Irini Miga’s practice traverses sculpture, installation, notions of drawing, text and performativity. Miga studied art at London’s Central Saint Martins College, obtained a BFA from the Athens School of Fine Arts, and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University, New York.

Recent solo exhibitions include: An Interval at Flyweight Projects in New York (2020); Away in Another Way of Saying Here, at Essex Flowers gallery, in New York (2019); and Reflections, at Atlanta Contemporary Museum (2018). Her work has been featured in group exhibitions such as Going Viral at Steinzeit gallery in Berlin (2022); Spring Works, Summer Shows, at Haus N Athen in Athens (2021); Mr. Robinson Crusoe Stayed Home at Benaki Museum in Athens (2021); Room for Failure at Piero Atchugarry gallery in Miami (2019); Tomorrow’s Dream, at Neuer Essener Kunstverein in Essen (2018); When You Were Bloom, Thierry Goldberg Gallery in New York (2018); Scraggly Beard Grandpa, at Capsule Shanghai, in China (2017); Marginalia, at The Drawing Center in  New York (2017); The Equilibrists, organized by the New Museum in New York, the DESTE Foundation and shown in the Benaki Museum in Athens (2016).

Miga has received grants and fellowships by several organizations including the Fulbright Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Drawing Center, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, The Watermill Center, The Fountainhead Residency, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art Residency Program, and more.

Her work belongs to collections such as The European Central Bank Collection, the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art / Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens, Greece and other international private collections. Recent mentions of her work include publications such as Artforum, Flash Art, Ocula, Time Out New York, Ran Dian, The Art Newspaper Greece, Vima, Kathimerini, and Lifo.

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Born 1981 in Larissa, Greece. Lives and works in Athens and New York.

 

EDUCATION

2014
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME 

2010 – 2012
MFA in Visual Arts, Columbia University, New York, NY

2000 – 2005
BFA, Athens School of Fine Arts, Athens, Greece

2003
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK

 

 

RESIDENCIES

2021
Haus N Athen, Athens, Greece

Room to Bloom, Ecofeminism & Postcolonial Feminism (online)

2019
Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE

2018
Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL

2016 & 17
Open Sessions, The Drawing Center, New York, NY

2015 – 2016
Workspace Program, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), New York, NY

2015
International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg, Austria

2012
The Watermill Center, New York, NY ;

and Norwegian Theater Academy, Fredrikstad, Norway

2009
AZB Sculpture Guest-atelier, Zurich, Switzerland

 

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020
An Interval, Flyweight, New York, NY

2019
Away is Another Way of Saying Here, Essex Flowers, New York, NY

2018
Reflections, Atlanta Contemporary Museum, Atlanta, GA

2017
.connecting., Practice, New York, NY (two-person show with Joao Vasco Paiva)

2016
The . beneath white – Wiener Art Foundation / fAN Kunstverein, artfoundation.at Vienna

2013
DAS and Irini Miga: Stage for a Journey, ReMap4, Athens  (collaborative project)

2011
Conceptual Romantic, two distinct solo shows: Ann Craven & Irini Mig curated by Gea Politi, CONDUITS (IT), ReMap3, Athens

2008
Wittingly Sparkling Greedy Dimples, The Breeber, Athens

2007
Echoes’ Prelude, Side 2, Tokyo, Japan

 

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
(* denotes a catalogue publication)

2023

Fountainhead Biennial II: Last Days of a House, Curated by Omar López-Chahoud, Emerson Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL

Outraged by Pleasure, curated by Nadja Argyropoulou, “Nobel” building – cultural space in the City of Chalandri, Athens

Avarna Fluida, curated by Stella Christofi, Niocastro (built in 1573,) Pylos, Greece

A Scattering of Salts, curated by Panos Giannikopoulos, ACG Art Gallery, Deree – The American College of Greece, Athens

