Exhibitions CURRENT UPCOMING PAST
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Exhibitions CURRENT UPCOMING PAST

The Earth is Thinking All Along: A creative geophilosophical travelogue

 

Curator: Rick Dolphijn

Participants: Ferran Lega – Christian Alonso, Katarzyna Pastuszak – Irena Chawrilska, Signe Liden – Rick Dolphijn, Han Xiaohan – Kristiina Koskentola, Sunah Choi – Alex Taek-Gwang Lee, Tihomir Topuzovski, Shintaro Miyawaki – Toshiya Ueno

Openning: 6 November, at 19:00

 

From swamps to highlands, archipelagos to tundras, the earth is composed of a boundless array of local and translocal systems that persist, interact, and coalesce. These systems not only assemble matter—they endure, adapt, learn, imagine, remember, and respond to what they encounter. They carry their histories forward and anticipate worlds yet to come.

Modern narratives once insisted that only humans possess the privilege of thought. This myth justified the relentless appropriation of the more-than-human world, a privilege reserved for those who were white, Western, male, and of a certain class. For at least two-hundred years, their ideas, and consequently, their actions, overwrote the planet’s histories, leaving incalculable devastation in their wake.

Today, the very fabric of this reality is being decisively challenged. Can we follow the biologists that now chart the ways in which plants think? Can we agree with anthropologists who take indigenous knowledges seriously at last, and explore how forests dream and converse? Philosophers turn to the intelligence of octopuses, dolphins, and crows—beings whose ways of knowing are distinct from ours, but no less intricate.

But what of the very earth itself? The ground that sustains us, that begets the full spectrum of life, for eons has generated tangled, astonishingly complex ecosystems—worlds within worlds, in which humanity plays but a minor part. This clever creature we call the earth, is surely not impressed even by the most dramatic ecological crises to come. What threatens humanity with extinction may be, for the earth, simply another turn, another transformation, a change of mind—if not an affirmation of its own endless creativity.

In this exhibition, seven philosophers, from all over the planet, enter a dialogue with seven artists with whom they felt a strong resonance, when it comes to thinking the earth. Rising from the soil, the words, the images, the sounds, the smells, the movements, the aim is to open up a space, in which philosophers and artists, visitors and curators, the more-than-human world and the elements, freely relate and imagine the dimensionalities and directionalities that engage us with the earth-in-thought-in-movement-in-change.

 

A Selection of Works from the French Collection of MoCA Skopje

 

LI National Museum – Veles, 13–27 October 2025

NI Institute and Museum – Bitola, 28 October – 10 November 2025

 

The exhibition “Continuities” presents a selection of paintings, sculptures, and prints created between 1933 and 1995, offering an insight into the thematic and stylistic diversity and vitality of the French art scene during the 20th century. The works belong to the French Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje, a body of around 300 works by over 150 artists, and form one of the cornerstones of the museum’s international collection.

The origins of this collection date back to the 1963 Skopje earthquake, when, through the initiative of French writer and critic Jean Cassou and the dedication of MoCA’s first director, Dr. Boris Petkovski, many French artists donated their works to Skopje as an act of solidarity. Later, Sylvain Lecombre’s comprehensive research and publication (2015) re-evaluated and contextualized the collection, reaffirming MoCA Skopje as a unique European institution founded on principles of solidarity, openness, and cultural dialogue.

The French art scene of the 20th century was characterized by emancipation, inclusivity, and internationalism. It provided a fertile ground for creativity that transcended boundaries of gender, origin, and artistic expression or style. The exhibition highlights this openness as a lasting value—reminding us that art remains a field where differences coexist, and where shared ideals and creativity bridge cultures and histories.

Featuring works by Hans Hartung, Victor Vasarely, Anna-Eva Bergman, Zoran Mušič, Marta Pan, Assadour Bezdikian, Zora Staаck, Juan Rabascall, and others, “Continuities” reflects both the artistic and ethical foundations of MoCA Skopje: the belief that solidarity, exchange, and dialogue are the essential conditions for any true contemporary art practice.

In 2023, the exhibition “Continuities” marked both the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and North Macedonia and the 60th anniversary of the Skopje earthquake. In 2025, the museum further expanded its collaborations with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon (macLYON), reaffirming the ongoing cultural exchange between the two countries. These connections—spanning individuals, generations, and institutions—embody the living continuity at the heart of the exhibition’s concept.

