Alicja Melzacka:
curator-in-residence
Off the Grid
Periode: 08.01—30.06.2024
As an independent curator and writer, Alicja Melzacka has collaborated with artists and institutions in Belgium, Netherlands and beyond. Recent projects include the solo exhibition ‘Close Contact’ with Dominik Ritszel at Szara Gallery in Warsaw, the group exhibition ‘Proxemities’ at La Box, Bourges (co-curated with Patricia Couvet), and ‘Hypertext Hotel’ at SB34 in Brussels, which conceived of an exhibition as a work of interactive fiction.
Her texts have accompanied multiple exhibitions and appeared in artists’ books, catalogues and art press; some publishers include HART, KAJET Journal, BLOK Magazine, Onomatopee, Fantôme Verlag, MER Paper Kunsthalle, Kunsthalle Wien. She is a co-founder of project space celador in Brussels and a board member of SB34 (Brussels) and B32 (Maastricht).
From 2019 to 2023, she worked at Jester (formerly CIAP and FLACC) in Hasselt and Genk, where she supported artists throughout their residency projects and curated solo exhibitions with Beny Wagner & Sasha Litvintseva, Marina Sula, Marianne Berenhaut, and Alexis Gautier. She was one of the coordinators of the biannual artists’ books fair co-organised by Jester, KRIEG, and Oda Park.
She holds a double Bachelor’s degree in Art History as well as Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies from the University of Gdansk (2011−2015) and a Master’s degree in Arts and Heritage: Policy Management and Education from Maastricht University (2015−2016). In 2019, she completed a postgraduate programme in Curatorial Studies at KASK School of Arts and Conservatorium in Ghent.
Website
Alicja Melzacka:
curator-in-residence
We welcome Alicja Melzacka (PL) as the first curator-in-residence of Off the Grid in the first half of 2024. Amongst other things, Melzacka will convey research on various modes of (self-)publishing within an artistic practice. Save the date 26 — 28.04 for the first public programme, curated by this resident.
I always imagined I would become either a translator, writer, or artist, and I guess how I understand curating takes a bit from all of these disciplines. I am particularly affected by the narrative, time-based dimension in art. In my current work, I aim to integrate writing and curating, often thinking from or through specific textual practices, most recently, non-linear storytelling, genre hybridity, and embodied writing. I try to cultivate a particular ecology of practice, placing importance on long-term engagement, dialogical processes, and collaborative research, and searching for curatorial contexts that support this type of work. I attach great value to self-organisation and explore its potential as well as limitations as a member and co-founder of several bottom-up initiatives.
The reflective residency focusses on introspection, research, dialogue and exchange. This format facilitates space, time and budget for independent culture workers to expand their practice and to experiment with new curatorial formats. Together with the artist-in-residence and the collective-in-residence, a horizontal, transversal and cross-polinating public programme is developed in Off the Grid.
Photo credits:
1. Text accompanying Arthur Cordier’s solo exhibition ‘Laatste Ronde’ at Trixie, The Hague, 2023. Photo Helena Roigg.
2. ‘Proxemities’, group exhibition at La Box, Bourges, co-curated with Patricia Couvet, 2023. Here – works by Rokko Miyoshi. Photo François Lauginie.
3. Hypertext Hotel, group exhibition at SB34 in Brussels, 2022. Works from left to right: Henry Andersen, Bartek Buczek, Stuart Moulthrop (screen), Peter Lemmens. Photo Silvia Cappellari.
4. Backend of the interactive text co-written with Peter Lemmens and Kendal Beynon for ‘Hypertext Hotel’, 2022.
5. Text in ‘Auditing Intimacy’ by Office For Joint Administrative Intelligence (Gary Farrelly & Chris Dreier), designed by Zero Desk, published by Fantôme Verlag, 2021.
6. Insert produced on the occasion of the exhibition ‘rosa rosa rosae rosae’ curated by Pauline Hatzigeorgiou at Maison Pelgrims, 2021.
7. Spread from the publication ‘Marianne Berenhaut, Mine de rien’, edited by Alicja Melzacka, designed by Hannah Sakai, produced by CIAP, C‑mine and Dvir Gallery, 2021.
9. Performance by Adrijana Gvozdenović during ‘Fairshare’ artists’ book fair organised by KRIEG, CIAP and B32 in Hasselt, 2019. Photo Alexandra Bertels.
