11th cei venice forum for contemporary art curators: the speakers
The Agencies We Need.
11th CEI Venice Forum for Contemporary Art Curators. Continental Breakfast 2024.
Venice, Academy of Fine Arts, Dorsoduro 423, Academy Auditorium
Friday, 19 April 2024 [1:45 – 6:00 pm]
The Speakers
IOANA CIOCAN | Romania
Commissioner of Romania for the Participation in the 60th Edition of the Venice International Art Biennale. Awarded Eisenhower Fellowship, Eastern European Program and the Order of Cultural Merit, for promoting culture and national identity in Romania. Member of the Founding and Organising Committee of The Museum of the Atrocities of Communism and member of the Scientific Committee of the Cotroceni National Museum. University lecturer, PhD (tenured position), University of Bucharest.
KLAUDIA FAGU | Albania
She is a young culture manager and curator born in Tirana living between Padua and Tirana. She graduated in Economics and Administration of Arts and Culture at the University of Venice, and in 2023 was part of “Curating with Care” alternative education program in curating organized by Tirana Art Lab, and has since started to collaborate with Adela Demetja and Tirana Art Lab. Fagu writes articles of art exhibitions and cultural events for Ekphrasis Blog, and has worked alongside Italian and artists of Albanian origin. She co-founded Zanë Kolektivë and has coorganized cultural events like Portovecchio Festival, Suoni in Peschiera in Padua and the art exhibition “Vazhdë” in Tirana.
BRANKO FRANCESCHI | Croatia
He is the director of the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb, Croatia. From 2015 – 2020 he was director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Split, Croatia, from 2008 to 2010 he was a director of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists HDLU in Zagreb, from 2004 to 2008 executive director of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, Croatia and from 1987 to 2004 was a program director at the Miroslav Kraljevic Gallery in Zagreb, Croatia. Trained as an Art Historian at the University of Zagreb, from 1987 he initiated and curated numerous exhibitions of contemporary art for the exhibition spaces in Croatia and beyond. He was commissioner/curator for the Croatian pavilion at 16th Sao Paulo Biennial (2004) and 55th Venice Biennial (2013), and its curator for the 52th Venice Biennial (2007) and 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennial (2008), co-commissioner of the ARK D-0 Biennial, Konjic, BIH and Helsinki Photography Biennial (2014), member of the curatorial team of the International Biennial of Young Artists, Bucharest (2006, 2012). In 2005 he initiated Biennial of Quadrilateral in Rijeka, Croatia.
MARIN IVANOVIĆ | Bosnia and Herzegovina
He is an art historian, museum professional, and scholar specializing in modern and contemporary art of South Eastern Europe. Previously a director of the Museum of Modern Art in Dubrovnik, he is now the director of the Museum of Modern Art in Mostar. He also teaches 20th-century art, theory of art, and visual communications at the universities of Mostar and Osijek and is the author of many papers, essays, and critics, as well as several books. He was appointed Commissioner for the Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
MICHAL KOLEČEK | Czech Republic
He is a curator of contemporary art and art historian dealing with topics focused on cooperation with communities, developing the potential of shared places, contextualizing cultural memory and reflecting on environmental aspects. Head professor of the master program of Curatorial Studies at the Faculty of Art and Design of the J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. Since 2016, director of the Ústí nad Labem House of Arts.
RÓNA KOPECZKY | Hungary
She is a curator and art historian based in Budapest since 2004. Between 2006 and 2015 she was curator at the Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest. Since 2015, she has been the artistic director of acb Gallery in Budapest. She is co-founder of Easttopics, a platform dedicated to representing the Central and Eastern European contemporary art scene.
LERA KOTSYUBA | Ukraine (YACA)
She was born in Donetsk and she is an emerging curator, editor, and art critic based in Toronto, Canada. A citizen of, and working on, the land of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum covenant, Lera works toward shared responsibilities around the built environment, and strives for anti-capitalist systems of community.
