Jaro Varga

Born in Slovakia

Lives and works in Prague, Czech Republic

 

Education

 

2010-2014: Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Department of Intermedia / VŠVU v Bratislave, degree: Doctor of Art (Art.D.), gained in June 2014, Dissertation: “Expanded Role of Artist”

2005-2010: Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava / VŠVU v Bratislave, Department of Intermedia, degree: Master (Mgr.art), gained in June 2010

2000-2005: University of Presov, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Department of Arts: degree: Master (Mgr.), gained in May 2005

 

Scholarships

 

2011: Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria, Doctoral research scholarship (awarded by Ministry of Education of Slovak Republic)

2009: Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Department of Fine Arts, USA

2007: Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, PL Erazmus Program

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Selected Solo Exhibitions

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2023

Travel Tales in the Land, Haifa Museum of Art, Israel

In Someone Else's Game, Ivan Gallery, Bucharest, Romania

In Someone Else's Diary, Liste Art Basel, with Ivan Gallery, Switzerland

Priadkač, Pradiar, Spriadač…, Socha v meste IX., Turiec Gallery, Martin, Slovakia

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2022
Angkor and Rome, Sa Sa Art, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

 

2021

The Yellow Book, Chiquita Room, Tàpies Foundation, Arús Library, Museum Picasso, Barcelona, Spain

Fremde Haut, Goethe Institute Bratislava, Slovakia

Interstices, solo/duo show with Catherine Radosa, GAMPA Pardubice, Czech Republic

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2020

ARCO Madrid, solo/duo show with Ivan Gallery Bucharest, Madrid, Spain

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2019

We don’t know that we know, Huntkastner Prague in cooperation with Ivan Gallery, Czech Republic

Circular Rectangle, Kunst im Kreuzgang, St Jodokus, Bielefeld, Germany

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2018

About Books, Gallery AlbumArte, Rome, Italy

I found it somewhere but I cannot find it, At Home Gallery, site specific installation in old synagogue, Samorin, Slovakia 

Situation 50, Gallery Klatovy Klenova, Czech Republic

There are more things, Gallery Kabinet T, Zlín, Czech Republic

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2017

MISSING SOMETHING AND ITSELF MISSING, Ivan Gallery Bucharest, Romania 

In Someone’s Else Dream, SODA Gallery Bratislava, Slovakia

Situation After the Arrival of the Warning Patrol, East Slovak Gallery Kosice 

The Hacked Dream, SPZ Gallery Prague, Czech Republic

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2016

Texture of Time, Flatgallery Bratislava, Slovakia 

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2015

LIBRARY 26.10.2015-3.1.2016, Gdanska Galeria Miejska, Gdansk, Poland

Mirror and Mask, Soga, Bratislava, Slovakia

Lost Library, Muzeum Contemporary, Slovak National Museum, Betliar, Slovakia

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2014

"Was ist Kunst?", Gallery HIT, Bratislava, Slovakia

Situace 50, Pavilon Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic

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2012

At the End of Universe,  with Jan Brož, Berlínskej model, Prague, Czech Republic

Master and Disciple 4, Ilona Németh & Jaro Varga, Magma Contemporary Art Space, Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania

Lost Library, Gallery Heppen Transfer, Warsaw, Poland

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2010

Touristic Routes, D Raum Museums Quartier, Vienna, Austria

Urban Exploration, Open Gallery Bratislava, Slovakia

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2006

Dangerous sequences, Gallery HIT, Bratislava, Slovakia

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

 

​2023

Ruce za zády a ticho, Galerie Atrium Žižkov, Prague, Czech Republic

Elmgreen & Dragset: READ, Kunsthalle Praha, Prague, Czech Republic

VŠECHNY KVĚTY SVĚTA, Galerie Klatovy Klenová, Czech Republic

Virus Diary Biennial | Cryptic Lineages, SAC Malmaison Bucharest, Romania

Ost Anders Festival 2023, Ost Anders Festival, Nuremberg Germany

Galaxia P50, dkp - Dočasný kultúrny priestor, Bratislava, Slovakia

Sometimes in Winter, Galerie Kurzor, Centrum pro současné umění, Prague, Czech Republic

