Verein K is an independent organisation with a focus on projects that critically engage with contemporary art and culture based in Vienna. It was founded in 2017 by three people who share a belief in critical discourse and the aim of making contemporary art and criticism more inclusive while maintaining high quality standards.
To foster critical approaches to contemporary art we have developed different formats, starting with three programs: Crit Cross. A Forum on Art Criticism, a platform for critical reading and exchange with the aim to promote artistic and sociocritical dialogue in Vienna, residency program for international curators Visiting Curators Vienna as well as international art critics Visiting Critics Vienna who are interested in exploring Vienna‘s contemporary art scene.
Team
Jelena Kaludjerović
Born in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia. Jelena studied German Literature and Theater and Film Studies at the University of Vienna. Between 2008 and 2014, she was active as a literary translator and worked at the ERSTE Foundation as coordinator of numerous international art, cultural and social projects in Central and Southeastern Europe. As co-director of the association BLOCKFREI between 2015 and 2018, she designed and organised art and cultural projects, most notably “Curators’ Agenda,” a residency program for international, emerging curators and “Critics’ Agenda 2017,” for international art critics (next edition of this program was launched in November 2018 by Verein K under the name “Visiting Critics VIENNA 2018”). In 2017, Jelena co-founded the association Verein K.
Dejan Kaludjerović
Born in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia. Dejan studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna and gained an MA in visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 2004. He has exhibited internationally at numerous solo and group shows in Europe, USA, Australia and Asia. In 2017, Dejan co-founded the association Verein K.
dejankaludjerovic.net
Klaus Speidel
Born in Reutlingen, Germany. Klaus is philosopher, art critic and curator. Klaus studied philosophy and art history at the University of Munich and the École normale supérieure in Paris. In 2013, he completed his PhD in Philosophy at the Sorbonne with a dissertation on the possibilities and modalities of narration in single pictures. Between October 2015 and January 2018, he was the head of the post-doctoral research project “Towards an Experimental Narratology of the Image” at the Laboratory for Cognitive Research in Art History (CreA) at the University of Vienna. Klaus curated several group and solo shows and was awarded the AICA France Prize for Art Criticism. He regularly contributes to monographs and catalogues, e.g. for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, and the mumok in Vienna and also writes criticism and theory for Spike and artpress. In 2017, Klaus co-founded the association Verein K.
Advisory Board
Dr Noit Banai (Columbia University, PhD) is Professor of Diaspora Aesthetics at the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. An historian and critic who has taught internationally, she specializes in modern and contemporary art with a focus on conditions of migration, exile, diaspora, border-regimes and statelessness in a trans-cultural and trans-disciplinary perspective. Her current book project is titled Stateless: Artistic Practices by Refugees in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, 1933-1953; She is also the author of Yves Klein (Reaktion Books, 2014), Being a Border(Paper Visual Arts, 2021) and articles appearing in journals such as Third Text, Stedelijk Studies, Public Culture, Performing Arts Journal, and Texte zur Kunst. She served as assistant editor for the journal RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics and is a regular contributor to Artforum International.
Branka Benčić is a curator and art historian with research, writing and curatorial interests in contemporary art, exhibiting film and video, trajectories of avantgarde and conceptual art, curatorial practices and exhibition histories, working between different formats and structures. She is interested in institutional and artistic imagination, politics of memory, practices of care and repair. Currently, she is the director of MMSU / MMCA Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, Croatia. She was the commissioner and curator of the Croatian Pavilion at 57th Venice Biennale (Horizon of Expectations with Tina Gverovic and Marko Tadić, 2017) and co-curated the Croatian Pavilion at 16th Venice Architecture Biennale (2018). She co-founded and served as artistic director at Apoteka – space of contemporary art, and Cinemaniac > Think Film project at Pula Film Festival. She curated an ongoing screening program Artist Cinema at MSU Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb (2012 – 2020). She has curated solo and group exhibitions and film screenings in Croatia and internationally. Selected exhibitions include: Sanja Iveković video retrospective (2021), Raffaella Crispino (2022) at MMSU; Babette Mangolte (2008), Goran Trbuljak (2019) at Cinemaniac Think Film; Petra Feriancova (2019), David Maljkovic (2020) at Apoteka, Damir Očko (2019), CUT – collage in contemporary art (2018) at MSU Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Solidarity as Distruption theme program at International Short Film festival Oberhausen (2021, 2022). She has been jury member at various international events in the framework of contemporary art and film such as Furla Award, EMAF European media art festival, Oberhausen Fim festival; she attended international study programs and residencies. She has published in exhibition catalogues, books and journals and lectured on contemporary art.
Séamus Kealy is currently Director of the Salzburger Kunstverein in Austria. Curated exhibitions there include the award-winning Punctum, Invisible Violence, Überschönheit, The People’s Cinema, A Painter’s Doubt, and Floating Self. Séamus Kealy completed his Masters in Art History and Bachelor in Visual Arts, where he studied with Jeff Wall, at the University of British Columbia. After working as an artist, he went onto curating, including institutional appointments at the Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto; and The Model, Sligo, Ireland. He has worked with artists Stan Douglas, Bedwyr Williams, Paloma Varga Weisz, Geoffrey Farmer, Rabih Mroué, Nevin Aladag, Hans Schabus, Harun Farocki, Omer Fast, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Willie Doherty, Flaka Haliti, among many others.
Dr. Zoran Erić is an art historian, curator, and research fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. He holds a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Media, Bauhaus University Weimar. His work focuses on theoretical research, workshops, and international projects that explore the intersections of human geography, spatial-cultural discourse, radical democracy, and political ecology. From 2005 to 2008, he was a member of the IKT Board, and from 2008 to 2010, he served as President of the Serbian Section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). He has curated and co-curated numerous projects in more than 15 countries worldwide. He is a member of CIMAM and currently serves on the Scientific Board of MNAC Bucharest and the Advisory Board of IVAM, Valencia.
Partners
Verein K is an independent arts and cultural organization from Vienna, founded in 2017. Verein K focuses on projects in the field of contemporary art and culture connecting diverse cultural and social interests: critical approaches to contemporary art, creating curatorial platforms as well as enabling innovative cultural practices including diverse social groups.
Impressum
Verein K – Kunst, Kultur, Kritik
ZVR – Zahl: 1413308554
info@verein-k.net
+43 699 176 300 21
IBAN: AT05 2011 1838 5345 0200
BIC: GIBAATWWXXX