Monika Dorniak’s practice implies the weaving of connections between media, senses, agencies, disciplines, materialities, technologies, localities and temporalities, through the means of performance, (text- and material-based) scores, (textile) sculpture, workshop, and multi-media. Primary subjects of the artist's projects and practice-based research are intergenerational trauma, the human condition and interdependence (and porous connections) between agencies. While sourcing from contemporary events, the neurodivergent artist attempts to refrain from the normative temporality by practicing crip-time* rituals as day-to-day form of resistance.
The experiences of growing up between (West) Germany and Poland in an (agricultural & social) working class environment, as well as her families past experience of forced displacements under Soviet occupations, impacted Dorniak’s interest in the porousity and vulnerability of the plural self*². During her psychology and performance studies (2012-2013) she began the ongoing research on intergenerational trauma, which has manifested itself in commissioned workshops (Uprootedness & Hybridity, 2018), performances (a.o. Walking In Two Directions (At The Same Time), 2022) and alternative educational programmes (Passing on Resilience, 2023).
Dorniak uses the collaborative format to search for collective mourning spaces in a pluralised, neoliberal society, and build bridges between disciplines, people, agencies, spaces and times. Throughout her practice she has joined forces with dancers, stones and other more-than-human agencies, sound makers, activists, a provenance researcher, a nurse, a psychologist, philosophers, art historians, physicists, neurologists, a farmer, designers, architects, filmmakers and journalists.
Her works have been presented at international institutions, such as Center for Literature in Münster (2024), National Gallery Vilnius (2023), Galeria Promocyjna, Warszawa (2023), Drugo Mare in Rijeka (2022), Uferstudios Berlin (2021), Kommunale Galerie Bärenzwinger in Berlin (2019), Tate Exchange at Tate Modern London (2017 & 2018), Arts Catalyst in London (2016), Foreign Affairs Festival at Berliner Festspiele (2014), and as guest lecturer at SOAS University of London (2022), Garage Museum in Moscow (2019), Al-Quds Bard College in Palestine (2018), and Chelsea College in London (2017). Dorniak’s practice-based Bachelor-research and working experience in fashion design, psychology, choreography and dance was concluded in Dorniak’s Master Degree in Art and Science (Department Fine Art), that she obtained from the Central Saint Martins in London (2017).
* referring to Alison Kafer’s Feminist Queer Crip Theory (2013)
*² referring to Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987)
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Photograph by Anna Perepechai
The experiences of growing up between (West) Germany and Poland in an (agricultural & social) working class environment, as well as her families past experience of forced displacements under Soviet occupations, impacted Dorniak’s interest in the porousity and vulnerability of the plural self*². During her psychology and performance studies (2012-2013) she began the ongoing research on intergenerational trauma, which has manifested itself in commissioned workshops (Uprootedness & Hybridity, 2018), performances (a.o. Walking In Two Directions (At The Same Time), 2022) and alternative educational programmes (Passing on Resilience, 2023).
Dorniak uses the collaborative format to search for collective mourning spaces in a pluralised, neoliberal society, and build bridges between disciplines, people, agencies, spaces and times. Throughout her practice she has joined forces with dancers, stones and other more-than-human agencies, sound makers, activists, a provenance researcher, a nurse, a psychologist, philosophers, art historians, physicists, neurologists, a farmer, designers, architects, filmmakers and journalists.
Her works have been presented at international institutions, such as Center for Literature in Münster (2024), National Gallery Vilnius (2023), Galeria Promocyjna, Warszawa (2023), Drugo Mare in Rijeka (2022), Uferstudios Berlin (2021), Kommunale Galerie Bärenzwinger in Berlin (2019), Tate Exchange at Tate Modern London (2017 & 2018), Arts Catalyst in London (2016), Foreign Affairs Festival at Berliner Festspiele (2014), and as guest lecturer at SOAS University of London (2022), Garage Museum in Moscow (2019), Al-Quds Bard College in Palestine (2018), and Chelsea College in London (2017). Dorniak’s practice-based Bachelor-research and working experience in fashion design, psychology, choreography and dance was concluded in Dorniak’s Master Degree in Art and Science (Department Fine Art), that she obtained from the Central Saint Martins in London (2017).
* referring to Alison Kafer’s Feminist Queer Crip Theory (2013)
*² referring to Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987)
To request CV & Portfolio, arrange a studio visit online / in Berlin, or further queries, get in contact.
