Future of Melancholia
Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)

Slide show

18.4.2025

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Susanne Wenger, *Icons of great sadness*
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Susanne Wenger, *Icons of Great Sadness: Cinetic Performance*, 1994
Oil painting, plywood; metal frame by Ajibike Ogunniyi
62 × 44 cm (76 × 62 × 4,5 cm framed)
Courtesy Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Susanne Wenger, *Icons of Great Sadness: Walt Whitmans song for the Highway*, 1994
Oil painting, plywood; metal frame by Ajibike Ogunniyi
62 × 36 cm (78 × 52 × 4,5 cm framed)
Courtesy Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Susanne Wenger, *Icons of Great Sadness: The little hunn princess*, 1993
Oil painting, plywood; metal frame by Ajibike Ogunniyi
45 × 46 cm (65 × 65 × 4,5 cm framed)
Courtesy Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Susanne Wenger, *Icons of Great Sadness: Totemic Convergence*, 1994
Oil painting, plywood; metal frame by Ajibike Ogunniyi
51 × 60 cm (72 × 77 × 4,5 cm framed)
Courtesy Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Susanne Wenger, *Icons of Great Sadness: Totemic Convergence* (Detail), 1994
Oil painting, plywood; metal frame by Ajibike Ogunniyi
51 × 60 cm (72 × 77 × 4,5 cm framed)
Courtesy Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Susanne Wenger, *Icons of Great Sadness: Drowned and drunk in Homers red wine sea* (Detail), 1994
Oil painting, plywood; metal frame by Ajibike Ogunniyi
33 × 61,5 cm (62 × 77 × 4,5 cm framed)
Courtesy Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Susanne Wenger, *Traumgesichte: Der Wilde Stier* (Dream Visions: Wild Bull), 1943 – 44
Colored pencil on paper
31 × 22 cm (51,5 × 41,5 × 5 cm framed)
Courtesy Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Maruša Sagadin, *Schlechte Laune ohne Kiosk und Küche (Juliana)* (Bad Mood Without a Kiosk and Kitchen (Juliana), 2020
Concrete, wood, pigment, paint
68 × 170 × 65 cm
Courtesy the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Maruša Sagadin, *Schlechte Laune ohne Kiosk und Küche (Juliana)* (Bad Mood Without a Kiosk and Kitchen (Juliana) (Detail), 2020
Concrete, wood, pigment, paint
68 × 170 × 65 cm
Courtesy the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Katharina Höglinger, *The tree in front of my house wears a baby doll*, 2023
Oil on canvas
100 × 80 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Katharina Höglinger
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Katharina Höglinger, *Self-portrait with ear sound*, 2022
Oil on canvas
24 × 18 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Klaus Schuster, *O.T.* (Untitled), 2020
Oil on canvas
50 × 70 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Klaus Schuster
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Klaus Schuster, *O.T.* (Untitled), 2024
Oil and oil pastels on canvas
31 × 41 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Klaus Schuster, *O.T.* (Untitled) (Detail), 2024
Oil and oil pastels on canvas
31 × 41 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Klaus Schuster, *O.T.* (Untitled), 2023
Oil on canvas
41 × 51 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Klaus Schuster, *O.T.* (Untitled), 2020
Oil on canvas
30 × 42 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Anna Schachinger
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Anna Schachinger, *Halterinnen* (Holders), 2022
Oil on linen
180 × 150 cm
Courtesy the artist and SOPHIE TAPPEINER, Vienna
Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com