In essence, “Continuities” celebrates the enduring human and artistic connections that shape our shared cultural memory. It invites us to see the museum not only as a space for preservation but as a living network of relations—between artists and audiences, between past and present, and between local and global narratives that continue to define the dynamics of contemporary art and our world today.

 

Curators: Vladimir Janchevski, Blagoja Varoshanec, and Iva Dimovski

 

 

Within the broader framework of the ubiquitous and important philosophy of the already pressing need for symbiosis between nature and man, interdependence, complementarity, cooperation and participation of the multitude of species in a society on the brink of extinction (Anna Tsing, Donna Haraway, Murray Bookchin), the idea of ​​the importance of abandoned spaces as opposed to cultivated spaces, as spaces of regeneration that in some way exemplify the indestructible rebellious energy of nature, has been discovered. According to the theories of the third landscape or fourth nature, it is precisely these disturbed lands that, if not neglected as remnants or weeds, are new ecosystems that open up space to reconsider the preservation of nature and natural diversity, but also offer examples of different principles of organization based on principles of mutual aid, solidarity and cooperation, as drivers of evolution. The third landscape, according to the concept of the renowned landscape architect and gardener Gilles Clément, is the space that is usually treated as neglected – the undecided spaces, devoid of function and difficult to name.

This is precisely the focus of the latest phase of Oliver Musovik’s (1971) developing artistic line, one of the most active artists from the country, who has been present on the local scene since the late 1990s, and has been actively presenting himself on the world art scene since. In the last two years, he has been developing several photographic series that process the spaces of the “third landscape” inhabited by ruderal ecologies, that is, plants that grow on ruins (the etymology is from the Latin word rudus, ruins). These plants challenge conventional notions of botanical beauty and merit, and according to the artist, are unsung heroes of survival, inspiring respect with their adaptability, while often dismissed as “weeds”.

Musovik discovers his passion for research in these plants, and through his artistic engagement, he provides them the opportunity to shine, to receive recognition for their work, as a kind of celebration of the resilience of life on the fringes and the captivating allure of the “third landscape.” That is, these self-organized communities, devoid of human interference, not only exemplify the power of nature but also the unexpected moments of chance for different communities to form. But Musovik also notes encouragement from the philosophies of social ecology of the American social theorist and political philosopher Murray Bookchin, which is, in fact, a call for social reconstruction along ecological lines, which broadly implies that environmental challenges stem from profound societal issues or the dominance over the natural world.

In this direction, the exhibition “Plant Adaptations” is being formed, which includes the series “Overgrown” from 2023, “Ruderal Herbarium” from 2023-2025, “Ruderal Herbarium of Singapore” from 2024, “Microclimates” from 2024 and “AItlas of Singaporean Ferns” from 2025, as well as one series of two, and one single photograph. It is a research endeavor manifested in several groups of photographs, some of them accompanied by text, in which the artist records natural phenomena, most often in the form of contemporary botanical catalogs, as well as a digital publication, fully illustrated and co-authored with advanced AI language models, which is placed on a computer for free viewing. These are works that were created when the artist was in artist residencies in Austria, Singapore, Germany, and France, and which have already been presented to the audience there (at the kunstraumarcade in Mödling, Austria and at the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore), and which are being presented in the country for the first time.

These series presented within the framework of the exhibition “Plant Adaptations” complete a research oeuvre of the author, who has observed different plant species and adaptations in different climates around the world.

With “Plant Adaptations”, the artist Oliver Musovik marks 30 years of professional artistic activity, that is, 30 years since his first solo exhibition at the Art Gallery, Bitola, in 1995. This exhibition takes place 18 years after his last solo exhibition, “The Artist” at the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje, in 2007.

Excerpt from the text by the curator Ivana Vaseva about the exhibition

 

Oliver Musovik (1971, Skopje) is a visual artist working across multiple media, mostly photography and visual storytelling. 

His practice explores the intersection of nature, urban space, and social dynamics, with particular focus on adaptation and resilience in transitional environments. His work foregrounds the landscape as a socio-ecological construct shaped by humans and nonhumans, contributing to dialogues on ecological resilience, sustainability, and the role of art in fostering critical awareness.

