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Nana Wolke explores the nature of perception, focusing her attention on modes of apprehension of space and time. Her series of works usually begins on film-like sets, where the artist records the unfolding of staged situations and improvised actions occurring in spaces spanning across social hierarchy. Wolke proceeds to assemble and edit both original and found footage to create distinctly monochromatic visual atmospheres and rhythms that she then translates into painting and sound installations. Using commonplace lighting to model space and generate the grain, textures and slippages of her images and sequences, Wolke utilizes a variety of devices chosen as much for their technical properties as for their social significance – e.g. CCTV equipment, home video camcorders, inventory cameras, intercom systems, etc. Considering the multiple viewpoints from which an action can be witnessed, Wolke’s work conjures a tension between observation and control, often inviting viewers to navigate environments that interrogate notions of access and inclusion – whether for economic, social, or security purposes. In so doing, Wolke reflects upon the conflation of desire and shame in contemporary modes of production and consumption of images and visual culture. By constantly confronting the logic of live actions, cinema, and paint, Wolke ultimately seeks to analyze the progressive inextricability between actual and artificial realities.
Wolke holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. Solo exhibitions include Breed at Management, New York; Wanda’s at NiCOLETTi, London; High Seat at Castor Gallery, London; 4:28 - 5:28 am at VIN VIN, Vienna; and Some Girls Wander by Mistake at Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza. Group exhibitions include Over you/you at the 31. Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana; Daddy at G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig; Painters Painting Painters: A Study of Muses, Friends, and Companions at the Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas; Love is the Devil: Studies after Francis Bacon at Marlborough, London; and No Angels at Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin among others. Wolke was also selected for the 2021 cohort of Bloomberg New Contemporaries.
EDUCATION
2021
MFA, Goldsmiths, London, UK
2018
BA Painting, Academy of Fine Art and Design, Ljubljana, Sl
2017-18
Exchange student at Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, DE, class of Michael Riedel
2017
BFA (Hons), Academy of Visual Arts - AVA, Ljubljana, Sl
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Breed, Management, New York, NY
2022
Wanda’s, NiCOLETTi, London, UK
High Seat, Castor Gallery, London, UK
2021
4:28 - 5:28 am, VIN VIN, Vienna, AU
Some Girls Wander by Mistake, Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza, IT
2019
The Naughty Corner, Stekleni Atrij Gallery, Ljubljana, Sl
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Open Globe, Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, SI (upcoming)
U3, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SI (upcoming)
NiCOLETTi, London, UK (upcoming)
Le vernissage, partie 1, Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, FR
2023
No Angels (curated by angels.sc3), Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin, DE
Stilled Images, The Tube, Palma de Mallorca, ES
2022
Painters Painting Painters: A Study of Muses, Friends and Companions, Green Art Family Foundation, Dallas, TX
And this skin of mine, to live again a second time, GUTS Gallery, London, UK
Moonstruck Noon, Linseed Projects, Shaghai, CN
Created in Slovenia, Cukrarna Pallace, Ljubljana, SI
Fields of View, Winter Street Gallery, Edgartown, MA
Love is the Devil, Marlborough Gallery, London, UK
2021
New Contemporaries 2021, South London Gallery, London, UK
Me and My Friends, Korai Project Space, Nicoisa, CY
All That and a Bag of Chips, Des Bains, London, UK
London Grads Now, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
New Contemporaries 2021, Firstsite, Colchester, UK
Reality Check, GUTS Gallery, London, UK
Ode to The Body, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
Size Matters, Proposition Studios, London, UK
CONTRAPPUNTO, VIN VIN, Vienna, AU
Independent Biennial, Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, SI
Home and Abroad, UGM Studio, Maribor, SI
Pigeon Pavilion, Bangkok Biennial, London, UK
2020
Now That’s What I Call Painting, Unit 4 Gallery, Hastings, UK
Home and Abroad, Galerija Kos, Ljubljana, SI
Vol I, Winter Street Gallery, Edgartown, MA
2019
Between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Kiribati National Museum and Cultural Centre, Tarawa, KI
Apostasy II, Suite 301, New York, NY
2018
Apostasy, Living Gallery Outpost, New York, NY
AIR4, Ravnikar Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
Daddy, G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig, DE
OHO Young Visual Artist Award, P74 Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
Goodbye Blue Sky, Fetti Amore Gallery, Leipzig, DE
Appointment 2.0 – Music Poster Exhibition, DobraVaga Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
2017
Embodiment, Equrna Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
“It must be farther yet“, she sighed; “Then farther will I go“, DobraVaga Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
2016
In Dialogue with Contemporary Art, Vžigalica, Ljubljana, Sl
Malice in Wonderlands, 12 Star Gallery, London, UK
Intimate Spaces, AMU Gallery, Prague, CZ
Dialogue 28, Grand Depo, Pristina, XK
Tree, Jakopič Promenade in Tivoli Park, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2015
White on White, 31. Biennial of Graphic Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Sl
Migration (and) Identities, ŠKUC Gallery, Ljubljana, Sl
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2021
Shortlisted for ACME Studio Award
Shortlisted for Almacantar Studio Award
2020
Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, AU
Recipient of Ad Futura Scholarship, SI
2019
Recipient of Ministry of Culture of Slovenia’s Scholarship for Promising Young Artists, SI
Recipient of MOL Scholarship for Talented Students, Ljubljana, SI
2018
Shortlisted for OHO Young Visual Artist Award, Ljubljana, Sl
2017
DobraVaga Open Studio Residency, Ljubljana, SI
2016
Apprentice/Master, Kunstpodium T, Tilburg, NL
Summer School as School, Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Pristina, Pristina, KX
COMMISSIONED WORK
2015
Installation White on White, 31. Biennial of Graphic Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Sl
2014
Trubarjeva ulica: Vesoljna Ljubljana, Trubarjeva street, Ljubljana, SI
SELECTED BOOKS AND EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
2020
The Coloring Book, Mudec Museum, Milano, IT
2015
Over you/You, exhibition catalog, 31. Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Sl (exh. cat.)