Odile Decq—brought a unique perspective, covering a wide range of criteria, from artistic quality and innovation to technical feasibility and communicative potential of the project.”

Šćepanović added that the selection of the project to represent Montenegro at the 61st Venice Biennale was the result of a thoughtful, impartial, and expert process.

Ana Ivanović, art historian and Chair of the Jury, highlighted that the selection process was carefully designed and carried out in the spirit of professional responsibility and international evaluation standards.

“The jury approached the task with a high degree of dedication and seriousness, aware of the importance of the decision shaping how Montenegro will be represented at one of the world’s most significant contemporary art events. The process was conducted in two phases—from shortlisting to interviews with candidates—to ensure the most objective assessment of the conceptual and production strength of the submitted projects.”

Ivanović also emphasized that the project “Out of the Blue, I’m Swept Away” stood out for its clearly articulated and consistently executed concept, poetic strength, and high level of professional realization.

“The artistic team of Siniša Radulović and  PhD.  Prof. Svetlana Racanović managed, through a multimedia format, to establish a delicate balance between the intimate and the collective, the personal and the social. In that sense, their work authentically reflects the thematic framework of this year’s Biennale.”

Siniša Radulović, the project’s author, explained that the installation Out of the Blue, I’m Swept Away explores the space between the personal and the collective, the intimate and the social.

“It is a multimedia spatial installation that connects floor structures, video projections, and sound into a single whole. I start from the personal—from the living space of the family—which is transformed into a modular structure inhabited by miniature figures. As we move from the center toward the margins, the focus shifts from the familial to the social, opening questions of belonging and togetherness.”

PhD. Prof. Svetlana Racanović, curator of the project, stated that the multimedia installation Out of the Blue, I’m Swept Away functions through multiple material, symbolic, and semantic layers.

“The floor installation, placed beneath glass, represents a kind of ‘underground’ world—a precise, confined, and partitioned space dominated by boundaries and enclosure. In contrast, the large video projections on the walls and ceiling open an ‘upper,’ ethereal world of fluidity, lightness, and possibility. Within this contrast between the closed and the open, the solid and the floating, a dialogue emerges that invites viewers to question their own positions and experiences.”

Racanović concluded that the installation calls for active presence and engagement with art — “for a moment in which the observer becomes a participant, and the space of the artwork transforms into a space of personal recognition, shared experience, and the possibility of altering one’s perception of reality.”

Montenegro will, for the first time, present its national pavilion at a new location for the 61st Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art—in the ArteNova gallery space, located at the attractive Venetian site Campo San Lorenzo.

The Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro is the general patron of Montenegro’s participation in the 61st Venice Biennale.