His work has been presented internationally, including at SAM – Singapore Art Museum (2025), the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (2023), the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, +MSUM Metelkova Ljubljana (2021, 2018), MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome (20024), Camera Austria, Kunsthaus Graz (2004), the Fridericianum Kassel (2003), Manifesta 4 (Frankfurt, 2002), and the Istanbul Biennial (1999).

Musovik’s works are held in public collections such as n.b.k. Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Fondazione Fotografia Modena, and +MSUM Ljubljana.

His works have been published in art publications, including “Autobiography” (Thames and Hudson, 2004), “Vitamin Ph – New Perspectives in Photography” (Phaidon, 2006), and “Photo Art: Photography in the 21st Century” (Dumont 2007 / Aperture, 2008).

He has also participated in residency programs across Europe, Asia, and the United States.

 

The exhibition is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of North Macedonia. MoCA – Skopje friend: Tikveš.

The Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje presents a major solo exhibition by world renowned artist Ibrahim Mahama from 15 October through 14 November 2025.

A special preview of the public art work will be held on the 14th of October at 18:00, offering the public an opportunity to meet the renowned artist Ibrahim Mahama.

 

Mahama’s work, which encompasses the entirety of the main volume of the Museum building’s modernist facade, spanning more than 1100 m2, will present the Ghanaian artist’s first exhibition in the country. The textile surface, comprised of over 1000 jute bags that wrap the building as a double skin, are used daily for the transport of goods, primarily in the economies of the Global South, bearing traces and histories of labor and exchange, referencing themes such as globalisation and migration, exploitation and economic inequalitieс. By stitching the jute sacks together and installing them over the architectural volume of the museum building, the work examines how personal narratives are embedded in matter, and how architecture can function as a political mirror.

Founded in 1964, MoCA – Skopje was established as a platform for artistic exchange, cultural collaboration and international support. Built from donations following the catastrophic earthquake in 1963 in Skopje, it stands as a lasting testament to the principle of solidarity, as a venue for reflecting the promise of a better society.

Mahama’s intervention renews the founding ethos of the Museum, affirming art’s role in society and its potential to reflect acts of human compassion in various spatial and historical contexts. The Museum’s building, the ideal of solidarity interwoven within it, and the installation that embraces its physicality become equal counterparts in voicing and thereby also confronting the various forms of exploitation and inequality that persist to this day worldwide. Thus, the work of Mahama, has the potential to establish brotherly connections of solidarity, in opposition to the dominant global power relationships and oppressive geo-political dynamics.

 

Аbout the artist

Ibrahim Mahama was born in 1987 in Tamale, Ghana. He lives and works in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale. Selected solo exhibitions include the Barbican Centre, London (2024); Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Germany (2023); Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2022); Frac Pays de la Loire (2022); The High Line, New York (2021); University of Michigan Museum of Art (2020); etc. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Lagos Biennial 4th edition, Lagos (2024); Malta Biennale, Malta and Gozo (2024), Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023); 18th International Venice Architecture Biennale (2023); the 35th Bienal de São Paulo (2023); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2021); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2020); 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020); Ghana Pavilion, 58th Venice Biennale (2019); Documenta 14, Athens and Kassel (2017); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen and Holbæk (2016); 56th Venice Biennale (2015); etc.

Beyond his artistic practice, Mahama actively strives to redefine the role of art in society. He founded the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art and Red Clay Studio, both institutions dedicated to education, experimentation, and community-led art practice in northern Ghana. In 2023, Mahama was also appointed Artistic Director of the 35th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana.

Curator Nada Prlja

Project Manager Angelika Apsis

 

Support

The exhibition is realised by the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje, with financial and in-kind support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Reitman Foundation, Eurolink Insurance, Zavar, Rade Koncar, Faculty of Civil Engineering, and Wikiexpedition. 

Friends of MSU – Skopje: White Cube Gallery, APALAZZOGALLERY, Tikveš.

 

What does it mean when we read on a museum door: “open until further notice”? Is it simply an administrative note about opening hours, or could it be a proposal to imagine the museum as an open-ended process, something that is never fully complete?
It is from this ambiguity that Cem A. begins his first solo exhibition in the region. Under the title “Museum open until further notice”, he examines the museum as an institution that seeks to be accessible, inclusive, and contemporary, yet remains burdened by hierarchies, rules, and restrictions.

