Igor Schiller (1996) is a Serbia-born artist based in Amsterdam. He graduated with a BA in Photography from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 2021. Schiller's work has been exhibited at Unfair Amsterdam, the EYE Film Museum, Amsterdam Art Week, and the Photo Vogue Festival in Milan. In 2022, he was nominated for the FOAM Paul Huf Award. He won the Mangelos Award in 2024, recognizing him as the best young artist in Serbia.
Rooted in the rich traditions of his Balkan upbringing, he explores themes of cultural identity, memories and how formative events have shaped his worldview. Revisiting his childhood through his family archive, Schiller incorporates fictional and subjective elements, resulting in a photographic phantasmagoria saturated with strangeness and gloom, yet contrasted with tenderness and warmth.
In his installations, he transforms archives into monumental symbols of individual experience and the shared history. Schiller views toys, lullabies, games and other remnants of childhood as historical artifacts that mirror the socio-political climate, analyzing how they influence children's content and perpetuate legacies shaped by these rigid systems. He constructs imaginary kingdoms populated by characters who serve as metaphors for his thoughts on identity, isolation, and belonging. His use of humor creates a space for reflection, allowing him to engage with serious subjects more subtly.