The Wrong Biennale, Virus Diary, Alicante, Spain

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2022

Glitch: The City as Palimpsest, Cooke Latham Gallery, London, UK

Prečo ume(nie)?, Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava, Slovakia
Triennal Of Contemporary Art, Museum of Arts, Olomouc, Czech Republic

Cologne Biennial 2022, Virus Diary, Cologne, Germany

Nuit blanche Heraklion, Kotsanas Museum, Heraklion Greece

Occupy Art Festival | Occupy #3 NETWORKS New York City, USA
Virus Diary, B5 StudioTârgu Mureș, Romania​

​Čierne Diery - Priemysel a Andrássyovci, Slovak National Museum, Betliar, Slovakia

The Artist’s Book Triennial, Book Art Museum, Łódź, Poland

The Artist’s Book Triennial, Východočeská galerie, Pardubice, Czech Republic

Folklore is not dead, The Gallery of Modern Art in Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic

Virus Diary, Romanian Cultural Institute, Vienna, Austria

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2021

Triennial for contemporary art, Paradise Kortrijk 2021, Belgium

Secret Language, Ivan Gallery Bucharest, Romania

Socha v meste, Turčianska galéria v Martine, Slovakia

Arts Libris Artist Book Fair with Chiquita Room Barcelona, Spain

Archiving Care Symposium  Kunsthalle Bratislava, What Stays – Archiving Care is a project by Akademie der Künste, Goethe Institut Slovakia, and Transmediale - Festival for art and digital culture Berlin

7th Edition of the Black-and-White Biennial | Bienala Alb Negru: Jurnal de virus, Romania

Virus Diary | Jurnal de Virus | Diario del Virus ABM Confecciones, Madrid, Spain

The Artist’s Book Triennial, Turiec Gallery Martin, Slovakia

Reframing possibilities, Soda Gallery, Paris, France

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2020

Illusion and the Virtual Reality in Art, Gallery Medium in Bratislava, Slovakia

ARTISSIMA - UNPLUGGED Torino with Soda Gallery, Italy

Separation of Trust, Soda Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia

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2019

The Portnet of Light (with Lucia Tkacova),  Gallery of Jozef Kollár, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia

History is His Story, NEST ruimte voor kunst, The Hague Netherlands

SIGNAL - The Story of Slovak (Post)conceptual Art, Ludwig Museum Budapest, Hungary

IDEAL CITY, Eindhoven Footnotes of Onomatopee Projects,  Onomatopee, Eindhoven, Netherlands 

Traveling to the End, National Museum of Modern and Contemorary Art, ChangDong, Seoul South Korea 

Miart Milan, Selection of Soda Gallery, Italy

Operative and External Memory, Gallery Medium in Bratislava, Slovakia 

Operative and External Memory, Bellart Gallery, Vienna, Austria

Double Library, site specific installation in collaboration with Moravska Galerie in Brno and Masaryk University, Czech Republic

Trh nikdy nespí, site specific installation, SOGA Bratislava, Slovakia

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2018

Unknowing Knowns | Knowing Unknowns, The National Museum of Art, Bucharest, Romania

Probe 1 / The Story of Slovak (Post)conceptual Art, Prague City Gallery, Czech Republic

KATALOG ENTROPII SZTUKI, Gallery Entropia and Library of University of Warsaw, Poland

I created the line, SODA Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia

We the People, Central Slovakian Gallery, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

Clouds Bratislava, public art project, White Night, in collaboration with Ilona Németh and Marian Ravasz, Slovakia 

The Last Amazonian Congress, Polana, Slovakia

LISTE Art Fair Basel, selection of Ivan Gallery, Switzerland 

SO(n)DA, conceptual tendencies, P74 gallery Ljublana, Slovenia

Algoritmy obrazov, obrazy algoritmov, Gallery Medium Bratislava, Slovakia

Triennal of Small Object and Drawing, Gallery of Jozef Kollár, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia

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2017

Escape Route, The Rooster Gallery Vilnius, Lithuania

PANELAND, Moravská Galerie Brno, Czech Republic

Clouds, public art in Kosice, White Night in collaboration with Ilona Németh, Slovakia

AMIWHATIAMTHINKINGABOUT?, Karlin Barracks, 4+4 International Festival of Contemporary Art in Prague, Czech Republic 

