Aikaterini Gegisian

Aikaterini Gegisian (Armenian: Էկատերինի Գեգիսյան), born in Thessaloniki, Greece, is a visual artist, filmmaker, educator, and researcher. Her collage practice spans various mediums, including film, photography, installation, and textile design. She often utilises the photobook format; in 2015, she published her debut photobook, "A Small Guide to the Invisible Seas," contributing to the award-winning Armenian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale. Her second book, "Handbook of the Spontaneous Other," was published by MACK in 2020 and received international acclaim.

Throughout her career, Aikaterini Gegisian has held several fellowships and residencies : as a Kluge Research Fellow at the Library of Congress (2017-2018), a Fellow at the Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen, Austria (2018), and as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania (2014). Her accolades include the Nagoya University Award in 2001 and a shortlist nomination for the First Book Award in 2015. In 2016, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art hosted the first survey of her moving image practice.

Her work has been exhibited in various international survey exhibitions, including the 8th Brighton Photo Biennale (2018), the 6th Moscow Biennale (2015), and the 3rd Mardin Biennale (2015). She has reached audiences in several cultural institutions around the world, such as the International Center of Photography in New York (2023), the MOMus-Museum of Modern Art in Greece (2023), and the Halle 14 Centre of Contemporary Art in Leipzig (2021). She has also presented her work at the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern in Valencia (2020), the Whitworth in Manchester (2019), and the National Arts Museum of China in Beijing (2018). Other venues include the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Canada (2018), The Jewish Museum in Moscow (2018), Kunsthalle Osnabrück in Germany (2017), DEPO in Istanbul (2017), BALTIC in Newcastle (2017), Calvert 22 Foundation in London (2016), and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre in Athens (2016). Additionally, her work has been shown at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki (2012), Spike Island Gallery in Bristol (2012), Kasseler Dok Fest in Germany (2016), and the Oberhausen Film Festival (2006).

• 2015 : (in)visible territories. Kalfayan Galleries, Athens, Greece
• 2014 : Is this Why I Cannot Tell Lies? Tintype Gallery, London, UK

• 2023 : Love Songs, International Center of Photography (ICP), New York.Curated by Sara Raza

• 2022 : Nature Tracers, MOMus- Museum of Modern Art, Thessaloniki, Greece. Parallel Programme of the 8th Thessaloniki Biennale. Curated by Maria Tsantsanoglou

• 2021 : Notions of Identity. Halle 14 Centre of Contemporary Art, Leipzig, Germany

Collage Architecture. Triskel Art Center, Cork, Ireland. Curated by Miguel Amado

• 2020 : Orientalism. The Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain.

Curated by Rogelio López Cuenca & Sergio Rubira (catalogue)

• 2019 : Joy for Ever. The Whitworth, Manchester, UK. Curated by Poppy Bowers

• 2018 : Punk Orientalism. MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada. Curated by Sara Raza

A New Europe. Brighton Photo Biennial, Brighton, UK. Curated by Shoair Malvian
The Human Condition. The Jewish Museum, Moscow, Russia. Curated by Victor Misiano

• 2017 : Contemporary Greek Artists. National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China. Curated by Maria Tsantsanoglou and Syrago Tsiara (catalogue)

Disappearance at Sea – Mare Nostrum. BALTIC, Newcastle, UK. Curated by Alessandro Vincentelli
Homeland. Kunsthalle Osnabruck, Osnabruck, Germany. Curated by Christian Oxenius
In Reverse, DEPO, Istanbul, Turkey (catalogue)

• 2016 : Shifting Geographies. Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK

Power & Architecture. Calvert 22 Foundation, London, UK

• 2015 : Armenity. 56 th Venice Biennale, Armenian National Pavilion, Venice, Italy. (Golden Lion Winner) Curated by Adelina Cüberyan v. Fürstenberg (catalogue)

• 2014 : Mythologies. 3rd Mardin Biennale, Mardin, Turkey. Curated by Döne Otyam

Gegisian, Aikaterini. Handbook of the Spontaneous Other. London: MACK, 2020.
Gegisian, Aikaterini. In Reverse. Istanbul: DEPO Publishing, 2017.
Gegisian, Aikaterini. A Small Guide to the Invisible Seas. Venice Bienalle, 2015.
Gegisian, Aikaterini. Falling in Place. Athens: Kalfayan Galleries, 2010.

Gegisian, Aikaterini. “The Suspended Real”. Aperture Magazine, Issue 241, 2020: 96-101. Print
Gegisian, Aikaterini. Los Angeles Review of Books. Issue 16, 2020
Gegisian, Aikaterini. “A Small Guide to the Invisible Seas: The Sea of Waves.” Photoworks Issue 25, 2019:142-159. Print
Gegisian, Aikaterini. “Non-Aligned Forms.” LEAP: The International Art Magazine of Contemporary China, June 2017: 126-129. Print

Gegisian, Aikaterini. “‘Build Memories.” Memory Studies 12.5 (2019): 579–581. doi:10.1177/1750698019870710.
Gegisian, Aikaterini. “Female Photographic Representations in the Post-Ottoman Landscape: The Female Body as a Battleground of Imperialisms and Nationalisms.” Études arméniennes contemporaines 30 December 2015: 293-305. doi: 10670/1.69r62p

Raza, Sara. Punk Orientalism. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2022.
Micocci, Fabiano. Athens by Collage. Published by Anteferma Edizioni, 2022.
Busch, Dennis & Gavin, Francesca (eds). Age of Collage 3. Berlin: Gestalten Verlag, 2020
Malvian Shoair (eds). In Flux. Athens: Elefsina Cultural Centre, 2015.
Furstenberg, Adelina (eds). Armenity: Contemporary Artists from the Armenian Diaspora. Torino: Skira, 2015.

Frac de Pays de la Loire, France Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK MOMus, The Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki, Greece California Museum of Photography, USA Private Collections in Greece, UK, Ireland, Germany, USA and Canada

2017 | Arts and Humanities Research Council, Kluge Research Fellow Award, UK Awarded yearly to postdoctoral researchers, to pursue primary research at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

2010 | The Centre for Education and Research in Arts and Media (CREAM), University of Westminster, PhD Studentship Awarded Full Academic Graduate Scholarship for the completion of a PhD by Practice at the University of Westminster.

2005 | Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK, Research Preparation Bursary Awarded Full Academic Graduate Scholarship for the completion of MA in Fine Art degree at Chelsea College of Art & Design (University of the Arts London).

2001 | First Prize, Nagoya University of Arts, Japan Awarded to art school graduates for their Degree Show Exhibition at the University of Brighton through a reciprocal agreement with Nagoya University of Arts.

2021 | Developing Your Creative Practice Arts Council England, UK

2015 | Golden Lion, 56 th Venice Biennale Part of the Group of Artists Representing Armenia at the 56 th Venice Biennale. Armenia Pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for the best national participation.

2015 | Artists’ International Development Fund Arts Council England & British Council

2010 | Step Beyond Travel Grant European Cultural Foundation, Holland

2021 SIRIUS Art Center, Cobh, Ireland

2020 Halle 14. Leipzig, Germany

2019 Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen, Innsbruck, Austria

2018 Hospitalfield Summer Residency. Hospitalfield Arts, Scotland, UK

2012 PIST Residency Program. Istanbul, Turkey

2010 Utopiana Residency Program. Yerevan, Armenia

2010 ARC Residencies. Cairo, Egypt

2009 Partage Residency Programme. Mauritius

• Official site
• Gegisian