Artist s Portfolio About Contact Education Membership in Committees and Festivals CV Art Selected works (photos) Selected Publications Appearances in Interviews References in Exhibition Catalogues References in Books, Newspapers, and Magazines Sample Interview Sample Curatorial Text
About Mirna Arsovska was born 1967 in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. She lives and works in Skopje as an artist and freelance designer. Her main artistic fields are installations, art objects, sculptures, and video art. Contact Address: e-mail: skype: web: vimeo: Vаršavska 46, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia mirna.arsovska@gmail.com mirna.arsovska mirnaarsovska.wordpress.com http://vimeo.com/arsovska Education 1992: BA in Fine Arts awarded by the Faculty of Art, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia 1986: Lazar Ličenovski School of Applied Arts, Skopje, Macedonia Membership in Committees and Festivals 2007: Member of the Board for Annual Art Projects at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia 2005: Member of the Selection Committee for Attitude-Video/ Short & Experimental Film/ Photography Festival
Curriculum Vitae Artist in Residence Projects 1997: Providence, USA, "Convergence X, Liquor Amnii-2", Trust for Mutual Understanding Foundation (A group exhibition organized by Mobius Art Group from Boston, USA and Cultural Centre Mala Stanica from Skopje, Macedonia) 1992: Manchester, UK, "Art Along the Tame Valley", Princes Trust Foundation (organized by artist Kerry Morisson from Manchester, UK) 1992: Oldham, UK, "Sculptures in Alexandra Park", North West Arts Board (organized by artist Kerry Morisson from Manchester, UK) Symposiums 2008: Grožnjan Art Colony and Symposium, Grožnjan, Croatia 2005: Institute Museum and Gallery, "International Symposium/Exhibition GATES" Bitola, Macedonia 2003: Institute Museum and Gallery, "International Symposium/Exhibition IF-2", Bitola, 1994: International Sculptors' Symposium- Marble, Prilep, Macedonia 1994: International Studio for Metal Sculptures, Prilep, Macedonia Biennials 2008: 9 th International Biennial of Miniature Art, Gornji Milanovac, Serbia 1997: First International Biennial of Sketches and Projects, Golden Eye Gallery, Novi Sad, Serbia 1994: 4th Biennial of the Young Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Macedonia Presentations and Lectures 2008: Grožnjan Art Colony and Symposium, Grožnjan, Croatia 2004: BankArt 1929 Gallery, Yokohama, Japan 1998: SCCA, Skopje, Macedonia 1997: Mobius Centre, Boston, USA Solo Exhibitions 2016: Gallery MC, New York, USA, Mute + Unforbidden Colors 2016: Art Gallery- Cultural Centre Marko Cepenkov, Prilep, Macedonia, Mute + Unforbidden Colors 2009: Cultural Centre Palach Art Gallery, Rijeka, Croatia, Wood & Roll 2009: City Gallery Fonticus, Grožnjan, Croatia, Wood & Roll 2006: Cultural Center Magaza Institute and Museum, Bitola, Macedonia, Seducing Mobility 2003: Museum of the City of Skopje, Skopje, Macedonia, Flowers of Ink with Commas-Pollen 1996: Stairs Gallery, (with Iskra Dimitrova and Violeta Čapovska), Vršac, Serbia, Exhales-Inhales, 1995: Jildiz University Gallery, (with Aneta Svetieva and Žaneta Vangeli), Istanbul, Turkey, Self and The Other, 1994: Youth Cultural Centre, Skopje, Macedonia, Installation Landscape Selected Group Exhibitions 2017: Sarajevo, BIH, Bosnian Cultural Center, Face to face Imago Mundi (Benetton Collection) 2017: Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of Contemporary Art, "Acquisitions Donations 2012-2016 2016: Skopje, Macedonia, National Gallery - Chivte hammam, Observation without an observer 2016: Cetinje, Montenegro, Gallery Miodrag Dado Đurić, "Essence of Existence" 2016: Prilep, Macedonia, NICC Marko Cepenkov, Exhibition from Art Colony Dren