We tell ourselves stories in order to live, codependent curatorial by Xenia Kalpaktsoglou & Olympia Tzortzi, Callirrhoë, Athens

 

2022

Going Viral, curated by Sotirios Bahtsetzis and Katja Ehrhardt, Steinzeit Gallery, Berlin, Germany *

Froth on the Daydream (L’écume des jours), curated by Chloe Akrithaki, Gallery 7, Athens

 

2021

Mr. Robinson Crusoe Stayed Home, curated by Polina Kosmadani and Kostis Velonis, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece *

Prizing Eccentric Talents, curated by George Bekirakis, and Angelo Plessas, P.E.T. Athens, Greece

Spring Works, Summer Shows, Haus N Athen, Athens, Greece

In Slit, curated by Hara Piperidou, Back to Athens 8, Athens, Greece

Performative Transcending Somatic Dinner, curated by Lydia Antoniou and George Bekirakis with the kind support of NEON Organization, Korinis 4, Athens, Greece

Cc, curated by Olympia Tzortzi, Callirrhoë, Athens, Greece

 

2020

Who’s Afraid of Komodo, curated by Eugenia Vereli, and Kostas Efstathiou, Allouche Benias Gallery, Athens, Greece

Overturned, curated by Anaïs Castro, Daily Lazy at artgèneve, Geneva Switzerland

 

2019

Room for Failure, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Piero Atchugarry Gallery Miami, FL

Cosmology / Asthenia zine #O7, organized & edited by Amalia Vekri, Antonín Jirát, and Alexios Papazacharias, City Surfer Office, Prague, Czech Republic *

 

2018

When You Were Bloom, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY 

Tomorrow’s Dreams, curated by Daily Lazy, Neuer Essener Kunstverein, Essen, Germany

Selections 2018, curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY 

PRACTICE x Wind, book launch, one-day exhibition & performances, Artists Space, New York

 

2017

Scraggly Beard Grandpa, curated by Cici Wu, assembled by Wang Xu, co-founders of PRACTICE,Capsule Shanghai, Shanghai, China *

Imperceptible, curated by Xavier Acarín, Abrons Art Center, New York, NY

Good Weather presents: The Best Is The Least We Can Do, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA

Where Do We Stand? Two Years of Drawing with Open Sessions, curated by Lisa Sigal and Nova Benway, The Drawing Center, New York, NY *

Car Service II, curated by Danai Giannoglou and Vasilis Papageorgiou, Enterprise Projects, Athens, Greece

Marginalia, curated by Lisa Sigal and Nova Benway, The Drawing Center, New York, NY

*bang! Daily Lazy Projects, Athens, Greece

 

2016

The Equilibrists, curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari and Helga Christoffersen with Massimiliano Gioni, organized by the New Museum, New York and the DESTE Foundation, Athens in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece *

BiBeLot, curated by Dimitrios Antonitsis, Hydra School Projects, Hydra, Greece *

Leisure as a Mechanism for Resistance, curated by Daily Lazy, Wiener Art Foundation / fAN Kunstverein, Parallel, Vienna, Austria

Frida Smoked. Invisible Exports, New York, NY

The Others, curated by Baseera Khan, 56 Bogart, pop-up show, Brooklyn, NY

Strategies in the Geometry of Homecoming, Torrance Shipman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY    (curatorial)

 

2015
Table/Chair/Bananas, Bannerette, Brooklyn, NY

Immediate Female, Judith Charles Gallery, New York, NY

Made In New York, curated by Robert Dimin, Blueshift Project, Miami, FL*

What You Want to See, curated by Laura Linda Miller, pop-up show, Bronx Studios, NY

 

2014
Pre-Text, curated by Dimitrios Antonitsis, and Katerina Nikou, Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center, with the support of NEON.org.gr Athens, Greece

DAS-Zwischen Raum Zeit, Pitch Projects, Milwaukee, WI

HappyLand, Skowhegan Performs, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY

November, curated by mAgdalen Wong, Xinyi Cheng, and Skye Gilkerson, 437A, Brooklyn, NY

No Rules Can Rule When the Doors are Closed, Torrance Shipman, Brooklyn, NY    (curatorial)

 

2013
DAS and Irini Miga: Stage for a Journey, ReMap4, Athens    (collaborative project)

Now and Then, European Central Bank Collection, Frankfurt am Main, Germany *

Group Mountain, curated by Andreas Angelidakis, Athens, Greece

In Praise of Chance and Failure, Family Business, New York, NY

(co-curated with Nadja Argyropoulou)

 

2012
Columbia MFA Thesis Show, curated by Fionn Meade, Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, New York, NY *

Outside Mediation, Green Hall Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, CT *

Contemporary Ceramics, curated by JJ Peet, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY

 

2011

DESTE Prize 2011, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece *

3rd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, curated by Paolo Colombo, Mahita El Bacha Urieta, and Marina Fokidis, Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece *

Noor: Death in Jaipur, ReMap3, Athens, Greece

First Year MFA Exhibition, Wallach Gallery, New York, NY *

Winter Lounge, curated by Emma Balazs, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, New York, NY

Contemporary Woman in Greece, curated by Marina Fokidis, The Hub, Athens, Greece *

The Location of Culture, Pulchri Studio, The Hague, The Netherlands *

 

2010
Rrripp!!! Paper Fashion, Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland

Of The Moment, The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago Contemporary Art Museum, Chicago, IL    (benefit)

Peri Erotos, Konteiner magazine at six d.o.g.s, Athens

 

2009
The Beautiful is just the First Degree of Terrible, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece*

Bloodsport, curated by Dimitrios Antonitsis, ReMap2, Athens, Greece

Rrripp!!! Paper Fashion, Mode Museum Provincle Antwerp, Belgium *

At Home He is a Tourist, Playroom, Athens, Greece

 

2008

And now? State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece *

Rrripp!!! Paper Fashion, MUDAM Luxembourg, Luxembourg *

 

2007

Rrrippp!!! Paper Fashion, curated by Vassilis Zidianakis, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece*

Tenderloin, ReMap1, Athens, Greece

I Sigxroni Elliniki Skini, Helexpo Garage, Athens, Greece *

True Romance, The Breeder, Athens, Greece
(co-curated)

 

2006
Panic Room, Works from the Dakis Joannou Collection, curated by Jeffrey Deitch and Kathy Grayson, DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece *

All that remains is future, curated by Nadja Argyropoulou, Palaio Arsakeio, Patra, European Cultural Capital, Patra, Greece *

Degree Show, The Factory, Athens School of Fine Arts, Athens, Greece

Architectural Transparencies, Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center, Athens, Greece

Black and White, curated by Artemis Potamianou, Hellenic American Union, Athens, Greece *

 

2005
New Acquisitions, The Dakis Joannou Collection, The Athenaeum Intercontinental, Athens, Greece*

 

2004
3rd Biennale of Greek Universities of Fine Arts, Creta Maris Hotel, Crete, Greece*

 

2003
11th Biennale of Young Artist from Europe and the Mediterranean, Athens, Greece*

 

 

AWARDS

2020 – 2021
Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Artworks Fellowship, Athens, Greece

2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2014
Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant Nominee, New York

2014
HYAM-Young Mediterranean Artistic Scene Prize, Paris (shortlisted)

2011
The DESTE Prize (shortlisted)

2010 -2011
The Fulbright Grant

2010 – 2012
Joan Sovern Sculpture Award, Columbia University

2010 – 2012
The Emily Fisher Landau Fellowship Fund, Columbia University, New York, NY

2000 – 2002
IKY, Greek State Scholarships Foundation

 

 

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art / Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens, Greece

European Central Bank Collection, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Luciano Benetton Collection, Italy