EDUCATION
2015-2017 MA Art and Science / Central Saint Martins / UAL / London / UK
2014-2015 BA Dance/Choreography / HZT / University of Arts Berlin / Germany
2011-2013 BA Psychology / Universität Trier / Germany
2008-2010 BA Fashion Design / University of Westminster / London / UK
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 the (nonmetaphoric) use of the term participation, InTheCloset, Vilnius, LI
2023 the ease with which [a] may be distorted under the action of [b], Hošek Contemporary, Berlin, DE
2020 If Homunkulus Had A House, ROSALUX, Berlin, DE
2011 Human Anatomy Is Adorning Itself, Das Weekend, Berlin, DE
GROUP EXHIBITIONS – selected list
2024 As the Witches do, Center for Literature, Burg Hülshoff, Münster, DE
2023 CollActive Matters, CLB Galerie, Berlin, DE
2023 WARSAW>KIN<BERLIN, Galeria Promocyjna, Warszawa, PL
2023 WeWater, Symbiotic Lab, Berlin, DE
2023 WARSAW>KIN<BERLIN, Milchhof Pavillion, Berlin, DE
2022 Künstlerische Tatsachen, TRAFO, Jena, DE
2022 Mapping The Cartographic, Drugo Mare, Rijeka, HR
2022 Critical Practice Studio, Haus der Statistik, Berlin, DE
2021 Pop Up Gallery, Art Apart, NAILS Projectroom, Düsseldorf, DE
2021 Rituale der Gegenwart, curated by SALVE, Künstlerhaus Sootbörn, Hamburg, DE
2021 Hold Hands, Kunstverein Leipzig, Leipzig, DE
2021 Black Beemer > White Boomer, City Gallery Pardubice, Prague, CZ
2021 Instability and Precariousness, Millepiani, Rome, IT
2020 Visard, Salve Berlin, Berlin, DE
2020 still connected, Weserhalle, Berlin, DE
2020 Openings Not Openings, Bärenzwinger, Berlin, DE
2019 The Screen Is Not The Limit, curated by Entkunstung, online
2019 dig:it, Museum of Arts, Arad, RO
2018 Vivid Unknown, ROSALUX, Berlin, DE
2018 Expedition IV, curated by Johanna Silbermann, Salve Berlin, Berlin, DE
2017 10 Jahre, Kunstverein Neukölln, Berlin, DE
2017 This is an Art School, curated by Alex Schady, Tate Exchange, London, UK
2016 Postgraduates Auction with Sotheby’s, Lethaby Gallery, London, UK
2016 9 Evenings Series, Arts Catalyst, London, UK
2015 Remember Nature curated by Gustav Metzger, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2012 Wir bauen eine neue Gedankenskulptur, Alte Post, Trier, DE
2011 Koordinaten des Körpers, Kunstraum t27, Berlin, DE
2011 Exposició Síntesi, Festival Tallerts Oberts, Barcelona, ES
PERFORMANCES & WORKSHOPS – selected list
2024 What could possibly go right?, Toni Areal, Zürich, CH
2023 half orphan, half witch, Monster Believers Reloaded, Berlin, DE
2022 Your Body Is A Water Vessel, TRAFO, Jena, DE
2022 Metamorphosis, Entkunstung x Jakob Kukula Publication, Art Biesenthal, DE
2021 Amplification Of Fluctuations, Uferstudios, Berlin, DE
2019 My Fiction and You, Bärenzwinger, Berlin, DE
2018 Studio Complex, Curator: Alex Schady, Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London, UK
2018 Collective Synchronisation, Anti-University Festival, Arts Catalyst, London, UK
2016 Why simple, when you can make it complex, Performance Studio, London, UK
2015 Anthropocentric Choreography, Foreign Affairs, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Berlin, DE
2016 Acts Re: Acts, Wimbledon Arts Centre, London, UK
2014 100 Grad Festival, Sophiensaele, Berlin, DE
2013 CTM Hacklab Presentations, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
LECTURING, CURATING, MODERATING & TEACHING
2023 Mentor, University of the Arts, London, UK (ongoing)
2023 Curator, Passing on Resilience, National Gallery Vilnius, LI
2023 10-month research programme, School of Commons, Zurich, CH
2023 Lecturer, CollActive Matters, Lobe Bau, Berlin, DE
2023 Guest tutor, Berridge Programs, FR
2022 Moderator, Reactionary Art, Berlin Art Week, Uferhallen, Berlin, DE
2022 Moderator, Footnotes, School of Commons, Zurich University, Zurich, CH
2022 Moderator, Warding Off, Radio Show, Refuge Worldwide
2022 Guest Tutor, SARS London, Online
2021 Moderator, Uprootedness & Hybridity, Seminar Series, Counterpoints Arts, UK
2019 Lecturer, Experiencing the Museum, Garage Museum, Moscow, RU
2018 Lecturer, Diversity, Arts and Culture, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, DE
2018 Guest Tutor, Urban Studies & Spatial Practices, Al-Quds Bard College, PS
2017 Guest Tutor, BA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL, UK
2015 Lecturer, Diversity, Arts and Culture, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, DE
STIPENDS, PRIZES & RESIDENCIES
2023 Stipend, Take Heart, Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V.
2023 Prize, Hošek Contemporary Prize, Berlin, DE
2022 Residency, Künstlerische Tatsachen, TRAFO, Jena, DE
2022 Sonderförderung, Neustart Kultur, Kunstfonds Bonn
2022 Exhibition and travel fund, Mapping The Cartographic, Institut f. Auslandsbeziehungen
2021 Residency, Hold Hands, Online
2021 Stipend, Take Action, Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V.
2020 Stipend, Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur, Berlin, DE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2023 Online, Coeur & Art, Interview by Lorena Mateeva
2022 Issue 13, JANE, Interview by Nina Mdivani
2022 Metamorphosis, Symbiotic Lab & Entkunstung
2020 Issue 1, Out Of Stock Edith Lazar and Schloss Solitude
2017 Issue 4, Terra Firma Magazine
2016 Online, Metal Magazine, Interview by Anastasia Sliusarenko
2011 Issue 5, Der Greif
Selected interviews
Coeur & Art (2023) w/ Lorena Mateeva
Baserange (2021) w/ Umuco Podcast
The Ekru Project (2019) w/ Veronica Horwell
Metal Magazine (2017)
All images and texts © 2023 Studio Monika Dorniak
All rights reserved
All rights reserved