Mila Panić

For her contribution to the 13th Berlin Biennale, Mila Panić sets up the comedy club Big Mouth, which styles itself according to the trappings of an established club with a lineup of international comics. You enter the throat of Big Mouth with a series of ironic self-portraits. Downstairs, in the belly of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Panić’s jokes play out a narrative that borrows from the tradition of the “jester’s privilege” to poke fun at our insensitivity for letting the lives of war refugees, immigrants, and their children remain unseen. Neon signs talk about an immigrant’s existential crisis, which lingers as a series of challenges, setbacks, and successes.

Panić’s humor is rooted in her experience growing up in Bosnia, a country devastated by war in the early ’90s, driven by nationalist ambitions and territorial disputes. Language, once a tool of identity, became a weapon that deepened division. The ensuing atrocities created vast diasporas, displacing people into foreign lands where they were met with fresh forms of discrimination.

Stand-up comedy holds a powerful place in the collective consciousness, especially in a world saturated by media aligned with power. It has become a double-edged instrument: while right-wing populist movements have weaponized its reach, comedians who punch up often pay a price. Many face censorship or even imprisonment, their words reverberating far beyond the club stage.

Panić does not title her installation Big Mouth for the obvious resonances of satire but for her courage to speak up with tongue and cheek humor—where gravity is not abandoned, but rather deliberately argued through wit.

Text: Sumesh Sharma