Marina Tkalčić, Rijeka
Biography
Marina Tkalčić lives and works in Rijeka as an independent curator and project manager. She holds an MA in Museology and Heritage Management, and Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of University of Zagreb. As well, she holds an MA in Croatology at the Center for Croatian Studies of the University of Zagreb. She finished non-institutional educational program at the Center for Gender Studies in Zagreb. Throughout her professional carrier she was active as a freelance journalist for online portal for sex, gender, and democracy, Libela.org, for almost a decade. She published several scientific papers, dozens of reviews, inerviews, and articles in the fields of cultural anthropology, eco-activism and New Age spiritualities, gender equality, socially engaged and participatory art, socio-political activism, etc. As an editor, she collaborated in editorial board for two books and one magazine. Within her curatorial practice, she collaborated in and authored four international exhibitions within EU project Risk Change, and number of small/solo exhibitions, as well as residential programs.
Curatorial Statement
Principles of hospitality and impacts of the current economy and culture on social relations and environment are among the main topics of interest in my curatorial practice. In our multifaceted age, where national discourses are inextricably linked to socio-political polarizations, the understanding of a sense of belonging as something homogenous, geographically fixed, should constantly be called into question. Today, when we are facing ever growing disastrous impact of capitalist economy on the environment and climate, leading us on the verge of sustainable living, leading various species to extinction, polluting air and oceans, producing uneven redistribution of wealth and creating huge disproportion between societal clusters (wherein rich are getting richer, and poor are living on the edge of existence) it is unavoidable to raise awareness about the necessity of a radical change of global and particular national politics. Art is definitely one of the crucial places throughout which is of high importance to speak out about urgent issues and remain engaged. Thus, the principles of solidarity, hospitality, empathy, diversity, social engagement and horizontal forms of communication build important role in my curatorial and management work and interactions with ‘voices from below’.
