Irini Miga’s practice traverses sculpture, installation, notions of drawing, text and performativity. Her work explores the fluidity of time with the intention of challenging conventional hierarchies and dissolving boundaries. 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 the Fountainhead Biennial II: Last Days of a House, Curated by Omar López-Chahoud, Emerson Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL (2023); Outraged by Pleasure, curated by Nadja Argyropoulou, “Nobel” building, Chalandri, Athens (2023); A Scattering of Salts, curated by Panos Giannikopoulos, ACG Art Gallery, Athens (2023); Going Viral, curated by Sotirios Bahtsetzis and Katja Ehrhardt, Steinzeit Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2022); Mr. Robinson Crusoe Stayed Home, curated by Polina Kosmadani and Kostis Velonis, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece (2021); Room for Failure, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Piero Atchugarry Gallery Miami, FL (2019); Tomorrow’s Dream, at Neuer Essener Kunstverein in Essen (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, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, The Drawing Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, 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.
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
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)
2024
G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize, curated by Sotirios Bahtsetzis, Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece
East Beat, curated by Nadja Argyropoulou and Lakis & Aris Ionas / The Callas, Thermisia, Argolis, Greece
2023
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
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
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
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
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
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
Marginalia, curated by Lisa Sigal and Nova Benway, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
*bang! Daily Lazy Projects, Athens, Greece
2016
BiBeLot, curated by Dimitrios Antonitsis, Hydra School Projects, Hydra, Greece *
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
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)
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 *
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*
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
and Norwegian Theater Academy, Fredrikstad, Norway
2009
AZB Sculpture Guest-atelier, Zurich, Switzerland
AWARDS
2024
G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize, Greece
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
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
PUBLICATIONS & WRITING (as editor /interviewer)
2015 – present
Daily Lazy: co-director and editor / Instagram: @daily_lazy
2022
Daily Lazy, A Conversation with Sultana Savvi
2022
Daily Lazy, An Interview with Jonathan Ehrenberg on the occasion of his Solo Show “The Capital of Fine is OK” at Essex Flowers, in New York
2022
Daily Lazy, An Interview with Corinne Spencer
2021
Daily Lazy, An Interview with Melanie McLain
2021
Daily Lazy, Irini Miga interviews Ionian Bisai and Sotiris Tsiganos (Latent Community) about their film Otranto.
2019
Daily Lazy, A conversation between Krista Clark and Irini Miga triggered by “Untenanted,” an exhibition by Krista Clark at Spencer Brownstone Gallery in New York.
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
2013 – 2017
Torrance Shipman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY [artist-run space] co-founder/co-director
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art / Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens, Greece
European Central Bank Collection, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Luciano Benetton Collection, Italy
Soho House Collection, Istanbul, Turkey
Columbia University, Neiman Center Collection, New York