red. prof. dr. art. Mirjana Vodopija

She graduated in 1987 from the Academy of Fine Arts in the class of Prof. Miroslav Šutej. From 1987 to 2007 she was a member of the Croatian Association of Freelance Artists and works as a freelance artist. She has been exhibiting continuously since 1985, when she has had 42 solo exhibitions and participated in over 250 group exhibitions and curatorial concepts, as well as about thirty art symposia, residential projects and professional training around the world. In her artistic work, she deals with the issues of awareness and perception of light, time and space, often permeating different artistic disciplines and media: drawings, graphics, photographs, objects, installations, video installations and ambiences. For her artistic work, she has won 15 national and international art awards, including the annual Vladimir Nazor Award of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia (2020) and the Annual Award of the Croatian Society of Fine Arts (2019), both for the best exhibition in 2019: the solo exhibition "Wandering Landscape" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. She is also the winner of the plaque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts at the 4. Croatian Triennial of Graphic Arts in Zagreb (2006), 1st prize at the International Triennial of Graphic Arts in Prague (2001) and the Annual Award of the Croatian Association of Artists for a Young Artist (2000). Her works have been included in the collections of major Croatian museums and galleries and several foreign ones. In addition to her independent artistic work, since 1998 she has been continuously working as the author of numerous scenographies, visual identities of shows and videos produced by Croatian Television. In addition, she has designed music, dance and promotional video works, as well as concert and theater set designs. Since 2007, she has been teaching at the Department of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts, where she has been working as a full professor in a permanent position since 2023. Under her mentorship, 25 students have graduated so far. In the academic years 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, she held the position of Vice-Dean for Teaching and Students of the Academy. In 2023, she obtained a doctorate in art based on artistic achievements in the artistic field of Fine Arts, field of Graphics, for the realization of the art project "Wandering Landscape", an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, presented in 2019. The website of the artist https://www.mirjanavodopija.net/

In my work, I deal with the issues of subjective perception of space, time and personal identity, with the aspiration for freedom from illusions and notions. In addition to the necessary light in the role of consciousness, the most common motif through which I express myself is nature, as an object of perception but also as a metaphor for unlimited mental space. Bare mountains, vast plains and reflective lakes are contrasted with the comfort of the interior of a shelter in whose windows a tension is created between the inner and the outer, the limited and the unlimited, the personal and the social, the known and the unknown. In doing so, space expands to space-time, with all the changes that time brings. In my work, I use different artistic disciplines and media: drawings, graphics, photographs, sound, kinetic and ready-made objects, installations, video installations, models, dioramas and ambients. In my projects, I collaborate with scientists and artists working in other fields. Parallel to the awareness of the fact of the limitations of the senses, there is also a realization of the fallacy of equating the seen with reality itself. In fact, nothing can ever be seen as it really is, but all that remains is to rely on the interpretation of reality, constructed with the help of different, always fragmentary and distorted, information at our disposal. (Sulphur, Svjetlana. 2008 "Glow in the Grass", Mirjana Vodopija: Herbs, catalogue of the exhibition M.V. at the Ideal City Gallery, Zagreb, Zagreb: Centre for Culture and Education Susedgrad) The emphasized philosophical nature of Vodopija's personality, preoccupation with existential questions and unrestrained imagination and aspiration to cross boundaries, led her to transcend the boundaries of the visible and the boundaries of the medium. The world is just a beautiful game of illusions, the real reality is invisible, but still present always and everywhere, and it is possible to sense it. (Sulphur, Svjetlana. 2006. "The World Is Just a Beautiful Game of Illusions", text on the occasion of awarding the Plaque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts to Mirjana Vodopija at the 4. Croatian Triennial of Graphic Arts in Zagreb, Grafika, no. 10-11, p. 25-30, Zagreb: Canvas Gallery)

Within the subjects Graphics 2, Graphics 3 and Graphics D, students are trained to independently engage in artistic work by developing their personal artistic expressions through drawing, traditional and contemporary graphic techniques, and, in accordance with their preferences and concept, through the synergy of these with other media. Classes include the tasks of choosing a topic, conceptual conception of the work, research, and the realization and presentation of artworks. Together with Ines Krasić and Iva Ćurić, she is the leader and mentor of the multi-year educational artistic-research project Matrix, thematically related to the research of the concept of matrix in the expanded field of art and science. Students, artists and professors from several universities and several constituents of the University of Zagreb participate in the project. The project is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the City of Zagreb and the University of Zagreb. Mentoring on the educational art research project Matrice that I carry out with the most successful students includes field teaching, artistic research and realization, and presentation of work in collaboration with recognized artists and scientists.

Featured Art Research Projects and Solo Exhibitions 2020. – 2022. – "Time of Upheaval", art research project, with doc. art. Iva Ćurić. The project was completed with a solo exhibition at the 90-60-90 Gallery, Pogon Jedinstvo, in 2022. Associates on the project: musician Nenad Brkić, artist and artistic associate at the Academy of Fine Arts Antonio Kutleša, izv.prof.dr.sc. Davor Horvatić, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, roboticist Vedran Relja. 2017. – 2019. – "Wandering Landscape", an artistic research project completed with a solo exhibition in the space for temporary exhibitions of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, 2019. Associates on the project: Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, project curator Martina Munivran, Vedran Relja and others. The exhibition was awarded the Annual Vladimir Nazor Award of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the Annual Art Award of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists, Zagreb, for the best exhibition in 2019. 2018. – 2019. – "Vibrating Landscape", an artistic research project, in collaboration with the association KONTEJNER/Bureau of Contemporary Art Practice, Zagreb, and technical associate Leonard Krleža, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, SuZg. The result of the project was presented at the Device_Art 6.018 Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, 2018, at the 18th WRO Media Art Biennale "Human Aspect" and Musica Electronica Nova Festival at the National Forum of Music, Wroclaw, 2019, and at Device Art 7.021, at the MKC, Split, 2021. 2016 – "Five Seasons", independent graphic folder of intaglio printing, Argola edition, Cabinet of Graphics of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb and exhibition in the studio of the Cabinet of Graphics. Foreword to the folder by Tonko Maroević. 2016. Winner of the Graphic Collection Award of the National and University Library at the 7. Croatian Triennial of Graphic Arts in Zagreb. 2013 – "Irreversible", Art Pavilion, Zagreb, art project and solo exhibition, curated by Janka Vukmir. Recent international group exhibitions and projects 2024 – "SúnPoíēsis: From Ego- Eco-Centrism through Art / SúnPoíēsis: From Ego to Eco-Centrism through Art", group exhibition, curated by Sabina Oroshi, Kunsthalle Trier, Trier, Germany, Museum of Contemporary Art of Istria / Museo d'arte contemporanea dell' Istria, Pula. 2015 – "In the Absence of Self", Woodstreet Galleries, group exhibition: Ivana Franke, Lauri Astala, Bryndís Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir, Mirjana Vodopija; curated by Murray Horne, Pittsburgh, USA. 2014 – "Structures de l'invisible", artistic-scientific research project, activities and exhibitions at the Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence (FR), Klovićevi dvori and the Technical Museum, Zagreb, curated by Martina Kramer. Featured Residential Art Projects 2004 – "Re Connections", one-month art residency project, Santa Fe Art Institute, Sante Fe, New Mexico, USA - realization of the exhibition, lectures to students at the University of New Mexico, presentation of work at the Santa Fe Art Institute, work with workshop participants, and performance of 2 graphic sheets in the lithography technique. 2002 – "Connections", one-month art residency project, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA - execution of three graphic sheets in lithography technique, lecture to students at the University of New Mexico, presentation of work at the Santa Fe Art Institute.