Lera has written and presented on craft, architecture and the Arts & Crafts movement, and has curated a solo show of ceramicist Kathy Kranias’ work, entitled Matrilineal Hauntings in 2022. She is currently the Managing Editor of Studio Magazine.
ALEXANDRA LAZAR | Serbia
She is a curator and art historian based in London and Belgrade. She is committed to foregrounding artistic and cultural practices that work from a position of difference, resulting in talks at Tate Britain, the Courtauld, the Ashmolean, Insiders/Outsiders, the ESU, and exhibitions spanning the BFI London, Tate Archive London, MSU Rijeka as well as numerous galleries and independent spaces. From 2019-23 she has curated Wiener ART collection in Belgrade, where she was in charge of commissions and acquisitions of art, as well as commissions of art historical texts and VRs of historic performances. As the founder of the Association of Art Galleries of Serbia (AUGS) she coordinates AUGS TALKS, promoting the curatorial and artistic practices from CE Europe.
TEVŽ LOGAR | Slovenia
He works as an independent curator, editor, author and advisor. He has curated or co-curated a number of group and solo exhibitions and collaborated with institutions, galleries and collections, such as: Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Łódź; The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Kunsthalle Praha; TBA21, Vienna; The Ovidiu Șandor Collection, Timișoara; Kunsthalle, Bratislava; James Gallery, New York; American University Beirut; CAC Geneve; Kontakt Collection, Vienna and others. He curated Jasmina Cibic: For Our Economy and Culture for the Slovenian Pavilion For at the 55th Venice Biennial. He is a co-founder of the Ulay Foundation in Amsterdam, where he now sits as a member of the Advisory Board. He lives in Rijeka, Croatia.
TEODORA TALHOȘ | Romania (YACA)
She is a curator, cultural manager and writer interested in the concepts of “periphery” and “outsider”, as well as ways of expressing non-violent resistance in contemporary art. She holds a degree in Art History from the University of Vienna and a Masters in Curatorial Studies from the Städelschule and Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. She has curated several exhibitions in Germany and Romania. Since 2022 she is based in Timișoara, Romania, where she develops intercultural artistic projects with a focus on local communities.
MARTINA YORDANOVA | Bulgaria
She is a curator and researcher based in Sofia. She has a background in Communication and media sciences (BA, MA) and postgraduate study in curatorial studies from several European educational institutions. Since 2020 Yordanova works at the National Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria. Martina Yordanova has also been co-directing the 25th Biennial of Humor and Satire in Art in Gabrovo in 2022. She is the initiator and curator of “1m2 Art”, a project based in Veliko Tarnovo in which each month a different artist from the local art scene presents their work in a space no bigger than its name. Together with the cultural space TAM in Veliko Tarnovo she manages the visual arts program of the organization. She has been the curator of Ritual Gatherings Festival happening at the seaside in Bulgaria in 2022. In 2023 she initiated Iatrus Residency Program in Veliko Tarnovo, which aims to present collaborations in various disciplines with international creative practitioners. Currently she is Jury Member and Ambassador of Sofia Art Fair taking place in October 2024.
VANJA ŽANKO | Croatia
She is a cultural manager with over fifteen years of experience managing exhibition spaces, cultural organizations, and artist studios. She founded Nomad ten years ago in Zagreb to bring together artists, public institutions, as well as private and corporate collections to collectively promote contemporary artists from Croatia and neighboring countries in cultural institutions across Croatia and Europe.Through the maintenance of structured connections, the office is dedicated to creating value that contributes to the long-term improvement of the status and reputation of artists, institutions, and collectors. Institutions that she has collaborated with include the National Museum of Modern Art Zagreb, Camera Austria Graz, Kunsthaus Zürich, Tate Modern London, the United Nations, the Venice Biennial, Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb, Angewandte Vienna, and IUAV Venice.
go to the 2024 Forum main page
[last update: 10 April 2024]