Anna Schachinger, *Party mit Hexe* (Party with witch), 2022
Oil on linen
180 × 150 cm
Courtesy the artist and SOPHIE TAPPEINER, Vienna
Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Ernst Yohji Jaeger
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Ernst Yohji Jaeger, *Nigredo*, 2024
Oil on canvas
48 × 30 cm
Courtesy the artist and Croy Nielsen, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Ernst Yohji Jaeger, *Untitled 1917, Study for an Angel / Tear through Time*, 2024
Oil on canvas
80 × 70 cm (82 x 72 x 3,5 cm framed)
Courtesy Mohamed Oeuida
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Ernst Yohji Jaeger, *Rebis / 彼岸花*, 2024
Oil on canvas
45 × 35 cm (47 x 37 x 3,5 cm framed)
Courtesy private collection, Asia
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Nanna Kaiser
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Nanna Kaiser, *Killing of a sacred deer (Porsche 911)*, 2023
Car interior, silkscreen, oil
90 × 100 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Nanna Kaiser, *Killing of a sacred deer (Porsche 911)* (Detail), 2023
Car interior, silkscreen, oil
90 × 100 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Nanna Kaiser, *Skinned sky utopian try (Bmw 230i Coupé)*, 2023
Oil on car interior
250 × 150 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Nanna Kaiser, *Skinned sky utopian try (Bmw 230i Coupé)* (Detail), 2023
Oil on car interior
250 × 150 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Kamilla Bischof, *Lambretta*, 2020
Oil and spray paint on canvas
150 × 100 cm
Courtesy Meyer*Kainer, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Lisa Slawitz
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Lisa Slawitz, *Februar Portrait Inverse*, 2023
Oil on high-density fiberboard
100 × 110 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Lisa Slawitz, *Engel* (Angel), 2023
Oil on canvas
140 × 160 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Maruša Sagadin, *Summer*, 2020
Wooden surface green/orange, concrete, wood, pigment, paint
57 × 200 × 30 cm
Courtesy the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Maruša Sagadin, *Summer* (Detail), 2020
Wooden surface green/orange, concrete, wood, pigment, paint
57 × 200 × 30 cm
Courtesy the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Matthias Noggler, *Formation (Heads)*, 2023
Gouache on linen
81 × 90 cm
Courtesy private collection, Wolfgang Renner, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Matthias Noggler, *Not Window, Not Wall*, 2024
Gouache and colored pencil on linen
161 × 165,5 cm
Courtesy private collection, Clemens Leopold, Berlin
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

*Future of Melancholia*, 2025
Exhibition view, Gallery-Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (MoCAB)
Flora Hauser
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Flora Hauser, *ChuChu-Moon*, 2024
Acrylic fiber and cotton yarn sewn on canvas
42 × 42 cm
Courtesy Meyer*Kainer, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Flora Hauser, *Wrenkh1 – Schlürfen werden wir wohl dürfen* (Wrenkh1 – We’ll be able to slurp), 2023
Acrylic fiber and cotton yarn sewn on canvas
25 × 20 cm
Courtesy Meyer*Kainer, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Flora Hauser, *Geburt der Sonne* (Birth of the sun), 2024
Acrylic fiber and cotton yarn sewn on canvas
210 × 100 cm
Courtesy Meyer*Kainer, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Flora Hauser, *Geburt der Sonne* (Birth of the sun) (Detail), 2024
Acrylic fiber and cotton yarn sewn on canvas
210 × 100 cm
Courtesy Meyer*Kainer, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Lisa Slawitz, *Signing Reality, flat* (Detail), 2022
Mixed media on unprimed fabric
590 × 400 cm
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Maruša Sagadin, *Schlechter Witz (II)* (Bad joke (II)) (Detail), 2024
Cardboard, styrofoam, acrylic resin, pigments, metal
107 × 30 × 40 cm
Courtesy the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Maruša Sagadin, *Schlechter Witz (II)* (Bad joke (II)), 2024
Cardboard, styrofoam, acrylic resin, pigments, metal
107 × 30 × 40 cm
Courtesy the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Maruša Sagadin, *Hoop (Green)*, 2023
Cardboard, styrofoam, acrylic polymer, pigments, metal, wood
100 × 35 × 65 cm
Courtesy the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

Maruša Sagadin, *Hoop (Green)* (Detail), 2023
Cardboard, styrofoam, acrylic polymer, pigments, metal, wood
100 × 35 × 65 cm
Courtesy the artist and Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Photo: Bojana Janjić / MoCAB

