Portrait by Marlene Hausenegger, NYC 2022
Luiza Margan is an artist from Rijeka, Croatia, based in Vienna, Austria. She studied painting in Ljubljana and later completed a Masters degree in Performative Arts and Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
Margan works across sculpture, installation, performance and spatial interventions, exploring how material and visual presentations of power shape our surroundings, our understanding of history, democracy, and the possible futures. Her projects examine the disparity between dominant and suppressed historical narratives, as manifested in public spaces, architecture, and cultural institutions.
Her artistic process is grounded in fieldwork, archival research, and site-specific exploration. Through collecting and transforming of found materials, she creates objects and environments that question established narratives and provide new viewpoints. Combining artistic research with elements of social design, Margan develops immersive works that speak to both individual experience and broader social context.
She has exhibited at numerous international institutions and has staged acclaimed interventions in public space. Her work is included in both public and private collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art Salzburg, the Museum of Contemporary Art Belvedere 21 Haus in Vienna, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, MMSU Ljubljana, the Tobacco Museum in Ljubljana, among others.
Among her many recognitions, she was awarded the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) Fellowship in New York (2008/09), and the Fellowship for Visual Artists at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany in 2019.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Cache, Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen, DE
2023 Red Lines, +359 Gallery, Sofia, BG
2022 Sisters and Their Friends, permanent sculptural work at SCOPE Gallery, Berlin, DE
2022 Mit offenen Armen, Kunstraum Weikendorf, NÖ, AT
2021 Top Lage, SCOPE Gallery, Berlin, DE
2020 Beloved Monster, Art Lab Gleis 1, Regensburg, DE
2019 ZONE 1, viennacontemporary Art Fair, Structura Gallery
2018 Visibility Reward, EIKON Schaufenster, MQ, Vienna, AT
2017 Split Dioptre, Parallel Art Fair, Kunstbuero gallery, Vienna
2016 notwithstanding, Musa, Startgalerie, Vienna, AT
2015 The Golden and the Ghostly, Hypo Konzernzentrale, St. Pölten, Austria
2014 Funny Business, Mali Salon, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rijeka, CRO
2011 Outside the Role, SC Gallery, Zagreb, CRO
2010 Melting Ground, Kunstverein das Weisse Haus, Vienna, AT
2009 Ground Work, Vaska Emanoilova Gallery, Sofia, BG
2009 Interstice, Habres and Partner Gallery, Vienna, AT
2009 Interspaces, Tobacco Museum, Ljubljana, SLO
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Familiar Others, curated by Phillipe Batka and Vanessa Joan Müller, Leopold Museum, Vienna, AT
27/7 Work Between Meaning and Imbalance, Kunsthaus Graz, curated by Katia Huemer and Martin Grabner, AT
Gute Eichen am Krast, Galeria Seno, Sela na Krasu, SLO
Räume öffnen!, Museum der Moderne, curated by Barbara Herzog, Tina Teufel, Harald Krejci, Salzburg, AT
2023
The Visible Ones, MMSU, Rijeka, CRO
Die Zeit zerfällt oder das Maß an Unordnung, curated by Rotor, Kunsthaus Muerz
Border and Territory, Kunsthaus Graz, AT
Supermodels, curated by Bianca Pedrina, Kunstraum SUPER, Vienna, AT
The Visible Ones, MSU, Zagreb, CRO
2022
Border and Territory, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, CRO
Urban Text. This Space Called Balkan, Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris, FR
Sammlungspolitik. Neuzugänge im Museum der Moderne, Generali Foundation Salzburg, AT
Jadran, Kunsthalle Trier, DE
2021
One Monument in Time, curated by zweintopf, Forum Stadtpark, Graz, AT
Biennale für Freiburg, curated by Leon Hoesl, DE
