Biljana Jotić (née Samardžić), originally from Herzegovina, was born in Mostar (1977). She completed the 7^th grade of primary school in Bileća, and due to her father’s military service, she moved to Belgrade in 1989, where she continued her education and life. She graduated in Art History at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade (MA). During her tumultuous student years (the 1996/97 protests and the 1999 NATO bombing), she volunteered in the Department of Art History library. After graduating, she continued her volunteer practice at the National Museum in Belgrade on the Digitization of Museum Collections Project, as well as at the Vatroslav Lisinski Secondary School of Music. She defended her habilitation and received the title of curator. As an entrepreneur in culture, she founded a gallery dedicated to contemporary creativity and young people (Beoart-Liveart, 2006-2015), which she ran as artistic director for 9 years. She is one of the founders of an association that deals with project activities with a focus on young people and women (Beoart Contemporary (2016)). She is a member of ULUPUDS. Since 2021, she has been acting director of the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade.

As an independent curator, Ms Jotić has realized over 20 solo and over 30 group exhibitions dedicated to young artists, both regionally and internationally. She initiated and realized more than 5 author’s projects, regional and international, independently or in cooperation with civil organizations and public institutions. She has been the selector of more than 10 collective exhibitions, events and festivals, judging several award-winning exhibitions, and initiating and moderating several panels on current topics about contemporary visual creativity. More than 30 of her catalog author’s texts were published, as well as texts for the professional magazine for contemporary visual art and spatial communication, Art Life. In addition, she has opened numerous solo and group exhibitions, held more than 10 expert guides through exhibitions and is the author of more than 20 exhibition settings. She has also initiated and realized several art events with a wider program solution, Art Meetings, as well as holding open classes with pupils and students, multimedia workshops, humanitarian events and auctions of contemporary art, as well as ART tours through contemporary visual art.

She has initiated regional research dedicated to female identities in contemporary visual art. Her past work has been covered by numerous media sources, from television, radio and print media to new forms of Internet portals. She has had more than 15 guest appearances on various TV and radio programs, news programs and those specialized in art and culture, as well as interviews published in print newspapers. A documentary film was made about her co-authored exhibition “The Mediala: Once Upon a Time,” broadcast on the national frequency of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS 3). Also, her author’s documentary series “A Woman About a Woman” directed by Boris Miljković was broadcast on the same channel.

Ms Jotić is the mother of two grown children. She advocates for improving the standards of contemporary artistic and curatorial practices, with a focus on younger generations and the issue of women. Her author’s projects have been supported several times by the funds of the Secretariat of the City of Belgrade, the Ministry of Culture and Information and EU IPA Funds. In the capacity of acting director of the Museum of Applied Art, she actively participates in all programmatic and other activities of the Museum. Ms Jotić has initiated several intersectoral collaborations that advocate the cooperation of the civil, private and public sectors. She actively participates in the organization of exhibitions and the Salon of Architecture. On behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Information, she has realized the performance of the Republic of Serbia at the 23^rd International Triennale Milano, in the capacity of the Commissioner and curator. Ms Jotić is also the Commissioner and the curator of the Republic of Serbia’s performance at the Prague Quadrennial 2023 (alongside Tatjana Dadić–Dinulović), as well as the Council President of the Republic of Serbia’s performance at the Biennale Architettura 2023.