Born in 1977 in Piaseczno, Poland. Lives and works in Warsaw, Poland and Casablanca, Morocco.
The work of Marzena Nowak is created from memory and imagination, residing somewhere in the tension between autobiographical reference points and poetically immersed dream worlds. Her sensitivity to everyday occurrences and the relation to her own physicality often represent the thematic departure points for her artistic practice. Nowak’s works play with the forms of sensory perception and picking out the interplay between the monotony of everyday life and human wish to escape into imagination, all set in a social, historical context of the political changes of the 1980s.
Selected solo exhibitions
2022
Correnti II – Blue, Rita Urso Artopia Gallery, Milan, Italy.
Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, Germany.
ARCO Madrid, solo presentation with Gregor Podnar, Vienna, Austria.
2021
The persistence of scraps, Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2018
Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Vienna, Austria.
2016
Tania Perez Cordova and Marzena Nowak, Maisterravalbuena, Madrid, Spain.
2015
Marzena Nowak. Between, CAC – Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania.
April is the cruelest month, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2014
We are where we are not…, Karin Sachs Gallery, Munich, Germany.
A Bright, Bright Day…, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
Hoch hinaus! Wysoko w górę! Tomasz Kowalski, Marzena Nowak, Marcin Zarzeka, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Vienna, Austria.
2013
Marzena Nowak / Zofia Chomętowska, Archeology of Photography, Warsaw, Poland.
2012
Kunsthalle Krems Factory, Austria.
Um, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2011
CoCA Center of Contemporary Art Torun, Torun, Poland.
Galerie Mezzanin, Vienna, Austria.
Salzburger Kunstverein, Künstlerhaus Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
2010
Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, Germany.
Through, Project Space Galerija Gregor Podnar, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2009
Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2008
in, Galerie Mezzanin, Vienna, Austria.
A dream is a wish, Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, Germany.
Orla, Passage Galerie, Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria.
2007
Raum für Reflexion, Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie Dessau/Gartensaal, Dessau, Germany.
Waiting for the Barbarians, (with Michael Hoepfner), Piekary Gallery, Poznan, Poland.
2006
Milonga Nacht, Neue Kunst im Hagenbucher, Heilbronn, Germany.
2005
Olivia, Public Space, Dessau, Germany.
Privat Property, (with A. Kakhidze), Wizytujaca Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
ZOO-exhibition space, Warsaw, Poland.
2004
Red Sqare Dance, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
Statement, Art 35 Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Obrazy (Paintings), Starmach Gallery, Cracow, Poland.
2003
Schnitte und Muster, Kultur Kontakt, Pavillon Piroschka rev, quartier21, MQ, Vienna, Austria.
2xcut, (with Agnieszka. Malecka), Kronika Gallery, Bytom, Poland.
Water, Zakret Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
Cutouts, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
2001
Pictures, ASP, Warsaw, Poland.
Selected group exhibitions
2022
Brave World, Telegraph Gallery, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
New Entry. Vienna, Gregor Podnar, Vienna, Austria.
Zijn naam was Austerlitz/Austerlitz was his name, curated by Sam Steverlynck, Tlön Projects, A Tale of A Tub, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
2021
Enjoy – the mumok collection in change, curated by Manuela Ammer, Heike Eipeldauer, Rainer Fuchs, Naoko Kaltschmidt and Matthias Michalka, mumok – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria.
2020
Condo São Paulo 2020, Galeria Jaqueline Martins, São Paulo, Brazil.
2019
30 Years of the Geppert Competition: Exhibition and Seminar, BWA Wrocław Główny gallery, Wrocław, Poland.
Der Unterschied in Ähnlichkeit, Polnisches Institut, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2018
BLACK MIRROR, MAM Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Salzburg, Austria.
Recollection – A Journey After 28 Years, PROYECTOSMONCLOVA, Mexico City, Mexico.
Sense and Sensibilia, Galleria Doris Ghetta, Ortisei, Italy.
2016
Works and Lives in, Zona Sztuki Aktualnej, Szczecin, Poland.
Place. Summer Storage., Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
Wykrój. Miasto. Tarnów, Galeria Wystawiennicza, Tarnów, Poland.
Che il vero possa confutare il falso, Palazzo Pubblico Santa Maria della Scala, Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Verona, Italy.
Crisis of Presence, curated by Luigi Fassi, Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland.
2015
Now, At The Latest, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria.
Tirana Open 1, Tirana, Albania.
Blühendes Gift / Prosperous Poison, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria.
2014
Coffee & Ink, Galeria Casas Riegner, Bogota, Colombia.
Fall Open Studios 2014, ISCP – The International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York City, US.
Welt Ohne Zeit, Turnover, Leipziger Strasse 60, Berlin, Germany.
Cosmicomic tales, CoCA Center of Contemporary Art, Torun, Poland.
24h, 24 projects in 24h, Studio Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
As You Can See. Polish Art Today, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland.
Beyond the Process – Werke aus der Sammlung Lenikus, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria.
2013
Come and Go, Schweizer Botschaft in Österreich, Vienna, Austria.
Stay Inside, Galerie Mezzanin, Vienna, Austria.
Twisted entities, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany.
2011
New Order, Art Stations Foundation, Poznan, Poland.
Museum der Wünsche, MUMOK- Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria.
2010
There has been no future, there will be no past, ISCP- International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York City, USA.
Working Title, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany.
Languages and Experimentations. Young artists in a contemporary collection, Mart, Rovereto, Italy.
2009
National Museum, Krakau, Poland.
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2008
Szczescie, Wola Art Festival, Warsaw, Poland.
Reisefieber, Rondo Sztuki, Katowice, Poland.
Ist das ein Portrait? Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, Germany.
2007
Evasive Action, Andreas Huber Gallery, Viena, Austria.
Dvir Gallery (with Miroslaw Balka and Rafał Jakubowicz), Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Chodz opowiem Ci pewna historie, Manhattan Gallery, Lodz, Poland.
Searching for an ideal urbanity, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany.
Malerei, Galerie Mezzanin, Viena, Austria.
2006
Przerwane polaczenia/Interrupted Connections, Zacheta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland.
Terytoria, Lubelskie Towarzystwo Sztuk Pieknych Zacheta, Lublin, Poland.
Na wlasna reke / On their Own, Zacheta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland.
2005
In this (our) country, Vienna International Apartment, Turku, Finland.
Collection Fundacja Malopolska, MCK, Cracow, Poland.
Lokal 30, Warsaw, Poland.
Skavija, Wilno, Poland.
Compulsive handmades, Press to Exit, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
Recent Polish Video, Centre of Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland.
2004
Obraz Kontrolny, Newest Polish Video, Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow, Poland.
Compilation 2112m2 Europe, (with H. Czerepok), Hainburg/Donau, Germany.
Nachtruhe, PiroschkaRev, Quartier 21, Museums Quartier, Viena, Austria.
2003
Absolut Generations, Venice 50th Biennale, Venice, Italy.
V Krajowa Wystawa Mlodych, BWA, Wroclaw, Poland.
2002
Dyploms 2002, CSW, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, Poland.
Novart, Cracow, Poland.