From the Far Side of the Moon
“From the Far Side of the Moon” (animated film, 13:21, English, 2017)
Director: Radenko Milak
Assistant Director: Vaso Milak
Editor: Robin Plessy
Music: Gaël Rakotondrabe
Sound Mixer: Laurent Herniaux
Writers: Radenko Milak, Christopher Yggdre
Production: L’Agence à Paris
Radenko Milak, From the Far Side of the Moon, 2017, animation movie, duration 13’21, movie stills, courtesy l’Agence à Paris
“From the Far Side of the Moon” is an animated film directed by Radenko Milak. It literally guides us through a series of scenes where all linear narration disappears, replaced by a circular narration in which the darkening effect of black becomes a metaphor for what cannot be seen—what is impossible to represent, in other words, that which lies beyond our human measure and imagination. We see parts of landscapes where natural movements of water, air, smoke, plants, or living beings alternate. Other scenes depict humans and the mechanical rhythms of man-made machines. Fragments of interviews with Robert Oppenheimer support the dramatic composition, building up to its dark and poetic climax. “From the Far Side of the Moon” plays with symbolic perceptions of opposites—male and female concepts, the moon and the sun, light and darkness, absence and presence, distance and proximity—leading us back to this mysterious pair: desire and catastrophe. This duo, which we can accept again with enthusiasm, embodies the desire for catastrophe and the catastrophe of desire. The film can be viewed as a metaphor for a journey through memory, moving from one disaster to another, but never appearing literally—only metaphorically.
The work was realized in collaboration with the Museum of Yugoslavia and supported by the Film Center of Serbia.
Radenko Milak – Biography
Radenko Milak, born in 1980 in Yugoslavia, lives and works in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina). After completing his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade, he created and led Spa Port, an international contemporary art exhibition, from 2008 to 2010. Since 2010, he has fully devoted himself to artistic creation, primarily focusing on painting, watercolors, drawings, and animated films. He defines himself as a painter of the digital era. His works, often presented as series, have been the subject of numerous exhibitions worldwide, at art biennials as well as museums, art centers, and galleries.
Milak views his work as installations that activate the symbolic power of images and their aesthetic potential in an era where these images increasingly replace articulated languages and where their production escapes control in the digital age. His works have been frequently exhibited across Europe, particularly in France and Germany, where they have been included in several public art collections, such as the Folkwang Museum. In 2017, he was invited to the 57th Venice Biennale, where he represented Bosnia and Herzegovina with the conceptual exhibition University of Disaster. In 2018, Milak had several solo exhibitions and was invited to participate in various international biennials, including the third edition of the Kampala Biennale (Uganda) and the 57th October Salon in Belgrade.
Milak’s painting places central questions about how visual elements are positioned, preserved in personal memory, and represented in film and photography. His artistic work has long been influenced by the idea that our relationship to the world and its history is largely shaped by the continuous flow of images that represent it. His unique technique—using black watercolor on a white surface—allows him to reach the essence of the image and employ an aesthetic language that is profoundly distinctive. Drawing inspiration from printed media, such as images from newspapers, old postcards, and online sources, Milak creates his watercolors and oil paintings by using black pigment on white surfaces. He transforms film stills, reports, or press images and other archival materials into small artistic narratives through processes of appropriation and transformation.