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M i c h a e l a   L a k o v a

Michaela Lakova (BG) is a visual artist and researcher currently based between Rotterdam and Sofia. Throughout her work, Lakova explores how the generation of digital traces and their problematic resistance to being deleted impact our perception of data ownership. Investigating the ethics of deletion and recovery of data, Michaela analyses and interprets the notion of digital information by considering its slippery nature, superimposing processes of digital recovery over the materiality of human memory.
— Veronica Gisondi, Unknown Quantities 5

Michaela occasionally works as a freelance videographer and photographer within the cultural sector. Her video portfolio could be seen at: → video.mlakova

Browse through some of her works, discover some of her floating inspirations and influences at → links&likes and glimpse into her neighbors

C u r r i c u l u m  v i t a e

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Education

2012 – 2014	Piet Zwart Institute (WdKA), Rotterdam, The Netherlands Master degree in Media Design and Communication
2006 – 2011	National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA), Sofia, Bulgaria Bachelor degree in Stage and Screen design

Exhibitions & Festivals (selected)

2022 – ongoing
	Post/Socialist Palaces, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, de
	Closing the Circle, group show, MATCA artspace, Cluj, ro
	natura - naturata, part of LOOK – Ecology and Technology, Charta gallery, Sofia, bg
	INSULA CAMPO VERITÀ, group show, curate by Joseph Marzolla and Thorbjörg Jonsdóttir, Verksmiðjan á hjalteyri, is
	Unknown Gods, group show, Johnson 359, Brooklyn, New York, us
	Fabrication of dreams, forplay society, parallel program of Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India
	Herbarium, curated by Irina Batkova, group show, Mission gallery, Sofia, bg
	Gesture(s), online video, project by AAD Foundation & Sofia Art Projects, Critics in Space, Sofia, bg
	From the shore to the mud pool, curated by SPIT, group show, Verksmiðjan á hjalteyri, is
	Liminal recollection..., solo show, Depoo gallery via DA Lab foundation, Sofia, bg
	Altered Voices, group show, w/ Voin de Voin, Cédric Van Parys, Dimitar Galileev, DOZA gallery, Sofia, bg
	DRIFT, group show, w/ Voin de Voin, Munich, de
	TERRY, window installation, w/ Maurice Suitela, Rotterdam, nl
	Online TENT Cinema, screening, Rotterdam, nl
2021 – 2019
	Digital Art festival, screening, Sofia, bg
	I got here floating in a tin can, Chapter 2 - Gaslighting RosaStern space, Munich, de
	Sofia Art Week (SAW#4), screening, Goethe-Institut Sofia, bg
	Groot Rotterdams Atelier, open ateliers, screening, Rotterdam, nl
	The Pric/ze is Right – NEXT Balkan: Bulgarian Contemporary Art, group show, Ostavinska Galerija, Belgrade, srb
	Publieke Werken Rotterdam, posters in public space, Rotterdam, nl
	Wild Wild East, screening, Æther Hague, nl
	Digital Aesthetics, group show, Plus359 gallery/ Water Tower, Sofia, bg
	Digital Art festival, group show, Goethe-Institut Sofia, bg
	2019: Year of the future, group show, part of European capital of culture, Plovdiv, bg
	Borgerstraat Open Studios 2019, group show, Rotterdam, nl
2018 – 2016
	Ant •I con/cept/ion, group show, Æther Hague, nl
	Past-Present Utopian dream for a nu(un)clear future, solo show, Æther Sofia, bg
	Memories of Slavutych, sound installation, International Festival of Film and Urbanism “86”, Slavutych, ua
	A manuscript of erasure, installation, solo show, the fridge, Sofia, bg
	Prototype, group show, Societe Generale bank, Sofia, bg
	A manuscript of erasure, screening, Wolfart Project Space, Rotterdam, nl
	free_art_-_source, group show, Galerija Galženica, Zagreb, hr
	Zine Camp, participation, Rotterdam, nl
	Allow Me To Forget (wip), group show, Quinta del Sordo, Madrid, es
	Dan D(Open Design), group show, Zagreb, hr
	Art Meets Radical Openness(AMRO), group show, Kunstraum gallery, Linz, at
2015 – 2014
	What remains – Strategies of saving and deleting, group show, esc medien kunst labor, Gras, at
	Radical Networks, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Eyebeam, New York City, us
	Workspace for the New World, group show, Bureau Europa, Maastricht, nl
	Open day/group show, invited by Teodora Kotseva, ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin, de
	The City – A screen project, outdoor projections, Plovdiv, Sofia, bg
	Piksel festival, group show, Lydgallerit, Bergen, no
	New Horizon Festival, group show, het Onderwijscentrum Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, nl
	Unlinked (dislocations, disappearances & deprecations), group show, TENT gallery, Rotterdam, nl
	Off the Press: Electronic Publishing in the Arts, Boijmans museum & WORM, Rotterdam, nl
	Traces, group show part of MuseumNacht'14, SaraTimTrust, Rotterdam, nl
	USB-Shuffle Show, group show, Institut für Alles Mögliche, Transmediale, Berlin, de
2013 – 2010
	Free book for every soul, workshop, Impakt festival, Utrecht, nl
	gif Archive, online show & discussion, eXAF foundation, the fridge, (Sofia) and Kino Kosmos (Plovdiv), bg
	stARTup camp, group show & presentation, WORM, Rotterdam, nl
	Glitch Moment/ums, an online exhibition, curated by Rosa Menkman and Furtherfield, London, uk
	Kino Club: Animations, screening, WORM, Rotterdam, nl
	Kunstkijk, screening, Sommelsdijk, nl
	National Identity, group exhibition, Bulgarian Embassy, Stockholm, se
	Yellow rain installation, group show, Rakursi gallery, Sofia, bg