2016: Skopje, Macedonia, National Gallery Mala stanica, "Essence of Existence" 2015: Skopje, Macedonia, National Gallery -Mala stanica, "Looking at nothing (desire in the future)" 2015: Zagreb, Croatia, Lauba Gallery, "Essence of Existence" 2015: Skopje, Macedonia, Memorial Holocaust Center, "Dealing with the past" 2014: Prague, Czech Republic, Czech Centre, "Transfiguring" 2014: Skopje, Macedonia, Institute for Arts and Culture Ars Acta, Project: Procrastination (Billboard art 2) 2014: Skopje, Macedonia, National Gallery - Chivte hammam, "Time collectors project" 2013: Groznjan, Croatia, Fontikus Gallery, art project "Arpeggio Ostinato" 2013: Skopje, Macedonia, Location: st. Metropolitan Theodosius Gologanov,no.70, Kooperacija group project, "Reidentification" 2013 Bitola, Macedonia, Institute and Museum Bitola - Gallery "Time collector" 2013: Skopje, Macedonia, Location: Arhitektri-Skopje, Kooperacija group project, Utopias/Distopias: Documents 2013: Skopje, Macedonia, Location: Ex-Turistic association of Macedonia-Skopje, Kooperacija group project, Where is Everyone? 2012 : Skopje, Macedonia, MKC," 90s: Macedonian Art 1990-2000: EUFORIA" 2011 : Basel, Switzerland, Art 42 Basel 2011, E-flux Project: "Agency of Unrealized Projects (AUP)" 2011: Grožnjan, Croatia, Fonticus Gallery, Art project Crisis illusion 2011: Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of the City of Skopje, Group exhibition "Fire" 2011: Skopje, Macedonia, Youth Cultural Centre, Radio 103 Short movies and videos program 2010: Mostar, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Gallery Aluminij, Group exhibition "Fire" 2010 : Sarajevo Winter Festival: Gallery Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina, "Fire" 2009 : Zenica, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Museum of the City of Zenica, Group exhibition, Fire 2009 : Skopje, Macedonia, Macedonian Contemporary Art Exhibition at the World Bank/ Gallery of Swiss Embassy, "Climate Changes Cultural Changes" 2009 : Grožnjan, Croatia, Fonticus Gallery, Group exhibition "Fire" 2009 : Split, Croatia, Art Gallery & Salon Galic, Selected Group exhibition "Air" 2008: Zagreb, Croatia, Zvonimir Gallery, Selected Group exhibition "Air" 2008: Grožnjan, Croatia, Fonticus Gallery, Group exhibition "Air" 2008: Skopje, Macedonia, Macedonian Contemporary Art Exhibition at the World Bank/Gallery of the Swiss Embassy, "Art and Development" 2007: Skopje, Macedonia, Press to Exit Gallery, "Enquiry Into Reality: The Disappearance of Public Space" - part two 2007: Bitola, Macedonia, Cultural Centre Magaza, "Old Space New Line" 2006: Belgrade, Serbia, Gallery of Museum of Contemporary Art, "Enquiry Into Reality: The Disappearance of Public Space" - part one 2005: Skopje, Macedonia, Press to Exit Gallery, "20 / 21" 2004: Yokohama, Japan, BankArt 1929 Gallery, "Collaboration" 2003: Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of Contemporary Art, "idea-theque" 2002: Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of Contemporary Art, "Transformations" 2000: Tokyo, Japan, Japan Foundation Forum, "Radiations" 1999: Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of Contemporary Art, "Narcissism(s)" 1998: Belgrade, Serbia, Veljković Pavilion, "Radiations" 1998: Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of Contemporary Art, "Radiations" 1998: München, Germany, Bayerische Landesbank Gallery, "Radiations" 1996: Skopje, Macedonia, Cifte Amam, "Liquor Amnii-1" 1995: Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of Contemporary Art, "9 1/2, New Macedonian Art" 1994: Skopje, Macedonia, Čifte Amam, "Chifte Hamam-1"
Video Festivals 2016: Bitola, Macedonia, Cultural Center Magaza Institute and Museum, "Attitude 2016 " 2009: Belgrade, Serbia, (DKSG), "Videography of the Region" 2008: Beijing, China, Today Art Museum, "One minute festival" 2008: Prato, Italy, Centro per l arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, "The World One Minutes Exhibition in Italy 2007: Amsterdam, Netherlands, "Balkan SnapShot Festival" 2006: Strumica, Macedonia, "2 nd International Film and Video Festival of South-Eastern Europe Aster Fest 2006 2006: Bitola, Macedonia, Cultural Center Magaza Institute and Museum, "Attitude - Video/Short & Experimental Film/ Photography Festival-3" 2005: Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, (DKSG), "Alternative film/video 2005" 2005: Bitola, Macedonia, Cultural Center Magaza Institute and Museum, "Attitude - Video/Short & Experimental Film/ Photography Festival-2"