The exhibition Future of Melancholia at the Gallery-Legacy of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade presents a selection of contemporary Austrian artists alongside Susanne Wenger, the Graz-born pioneer of Surrealism, who also took part in the 60th Venice Biennale in 2023. The works of the contemporary artists reflect on the emotion of melancholy, and are shown in dialog works by Susanne Wenger. The exhibition takes place in a 1930s Yugo-modernist building, which today serves as part of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade and is located in a residential area on the outskirts of the city. While Wenger’s works on the first floor reflect various creative phases from her career, the artists on the upper floors explore melancholy, nostalgia and introspective themes that, can be understood as a response to regional and global developments, as well as certain art-historical interests. The exhibition encompasses a wide range of artistic forms of expression, from painting and sculpture to installation works that move between fantasy, emotional introspection, depictions of dream worlds, but also reflections of social realities.

Future of Melancholia is a cooperation between the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade and the HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, supported by Austrian and Serbian cultural institutions, and contributes to artistic and inter-communicative understanding between the countries.

Exhibition Page

More contributions

Vanessa Joan Müller, Evelyn Plaschg
Conversation

Video

22.9.2025

The book presentation accompanying Evelyn Plaschg’s exhibition Viscous City features a conversation between Vanessa Joan Müller, Sandro Droschl, and the artist herself. Müller’s essay Ansichten des Unbestimmten (Views of the Indefinite) describes Plaschg’s painting as a poetic-analytical reflection on the body, pictorial space, and urban experience, inviting an in-depth exchange on image, text, and perception.

Viscous City: Evelyn Plaschg, Vanessa Joan Müller

Evelyn Plaschg
Concert

Video

3.9.2025

The video shows an excerpt from Evelyn Plaschg’s concert, which she presented as part of her exhibition Viscous City at HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark. The artist’s sound performance enters into dialogue with her paintings on display.

Evelyn Plaschg concert

Exhibition Tour
Louise Giovanelli: A Song of Ascents

Video

2.9.2025

In her exhibition, A Song of Ascents, Louise Giovanelli explores the expansion of consciousness through spirituality and sensuality. Her colorful, hyperrealistic paintings blend classical techniques with fantastical motifs to depict emotional experiences in hedonistic scenes from theaters and working-class clubs.

Exhibition Tour Louise Giovanelli

Exhibition Tour
Evelyn Plaschg: Viscous City

Video

21.8.2025

The exhibition Viscous City shows around twenty-five works by Evelyn Plaschg and provides a comprehensive insight into her painting practice, which moves between figuration and abstraction.

Exhibition Tour Evelyn Plaschg

Stefan Albl
The Renaissance of Sensuality. Titian around 1520

Video

21.8.2025

In his lecture, Dr. Stefan Albl discusses Titian’s art and its influence on the development of Renaissance painting, drawing parallels with the work of the artist Louise Giovanelli.

Stefan Albl The Renaissance of Sensuality. Titian around 1520

Evelyn Plaschg
Viscous City

Slide show

23.7.2025

Evelyn Plaschg combines sophisticated technique and her own idiosyncratic imagery to produce a kind of painting that is figurative in ways that transcend all standard approaches.

Viscous City

Louise Giovanelli
A Song of Ascents

Slide show

21.7.2025

Louise Giovanelli paints striking hypnotic works that emit light both on a visual and metaphorical level. Her works often show mysterious objects, such as a closed curtain, a glimmering shock of hair, or the reflecting surface of a cocktail glass. There are also human figures, often women, seemingly caught in moments between awe and desperation, or about to cross over a border of experience and knowledge.

A Song of Ascents

Evelyn Plaschg
Artist Talk

Video

3.7.2025

Together, artist Evelyn Plaschg and curator Jan Tappe will speak about the process of painting, shifts within the artist’s practice, the role of photography as a point of departure, the presence of the body in the image, and a growing interest in urban spaces and infrastructures.

Evelyn Plaschg