Born in Cetinje, Montenegro, 1976. Lives&works: Cetinje, Podgorica, Belgrade.
Graduated at Faculty of Fine Arts, Cetinje, University of Montenegro, 1995-1999.
ENSBA/École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts du Mans, France, 1999-2000.
MA in graphic design and graphic art at Faculty of Fine Arts, Cetinje, University of Montenegro.
PhD in interdisciplinary and multimedia art at Center for Interdisciplinary Studies/University of Arts in Belgrade.
PhD in Transdisciplinary Studies in Contemporary Art and Media, Faculty of Media and Communications Singidunum University, Belgrade.
Irena Lagator Pejović (b. 1976 in Yugoslavia) is an artist, art theorist and assistant professor based in Cetinje and Podgorica. Her artworks have been commissioned by institutions, exhibited internationally since 2000 and are included in collections of public institutions such as FRAC Marseille, France; Villa Pacchiani, Italy; MoCA Belgrade and Banja Luka, Museum of Money in Belgrade, National Museum of Montenegro. A book about her practice was edited by Christa Steinle and Karin Buol-Wischenau at Neue Galerie Graz and published by Buchhandlung Walther König. Her artwork has been the subject of notable exhibitions such as 4th and 5th Cetinje biennial, 12th Istanbul Biennial, 3rd Biennial of Industrial Art in Croatia, The Sea is my Land, MAXXI, Rome, 18th Tallin Print Triennial... She represented Montenegro with a solo exhibition Image Think at the 55th Biennale di Venezia. Lagator is one of the seven awardees of the UNESCO prize for the Promotion of the Arts that was awarded at the 4th Cetinje biennial.
Lagator’s post-media practice is research and process-oriented which is why she frequently collaborates with art historians, scientists and architects. She is interested in unnoticeable and paradoxical situations, linguistic and systemic constructions of our globalized age, which seemingly appear irrelevant. By analyzing them, as well as the relations between images and language, individual and collective experiences, she creates rhizomatic references for critical understanding of contemporary society and culture, showing that art can be a relevant social activity for shaping the future. Addressing pressing matters of our time concerning the environment, biopolitics, system instability, memory and history, her work deals with issues of social responsibility and its visibility and functionality in everyday life, and that becomes a central theme to her practice. By prompting the audience's participation and empathy for those topics, Lagator is interested in sensitizing and engaging reflection upon structures and systems that are shaping our lives and senses, while pointing to the possibilities of overcoming their limitations.