JAŠA Mrevlje-Pollak

JAŠA (Mrevlje-Pollak, b.1978) is a conceptual artist who lives and works in Berlin. He graduated in 2006 at the Academy of Fine Arts, Venice, Italy. He represented Slovenia at the 2015 Venice Biennale, and is best known for his in-situ installations and durational performance works, although he cites painting as central to his practice. JAŠA’s conceptual stance is embedded within individual events as an “attitude” towards the use of space, time and presence. For him, a work of art shapes and generates reality, even though it is ephemeral. He has exhibited widely, in Europe, the US and South America, more recently with solo projects The Monuments (ongoing, 17-chapter project, Kühlhaus Berlin), Bloom (KC Šiška, 2022), Systems of Revolt, part of L’effet Domino, Manifesta 13 – Les Parralleles du Sud,(La Station, Nice 2020), Church of All, (Museo Civico di Brunico, 2019) At the dawn of yet another age of absurdity: Composition No. 1 (Tanja Grunert Gallery, New York, 2017), Composition No. 4 (Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb,2018) UNTITLED, (Krampf Gallery at Contemporary Istanbul, 2015). In 2021 he published the book Making It: The Artist's Survival Guide, co-written with Noah Charney.

jasha.office@gmail.com

Luckenwalderstrassse 3

10963 Berlin

@jasha_studio

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2020

Systems of Revolt, part of L’effet Domino, Manifest 13 –Les Parralleles du Sud, La Station, Nice

Within This Touch, public space (central market), Ljubljana

The Last Night, Museum am Bach, Ruden

I Alone, part of Impossible Machines project and exhibition by Meta Grgurevič, Halle fur Kunst & Medien (KM), Gradz

2020s (A)Live by Bowrain, Kino Šiška, Ljubljana

2017

At the dawn of yet another age of absurdity: Composition No. 1, kHORASHEH + gRUNERT, Tanja Grunert Gallery, New York Silenzio_eternal loopholes and braided lines (project by Meta Grgurevič and JAŠA) / MGLC Ljubljana

2014

CRYSTAL C, Pioneer Works Center for Art & Innovation, New York
ULTRA HEATED HEARTS, Pioneer Works Center for Art & Innovation, New York
CRYSTAL C, Tobačna oo1 & Vžigalica Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
TRISTAN & ISOLDE (with Meta Grgurevič), Opera & Ballet National Theatre, Ljubljana, SI

2011

(the yellow dot), MSUM / Museum of Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, SI
IT’S O-KEY, Avista Showroom, Milan, IT
BLOOM, Jerome Zodo Gallery, Milan, IT
TO BE MODERN, Spiga 2, Milan, IT
DOLPHIN’S DREAM, Viafarini, Milan, IT
THE LOVEST, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SI

2008

STARDIM, to whom it may concern my life is falling apart, part of Akto_3, abandoned summer cinema, Bitola, SI
AGAINST THE HISTORY FOR A BIT OF GOOD OLD LOVE (with Mark Požlep), Center of Contemporary Art, Celje, SI
IN GOOD WE TRUST, Ganes Pratt Gallery & Theater Glej, Ljubljana

2005

DAFNE revisited (with Crash in Progress & Plan9, Benjamin Produkcija, Passaporta), A+A Gallery, Venice, IT

2019

Never Forget, Jewish Cultural Center, Ljubljana

Impossible Machines, project and exhibition by Meta Grgurevič, UGM, Maribor

THEM _ (it sent my heart into a flutter of tiny explosions) / Meta Grgurevič & JAŠA, Light Guerilla, Ljubljana

Church of All, Museo Civico di Brunico, Italy

At the Dawn of Yet another Age of Absurdity, Composition No. 6, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2016

UNTITLED 2017, offspace.XYZ, New York
Above All We Are Not Done, WhiteBox NY, New York
The Relations, Frieze London, London
Cutting Through the Clouds of Myth, Kustera Projects, New York
CHRONICLES / Log No.1, UGM Gallery, Maribor, SI

2013

Cloud Tailor (with Jyrki Riekki), Sinne Gallery, Helsinki, FI
Galanterie Mechanique (project by Meta Grgurevič & Urša Vidic with Kalu and Bowrain, Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
Father & Son / Drawing a Line Through the Clouds of Myth (curated by Michele Drascek) Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SI
The Lovest, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SI
White Rooms (project by LEFTFINGER)

2010

Big Kiss… (for the stranger), X-OP-ART project (with Rasmus Hedlund), Maa space, Helsinki, FI
The Lovest / The Begining, Simulaker Gallery, Novo Mesto, SI
Review-Preview, Ganes Pratt Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
The Last Landscape Of Pleasure, Platform’s studio, Vaasa, FI
The Lovest, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SI

2007

REVIEW – PREVIEW, Ganes Pratt Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
Nowhere to be Seen, DIGISTARS by Kibla, Kontekst Gallery, Beograd, SRB
Acting Out, Galleria L’Occhio, Venice, IT
One Hit Wonder KIBLA, Maribor, SI
Radikal Chick, Equrna Gallery, Ljubljana, SI

