Nada Prlja is representing The Republic of North Macedonia at 58th La Biennale di Venezia with the project Subversion to Red
Nada Prlja is using different mediums, her projects are multi-layered, site or condition- specific. She works mainly in installation, video installation, live art, public art projects.
Prlja’s main aim is to affect society in the most direct of ways; it challenges critical discourse around issues of current politics, nationalism, transition of ex-socialist countries, human rights, migration, etc. Prlja’s work adopts a site’s context specific quality or certain kind of social conditions, which may vary from project to project in the choice of media deemed most appropriate.
Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina. Lived in Skopje, Macedonia between 1981 and 1999 and between 2014 and 2018, where she co directed independent project space Serious Interests Agency. From 1998 she lived and worked in London, UK and since 2018 she is active between Copenhagen and Skopje. She received an MPhil (Master of Philosophy) research degree from the Royal College of Arts, London, after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts and previously from the National High School of Fine Art both in Skopje, Macedonia.
Prlja took part in eight Biennales: 58th La Biennale di Venezia (2019), IV Bienal del Fin del Mundo de Arte Contempor oraneo, Chile/Argentina (2015); 5th Moscow Biennale, (Film Program) Moscow (2013); 7th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2012), Manifesta 8, Murcia (2010) and 28th International Printmaking Biennale, Ljubljana (2009).
She has been working occasionally in public domain, here public interventions were for 7th Berlin Biennale (2012), ORF FUNKHAUS, Vienna (2009), Marble Arch Gate, London (2007), etc.
Selected solo exhibitions: FUTURA, Praha (2013); Lakeside Kunstrum, Klagenfurt (2010), MC Gallery, Zagreb (2009), The Museum of City, Vzigalica, Ljubljana (2009), Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje (2008), National Gallery of Macedonia, Skopje (2007), etc.
Selected group exhibitions: White Cube, London; Calvert 22 Foundation, London (2013); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012); Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork (2012); Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, Lodz (2011), INIVA Institute of International Art, London (2009), David Roberts Art Foundation, London (2009), Skuc Gallery, Ljubljana (2009), Tina B – Prague Contemporary Art Festival, Prague (2008), Hong-Gah National Museum, Taipei (2008), Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2008), etc.
Selected public presentations: Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; ICA, London; INIVA Institute of International Art, London; Tate Britain, London; University College of London (UCL), London; University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen; Goldsmith University, London, etc.
Prlja was senior tutor in different London universities from 2005 to 2013. Prlja was a Board Member at Open Space – Open System, Vienna, Austria (2009-2012). She has also co-initiated independent gallery space Serious Interests Agency in Skopje, Macedonia in 2014.