Selected works (photos)
Appearances in Interviews 2009: Mirna Arsovska interview in newspaper Utrinski vesnik (Culture section, Number 3108 Tuesday, October 13, 2009 / page 16) by Kateina Bogoevska, In Istria, Arsovska and Kunovska introduced themselves ( Wood&Roll Fonticus Gallery / Palach cultural center, Groznjan / Rieka, 2006: Mirna Arsovska interview in newspaper Vest, 22 fevruari 2006 / Culture section, by Marija Zafirovska, Illogical and meditative reality of Mirna Arsovska ( Seductive mobility, Magaza Gallery, Bitola, Macedonia) 2005: Mirna Arsovska interview in newspaper Utrinski vesnik by Katerina Bogoevska, Some another collaboration ( Collaboration, 1929BankArt Gallery, Yokohama, Japan, curated and organized by Biljana Isijanin and Yoshio Machida) 2003: Mirna Arsovska interview in newspaper Utrinski vesnik by Katerina Bogoevska, Interpunctions have the power to annul the stupidity (Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of the City of Skopje, Flowers of ink with commas-pollen ) 1999: Mirna Arsovska interview in newspaper "Makedonija Denes by Mimoza Petrovska, A different view of the form ( Narcissism Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Group Exhibition, curated by Sonja Abadzieva) References in Exhibition Catalogues Eugen Borkovsky. In: Wood & Roll, /Rijeka, 2009 (exh. Cat.) Eugen Borkovsky. In: Vatra /Fire, /Groznjan, 2009 (exh. cat.) Eugen Borkovsky. In: Zrak /Air, /Groznjan, 2008 (exh. cat.) Билјана Исијанин / Biljana Isijanin, Заводлива мобилност / Seductive mobility, Bitola 2006 Дејан Буѓевац/Dejan Bugjevac. In: Цвеќиња од мастило, со запирки полен/ Flower of ink, with commas-pollen,/skopje, 2003 (exh. Cat.) Небојша Вилиk/Nebojsa Vilic. In: II Jugoslovenski Likovni Bijenale mladih / 2nd Yugoslav Biennial of Young Artists, Udisaji-izdisaji/Inhalesexhales, /Vrsac, 1996 (exh. Cat.) Cузaнa Mилeвcка/Suzana Milevska. In: Jас и другиот (BEN ve Digeri) / I and the Other, /lstanbul, 1995 (exh. Cat.). Мирослав Поповиќ/Miroslav Popovic. In: Пејсаж Инсталација/Landscape Installation, /Skopje, 1994 (exh. Cat.) Небојша Вилиќ/Nebojsa Vilic. In: Големото стакло бр.2/the Large Glass nu.2, Trimestrial Review of Visual Arts /Skopje, 1995 (exh. Mag.) Suzana Milevska. In: Liquor Amnii 1 Skopje Liquor Amnii 2 Providence /Skopje, Providence / 1996, 1997 (exh. Cat.). Betti-Sue Hertz. In: Liquor Amnii 1 Skopje Liquor Amnii 2 Providence
/Skopje, Providence / 1996, 1997 (exh. Cat.). Suzana Milevska. In: Liquor Amnii 1 Skopje Liquor Amnii 2 Providence /Skopje, Providence / 1996, 1997 (exh. Cat.). Sonja Abadzieva. In: (aus)strahlungen / Radiations, / Munich, 1998 (exh. Cat.) Sonja Abadzieva. In: Radiations / Tokyo, 2000 (exh. Cat.) Небојша Вилиќ/Nebojsa Vilic. In: Чифте Амам 1/Chifte Amam 1, /Skopje, 1995 (exh. cat.) References in Books, Newspapers, and magazines -Puls (Skopje MK)/ 12 November 1992 / Suzana Milevska /Ambivalence of the sign / page3 The Advertiser (Ashton UK) / 10 September 1992 / Kerry s canal project proves a saw point / page6 Evening Chronicle (Oldham, UK) / 21 August 1992/ An artistic experiment / page12 Big Glass Magazine for art (Skopje MK) Nb.2/ 1995 / Nebojsa Vilic / Diary for installation / page 64 Anons _plastik sanatlar dergisi (Istanbul, TR) / may 1995 / Beral Madra / Makedon Kültür Günleri / page Art Republika nb.6 (Skopje MK)/ mart 2006 / Mirna Arsovska / Biljana Isijanin/ page. Danas (Belgrade, SR), 5 April 2006 / Special edition of newspaper Danas / The Disappearance Of Public Space / page2 Mobius (Boston, US) / Vol 14#2, june 1997 / Mirna Arsovska / page17 -P-Form _a jurnal of interdisciplinary and performance art (Boston, US) / Number 45, Summer 1998 / page34 The Boston Globe Living Arts / 20 June 1997 / Artist exchange makes cultural connection / page D11 Nasa Borba (Belgrade, SR) / 4 July 1998 / Jovan Despotovic / Different creative energies Dnevnik (Skopje MK) Culture section / 22 February 2000 /Macedonian Art in Japan Nova Makedonija (Skopje, MK) / 26-27 February 2000 / Sofija Gjurovska / New radiations Dnevnik (Skopje MK) Culture section / 10 September 2003 / Vladimir Velickovski / Totem of apathy in human / page17 Deep breathing (Skopje MK) / 2001 / Sonja Abadzieva / pages from the book: 74, 79, 84, 88, 98, 105, 108, 166, 172, Transformations 2 (Skopje MK) / 2002 / Sonja Abadzieva / pages from the book: 21, 73, 81, 82, 118, Idea-theque (Skopje MK) / 2003 / Sonja Abadzieva / pages from the book: 235-236, 267-268, 430-431, 458 Book covers over (Skopje MK) / 2004 /Stanko Pavleski/ pages from the book: 48-51, 521
Sample Interview 2003 Skopje, Macedonia, Museum of the City of Skopje, Flowers of ink with commaspollen Interview by Katerina Bogoevska Utrinski vesnik Q. You offer a impressive view on the "seals". Set high and central to the museum space, using them as carriers of new messages, the stampers orthographic signs. How their finality and spatial limitations were susceptible to place your print seal in which each of the small seemingly marks a great message? A. The exhibition consists of three small (less enlarged compared to seals from Everyday), and a large seal, center set up in museum space. Smaller bear the seal of orthographic marks - commas, quotation marks, three points; means those signs in everyday speech and writing are used "generally" as a standard generalization of the situation "between" and "before and after thing." The "small" seals, with its sign is evident in the exhibition, while the "big" seal uncover obvious or if you want "hide" his character. Here we have the choice of the viewer, that is, offered a "chance" for a new, different, personal, thinking, and the presence of baroque bench cushion which is dipped in ink can help or suggest such a reading of the invisible sign. As to your question about whether their spatial limitations and finality is susceptible to my art solution to these signs, I want to say that it is such an absolute "actual muteness and formality" caused my author's willingness to "completely" artistic exhaustion and objective. Q. Why the rigid seals offer lyrics that fit in successfully hidden, but the most important part? A. Stamped lyric which I suppose in such fine punctuation is possible, thanks to their freedom from their "natural contextualized" and its "grammatical function as noted in the introduction of a catalog by Bugjevac. Lyric function destroyed the function of official seals. It is a moment of intimacy. Disfunctionality to disappear and meet simultaneously, and gives new presence. That comes to the destruction of the meanings, the way we practice and feelings only become real and true to such a quiet articulation. Q. This is your fourth self-presentation to family audiences the longer break time. The subjects again revealed segments of life, fragments of existence, seemingly invisible, insignificant, but present a new dimension... Where has gone and how to shape the story breaking on their borders? A. The selection of the object is the press. The answer to the question "why print is clear:" And why not. It may sound ironic, but believe it is not, and perhaps is. In any case, try to be clear. The course is not "important" as the selection, ie, the choice is an artistic decision. That is enough. The artwork does not exist simply to be understood. The course does not lead the story, but the author. Of course, this does not mean hierarchical relationship of "aura" of the author towards the viewer, its linear drive. It is just a gesture to call copyright gesture, which made moving object of a outartistic nature if you will, "critical" world of art. Otherwise, my attitude towards involvement concept of artistic creation is that "art is not engaged on reality. Q. Did you have practical limitations in the intention to produce exhibits, freeing them from the usual symbolism?
