© Jan Durina [2025]
All rights reserved.
Texts published on this website were written by Jan Durina, Barbora Pavliš, Reece Cox and Anna Vartecká.
About
Jan Durina (b. 1988, Žilina) is a Slovak interdisciplinary artist, musician, curator, and researcher based in Prague. He is also the co-founder of the performance collective Romeo & Hellion, established in 2020 with Slovak artist Miriama Kardošová. Through performance, photography, and sound, Durina explores the nuances of narrative, engaging with themes such as loneliness, loss, the boundaries between nature and the body, and the distortions of the human mind as experienced within evolving notions of gender and identity. Durina creates multimedia artworks that move seamlessly and confidently between exhibition and performance contexts. His artistic thinking draws on critical queer theory, feminist and ecofeminist thought, and autotheory. Themes of mental health, human vulnerability, care, cooperation, and horizontally functioning interpersonal relationships emerge as recurring and foundational elements of his work. Durina’s artworks are part of the permanent collections of the Slovak National Gallery (Bratislava, Slovakia), the Gallery of Peter Michal Bohúň (Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia), the Museum of Arts and Design Benešov (Benešov, Czech Republic), as well as numerous private collections.
Education
2020 – 2025 Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (Czech Republic) – PhD Studies in Art Research
2012 – 2014 Academy of fine arts and design in Bratislava (Slovakia) – Department of Intermedia
2007 – 2011 Faculty of Arts, Technical University in Kosice (Slovakia) – Department of New Media
2009 – 2010 Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow (Poland) – Photography Studio
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 WEAK SEASON, MUD (Museum of Arts and Design), Benešov u Prahy, Czech Republic
2022 RACING THOUGHTS, Galéria Tabačka, Košice, Slovakia
2020 DEVIL NINJA THORAX, 30th Month of Photography, SEDF / Galéria Martina Martinčeka, Bratislava, Slovakia
2019 HUMAN THIRST (Pauline Canavesio & Jan Durina), ACUD GALERIE, Berlin, Germany
2019 HASARSIZ, Hayy Open Space, Izmir, Turkey
2019 Horal, Ľudovít Fulla Gallery (SNG), Ruzomberok, Slovakia
2017 Recent Works, Hosek Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2016 Chlapcova hlava, A.M.180 Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2015 Studies, Jiri Svestka Gallery Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2014 I dream of you, Henry, YMCA, Bratislava, Slovakia
2013 Présentation de l’artist Jan Durina, Galerie La Traverse, Marseille, France
2012 Those Girls, Galerie Art, Brno, Czech Republic
2012 Sometimes I Fight, Sometimes I Give Up (Photomonth in Krakow), F.A.I.T. gallery, Poland
2012 To není obraz, To je stín, Make Up gallery, Kosice, Slovakia
2011 Twenty three years in that house, but the boy might still be alive, Sourmilk Art Gallery, Menzago di Sumirago, Italy
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Spánek rozumu (curated by Terezie Zemánková & Mira Macík), SPOT Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2025 Smoke and Mirrors (curated by Mira Keratová), Bratislava City Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2025 ‘Ties That Bind’ at Bienal’25 Fotografia do Porto, Ci.CLO Plataforma de Fotografia, Porto, Portugal
2025 Connections Unbroken (curated by Anna Vartecká), Prague, Czech Republic
2024 Connections Unbroken (curated by Anna Vartecká), Pálffy Palace, Bratislava City Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2024 Art House: Our Garden (Designblok Festival) (curated by Eva Slunečková), Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, Czech Republic
2024 ‘Ties That Bind’ (Organ Vida Festival), Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia
2024 Caution Hot (Prague Pride 2024) (curated by Matěj Forejt & Pavel Liška), Langhans Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2024 Hours Against the Clock (curated by Světlana Malina), KVOST, Berlin, Germany
2021 Disappearing Body (curated by Lucia Gavulová), The Schaubmar Mill (Slovak National Gallery), Pezinok, Slovakia