Art Paris, SODA Gallery selection, France 

Jaro Varga, Gallery Bistro 8, Prague, Czech Republic

Laziness, Kulturfabrik Tabačka, Košice, Slovakia 

Volta Art Fair, SODA Gallery selection, Basel, Switzerland

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2016

When Artists Speak Truth, The 8th Floor Gallery, New York City, USA

What are we building down there? Bucharest Biennale 7, Bucharest Romania 

Slovak State, Slovak National Gallery / Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia

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2015
Imagined Communities, Personal Imaginations, Budapest Gallery and the Kiscell Museum, Budapest, Hungary
Life: A User's Manual, Gallery Prozori, Zagreb, Croatia 
In the shade they flourish, public art project, Imago Mundi Foundation Krakow, BWA Tarnów, Tarnów, Poland
Triennal of Small Object and Drawing, Gallery of Jozef Kollár, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia
Soft Codes, Museum of Contemporary Art in Wroclaw, Poland
Tektonika paměti, Dom umění in Brno, Czech Republic
Private Nationalism, Open Gallery in Bratislava, Slovakia

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2014
Tektonika paměti, Gallery of Emil Flla, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic
The First Man Was an Artist, Central Slovakian Gallery, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Plato's third eye, Meetfactory, Prague, Czech Republic
Private Nationalism, Ostrale, Dresden, Germany
Private Nationalism, Zsolnay Cultural Quater, Pécs Gallery m21, Pécs, Hungary
Ptolemaiovy děti, NTK Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
Private Nationalism, Kunsthalle Kosice, Slovakia
Circular Ruins, French Institute in Prague, MeetFactory Prague, Czech Republic
Private Nationalism, Divus, Prague, Czech Republic

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2013
Dysraphic City, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
City Diary, Triangle Arts Association, New York City, USA 
Metaphysik der Disziplin, Czech Center, Berlin, Germany
Vulnerable Failures, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea, Seoul, South Korea 
„Katalog Entropii Sztuki“, Gallery Entropia, Wroclaw, Poland 
Prague Biennale 6, Prague, Czech Republic
Subterranean Echoes, Center for Art and Urbanism, Berlin, Germany
Blind spot, NTK Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
Panel Story, Bratislava City Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
M(i)esto medzi pamäťou a nepamäťou, Turčianska Gallery, Martin, Slovakia
Panel Story, Turčianska Gallery, Martin, Slovakia

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2012
The Discovery of Slowness II, Tranzit SK, Bratislava, Slovakia
On Boredom, Kulturfabrik TABAČKA, Košice, Slovakia
WHAT’S HAPPENING THESE DAYS?, Etc.Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
Delete. Art and Wiping out, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
Zlínsky salón mladých 2012, Dům umění ve Zlíne, Czech Republic
„My sme podstavec“, Vymenník, Košice, Slovakia
Intervencion 2012, Public art project Trebišov, Slovakia

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2011
Eleventh Hour, Gallery FUTURA Prague, Czech Republic
Public Folklore, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria
Why do I keep reading the same books?, AMT project, Bratislava, Slovakia 
MAPY/MAPS, Bratislava City Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
LIBRARIANISM, Gallery NTK, Prague, Czech Republic
PRIMS, The Orchard Centre, Sheffield, United Kingdom
TWIST- Tuica/Tusovka, 91mQ Art project space, Berlin, Germany

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2010
“Where do we go from here?”, SECESSION Vienna, Austria
“Der Drang nach Osten”, Gallery HIT Bratislava, Slovakia
Transart Communication- Public Dialog, Komarno, Komarom, Slovakia, Hungary
Startpoint, Gask Gallery, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
Priestor / Prostor Z(I)LIN(A), Povazská Gallery in Zilina, Krajska Gallery in Zlin, Slovakia, Czech Republic
Exhibition of finalists of Oskar Cepan Award, Gallery Medium, Bratislava, Slovakia
Perfection, Gallery Medium, Bratislava, Slovakia
The Romance of my Young Days, the Future of my Nostalgia, Central Slovakian Gallery, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Open Studio, Karlin Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