A. In the process of manufacture, came to an absurd situation which offered me the facilities subject to their old value and symbolism. As previously mentioned above, just such a "moment of recognition was most important for me as an artistic decision. Seal as the official identity with its excessive liability applicable, with its vulgar and cynical local friability, and very often negative consequent for humans, creates a good opportunity to create a situation "denial behind in eternity." Claude Monet for years he built his water lily, devoting their attention to a large garden. But while not reflected as very important "art unessentials, they themselves do not mean anything as such. Q. How much space of the Museum of Skopje meet your expectations and Are you planning an exhibition to be mounted in other places? A. Setting is not treated as installation space, I assumed no such spatial solutions. Simply, the choice of one of the "cleanest" room for exposure to us, just give me a clean situation and commitment to the concept of the story. As such, the exhibition is ready to further "living". I am currently in negotiations with several galleries here and abroad. I hope that something will resulting of all this, but we'll see. For me, it is authorized to continue with some of my art surveys that I obsessed over the past few years, and for which I neither need be exhibited. Q. Your have a existing number of twenty year representation in public, usually part of joint projects and group exhibitions in Macedonia and abroad. What is based on their success: the idea and the strength of the curator to bring the project to the end, the power of communication between authors, the professional skill of the authors of a joint exhibition conceptualization...? A. Success above all, comes from identification of the stage, etc. "Non-scene" by the curators, the artists themselves and the audience. Most had accepted "the Macedonian art scene of the authors, no matter that most of them are including myself, do not treat the" uniqueness "of the letter as a possible female artistic problem. Q. This year, functioned as one of the few independent artists in the country. Are you satisfied with the status you have, what are the strengths and shortcomings are? A. I am pleased status, above all, because it is approved, which I confirmed my commitment to the affirmation. Still, explore ways to use the form "free artist" on my future. Does not support the tendency to increase the number of independent artists here, and I've given the situations in neighboring, similar to our countries. The only objections I bureaucratic difficulties which occur when part of administrative procedures. There incoordination between different departments in the state on the question of legal form T.P. (sole proprietor). Sample Curatorial Texts 1995 Istanbul, Turkey, Jildiz University Gallery, "Self and the other" dimension of sculptures 2300 x 1500 x 1000mm used materials 1. Coal 2. Metal x 2 3. Ice block Cузaнa Mилeвcка/Suzana Milevska. In: Jас и другиот (BEN ve Digeri) / I and the Other, /lstanbul, 1995 (exh. cat.).:
