Triandra, 2019, Cetate Arts Danube Sculpture Park

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BIOGRAPHY

Miki Velciov (born 1968) graduated from The University of Arts and Design in Timisoara. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2013 and his master’s degree in 2015. Although he is a late bloomer, Miki Velciov is already well known in Romania for his extensive research on media painting, objects, installations, video, and land art.

He embarked on his artistic journey after studying the primordial elements of nature, such as earth, water, air, and fire, by documenting various layers of reality. Through works like ‘Rooting’ (2013), ‘1 m3 of Life’ (2015), and ‘In Terra Pax’ (2016), the artist delves into the dimension of life’s uncertainties. Beginning with insects and plants and observing how they skillfully organize their lives in relation to available resources, Velciov expands his analysis to the socio-political dimension of the organizational systems that humans create. His efforts shed light on the destruction of natural equilibrium and the excessive exploitation of resources, leading to habitat degradation and pollution and, subsequently, the phenomenon of migration.

The series of works ‘Big Brother’ (2014) and ‘Oculus’ (2016 & 2015) manifest the artist’s concern regarding the ubiquity of surveillance systems as a form of excessive control, characteristic of totalitarian societies. In response, he began working on the anamorphic technique, creating installations from a specific point of view. Pieces like ‘Triandra’ (2019), ‘Turgidum’ (2018), ‘Temporary Restraint’ (2016), ‘Shock Wave’ (2016), ‘Oculus’ (2015), and ‘Oculus Domini’ (2014) unveil, on one hand, the illusion of absolute control and, on the other, the impossibility of utopian struggles for perfection within these dictatorial regimes

Miki Velciov has participated in numerous festivals, residencies, and contemporary art exhibitions, including Méricourt, France (2019); Ad Ognuno a Sua P’Arte, Villatalla, Italy (2019); Cetate Arts Danube (2018, 2019); Adata Air, Plovdiv (2018); and the Danube Dialogue (Novi Sad, 2018).

In 2014, he co-founded Avantpost, a platform that promoted artists in Timisoara, Romania.

Thanks to productive collaboration during the Artists in Residency – Cetate Arts Danube program in 2018 and 2019, Miki Velciov became one of 418GALLERY’s represented artists in 2019.

SELECTED ARTICLES

Young Artists, Young Friends – New Contemporaries | arthotshot.com, Antonella Grevers
The scientific dimension of art: Turgidum – a metaphor for the grains | Mihaela Ghita, Radio Romania Cultural, October 2019

SYMPOSIA

Méricourt, 2019, France
Ad Ognuno a SuaP’Arte, Villatalla, 2019, Italy
Fundația Hertzeg, Gărâna, 2019, Romania
Cetate Arts Danube – Artists in Residency, 2019, Cetate Arts Danube Center, Cetate, Romania
Cetate Arts Danube – Artists in Residency, 2018, Cetate Arts Danube Center, Cetate, Romania
ADATA AIR, Plovdiv 2019, Capitală Culturală Europeană, 2018, Bulgaria
Bulgarisches Kultur Institut Berlin, 2017, Germany
What Are the Grasses Hiding, Rusenski Lom Natural Park. Nisovo, 2016, Bulgaria
Arsenal. Process Space Art Festival, Russe, 2016, Bulgaria
Entities at the Crossroads Artforum, Bahnhof Langmeil, 2015, Germany
Land Art, Ghelari, Hunedoara, 2014, Romania
Maudite soit la guerre, Méricourt, 2013, France
Aradul văzut de artiști, Arad, 2013, Romania
Lipova, 2013, Romania