Cem A. plays with clichés, administrative excuses, bureaucracy, nationalist policies, and structural pressures that shape museum practice. The exhibition title alludes to the uncertainty that defines contemporary institutions. “Open until further notice” is both an administrative phrase and a political metaphor, a signal of conditionality, impermanence, and dependence on the dynamics of socio-economic upheavals.

CemA.-The-Museum-is-closed-Separation

Image 1 of 10

The exhibition “Museum open until further notice” approaches the museum not simply as a an institution, but as a living organism that grows or stagnates depending on culture, power relations, and social dynamics intersect. The artist asks: when we say that a museum is “open,” do we mean it is physically accessible, genuinely inclusive, or is it merely a formal, declarative gesture that conceals structures of exclusion?
Cem A. develops his practice at the intersection of digital culture and institutional space. He shifts institutional critique away from the elitist language of theory, toward popular, everyday communication, precisely where critical thought can be most effective. His works, graphic signs, short texts, ready mades, and installations, use the мeme as an accessible and democratic medium, a form that is comprehensible, shareable, and often subversive.

The meme represents a kind of “decentralized creativity,” one that does not depend on institutional authority or elite channels of art production, relying instead on a horizontal network of sharing and reproduction. Its political force lies in its ability for constant circulation, repetition, and repurposing, eroding the power of institutional authorship. While traditional museums often reproduce vertical hierarchies between art and audience, the meme functions as a “counter-language”: accessible, informal, and deeply political. The exhibition uses this potential to rethink the museum not merely as a guardian of cultural heritage or autonomous artistic value, but as a space where decentralized, non-elite, everyday creativity becomes part of a broader political imagination.

For Cem A., the meme is not just a tool for humor or internet gestures, but a cultural practice that allows critique to be shared and understood beyond the borders of “high” culture. It is a tool for intervention in the sphere of cultural production and a method for collective recognition of the conditions in which we all participate: a simple phrase, an image, or a text-situation of absurdity that raises questions about who has access to art and how it communicates with its audience.

What may seem like a joke becomes a way to address serious issues: storage rooms full of unseen artworks, the distance between art and community, the bureaucratic rules that sometimes make the museum less open than its name suggests.
The artist treats the museum as a “counter-screen”: a place where digital micro-narratives of resistance and irony are translated into physical space and gain institutional visibility. In this sense, “Museum open until further notice” articulates the museum as a political subject negotiating between its institutional rigidity and today’s demand for openness, ethics, and social relevance.

“Museum open until further notice” is not only a title but an open question: what does the museum mean today, is it truly open, and for whom? How can it remain a meaningful space of inclusion and dialogue, not just “until further notice,” but collectively and continuously?

 

Performance Critic Club

 

 

At the opening of the exhibition, the performance “Critic Club” by Cem A. will be held beginning at 6.30 PM. The performance presents two participating teams in a debate about an unrealistic question related to art. In an environment where disagreement can often be risky, “Critic Club” creates a space for critical play.

Instead of silence or repeating praise, participants are encouraged to disagree – performatively, as a role play, as a thought experiment. Each debate begins with a question that seems impossible to answer. One side argues “for”, the other “against”, until the moment when the roles are reversed. The performance develops, and the speakers find their way in an increasingly impossible scenario.

“Is there art without an audience?” is the question that Iskra Gešoska, Hristina Ivanoska, Gjorgje Jovanović and Kristina Lelovac will debate, with the participation of representatives from the Pelivan Wrestling Federation of the Republic of Macedonia. The debate will be moderated by Artan Sadiku.

Curators: Jovanka Popova and Nikola Uzunovski

 

Opening of the exhibition 18. 09 2025 at 18,00 and the performance with the beginning at 18,30H

 

The exhibition is financially supported by the SAHA Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of North Macedonia.

MoCA – Skopje friend: Tikveš.

 

ARCHIVAL ASSEMBLY AND INTERVENTION BY KUMJANA NOVAKOVA

This is an attempt to evoke the possibility that each museum collection might be, could be, as eventually it is – endless. As each absence and omission in a collection is nothing less than a presence.