Awards & Grants

2023	Production grant Zahariev-Singer Foundation, Sofia, bg
2022	O&O Research & Development grant from Centrum Beelden Kunst (CBK) Rotterdam, nl
2022	Production grant "e-valuation 2.0" provided by DA foundation, Sofia, bg
2020 & 2021	Production grant National Culture Fund (NFK), Sofia, bg
2018 & 2016	Gaudenz B. Ruf award for new Bulgarian art, ch/bg
2017	Research & Development, Gemeente Rotterdam, nl
2016 & 2015	O&O Research & Development grant from Centrum Beelden Kunst (CBK) Rotterdam, nl
2015	Small Contribution Voucher, Creative Industries Fund, nl
2014 — 2013	One year grant from Van Beek Donner Stichting, Rotterdam, nl
2006	National award for fine arts from the President of Bulgaria, bg
2005 — 2004	One year grant “Fund Culture” from the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria, bg

Artist residencies | OTHERS

2023	INSULA CAMPO VERITÀ, residency, Verksmiðjan á hjalteyri, is
2022	What is healing? commissioned by Het Neuiwe Instituut, part of Prix de Rome exhibition, videographer, Rotterdam, nl
2022	Sofia Art Week vol. 5 | RE-SPIRIT, organisation, Sofia, bg
2021	Venice Architecture biannual, Dutch Pavillion, online program editing & filming, commissioned by Het Neuiwe Instituut, Rotterdam, nl
2021	RESET, mentor, Kyustendil, bg
2019	Neuhaus, series of short videos, commissioned by Het Neuiwe Instituut, Rotterdam, nl
2018	x-tepmorary online residency, de
2018	Urban Program at International Festival of Film and Urbanism “86”, Slavutych, ua
2017	Friends with Books, together with Publication studio Rotterdam & Liz Allan, Berlin, Hamburger Bahnhof, de
2016 & 2017	IMPAKT festival, operator, Utrecht, nl
2016	MoneyLab conference, notetaker, organised by Institute of Network Studies, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, nl
2016	Residency at Intercambiador ACART project space, Madrid, es
	Co-editor:) of Are you being served (notebooks), Constant Association for Art and Media, Brussels, be

Presentations & Artist talks

2023 — 14
	Post/Socialist Palaces, round tables, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, de
	CAMPO VERITÀ, talk, Phenomenon Art Gallery, Reykjavik, is
	7-09-20 Click, scroll, like, share... scroll again, presentation, Æther, Sofia, bg
	26.10.19 Digital Talk: Digital Aesthetics exhibition, three views with Michaela Lakova, Dagmar Schürrer and Tor Jørgen van Eijk with moderator Rene Beekman, Credo Bonum gallery, Sofia, bg
	25.05.19 Presentation and lecture Dark tourism in Chernobyl, Plovdiv, bg
	Artist talk, Conversas#131 & Conversas#56, Mevrouw Bok, Rotterdam, nl
	12.05.18 Presentation & artist talk, International Festival of Film and Urbanism “86”, Slavutych, ua
	1.02.18 Presentation of ongoing artistic research, Café Chercher, Research Station at Willem De Kooning Academie, Rotterdam, nl
	12.06.17 Public presentation, Techno-Galactic Software Observatory, Constant Association for Art and Media, Brussels, be
	10.02.17 Conversation piece#2 Artist talk, Galerija Galženica, Zagreb, hr
	10.02.17 Presentation, The Autonomous Fabric Symposium, V2_ Institute for Unstable Media, Rotterdam, nl
	1.09.16 Conversation piece#1, artist talk, Cosmos, Sofia, bg
	22.07.16 Artist talk, Medialab-Prado, Madrid, es
	Presentation, Radical Networks, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Eyebeam, New York, us
	Presentation, 'Are you being served?', Constant Association for Art and Media, Brussels, be

Publications & Press

2023 — 14
	featured at (bg)article by Dessislava Dimova, Sofia University culture centre platform for criticism, bg
	Artwork featured at Corps—Commun, fr
	Article (bg) featured at seen, bg
	Video featured at (en) Inside the Eastern European Network, published by Schlosspost / Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, de
	Featured at (en) Networks of One's Own, published by Varia, Rotterdam, nl
	Featured at (en) Becoming The Other Self-Guide, published by Æther, Sofia, bg
	Interview (en) featured at Please Play with Glitches in the System, article by Lilah Leopold, published at Curating Contemporary, de
	Featured at Unknown Quantities 5 (en), published by Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, uk
	Interview & artist profile (bg) Prototype, Sofia, bg
	Featured at (en) Data browser 06: EXECUTING PRACTICES, Erasure by Audrey Samson, produced by Critical Software Thing, presented at Transmediale 2017, Berlin, de
	Interview (bg), Delete is not the End, Bulgarian National Radio, Sofia, bg
	Article (bg), Traces Remain, author: Stefka Tsaneva, Capital, bg
	Interview (en) Behind the Smart World, publication by Andreas Zingerle and Linda Kronman, published by servus.at, Linz, at
	Author (en) of The Impossibility of Authenticating Erasure short paper published by the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Vancouver, ca
	Article (es) Tu disco duro no olvida... Hoja de Routers, author: Cristina Sánchez, Madrid, es
	Online Archive (en), Post-Digital Print Archive (P—DPA) by Silvio Lorusso, Venice, it