The I/Other relationship represents a dialectical difference which is established not between the I and the Other but as an internal differentiation within the subject itself, which can go on infinitely. The otherness appears as the only way to identify the subject from the moment when they recognize for the first time their own reflection in the mirror as their own image, and also as something outside themselves; different, but as an other of the same. Mirna Arsovska's installation (1994) reveals a complex play of meanings, internal differences in the I/Other relationship, a relationship which is understood as a process of identification between Man and Nature. Nature is not something isolated or other, but a metamorphosis of the same whole: just as the diamond and coal are merely two different allotropic modifications of carbon. At the same time, the body is pitted against ice. The warmth of the coal against its own reflection in the coldness of simulated crystal. The diamond/simulacrum is not only a mirror-like smooth surface for the reflection of the subject and their holographic recognition, but also a transparent depth into which the infinity of something within another delves: a superb way of disappearance without dying, of dissolution within an illusion. 2003 Skopje, Museum of the City of Skopje, Flowers of Ink With Commas - Pollen dimension of sculptures 1. 580 x 580 x 1300mm 2. 250 x 250 x 500mm 3. 250 x 250 x 500mm 4. 250 x 250 x 500mm used materials 1. Wood 2. Metal x 4 3. Glass plates x 3 4. linoleum Дејан Буѓевац/Dejan Bugjevac. In: Цвеќиња од мастило, со запирки полен/ Flower of ink, with commas-pollen,/skopje, 2003 (exh. cat.): In this artistic achievement of Mirna Arsovska we see "art objects that are not the practice of memories...", But, according to the way of artistic production and the interpreters of the visual, we can see that these works are neither the type designed as artistic multiple. This exhibition includes objects and signs drawn out of their functional component. Shifted by their immediate standard generalities, these objectified things convey a communication whose "substance" is not verbal. The seal as an everyday fact, as a normative "look" and as an administrative "identity" of the public official objectivity that must not be multiplied outside the ordered sample for use, with Arsovska turns into its exteriors and not into the structure of a displayed object. Deprived of its nomistic intention and contextualized into an irrelevant number of samples and sizes, the seal form becomes an objectivization of a certain creative contradiction, yet without the verb (dis) cover. Aside from the privileged reference of a "valuable blow" and the dislocation of the status of "incorporated meaning", they mean artistic decision. The surface of the emptied identity of the seal form is introduced into an "act of deepness" where the artist reveals her artistic processes of obsession/resistance. Yet, Arsovska is not satisfied with this drawing/changing of the exteriors. Instead of remaining within the confectional - non-functional, in most cases typical for the artistic multiple, Arsovska turns the "seals" into signatures of artistic "nature".
For the purpose of such a shift the artist accepts certain orthographic signs - commas, points, inverted commas, as an egoistic disposition of the mute game in which the unnecessariness of the "grammatical truth" is being built. Like in the case with the objects seals, these objects orthographic signs undergo a release from their own surrounding. The release from the grammatical orthography, from certain grammatical criteria, from the meaning of the sentence, that is, from the logic orthography. They are "again" the artistic decision in the certainty of the nameless, an (im) possible surplus outside the grammatical world, an (im) possible outgrowing of the age of the language... They are not signs any more, nor orthographic signs meant to note clearly the things that are being said, but images that do nothing else but announce the artistic choice/outburst of conversation and faith for such an absence... Mirna Arsovska In: Цвеќиња од мастило, со запирки полен/ Flower of ink, with commaspollen,/skopje, 2003 (exh. cat.): "... Flowers of ink with commas-pollen..." Looking for words I discovered the thunderous muteness of the orthographic signs. They have the power to annihilate the "stupidity" of the seal. "... Silence is the perfect articulation...