Through the gathering of the archival, the (non)visible elements of this collection of ours and the possible and impossible experiences and relationships, it becomes a gathering of our many possible pasts. Past, or to be more accurate, pastness that could be. 
Pastness that our living present(s) might need and hope for.

Envisioned as notes on unseen collection of desires, in the form of an artistic research into the possible, this is only one of the many thinkable archival and documentary interventions into the MoCA-Skopje’s visible and invisible collection. 

Through a speculative take on the history of the Museum’s collection, initially responding to American and USA based presences, and the potential relationships between the art spaces of USA and first Yugoslavia, then North Macedonia, so to critically look at the spaces of making and open possibilities for the multiple pasts to be treated as open-ended (non)regimes.

The exhibition gathers archives, works and thoughts of Sarai Sherman, Jasper Johns, Ann Chernow, Burt Chernow, Christo Javašev, Metka Krašovec, Tadeusz Mislowski, Luis Camnitzer, Jeff Russell, Petar Hadži Boškov, Robert Jankuloski, Dunja Ivanišević, Janaki and Milton Manaki, Blagoja Drnkov, Roland Baladi, Diana Thompson, Kumjana Novakova.

We are grateful for the knowledge and work of all known and unknown artists, writers, scholars, activists and all other cultural and art workers without whom it would be impossible to research and activate all the multiplicities we come from and learn from.

 

Exhibition Team

Author of concept and intervention: Kumjana Novakova

Associate, Curator of Museum Collection: Iva Dimovska

Visual identity and design: Elena Dinovska Zarapčiev

Adaptation of graphic design: Iliana Petrusevska

Technical support for exhibition design: Albana Bekteshi

Translation and proofreading: Andrijana Papić Manceva

Technical realisation: Jordan Arsovski

With the collaborative support of the State Archives of the Republic of North Macedonia, Cinematheque of the Republic of North Macedonia, National Academy of Design, USA.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of North Macedonia, and the Embassy of the United States of America in the Republic of North Macedonia.

The retrospective exhibition of Zhivko Popovski is the first comprehensive presentation of the work of one of the most influential Macedonian architects.
 
Drawing on many years of research by Prof. Dr Aneta Hristova–Popovska and Prof. Dr Meri Batakoja, the exhibition sheds light on the architectural oeuvre of Zhivko Popovski, presented through exclusive materials from his private archive. Visitors will have the opportunity to see dozens of original projects, drawings, photographs and videos, which, for the first time, reveal the full spectrum of his creative preoccupations.
 
Together, these documents offer a more hopeful vision for our cities, portraying Živko Popovski as a true devotee of architecture – a man who dedicated his entire life to tirelessly imagining and designing architecture with an intimate dedication.
 
Through this exhibition, Popovski’s architectural imagination is further revealed as exceptionally complex and dialectical – shaped by preoccupations that range from the universal language of modernism to a deep cultural awareness and care for local continuities; from the rationality of the modern artefact to the eccentricity of artistic intuition and the layered textuality of postmodernism. His architecture is a living form – and like life itself, it is multifaceted, and in constant evolution.The curatorial structure follows this polyphonic trajectory through six thematic clusters:

• THE DUTCH EPISODE On the Architecture of the Open Society; 
• FOCUS: GTC – ASSEMBLY OF THE CITY OF SKOPJE Urbarchitecture in Action;
• ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITIONS A Reflection of Self-Management in Architecture; 
• THE OHRID ARCHITECTURAL SCHOOL On Critical Regionalism of the Homeland Landscape; 
• TO SKOPJE, WITH LOVE! For the City That Could’ve Been; 
• PATTERNS OF ARCHITECTURAL IMAGINATION Authorial Themes and Semantic Idiosyncrasies.
 
Rather than a linear biography, the exhibition unfolds as a space of resonances, where the thematic clusters flow into one another – presenting Popovski’s work as a lasting reminder that architecture can – and must – be a deep authorial obsession, an intellectual position, and at the same time remain a cultural project with clear public responsibility.
 
