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CV/BIO

How to pronounce my name.

Žana Kozomora is an emerging, interdisciplinary artist, curator and arts administrator. She has completed studio residencies with the Dundas Valley School of Art and Centre[3] in Hamilton, Ontario, and exhibited her work with Open Sesame, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Xpace Cultural Centre, and Factory Media Centre. She recently completed a Master of Visual Studies at the University of Toronto, and is the Curatorial Programs Manager at Critical Distance Centre for Curators (Toronto). Kozomora was born in Sarajevo, BiH, and grew up in Kitchener, Ontario, the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishnaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. She is currently based in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

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CV - Select professional experience listed below. 
 

EDUCATION                                                       

2022      MVS, Curatorial Studies, University of Toronto

2015      B.A., Honours Fine Arts Studio Practice with Professional Practice Specialization, University of Waterloo

 

CURATORIAL PROJECTS

May 11 - July 30, 2022
A scaffold with, against, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Toronto
Works by artists Jasmina Cibic, Caroline Monnet, and the collective Pejvak.


January 28 to June 12, 2022
at the far edge of worlds, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener
Exhibition of works from the permanent collection by artists Milutin Gubash, Jamelie Hassan, Tristram Lansdowne, Meryl McMaster, and Joseph Tisiga.

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September 1, 2019 - February 28, 2020
Bonds & Sutures, WalterFedy, Kitchener
Exhibiting artists included Jim Blomfield, Ioana Dragomir, Soheila Esfahani, Elizabeth Forrest, Fatima Garzan, Mélika Hashemi, Meg Harder, Cynosure/Shannon Kennedy, Michelle Purchase, Isaac Watamaniuk.
 

May 11 - June 24, 2018
╰(*8:8:8*)╯♡ .“Triple Happiness”. Cambridge Art Galleries | Idea Exchange, Cambridge
Solo exhibition of collective XVK (Xuan Ye, Véronique Sunatori and Sara Kay Maston).
 

January 26 - May 13, 2018

“inter/net art” as part of “Digital Dynamics”, THEMUSEUM.

Curated a selection of internet artworks by artists and collectives Entropy8Zuper!, Jodi.org, Joe Hamilton, Josh On and Olia Lialina.

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April 21 - May 15, 2015
excavations, Artery Gallery, University of Waterloo
Artists: Jennifer Akkermans, Marianne Burlew, Laurie-Lynn McGlynn, Veronica Murawski, Laura Snider, Anna van Milligen

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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

April 2022 – present

Curatorial Programs Manager, Critical Distance Centre for Curators, Toronto

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September 2019 – August 2021
Curatorial Assistant, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener
 

May 2019 – January 2020
Curatorial Assistant, AGENTS FOR CHANGE | Facing the Anthropocene, THEMUSEUM, Kitchener
Assistant to Curators Nina Czegledy and Jane Tingley.
Exhibiting artists and collectives included Kristine Diekman, Olga Kisseleva, Diane Landry, Donna Legault, Caroline McCaw and Vicki Smith, Liz Miller, Maayke Schurer, Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits, Elaine Whittaker, Pinar Yoldas.
 

May 2017 – January 2018
Curatorial Assistant, “INTERACTION” as part of “Digital Dynamics”. THEMUSEUM, Kitchener
Assistant to Curators Jane Tingley and Alain Thibault. Exhibiting artists and collectives included Adam Basanta, Andrew John Milne, Daniel Iregui, David Rokeby, François Quévillon, Jenn E Norton, Jessica Thompson, kokoromi, Matthew Biederman and Pierce Warnecke, Myriam Bleau, Projet EVA, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Steve Daniels and Ying Gao.
 