2021 HMLA, FOG gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2020 Bratislava Design Week, Apponyi Palace & ZOYA gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2020 LUCA2020, Karpuchina Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2020 Brave New Normal (curated by Václav Janoščík), Cursor Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2019 LIPTOV: HOME AND EXILE (Influential Visual Artists since 1950s) (curated by Richard Gregor), Liptov Gallery of Peter Michal Bohúň, Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia
2019 Stories of (After) Life (curated by Ľudmila Kasaj Poláčková), Nitra Gallery, Nitra, Slovakia
2019 Ecology of desire – Exhibiton of finalists of the Oskár Čepan Award (curated by Václav Janoščík), East Slovak Gallery, Kosice, Slovakia
2018 Hrádocký výber (curated by Zuzana Gažíková), Rumansky Art Centre, Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia
2017 SEXPOSED – Uncensored (curated by Artedu), Galerie Školská, Prague, Czech Republic
2016 Oyster! (curated by Jiri Svestka), Zoya Museum, Modra, Slovakia
2013 Minimalni trvanlivost, Galerie Emila Filly, Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
2010 Nepokojné médium (Slovak photography 1990-2010) (curated by Lucia L. Fišerová, Vladimír Macek & Anna Maximová), Dom Umenia, Bratislava, Slovakia
Curatorial Projects
2021 P𝘦𝘦l (my t𝘦ndance was never meant to be a scar), A.M.180 Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
ARTISTS: Pauline Canavesio, Luna Faye Naumer Mateos, Sedami Gracia Elvis Theodor Ophelia Azilinon, Miriama Kardošová, Eliška Konečná, Dominika Moravčíková, Sarahsson, Dominik Styk
Art Performances & Collaborations
2023 In Conversations: Compositions of Subjects and Meanings, performance, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
2022 Romeo & Hellion “Additional Feel: MAD CITY”, National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2021 BORA X ROMEO & HELLION (collaborative performance by Pauline Canavesio, Miriama Kardošová, Jan Durina and David Čerťanský), Berliner Festspiele – The Sun Machine Is Coming Down (Unguarded Stage), ICC, Berlin, Germany
2021 BORA X ROMEO & HELLION (collaborative performance by Pauline Canavesio, Miriama Kardošová, Jan Durina and David Čerťanský), Signals Festival, Funkhaus, Berlin, Germany
2021 ROMEO & HELLION ー Additional Feel (collaborative performance with Miriama Kardošová), FIST Festival (Curated by Kapitál), A4, Bratislava, Slovakia
2021 When All Weeping Dries ~* Listening for Generational Grief (collaboration with Dominika Moravčíková for Bratislava BAK Summer Spring School – Art During Death), Slovakia
2020 Creepy Teepee ŞABBATシƇALL (collaboration with Miriama Kardošová and Penumbra Vortex), Radio Laude / Planeta Za, Prague, Czech Republic
2020 Súčasné Maskulinity (collaboration with KAPITÁL #10/2020), Slovakia
2019 SCHOOL OF HARMS (collaboration with Tamara Antonijevic, Henrike Kohpeiß and Philipp Wüschner), Ruine der Franziskaner Klosterkirche (Klosterruine Berlin), Berlin, Germany MORE INFORMATION
2017 Gelber Himmel (participation in performance piece by Miriama Kardošová), Hosek Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2016 HORAL 1/3 / 2/3 / 3/3 (Performance Trilogy), Hosek Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2014 WOLF (Light Strip underneath My Lashes), Bunker – Nitrianska galéria, Nitra, Slovakia
Selected Music Performances with Audiovisual Project FOR YOU KATRINA
2018 Klangstärke°18 Festival, Hildesheim, Germany
2018 Macao, Milan, Italy
2018 Säule (Berghain), Berlin, Germany
2018 KIOSK FESTIVAL, Zilina, Slovakia
2018 KHIDI, Tbilisi, Georgia
2018 DGTL FMNSM Festival, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden, Germany
2018 UMBO, Zürich, Switzerland
2018 Intruder Alert, Warsaw, Poland
2017 A4, Bratislava, Slovakia
2017 ParkingStoneXIII, Paris, France
2017 Creepy Teepee 2K17, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
Residencies
2019 Hayy Open Space Izmir, Turkey (with K.A.I.R. programme)
2013 Galerie La Traverse Marseille, France (with K.A.I.R. programme)
Awards
2022 FUTURES (European Photography Platform focused on amplifying emerging artists in contemporary photography), Nominated by Fotograf magazine (CZ), 2022
2019 The Oskár Čepan Award Finalist of The Oskár Čepan Award 2019