The Curators Aneta Hristova-Popovska and Meri Batakoja
 
Exhibition opening: 3 September, 2025 at 8pm 
 
 
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY: Živko Popovski was born on 30 July 1934 in Skopje. He graduated in architecture from the Department of Architecture at the Technical Faculty in Skopje in 1961. From 1963 to 1999, he worked at the Faculty of Architecture in Skopje, within the Department of Public Building Design. He was actively involved in architectural associations in Macedonia and Yugoslavia, serving as Secretary and President of the Association of Architects of Macedonia, as well as President of the Coordinating Committee of the Association of Architects of Yugoslavia.He organised the first presentation of Macedonian architecture with the exhibition Macedonian Architecture (1974) and the first Biennial of Macedonian Architecture – BIMAS (1981) at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje. He was the initiator and editor of the magazine A:, as well as the founder of the course Theory and Architectural Research, advocating for the mobilisation of a progressive Macedonian architectural discourse. He was a long-standing correspondent for the Yugoslav journals Čovjek i prostor, Arhitektura, and Arhitektura i urbanizam. He undertook numerous study trips, with a formative experience being his time at the office of Jo van den Broek and Jacob Bakema in Rotterdam (1964–1965).He authored dozens of projects, with many award-winning competition designs. Among his realised works are the Home for the Elderly and the reconstruction of the Cultural Centre in Ohrid, as well as the City Shopping Centre (GTC) in Skopje, for which he received the October Award for Architecture (1971) and the Borba Plaque (1974). He was the recipient of several special recognitions at BIMAS (1981, 1991) and the Andrejа Damjanov Lifetime Achievement Award (2002). Until the end of his life, he tirelessly defended the dignity of the architectural profession.
 
The exhibition is organised by the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of North Macedonia, as a project of national significance for 2025.
 
Its realisation has been generously supported by the Chamber of Certified Architects and Engineers of the Republic of North Macedonia and KNAUF.
 
Friends of MoCA – Skopje: Tikveš.

All materials are part of the private archive of Živko Popovski.

 

The legacy of Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) is a deep dive into the essence of human existence. His words and descriptions elevate the everyday from banality, revealing to it the depths of time and space. His writings, novels, and plays echo through the experiences that have shaped contemporary visual art. In these layered works, allusions and myths intertwine, conveying a dense atmosphere of restlessness, wonder, loneliness, and the power of memory.

Beckett’s presence on the cultural map of the Balkans begins early — with the illegal Belgrade performance of the play “Waiting for Godot” in 1955, as a response to geopolitical changes. Through his words we perceive the world and its limits of endurance:

“To give expression to the fact that there is nothing to express, and that there is nothing with which to express it, even nothing from which to move towards expression, where there is neither the power nor the desire to express, and yet the obligation remains – to be expressed.”

In the unstable 21st century, his tragicomic vision takes on new meaning. Today’s reality, filled with dark secrets, neurotic information and absurd incidents, increasingly confirms Beckett’s powerlessness as a universal voice of contemporary society.

The exhibition “Beckett is with us” offers works that provoke and disturb. Artists reshape objects and environments into complex visual structures, creating textures that reflect the internal tensions of today. These visual narratives not only continue Beckett’s thought, but transform it into a bodily and sensory experience for the viewer.

 

MARIJA ĆALIĆ

She graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade, as well as photography at St. Martin’s School of Art in London. She is a member of ULUPUDS (photography section) in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia. She has published her author’s photographs in daily and weekly newspapers, as well as in monthly magazines in Belgrade and Serbia. She has worked on photographic contributions for books, exhibition catalogues, film productions and other media. She was the photography editor of the weekly magazine (Europa Press Holding), Belgrade, 2003–2011. Residency in the Kulturreferat of the city of Munich, Germany – Villa Waldberta, 2010 and Cité des arts, Paris, 2017.

From participation in various group exhibitions, the following thematic units stand out: Closed Circuits, 2005 at the Konak of Princess Ljubica, Museum of the City of Belgrade; Micro-narratives within the framework of the October Salon in Belgrade, 2007; Musée d’art moderne de Saint-Étienne, France, 2008; as well as at the International Biennial of Visual Arts in Pancevo, 2012.

Recent solo exhibitions (2012–2017), primarily in Belgrade, consist of thematic cycles of photographs: Post-memorija, The Spell of the Past, Moj Dom, Nothing is Left To Tell, Cache Memory, Izbor posrodnosti, Info – Stanar, Stern-Berg – October Salon 2018.

