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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.
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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.