Lea Vene

Five large portrait photographs of a woman applying makeup in detail displayed on a white gallery wall.

Engaged active aware - female perspectives today, Kortil Gallery, Rijeka, 2020

Woman in red dress hitting a hedge with a hammer in front of an old apartment building on a city street.

Egle Oddo, Perfomative Habitats, Zagreb, 2020

Two photographs on white gallery walls, each showing a woman with bare shoulders, the left one with a white fabric covering her face, the right one with crossed arms in front of her face.

Ren Hang, Walk straight into my heart, Gallery Kranjcar, 2019

Hands in dirty gloves holding a clump of soil with grass and leaves against a blurred background.

Egle Oddo, Performative Habitats, Zagreb, 2020

Large sphere made of compressed clothing in a room seen through an open door with a potted cactus visible on the left.

Maja-Gecic, The situation of absence, Zagreb, 2019

Key Facts

Nationality: Croatia
Area: Curator
Place of residence: Zagreb
Recommending Institution: tranzit.org/ERSTE Foundation
Period: October – November 2021
Links: @lalalua

Education

2018–2019
POST-MA I Marvels and Catastrophes: Architecture and Cities and the Force of Nature
Royal Institute of Art Stockholm, Sweden

2017–2018
POST-MA I Critical Images
Royal Institute of Art Stockholm, Sweden

2010–2014
MA I Fashion Theory
University of Zagreb, Croatia

2006–2013
BA and MA I History of Art and Cultural Anthropology
University of Zagreb, Croatia

Projects (Selection)

2020

curatorial project - group exhibition I Tiger in Space I EKKM I Tallinn, Estonia I with Vanina Saracino and Marten Esko

curatorial project I Behzad Khosravi Noori and Magnus Bartas - Brioni: A Necromantic Attempt I Gallery Nova I Zagreb, Croatia I with Ana Kovacic

curator - solo exhibition I Meriem Bennani - Mission Teens I Museum of Contemporary art I Zagreb, Croatia

ethnographer I Babel Between Us I Stockholm, Sweden

2019

curatorial project I Young Girl Reading Group - YGRG14X: Reading with a single hand I Gallery Karas I Zagreb, Croatia I with Barbara Gregov

curator - solo exhibition I Ren Hang - Walk Straight into my Heart I Gallery Kranjcar I Zagreb, Croatia

2018

curatorial project - group exhibition I Paralell Intersection I Hala 5 I Zagreb, Croatia

curatorial project - group exhibition I Engaged, Active, Aware - Women’s Perspectives Now I Museum of Contemporary art I Zagreb, Croatia I with Marina Paulenka and Lovro Japundzic

curatorial assistant I 2nd Industrial Art Biennial On the Shoulders of Fallen Giants I curators WHW collective I Labin, Pula, Rijeka, Rasa, Vodnjan, Croatia

2017

conference organizer and moderator I Beyond the Documentary I Museum of Contemporary art I Zagreb, Croatia I with Marija Borovickic

curator - solo exhibition I Anouk Kruithof - Ego, Eco, Crescendo I French Pavilion I Zagreb, Croatia

2016

curator - solo exhibition I Emanuel Mathias - On Choosing the Appropriate Distance I The gallery of st. Thomas, Rovinj I GMK, Zagreb, Croatia

2015

curatorial project - group exhibition I InterCity SwitchCity I POGON, Zagreb, Croatia I KKW, Leipzig, Germany

online exhibition I Vanished Reality - DIS MAGAZINE I USA I with Ana Kovacic and Sanja Sekelj

2014

curatorial project, exhibition and publication I Liquidation I Zagreb, Croatia I with Ana Kovacic and Sanja Sekelj in collaboration with Sarah Lookofsky and Albert Heta

Project info

I have several curatorial focuses in 2021 and I would include them in this residency.

Firstly I’m interested in developing programs that intertwine artists and ecologists, botanists and environmental activists. I would be interested in exploring similar practices during the residency and potentially connect with artists/curators/researchers that I can invite to do the residency in Zagreb and join future projects related to seed politics I’m curating together with ZMAG (Green activist network).

Secondly I am interested in connecting with the photography scene in Vienna and artists/curators working in that field. I’m one of the curators of the international photography festival Organ Vida and during 2021 I will be planning a new festival edition (2022) so I’d like to meet potential collaborators and open new possible festival partnerships.

My third curatorial focus for next year are contemporary art practices that explore textile and related materials as an artistic medium. I’m a researcher at CIMO (Centre for research of fashion and clothing) and for the past two years we were developing a project titled Briefing on Soft Arts. We embrace the traditional link with the field of textile art, but at the same time we attempt to abolish or expand it so as to consider and challenge it within contemporary art practices.

During the residency I would be interested in exploring artists working with textile and related materials and connect with similar initiatives in the context of Vienna.