More Real Than Reality, Structura Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Bigger than Myself. Heroic Voices from ex-Yugoslavia, curated by Zdenka Badovinec at MAXXI - National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, IT
2020
It’s Your Mo(nu)ment, Kunsthalle Wien - Karlsplatz, Vienna, AT
Gymnastics, acb Gallery, Budapest, HU
Moving in Still Time: A Series of Consecutive Exercises, Exhibition and Symposium, Amsterdam, NL
Symbol, curated by Zsolt Petranyi, Austrian Cultural Forum, Budapest, HUN
ACTIONS, PERFORMANCES, WORKS IN PUBLIC SPACE
2024 Hotel Emigranti, Public Space Intervention, Sela na Krasu, SLO
2022 Sisters, permanent sculptural work, SCOPE, Berlin, DE
2021 Monument in the Making, performative sculpture, Biennale für Freiburg, Germany
2015 Listening, Performative Sculpture, curated by the WHW Team, Zagreb, Croatia
2014 Eye to Eye with Freedom, Work in Public Space, Production Soft Control / Copula-Spajalica and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Croatia
2014 Restaging Monument, Studio Golo Brdo, Rovinj, Croatia
2012 Concert for a Sewing Machine and a Tree, Work in Public Space, Production Urban Festival, curated by BLOK, Zagreb, Croatia
RESIDENCIES
2023 ZF Stiftung, Residency at Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen, DE
2021 Scope BLN, Invitation based Project Residency, Berlin, DE
2020 The Spread of a Crack is Halted by a Hole, M4 Guest Studios, Amsterdam, NL
2019 Fellowship Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE
2018 Istanbul Residency, supported by BMKÖS, Austria
2017 Following the Traces of Communism in Albania, short term, Albania
2016-17 Parterre Art Space, Mexico City, MEX
2015/16 Mexico City Residency, supported by BMKÖS Austria
2013 On Art, Cities, and Regeneration, Ramdom, Default 13, Lecce, IT
2012 Changdong National Art Studio, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
2010 La Générale en Manufacture, Sèvres, Paris, France
2008–09 ISCP Studio Grant, New York, USA
AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS
2023 Annual Work Grant, City of Vienna, AT
2021 Award for Innovative Cinema of the City of Graz, Diagonale Film Festival, Group Project with The Golden Pixel Cooperative, AT
2018-19 Annual Research Fellowship, Ministry of Art and Culture, Croatia
2015 Young Art Award, Hypo Konzernzentrale, St. Pölten, AT
2014/15 BMWFW Award, Austrian Federal Chancellery for Science, Research, and Economics
2014 Recognition Award of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, AT
2013 Acquisition, Art Collection, Artothek des Bundes, AT
2012 TH-T & Museum of Contemporary Art Award, Zagreb, CRO
2010 Shortlisted for Ruf Award, Sofia, BG
2007 OHO Award for Best Young Visual Artist, Ljubljana, SI
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS - AQUISITIONS
PUBLIC TALKS IN CULTURAL INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT
2023 Unarchivable, panel talk with Nora Sternfeld, Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen, DE
2022 Mit offenen Armen, public discussion with citizens of Weikendorf, Kunstraum Weikendorf, AT
2018 Wie die Dinge liegen, artist talk with Yu Ji and Luiza Margan, Schaustelle, Vienna
2015 Public Stories, Gallery Nova, Zagreb, CRO
2015 Art that Changes the World, Symposium in Art Gallery Maribor, SLO
2013 Reenactment of the Performance by the Artist Group TOK, Künstlerhaus - Halle für Kunst und Medien, Graz, AT
2012 Feminism in Croatian Art, Changdong National Art Studio, Seoul, South Korea
2008 Margan & Presker - On Collaboration, Apex Art, New York, USA
TEACHING / WORKSHOPS
2023 Co-development of the archive-based project and exibition on archives and public space with the students of the Zeppelin University, Friedrichsafen, Germany
2022 Monuments, creative workshops for children, Kindermusuem, Vienna, AT
2021 Public Matters, Merz Academy, selective - week, Stuttgart, Germany