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2009
Rhetoric of Fiction, Site-specific at Cinema HVIEZDA, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Exit Ghost, Gallery Valentina Moncada, Rome, Italy
Fantazies of Beginning Documentation, Central Slovakian Gallery Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
BRATISLAVA, Slovak Cultural Institute, Rome , Italy
Fantazies of Beginning, Billboard Gallery Europe, Bratislava, Slovakia

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2008
Library in Library, Bailey Library, Slippery Rock University, USA 
Videokunst vs künstlerische Dokumentation, KOLONI, Dresden, Germany
Exhibition of finalists of Oskar Cepan Award, Gallery Medium, Bratislava, Slovakia
ENDING, Hotel Kyjev, Bratislava, Slovakia

2007
International Media Art Biennale WRO 07, Wroclaw, Poland
SURVIVAL, Public Art Festival in Wroclaw, Poland
BEST WEST, Gallery Entropia, Poland
BRIDG:ING, Gallery of Ministry of Culture of Slovak Republic, Bratislava, Slovakia
TACTICS OF RESISTANCE X GLOBAL POLICE ACTION, Exhibition Centre Constantin Brancusi, Chisinau, Moldava

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2006
Tourist Route, Street art project, Nitra, Slovakia

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Special Projects:

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2022: curator of Jindrich Chalupecky Award, National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic

2021: We don't know that we know, site-specific drawing at Slovak Pavilion WORLD EXPO 2020, Dubai, UAE

2018: MANIFESTO, site specific art projects in collaboration with Sonia Rykiel Paris for the 5Oth Anniversary of the Fashion House

Paris, London, Tokyo, New York, Seoul, Brussels, Madrid, Astana, Beijing

2015-2017 chief curator of exhibition program, Meetfactory, International center for contemporary art, Prague Czech Republic 

2007-2018 curator of exhibition program, HIT Gallery, artist run space, Bratislava, Slovakia

2019-2020 jury member of Oskar Cepan Award (Young Visual Artist Award), Slovakia

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Lectures/Talks

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2022: Artist talk, Department of Intermedia Art, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava, Slovakia
2022: I found it somewhere but I cannot find it, artist talk, Sa Sa Art, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2021: Between Betweens, talk between Audrey Hörmann, Laura González Palacios, Jaro Varga, Chiquita Room, Barcelona, Spain

2021: "If the library could talk. Challenging the concept of the library" Jaro Varga, Kundzanai Chiurai and Agnieszka Kilian, Chiquita Room, Barcelona, Spain

2019: Memory of Hands, Department of Photography FAMU Prague, Czech Republic

2019: Is the Future Boring? - Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Tel Aviv Israel 

2019: Probe 1 / The Story of Slovak (Post)conceptual Art, Prague City Gallery, Czech Republic

2018: Stories, Anglo American University in Prague, Czech Republic

2018: Conference for Artists "Nauč sa v tom plávať", Nová cvernovka Bratislava, Slovakia

2018: Psychogeography of Memory, Visiting Artists series, Prague College, Czech Republic

2016: “Artist as Researcher”, Anglo American University in Prague, Czech Republic

2016: “Artist with an Attitude”, Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania

2015: City Diary - Piotr Bujas, Ewa Łączyńska-Widz, Katarzyna Trzeciak in conversation with Jaro Varga, BWA Tarnów, Poland

2015: artist talk Jaro Varga & Edgar Heap of Birds, The 8th Floor Gallery, New York City, USA

2015: “SK/AT” Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia

2015: “Library – artist book”, Ex Libris Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava, Slovakia

2013: Gyeonggi Creation Center, Ansan, South Korea 

2012: artist talk – exhibition DELETE, Slovak National Gallery Bratislava, Slovakia

2011: ENTER CARTOGRAPHY, Zentrum fur Kunst und Wissenstransfer, Vienna, Austria

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Teaching

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2021 - ongoing: Faculty of Architecture and Design, Slovak Technical University, Bratislava, Slovakia

2019: guest teacher at studio IN (Ilona Németh), winter semester, Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia

 

Publications

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2021: Jaro Varga, The Yellow Book, artist book, published by Chiquita Room in Barcelona, Spain

2021: Jaro Varga: City Diary (2. edition), artist book, published in collaboration with Imago Mundi Foundation in Krakow, Poland