Columbia University, Neiman Center, New York

Soho House, Istanbul, Turkey

 

 

CURATORIAL

2023
Guest Curator, Foundwork.art (online) 

2018
Tomorrow’s Dreams, co-curated / Daily Lazy, Neuer Essener Kunstverein, Essen, Germany

2017
*bang! co-curated / Daily Lazy, Daily Lazy Projects, Athens, Greece

2016
Strategies in the Geometry of Homecoming, Torrance Shipman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Leisure as a Mechanism for Resistance, co-curated / Daily Lazy, Wiener Art Foundation / fAN Kunstverein, Parallel, Vienna, Austria

2014
No Rules Can Rule When the Doors are Closed, Torrance Shipman, Brooklyn, USA

2013
In Praise of Chance and Failure, co-curated with Nadja Argyropoulou, Family Business, New York, USA

2007
True Romance, Breeder, Athens
(co-curated)

 

 

RECENT PRESS MENTIONS

2023

Artoday, Mare nēc superum nēc inferum, a triptych curated by Giacomo Pigliapoco

2021

Artforum, Critics’ Picks, Athens, Prizing Eccentric Talents, by Rahel Aima

The Art Newspaper Greece: Spring Works, Summer Shows at Haus N Athen, by Alexandra Koroxenidi

Kathimerini: Under the eye of Robinson Crusoe, by Maro Vasileiadou 

Lifo: The empty cases at Benaki Museum are filled with Contemporary artworks,  by Argyro Bozoni

2020
BHMAgazino: Who’e afraid of the Komodo dragon? by Sisi Morphi

2019
The Seen, Chicago’s International Journal of Contemporary & Modern Art “Profiling the Experience of a Residency: Spring Residents at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts” by Joel Kuennen

2018
BLOUIN ARTINFO, Larry Ossei-Mensah’s ‘Selections’ at Elizabeth Dee, New York

2017
Artforum, Critics’ pick, Shanghai, “Scraggly Beard Grandpa” CAPSULE SHANGHAI, by Todd Meyers

Flash Art, Outside ART021 and West Bund / Shanghai Art Week, by Alvin Jiahuan Li

Ran Dian, Migratory Practice, by Benny Shaffer

The Huffington Post: Your Guide to Navigating Athens’ Art Scene, Beyond documenta 14 by Natalie Hegert

2016
Ocula: The Equilibrists: A report from Greece by Stephanie Bailey

Artforum Diary: Crab Walk by Linda Yablonsky

Blouin ARTinfo: In Athens, a Debt Crisis Edition of the New Museum’s Triennial by Rachel Corbett

Daily Lazy: The Equilibrists organized by the New Museum, New York, and the DESTE Foundation, Athens in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, Athens / Athens

Daily Lazy: Irini Miga at Wiener Art Foundation / Vienna

Huffington Post: Six Women Artists Celebrate The Power Of The Cigarette by Priscilla Frank

Time Out New York: Frida Smoked by Howard Halle

The Creators Project: Six Female Artists Consider the Cigarette by Ysabelle Cheung

ARTnews: Opening: “Frida Smoked” at Invisible-Exports by the editors of ARTnews

Milk: Can smoking be a feminist act? by Jocelyn Silver

Daily Lazy: Frida Smoked. at Invisible-Exports / New York

Art F City: Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em: “Frida Smoked” at Invisible-Exports by Emily Colucci

2015
Huffington Post, Ten Badass Emerging Female artist you should know, by Priscilla Frank

 

 

ART RELATED PROJECTS IN THE BROADER COMMUNITY

2018 – 2021
Fountainhead Residency, Miami: Curatorial Advisory Board Member

2016 – 2020
Daily Lazy Projects, Athens [artist-run space] co-founder/co-director

2015 – present
Daily Lazy – art blog: co-director and editor (ongoing)

2013 – 2017
Torrance Shipman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY [artist-run space] co-founder/co-director