 

VANA UROŠEVIĆ

She was born in Skopje, North Macedonia. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 1984 in the class of Professor Mladen Srbinović, and in 1987 at the same faculty, postgraduate studies in the class of Professor Radomir Reljić.

In 1987, she had a study stay in Paris. In the period 1988/1989, she was on specialist studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice in the class of Professor Borella.

She is the winner of the Dimitar Kondovski Award at the Winter Salon in Skopje and the First Prize for the work Alchemical Box at the IX International Biennial of Miniature Art in Gornji Milanovac. In 2003, she represented North Macedonia at the Venice Biennale of Art.

She has exhibited solo and in groups in Skopje, Belgrade, Cetinje, Podgorica, New York, Ljubljana, Venice, Bitola, Struga, London, Tallinn, Sarajevo, Vienna, Čačak, Gornji Milanovac, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Murska Sobota, Geneva, Sofia, Osnabrück, Thessaloniki, Subotica, Rome, etc.

She works at the National Gallery of North Macedonia. Since 2010, in addition to solo exhibitions, she has also realized joint projects with Zoran Todović.

 

ZORAN TODOVIĆ

He was born in 1958 in Gornji Milanovac, Serbia. He graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade in the class of Professor Božidar Đmerković in 1983. He completed his postgraduate studies in 1985 at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, in the class of Professor Miodrag Rogić.

He had a study stay in Paris in 1991. He is the recipient of several international and domestic awards and recognitions (Politika Award, Varna Grand Prix, the Grand Seal of the Graphic Collective, Award of the October Salon in Belgrade, Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant).

He has exhibited individually and in groups in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zagreb, Rijeka, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Bar, Stockholm, Ronneby, Eskilstuna, Krakow, Katowice, Wroclaw, Frechen, Berlin, Catania, Biela, Kyoto, Wakayama, Osaka, Bhopal, Varna, Buenos Aires, Couven, Verviers, Ferrol, Menton, Paris, Maastricht, Skopje, Győr, Miskolc, Banská Bystrica, Thessaloniki, Martini, Subotica, Guanlan, etc.

He has been a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia since 1984. He is a professor at the Academy of Arts at the University of Novi Sad. Since 2010, in addition to solo exhibitions, he has also been implementing joint projects with Vana Urošević.

 

NIKOLA ŠUICA

Born in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia – former Yugoslavia. He graduated and received his master’s degree in art history from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade; PhD at the University of Arts in Belgrade.

Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts and at the postgraduate and doctoral studies at the University of Arts in Belgrade.

Selected publications: Anatomical Measures, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, 2017; 57th International Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia: Enclavia – Painting as a Consequence of Such a Life (Vladislav Šćepanović – Milena Dragičević – Dragan Zdravković), Pavilion of Serbia, La Biennale Viva Arte Viva, Belgrade, 2017; History of Art in Serbia in the 20th Century (Volume II and III), 2012; 2014; Trajković Collection, Belgrade, 2010; Milan Blanuša – Paintings, Drawings and Graphics (Monography), Vršac, 2009; Closed Flows, International Group Exhibition, with artists from Serbia, participation of Joscelyn Pook, Martha Rosler, Tom Phillips, Istvan Horkay, Peter Greenaway; Tom Phillips – New Moment, 2003; Sculpture by Milun Vidić, ULUS, Belgrade, 2003; Leon Cohen (1859–1934), Yugoslav Gallery of Fine Arts, Belgrade, 2001.

MoCA – Skopje in partnership with CRIC – Festival for Critical Culture, MOMus – Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of North Macedonia and the Greek Embassy in Skopje are presenting the exhibition: Graceland Paradox: Navigating Uncertainty
 
In “The Graceland Paradox,” artists Fani Boudouroglou, Rania Emmanouilidou and Lia Psoma address the intertwined crises of climate collapse, displacement, and techno-social alienation as symptoms of late capitalism. Their hybrid figures and landscapes move between ruin and reconstruction, recalling both the aftermath of disaster and the possibility of a fairer and more inclusive future. Made from bioplastics, clay, crystallized paper, and rhizomes, their works question the binaries between human and nonhuman, nature and machine, resistance and control. Artist Bilal Yilmaz is a guest, extending this exploration through the prism of political action and observation, inviting viewers to resist the influx of manipulated media and embrace images and practices that inspire real change. At the center of the exhibition is the “Lab,” which opens up the artists’ creative process—an active space for imagining new forms, new materials, and alternative futures. Here, experimentation becomes a form of resistance, and the artwork itself becomes a living engine of transformation.
 