2017: Dreams and Dramas, edited by Agnieszka Killian, Co-edited by Joerg Franzbecker, Jaro Varga,  Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst in Berlin, Germany

2015: Who is playing?, ed. Jaro Varga, Exhibition Catalogue, published by MeetFactory in Prague, Czech Republic
2015: 15000 Years of Sameness ed. Jaro Varga & Karina Kottova, Exhibition Catalogue, published by MeetFactory in Prague, Czech Republic

2015: Jaro Varga: City Diary, artist book, published in collaboration with Imago Mundi Foundation in Krakow, Poland

2014: Revolution without Movement, Exhibition Reader, ed. Jaro Varga, Berit Fischer, Dorota Kenderova, published by Tranzit SK, Gallery HIT in Bratislava, Slovakia

2014: Is the future boring?, ed. Jaro Varga & Dorota Kenderova, published by Gallery Hit in Bratislava, Slovakia
2014: Jaro Varga: Untitled, artist book 2015, Czech Republic

 

Awards 

 

2017: 1st prize NOVUM Foundation, Slovakia

2015: Award for Art in category Young Artist under 35, Awarded by Tatrabanka Foundation in Slovakia
2012: Slovak winner of Henkel Award, Slovakia 
2010: Finalist of Oskar Cepan Award (Young Visual Artist Award), Slovakia
2010: Finalist of Start Point, Gask, Czech Republic
2008: Finalist of Oskar Cepan Award (Young Visual Artist Award), Slovakia

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Art Residencies

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2022: Headlands Art Residency San. Francisco, USA

2022: Sa Sa Art Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

2019 Artist in Residence, Delfina Foundation London, United Kingdom

2015: Artist in Residence, Imago Mundi Fundation, Krakow, Poland
2014: Center for Art and Architecture ZK/U, Berlin, Germany
2014: Artist in Residence, Central Slovakian Gallery, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
2013: Center for Art and Architecture ZK/U, Berlin, Germany
2013: National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, National Art Studio, South Korea 
2013: Triangle Art Association, New York City, USA 
2012: Visegrad Artist Residency at Gallery Heppen Transfer, Warsaw, Poland
2012: Artist in Residence, AIR Krems, Austria
2012: Flow - Festival of conversation for culture and science, Ruse, Bulgaria
2011: XEROX - short art residency at Banska Stanica, Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia
2011: ENTER CARTOGRAPHY, Zentrum fur Kunst und Wissenstransfer, Vienna, Austria
2010: Art Residency, Gallery Futura, Prague, Czech Republic
2010: Artist in Residence, Museums Quartier 21 Vienna, Austria
2010: Flow - Festival of conversation for culture and science, Chisinau, Moldava
2009: Art Residency, Castel Trebesice, Czech Republic

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Selected Curatorial Projects

 

2019: Vera Icona: Dor Guez, (co-curated with Sara Reisman), Center for Contemporary Art FUTURA, Prague

2017: Dreams & Dramas. Law as Literature, NGBK Berlin (co-curated with Agnieszka Kilian)

2017: The Shell Game, MeetFactory Prague, (co-curated with Lucia Gavulova)

2016: Time after Time, MeetFactory Prague (co-curated with Zuzana Jakalova)

2016: Spirit World Rising: Anežka Hošková, Anders Grønlien, Gallery Kostka Prague

2016: The Portent of Light (co-curated with Lucia Tkacova) Gallery MeetFactory Prague

2016: Fightlessness: Little Warsaw, Gallery MeetFactory Prague

2015: Who is playing? Gallery MeetFactory Prague

2015: 15000 Years of Sameness: Dan Perjovschi & Matěj Smetana  (co-curated with Karina Kottova) Gallery MeetFactory, Prague

2014: Revolution without Movement (in collaboration with Berit Fischer and Dorota Kenderova), Galeria HIT & tranzit.sk, Bratislava
2012: On Boredom (with Dorota Kenderova), Tabacka Kulturfabrik, Kosice
2012: The Discovery of Slowness II, (with Dorota Kenderova) tranzit.sk, Bratislava
2011: The Discovery of Slowness I, (with Dorota Kenderova) Tabacka Kulturfabrik, Kosice