2018

NOWHERE / NOW HERE, Art Hotel Tartini, Piran

JAŠA: the Lovest, revisited / ful length documentary film, Kino Šiška

JAŠA: At the Dawn Of Yet Another Age of Absurdity: Composition 5 / Espronceda, center for art and Innovation, Barcelona, Spain

JAŠA: At the Dawn Of Yet Another Age of Absurdity: Composition 4 / Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

2015

UTTER / the violent necessity for the embodied presence of hope / Pavilion of Slovenia, 56th Venice Biennial, Venice, IT
UNTITLED, 2015 / Krampf Gallery at Contemporary Istanbul, TUR
UTTER / the violent necessity for the embodied presence of hope / Mahler & Lewitt Studios, Spoleto, IT
THIS IS NOT THE SEASON TO STAY SILENT, Flow Festival, Ljubljana, SI

2012

APNEA’S RHAPSODY, On Stellar Rays Gallery, New York
SINGLE (ride out while touching the sky) A+A Gallery, Venice, IT
FRIENDLY WAR (with Jyrki Riekki), Kibla, Maribor, SI
THE LOVEST, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SI

2009

RADIKAL chic / book / 00-09 projects reviewed, Vale-Novak’s Publishing, Ljubljana, SI
WHAT IT TAKES FOR THE HEART TO EXPLODE INTO STARS, City Gallery Nova Gorica, SI
PUSHBANG, (with Mark Požlep), Magdalena festival, Pekarna, Maribor, SI
FINGERSTICK RADIO, (with Mark Požlep & guests), Celje, SI
TIME TO BECOME POETS (with Mark Požlep), The Branch, Sextan et plus, La Friche Belle de mai, Marseille, FR
FUCKED UP DREAMER (with Luka Uršič) part of Akto_4 public spaces, Bitola, SI
FOR A BETTER TOMORROW (with Viktor Bernik, Meta Grgurevič), City Art Museum, Ljubljana, SI

2006

LET’ S PUT AN END TO ALL THE DISASTERS, Ganes Pratt Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
LET’ S MAKE AN END TO ALL THE DISASTERS part of THE LIGHT/ Sarajevo winter festival 2006, Sarajevo, BIH
BLA BLA ME, France Mihelič Gallery, Fo.Vi Gallery & public space, Ptuj, SI

JAŠA is a contemporary artist who cuts visual arts with a conceptual practice that is rooted in the extensive use of space as a medium and context for either spatial or performing interventions. His approach has elements of polystylism, neo-romanticism and geopolitical consciousness. His work has made him one of the most prominent voices of his generation and altered the art scene in Ljubljana and Venice, propelling him onto the international stage.

He studied painting at the Academy in Venice (Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia), where he graduated in 2004 with distinction and obtained a second stage diploma at the same institution in 2007 (con elodee). Since 2008 he has been heading various experimental training programmes at this institution.

During his studies, he was a member of the international art group, Crash in Progress, a progressive and radical group that established an impressive reputation with art projects that aroused a great deal of attention, namely with Dafne (Venice, 2003).

In 2005 he began his autonomous path. He has a diversified and multimedia practice, based on the principles of “site-specific” interventions and the interconnectedness of creative processes with other participants. Though he trained as a painter, his work combines various contemporary multimedia practices, including visual arts, architectural approaches and principles, sound art and music, performance and more. Over a decade of high-rhythm integrated projects, both alone and with several other renowned artists, he thoroughly transformed the art scene in Ljubljana. He then continued in the same way in project and exhibition spaces around Europe, until his first solo exhibition in New York in 2012.

From 2014 onwards, New York became his second home. There he opened a studio and production base, The We.Are Institute (with Rosa Lux), dividing his time between Ljubljana and New York.

In 2015, he represented Slovenia at the 56th Venice Biennale, one of the most important events of the contemporary art world. There he presented a monumental site-specific installation and durational performance that lasted for 29 weeks (UTTER / The Violent Necessity for the Embodied Presence of Hope). In 2016 he collaborated with Ulay on Cutting Through the Clouds of Myth (Frieze Art Fair, NYC) and had created a durational group performance called The Relations at Frieze Art Fair, London.

In 2017 he started a project entitled At the Dawn of Yet Another Age of Absurdity, Composition No.1 in Tanja Grunert Gallery in NYC that travelled around the globe in varying forms (no.2 at Hop Projects in Folkestone, no. 3 at Atacama desert in Chile, no.4 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, no.5 at Espronceda in Barcelona and no.6 at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Ljubljana in 2018) while working on other site-specific commissioned installations of monumental scope. This included a colossal, multimedia gesamtkunstwerk called Nowhere-Now Here at Art Hotel Piran and It Seems We Did Manage to Get a Grip around Some Kind of a Meaning Lately (with Meta Grgurevič at Viba Film in Ljubljana).

In addition to his art, JAŠA is a mentor, instructor and lecturer.