About
Identity Crisis Network is a research project connecting artistic practices and discourses that challenge established notions of identity and subjectivity. By creating spaces for dialogue – through seminars, conferences, and other exchanges – artists, curators, and theorists are invited to contribute with new perspectives on these issues.
In the past few decades, the concept of identity has been marked as a fixed political determination. Given the term’s inherent fluidity, diversity, multiplicity, and ambiguity, attempts to narrowly define it have proven restrictive, stretching its boundaries and, ultimately, causing them to burst. Practices aimed at making marginalized groups visible in the art world have often led to their compartmentalization or tokenization, deepening polarization and provoking culture wars within art institutions. Identity Crisis Network seeks to explore whether it is possible to move beyond established identity categories and simplified labels, both in cultural and political discourse. We aim to engage with identity politics not through a one-sided critique but by examining its potential to generate change within the realm of art. Through this project, we reflect on the philosophical, institutional, aesthetic, and political landscape we inhabit as artists, curators, and theorists – with the goal of envisioning new spaces where potential and contingent outcomes can emerge.
In doing so, we ask:
To address these questions, we are bringing together thinkers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds, each engaging with the question of identity in different ways.
is an art historian, critic, and curator based in Warsaw and Barcelona. With a background in art history, she has worked extensively across various cultural institutions, including the Promocyjna Gallery and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Since 2018, Michalina has curated over 20 exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She collaborates with numerous galleries, NGOs, and art magazines, contributing to critical discussions around contemporary art. A member of AICA, Michalina’s curatorial practice often addresses sociopolitical issues, with a particular focus on the intersections of regional identity, art, and politics.
is an artist and researcher at The New Centre whose work spans video, performance, text, and installation and stands as the convergence of three lines of questions: artistic (the limits of a subject-oriented art world focused on identities and the realm of potentiality), political (positions of power and transgenerational trauma); and philosophical (question of OOO, non-correlation thought, and a new perspective on reality and contingency). He has exhibited internationally, with solo and group shows across Europe and beyond, and has won multiple awards, including the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation Scholarship and the Award for Special Creative Innovation. Luka holds an MA from HEAD (Geneva) and has participated as a special lecturer in the University of the Arts London (UAL) student program.
is a contemporary art curator, writer, and editor from Belarus, currently based in Warsaw. She co-founded MOST magazine and served as the co-editor-in-chief of Blok Magazine from 2021 to 2024. Vera is also the president of the GESSEL Foundation for the National Museum & Zachęta – National Gallery in Warsaw. She has curated exhibitions across Europe, including Belarus, Poland, Denmark, and Serbia, focusing on works by artists from Eastern Europe and beyond. Vera has taught at institutions such as the Salzburg Summer Academy and the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Her curatorial practice addresses themes of identity, nationalism, and cultural politics, fostering dialogue between artists and diverse communities.
is an independent curator and teaching assistant at the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia. Holding an MA in Art History and Comparative Literature, she is also currently a PhD student. Luja co-founded the curatorial collective KUĆĆA in 2021, dedicated to creating a collaborative space for experimental and interdisciplinary artistic practices. She has curated major exhibitions, including the 36th Youth Salon and the 63rd Poreč Annale.
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is one of three in the Zagreb-based curatorial collective KUĆĆA. holds an MA in Art History and Comparative Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. She has been active in the independent cultural scene since 2016, working as a curator and a project manager working mainly on annual art festivals, including the curatorial collective KONTEJNER (2016 - 2021), Organ Vida (2018 - 2020) and the student-oriented website Kulturflux (2015) which she co-founded. As part of KUĆĆA, she has co-curated the 36th Youth Salon in 2022 on the topic of Parasites, the 63rd Poreč Annale, and is currently working on the upcoming 60th Zagreb Salon. Her interests include research-based contemporary art practices and experimenting with new models of collaborative practice in art and culture.
From parasitism to liminal spaces, both Luja and Klara showcased how curating can open up a speculative terrain of reality: places of extension and mutation of space, time, and self.
