Eva Kovač

Eva Kovač (born 1989 in Čakovec, Croatia) is an art historian, art worker, coordinator of cultural projects, assistant artist manager, and aspiring curator based in Vienna. In 2019, she completed her master’s degree at the Department of History of Art, University of Vienna, with a thesis on the role of language and the problem of nationalism in contemporary art from the post-Yugoslav context. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Art History from the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. Her interests include current artistic production, performative and engaged artistic practices in (or in relation to) Central and Southeastern European contexts. Kovač is one of the founding members of frustracиja. art collective established in summer 2015. The collective has exhibited and performed in Austria and beyond: Deal with it... at Žumpa (Bratislava, 2015), Pocket Hate at Entkunstung Journal release (Electro Gönner, Vienna, 2016), A (wo)man’s ritual, Frieze, (Mis)Fortune at Michaela Stock Gallery (Vienna, 2016 and 2017), and Mind Your Fucking Baggage at LINE IN #10: Politics of Liberation festival (fluc, Vienna, 2018).

Since 2018, Eva Kovač has been an associate of BLOCKFREI and coordinator of the Curators’ Agenda program. BLOCKFREI is an independent cultural association in Vienna, focusing on supporting the cooperation between artists, cultural professionals, and organisations from Austria and Southeastern Europe. Kovač is also the assistant of Vienna- based artist manager, art collector, and curator Amir Shariat. Thus far, Eva has contributed to the conception and realization of several exhibitions, as a member of the production and organizational team (Is This Intimacy? - C'A 2019, AIR 2018 exhibition, Tomorrow is Canceled - C'A 2018, all at Krinzinger Projekte (now Krinzinger Schottenfeld), Vienna). However, she has not yet had the opportunity to realize her own curatorial project. Developing an exhibition with young artists at the legendary space of Galerija Nova is a perfect opportunity to present a substantial project and, perhaps, unite the two perspectives present in Kovač's work - the art historical curatorial one and the artistic one (stemming from the experience within frustracиja. collective). Selected publications and texts: Conversation with the artist Katarzyna Zolich, on the occasion of the exhibition Places of Power at Zigutamve-Photography, co-authored with Asija Ismailovski (2018); Exhibition text about artworks presentation of the KulturKontakt Austria’s Artists in Residence in the 4th quarter of 2018 (2018); Performativity as ARTISTIC* Method, published in UMETNIK*: Fusnote 2012.–2017. (2017); The Good the bad and the ugly (part 3), exhibition text for Gesso Artspace in Vienna (2016).