Hi, my name is Maria
and i bring visual language to the feelings
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Maria Gvardeitseva
- Born 1982 in Minsk, Belarus
Currently lives in London, UK - Multi-disciplinary visual artist
- Finalist of the national selection to the 59th Venice Biennale for Belarusian Pavilion, 2022
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Education
- Goldsmiths, University of London MA Arts and Politics, 2022-currently
- Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Art History, Art&Business Courses 2021
- University of Denver, Denver, CO 2011 The New media course
- The Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK 2005-2007 Professional Diploma in Marketing
- Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus 1999-2004 Master in Public Relations
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Additional Education Courses
- SKVOT (Curatorial course)
- Sotheby’s Institute of Art (Short courses Fall 2020)
- Warsaw Art Academy (Summer plain-airs 1998-2003)
ABOUT ME
I see pain and suffering. I feel the versatility of emotions. I bring a visual language to the feelings that live in the background of consciousness and are often carefully hidden. To walk in pain is to live the pain. Make it part of one's identity. I need to show the audience that they are alive. Bring them out of the matrix of familiar feelings, as worn-out as old slippers. And through the experience, petal by petal, to open their hearts. For compassion and love. For horror and beauty. This is my beat. And yes, I'm experiencing it now. And this is me, alive. In this body and with this emotion.
I like using installations as part of my artistic practice. I immerse viewers in worlds, vivid images of intense, pulse-pounding sensory experiences. I never know exactly how I'm going to end up with a particular issue. But for sure, I will always run through an emotion at its maximum resolution - as tight as a bowstring before shooting an arrow. In ordinary life, we often calibrate ourselves, allow ourselves to feel, say, 10 or 15 percent. Is it self-pity? Oh yeah. We save time; we save heart muscle.
We choose NOT to feel because feeling once became painful. We adjust to the prosthesis of not-feeling - it's easier as we can't be hurt or offended. And the body that was once alive - in fact, a short time ago, becomes dead. My job as an artist is to give a neural stimulus to create emotion. To bring it to life. And to show who people really are. Beautiful, live, heart-beating creatures.
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
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DRYGVA. BREATH IN BREATH OUT
Mark Rothko Art Center, Daugavpils, Latvia
September 16 - 30 2022
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SPECIAL PROJECT FOR UNICEF
June 2022, Minsk, Belarus
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IMAGINARY CARGO-200 JOURNEY FROM SAINT-PETERSBURG TO MOSCOW
Galerie 132 rue de Turenne, Paris, France - March 24th - April 24th
Digital art, video Art, Installation, NFT project
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KNITTING ISOLATION OUT Installation
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Minsk, Belarus, December 2021 - January 2022
Art installation, mixed media, video
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NEW YEAR REIMAGINED Installation
Minsk, Belarus, December 2021
Art installation, mixed media, video
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NO HUGS AND KISSES Installation
Happy Art Museum, Riga, Latvia, July 2020
COVID dedicated art installation, mixed media, video.
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#WITHOUTCANDIES/#БЕЗКОНФЕТ Installation
DK Gallery, Minsk, Belarus, December 2019
Art installation, mixed media, video
Multiple recognition for the best art social project nationally and internationally
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PERSONAL EXHIBITION OF GUNTARS BINDE
Mikhail Savitsky Gallery, Minsk, Belarus, 2018
Exhibition curatorship, art and event management, PR support
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VIBER COLLABORATION: PROJECT MINSK CATS
Minsk, Belarus 2018
Street art project across multiple locations and in-app collaboration. The sticker pack of the Project has become the most popular downloadable in the CIS for 5 years. The Minsk Cat community was the most massive in Belarus for 2 years - about 2 million people.
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PROJECT "NIGHT WITH BELARUSIAN ARTISTS FROM PARIS SCHOOL"
Yanka Kupala National Theater, Minsk, Belarus, 2014
Concept, implementation and supervision of the project of pop-up exhibitions of artists of the Paris School from the collection of Belgazprombank and contemporary Belarusian artists. Numerous national and international awards for the best cultural project of the year.
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GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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TERRA PARTIA LIBERI
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THE PINNA PROJECT
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WITH ROOTS AND WITHOUT