Buba Foundation
The project is organized as part of the cultural program of the Polish Presidency in the EU Council
Graphic design: Karolina Pietrzyk and Tobias Wenig. Made with Laytheme
About
Identity Crisis Network is a research project connecting artistic practices and discourses that challenge established notions of identity and subjectivity. By creating spaces for dialogue – through seminars, conferences, and other exchanges – artists, curators, and theorists are invited to contribute with new perspectives on these issues.
In the past few decades, the concept of identity has been marked as a fixed political determination. Given the term’s inherent fluidity, diversity, multiplicity, and ambiguity, attempts to narrowly define it have proven restrictive, stretching its boundaries and, ultimately, causing them to burst. Practices aimed at making marginalized groups visible in the art world have often led to their compartmentalization or tokenization, deepening polarization and provoking culture wars within art institutions. Identity Crisis Network seeks to explore whether it is possible to move beyond established identity categories and simplified labels, both in cultural and political discourse. We aim to engage with identity politics not through a one-sided critique but by examining its potential to generate change within the realm of art. Through this project, we reflect on the philosophical, institutional, aesthetic, and political landscape we inhabit as artists, curators, and theorists – with the goal of envisioning new spaces where potential and contingent outcomes can emerge.
In doing so, we ask:
To address these questions, we are bringing together thinkers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds, each engaging with the question of identity in different ways.
is an art historian, critic, and curator based in Warsaw and Barcelona. With a background in art history, she has worked extensively across various cultural institutions, including the Promocyjna Gallery and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Since 2018, Michalina has curated over 20 exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She collaborates with numerous galleries, NGOs, and art magazines, contributing to critical discussions around contemporary art. A member of AICA, Michalina’s curatorial practice often addresses sociopolitical issues, with a particular focus on the intersections of regional identity, art, and politics.
is an artist and researcher at The New Centre whose work spans video, performance, text, and installation and stands as the convergence of three lines of questions: artistic (the limits of a subject-oriented art world focused on identities and the realm of potentiality), political (positions of power and transgenerational trauma); and philosophical (question of OOO, non-correlation thought, and a new perspective on reality and contingency). He has exhibited internationally, with solo and group shows across Europe and beyond, and has won multiple awards, including the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation Scholarship and the Award for Special Creative Innovation. Luka holds an MA from HEAD (Geneva) and has participated as a special lecturer in the University of the Arts London (UAL) student program.
is a contemporary art curator, writer, and editor from Belarus, currently based in Warsaw. She co-founded MOST magazine and served as the co-editor-in-chief of Blok Magazine from 2021 to 2024. Vera is also the president of the GESSEL Foundation for the National Museum & Zachęta – National Gallery in Warsaw. She has curated exhibitions across Europe, including Belarus, Poland, Denmark, and Serbia, focusing on works by artists from Eastern Europe and beyond. Vera has taught at institutions such as the Salzburg Summer Academy and the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Her curatorial practice addresses themes of identity, nationalism, and cultural politics, fostering dialogue between artists and diverse communities.
is an independent curator and teaching assistant at the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia. Holding an MA in Art History and Comparative Literature, she is also currently a PhD student. Luja co-founded the curatorial collective KUĆĆA in 2021, dedicated to creating a collaborative space for experimental and interdisciplinary artistic practices. She has curated major exhibitions, including the 36th Youth Salon and the 63rd Poreč Annale.
&
is one of three in the Zagreb-based curatorial collective KUĆĆA. holds an MA in Art History and Comparative Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. She has been active in the independent cultural scene since 2016, working as a curator and a project manager working mainly on annual art festivals, including the curatorial collective KONTEJNER (2016 - 2021), Organ Vida (2018 - 2020) and the student-oriented website Kulturflux (2015) which she co-founded. As part of KUĆĆA, she has co-curated the 36th Youth Salon in 2022 on the topic of Parasites, the 63rd Poreč Annale, and is currently working on the upcoming 60th Zagreb Salon. Her interests include research-based contemporary art practices and experimenting with new models of collaborative practice in art and culture.
From parasitism to liminal spaces, both Luja and Klara showcased how curating can open up a speculative terrain of reality: places of extension and mutation of space, time, and self.
Buba Foundation
The project is organized as part of the cultural program of the Polish Presidency in the EU Council
Graphic design: Karolina Pietrzyk and Tobias Wenig.
Made with Laytheme
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