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Fall 2022
Teaching Assistant, FINE 209: Modern art 1940s-1970: Global Modernisms, taught by Professor Bojana Videkanic, University of Waterloo
 

May 2020 – present
Board Member, Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area (CAFKA), Kitchener
 

Fall 2020, Fall 2021
Teaching Assistant, JAV120: Visual Concepts, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, Toronto

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January 2018 – September 2019
Marketing & Communications Coordinator, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo

 

May 2018 – October 2018
Conference Coordinator, Universities Art Association of Canada, University of Waterloo Fine Arts Department

 

SELECTED EXHIBITION HISTORY
SOLO/TWO PERSON

2019  carrier, Open Sesame, Kitchener - Curated by Sarah Kernohan
 

2017 The Tourist (Emerging Artist Residency Show), Centre[3], Hamilton
        Towards the Echoes of Ritual, Factory Media Centre, Hamilton
        Separations, Cambridge Centre for the Arts, Cambridge
 

2016 Shifting Gestures (Father/Daughter), Xpace Cultural Centre (External Space), Toronto

         Shifting Gestures, Dofasco Gallery, Dundas Valley School of Art, Dundas

 

GROUP
2020   Thinking and doing in-between, “Yugosplaining the World”, The Disorder of Things

          https://thedisorderofthings.com/2020/07/08/thinking-and-doing-in-between/

          You Are Here, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto – Juried by Matthew Brower, Curated by Mary

          Wallace, Jordan Fee, Lisa Jefferies, and Joanna Wreakes
 

2019   Keep in Touch, The Assembly, Hamilton

          Victoria Short Film Festival – Video Art Exhibition, Victoria

          With Sound of Hands, Dundas Valley School of Art, Dundas – Curated by Ioana Dragomir
 

2018  push and pull, LIFT Series, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo - Curated by Suzanne Luke 

         The Brain is wider than the Sky, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener - Curated by Crystal

            Mowry
PRESS: Annual Juried Printmaking Exhibition, Button Factory Arts, Waterloo - Juried by Donna

            Stewart
 

2017 Necessary Gestures, Visual Arts Mississauga, Mississauga

Photophobia Contemporary Moving Image Festival, Co-presented by the Art Gallery of Hamilton

and Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton

         Where is home?, Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto - Curated by Zviko Mhakayakora
 

2016 Remember, Imagine, Own the Walls, Toronto - Curated by Shatha Al-Husseini & Samaa Ahmed

         Collagism: A Survey of Contemporary Collage, Museum Strathroy-Caradoc, Strathroy

 

COMMUNITY PROJECTS, TALKS AND PERFORMANCES

2021  Artist Panel, Crvena Feminist Cultural Collective, Sarajevo, BiH
         Curator Talk, JAV 130 Course, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, Toronto
2019  Artist Talk, Open Sesame, Kitchener
2016  Turkish Coffee Performance, Taco Stand Project, Cambridge Art Galleries | Idea Exchange, Cambridge
 

RESIDENCIES

2016-2017         Emerging Artist Residency, Centre[3] for Print and Media Arts, Hamilton

2015-2016         Certificate of Completion, Mentored Independent Studies Program
                         with Mentor John Wilkinson, N.D.D., R.A.S. (Dist.)
                         Dundas Valley School of Art, Dundas

 

AWARDS AND GRANTS

  • Campbell Fellowship for Emerging Artists, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, 2022.

  • Exhibition of the Year Budget over $20,000, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, 2021 Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries (GOG) Awards. Team: Crystal Mowry, Curator and Exhibition Designer; Jennifer Bullock, Assistant Curator/Registrar; Žana Kozomora, Curatorial Assistant; Britt Sostar, Preparator.

  • Charles and Doreen Lloyd-Duerdoth Ontario Graduate Scholarship, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, 2021.

  • University of Toronto Fellowship, 2020.

  • Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant, 2018.

  • Juror’s Choice Awards (1/2) and (2/2) (Jurors Colina Maxwell of Centre 3, and Mark Strutt of Focus Gallery, Hamilton), Juried Student Art Show, Dundas Valley School of Art, 2016.

  • Dean’s Honour List, University of Waterloo, 2015.

  • Office of the President Curator’s Choice Award (Selected by Director/Curator Ivan Jurakic), YES! Senior Undergraduate Exhibition, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, 2015.

  • Virgil Burnett Memorial Award, Fine Arts Department, University of Waterloo, 2015.

  • C.J. Mills Memorial Award, (Printmaking) Fine Arts Department, University of Waterloo, 2014.

 

WRITING

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PRESS

Curatorial

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