Bojan Šarčević works in sculpture and film, with materials mined for their specificities: wax, onyx, human hair, raw meat and hollowed watermelons are just several examples of his chosen constituents. His works involve sculptural interventions into the gallery space in order to recreate fragmented and abstracted experiences of bodily encounters that are at once familiar and uncanny: such moments might include browsing a lyrical supermarket aisle; snagging on a tree branch, or edging around a seemingly discarded plastic bag containing jerky. Though they may hint at broader movements and historical events, including Modernism, Constructivism, Retrofuturism, and thesocialist states transtion to capitalism and its consequences, the precise meanings of Šarčević’s works are left indeterminate. His installations arise from a research-based practice rooted in philosophical and scientific inquiry and permeated with ideas of aspiration and nostalgia. For his 2018 exhibition at Modern Art, Sentimentality is the Core, he installed a series of commercial freezers containing transducer speakers, which transmitted fragmented 1980s pop songs by George Michael and Sade through the farmed ice crystals that lined their interiors. This work, like almost all Šarčević’s works, traces its beginnings back through specific histories and narratives – in this case the political legacies of the 1980s both in the Soviet Union and in the USA and UK – while connecting personal sentiment with collective experience.

Bojan Šarčević was born in Belgrade in 1974 and he lives and works between Basel and Paris. Šarčević studied at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, followed by postgraduate study at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, Netherlands. He currently teaches at De Ateliers in Amsterdam and at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Šarčević’s work was the subject of solo exhibitions at Modern Art, London (2018, 2016, 2013, 2010); Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Kunstverein Hamburg (2008).He has participated in recent group exhibitions at Art Basel Parcours (2022); the 58th October Salon/Belgrade Biennale (2021); Mudam, Luxembourg City (2020); Lustwarande, Tilburg (2019); Manifesta 12, Palermo (2018); and the Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018). Šarčević’s works are held in collections including the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; Kiasma, Helsinki; Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach; MMK, Frankfurt; and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna.