Milovan Destil Marković

In 1986, Marković moved to West Berlin. During his early years in West Berlin he worked closely with the DAAD. Together with the Norwegian artist Sissel Tolaas he started a series of laboratory projects in 1987 in West Berlin, Bergen, Poznań and Brühl. He travelled to Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, published the book The Key of Creation and produced numerous videos and performances. He organized the Sava Projekt, the Shipyard Sava in Mačvanska Mitrovica, and the Park of the International Center Sava, Belgrade. On his 32nd birthday on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. At the beginning of the nineties Marković moved to the eastern part of the city and collaborated with Kunst-Werke where, until 1995, he had a studio. In 1992, he participated in the exhibition Berlin 37 Räume. For the opening he organised a soccer game, "Artists against Curators". One year later, in 1993, Marković organised the exhibition Private at Kunst-Werke. During the early years of the war in Yugoslavia, Marković organised support for state independent media in Belgrade. In 1995, he began to work on transfigurative paintings (Lipstick Portraits) and founded "mock-up" Berlin. In 1997, his daughter was born. With Vlasta Mikić and Miroljub Marjanović, he collaborated on the internet project "worldbeograd" in 1999, later SeeCult.org. In 2000 he began research on wall pigment applications and pigmentation technology. In 2003, he began to work on text portraits and the Homeless Project. In 2006 Marković patented a wall-make-up binder for wall pigmentation technology. In 2007, he published his monograph Markovic - Transfigurative Works with the Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nürnberg. In 2008, his monograph Milovan DeStil Markovic was published.

From 1977 to 1983, Marković was a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Belgrade and graduated with an MA. Since 1979, he has been active as a professional artist. From 1979 to 1986, he collaborated with the Student Culture Centre (SKC) in Belgrade where he organised projects, concerts, events and exhibited many times. On April 14, 1981, he proclaimed the World Art Day and became the first Monument of Art performing on Marshal Tito street in front of the SKC. Together with Vlasta Mikić he founded the artist group Žestoki in 1982 and opened the club Akademija (popularly called "Rupa") in the cellar of the Faculty of Fine Arts. Club Akademija was a very important place for the art and new wave scene of the eighties in Belgrade and achieved cult status. Marković studied icons and frescos in Byzantine and Serbian monasteries. He collaborated with Vesna Viktoria Bulajić on the videos "Great Invocation" and "Sacred Warrior". With the TV Galerija art program he produced the video "Viktoria" on TV Belgrade and worked together with Boris Miljković and Srđan Šaper. Just after finishing his studies, Marković received the October Salon award in 1983 and in 1986, aged 28, the Vladislav Ribnikar award (Politika award) for his exhibition Euharistija at the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade. In 1986 he was selected for the international exhibition Aperto at the 42nd Venice Biennial.

Marković's grandfather was a known distiller of slivovitz (Serbian plum brandy) and producer of special hand made gravestones (krajputaš). His grandfather's nickname was "Destilacija" (Destillation), the name that Marković added to his name as Destil, meaning the distillation of ideas into art. Both his parents were partisans during the Second World War. His father Radomir, after coming back from war captivity in Nazi Germany, was a political commissar. His mother Olga was a skilled and emancipated woman. Together with his older brother Dragan he started to paint at a very early age. Marković went to elementary school and later to high school in Požega. In 1976 he tried to enroll the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy, but was not accepted. In the same year, he began preparing for the Faculty of Fine Art.

Milovan DeStil Marković (Serbian Cyrillic: Милован ДеСтил Марковић; born 9 November 1957 in Čačak, Yugoslavia, today Serbia) is Serbian visual artist, who began his career in the early 1980s. Active for over two decades, he is recently described as father of transfigurative painting and the text portrait. Visiting Professor Art in Context at the University of Arts, Berlin.

Marković has exhibited extensively in Europe, Asia and the Americas. His work featured at the: 42nd Venice Biennial (Aperto), 4th Istanbul Biennial, São Paulo Biennial, 46th Venice Biennial, 6th Triennial-India New Delhi, 5th Biennial Cetinje, 49th October Salon Belgrade, Moderna Museet Stockholm, MoMA PS1 New York, Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart Berlin, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Ludwig Museum for Contemporary Art Budapest, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Saarland Museum Saarbrücken, The Artists' Museum Łódź, Landesmuseum Graz, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Art Museum Foundation and Military Museum Istanbul, Kunstforeningen Bergen, Kunstverein Hamburg, Kunst-Werke Berlin, Fei Contemporary Art Center Shanghai and many others.