The Western scientific paradigm may have allowed us to understand the world as a system of specialized fields of knowledge in a way that has allowed for rationalization, specialization, and growth; at the same time, however, it has also led us to neglect the interconnectedness of people, societies, and ecosystems.
 
In contrast, Fani Boudourouglu, Ranja Emanouilidou, and Lia Psoma do not emphasize and separate, nor prioritize one symptom over another. The human, non-human and hybrid figures in their works inhabit undefined conditions – perhaps in a context in which the consequences of a catastrophe are visible, or in a context in which the possibility of a speculative, more balanced future looms – encouraging viewers to reflect on causes, consequences and possibilities. The process of identifying these conditions becomes, at the same time, a process of reflection and realization about the capitalist dead end, while the exhibition as a whole becomes an exercise in the imagination of possible – dystopian or utopian – futures. This speculative dimension is further complemented and expanded by the artist Bilal Yilmaz, invited to join the exhibition in Skopje. His work draws on acute mobilizations around the world, including those in North Macedonia, where people took to the streets to protest.
 
The joint works of Graceland CollectiveFani Boudouroglou, Rania Emmanouilidou and Lia Psoma (title photo) were first presented in the exhibition “Graceland: The Triumph of an Uncertain Path”, in the framework of the 8th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (2022-23) organised by MOMus-Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki.
 
The exhibition Graceland Paradox: Navigating Uncertainty is curated by the Greek curator Lydia Chatziiakovou (Thessaloniki), whose work gravitates around the role of art as a social tool, the relationship between art and technology, art and ecology, art and crafts.
 
After the guided tour of the exhibition, follows a short discussion with the artists, accompanied by Vladimir Janchevski (curator, MoCA – Skopje), Anna Mykoniati (curator, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens) and Thouli Misirloglou (Artistic Director, MoMus), moderated by curator Lydia Chatziiakovou.
 
The festival entitled Metamorphosis KRIK 2025 is part of the Re-Imagining Europe: New Perspectives for Action. The project is part of the Creative Europe program for 2021-2027.
 
Private view: Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Guided tour: 8:10 PM – 8:40 PM
Moderated discussion: 8:40 PM – 9:20 PM

Tragedy of Equality IV (T.O.E. IV) – Arm Wrestling is the first solo exhibition of Ariel Hassan in North Macedonia. 

The project Tragedy of Equality (T.O.E.) has had three previous distinct iterations: Headshaving Battle (Tokyo), Mud Wrestling (Adelaide), and Knife Fight (Berlin). The fourth act at the Skopje Museum of Contemporary Art in the period July–September 2025, presents an arm-wrestling match between two equal contestants, occurring within a triangular elevated platform designed by the artist, and built especially for this occasion.

The opening of the exhibition is on 03 July 2025 at 20:00 with a performance under the same title. 

Born in Argentina, Ariel Hassan spent formative years across Argentina, the United States, and spain before establishing his practice in Australia in 2005. A subsequent relocation to Germany in 2008 marked the beginning of an ongoing transnational existence, with the artist now maintaining studios and projects between both continents. By interrogating painting as a portal to human consciousness, Hassan has transcended the medium’s traditional boundaries, cultivating a singular visual language that unfolds across diverse forms of expression—a practice marked by both expansive experimentation and unmistakable individuality. His work, characterised by self-imposed rules and unpredictable outcomes, forms the foundation for intricate visual narratives to emerge. He has held several solo exhibitions in Australia, Spain, Japan, Singapore, Austria, and China, and participated in various group exhibitions including the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and the Cairo Biennale. His work is represented in several public collections.

Curated by d-r Melentie Pandilovski, JOLT ARTS Melbourne. Melentie Pandilovski is a director, theorist and curator. His research, which includes over 200 curated projects and numerous publications, examines the connections between art, culture, science and technology. He lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. His roles include Creative Producer International at JOLT Arts in Melbourne, Australia; Vice President of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) Macedonia; Member of the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Committee.

The project is financially supported by The Government of South Australia, CreateSA, and GAG Art Advisory