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Veronika Tzekova reGIERung FOOOOTBALLLL LOVEOFPOWEROFLOVE Reconstructed Identity Space Appropriators _2 Space Appropriators Space NRGZers Sweetshirt WUMAMPAROI

Veronika Tzekova graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the AKI2- Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Enschede, Netherlands (2001) and completed the postgraduate program Transnational Spaces at the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau (2005).

She has participated in various artist-in-residence programs, including Black Sea Calling in Graz; MPRA in Poznan; Art and Cultural Studies Laboratory in Yerevan; Terra Summer Residency in Giverny, France; and KulturKontakt Austria in Vienna. Previously, she was awarded the UniCredit scholarship for the UNIDEE in Residence International Program at Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella.

Tzekova’s projects and artworks have been presented at, among others, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel; Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna; Mac/Val – Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Paris; Casino Luxembourg; Neue Galerie Graz; Kunsthaus Graz; Institute for Contemporary Art, Sofia; Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art, Sofia; the Archaeological Museum in Poznan; Hilger BROTKunsthalle, Vienna; the Austrian Cultural Forum in Zagreb; Forum Stadtpark, Graz; Zollamt, Bad Radkersburg; Vukovar Municipal Museum/Galerija Oranžerija; designforum Steiermark, Graz; as well as Sofia Design Week and Designmonat Graz.

She has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Gaudenz B. Ruf Award (Sofia, Advanced Artists category, 2011); Unlimited – Mtel Awards for Contemporary Arts (Sofia, 2011); GO11 Award for Urban Alternate Use (2011); and the Pimp dein IKEA design competition, where she won first prize in 2013. In 2016, she received the Working Grant for Contemporary Visual Arts from the State of Styria, and in 2018, the Abroad Grant for Visual Arts and Film from the City of Graz. In 2020, she won first prize in the category "SPEECH + VISION"  in the competition "NEW MODERNITY – Vision and Text, Word and Image, Meaning and Form", organized by the magazine NEW SOCIAL POETRY in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Her works are part of private collections as well as the art collections of the City of Graz and the State of Styria.

In her artistic practice, Veronika Tzekova primarily engages with intervention, appropriation, and participation, focusing on rethinking and transforming objects, situations, and systems. In recent years, she has realized numerous projects in public space. She was an associate artist with IN SITU, the European platform for artistic creation in public space, as part of the (UN)COMMON SPACES project (2020–2024).

Since 2013, Tzekova has been working on CDoupbles, a project exploring the visual construction and perception of language. A selection from the series was exhibited in 2017 in the solo show "Man muß die spRACHE quälen, bis sie schreibt" in Graz. Since 2018, her syllaBLEndings series has been displayed on four illuminated boxes in public spaces, with verses changing monthly. In 2020, she launched the ongoing exhibition SchAUGEnuss at hybrid space  Atelier 12 in Graz, Austria, featuring several  themed exhibitions each year.

Applying the CDoupbles concept, she created site-specific installations at 15 different locations as part of AUDIO IBRIDA by ZONA K in Milan, Italy (2022). In 2023, she produced sosEINdrücke, a series of 12 installations in public and rural spaces as part of the La Strada Festival in Graz.



wAFFENstillstand in friEDENsgefährdeten Zeiten

(War in language — made visible through hidden words)
(en. “Ceasefire In Times of Peace Under Threat”)
"SchAUGEnuss" season #5, 2025 - 2026

Permanent exhibition with rotating works on the theme of war in local and global contexts

Note: The hidden title embedded in the original German phrase “wAFFENstillstand in friEDENsgefährdeten Zeiten” — “AFFEN in EDEN” — translates as “Apes in Eden” In German metaphorical usage, the ape often functions as a distorted reflection of the human, symbolising vanity, lust, imitation, and restlessness.

November 22, 2025 – June 30, 2026
Part 1: November 22, 2025 – January 16, 2026
Part 2: January 17 – March 20, 2026
Part 3: March 21 – May 16, 2026
Part 4: May 17 – June 30, 2026

The four-part exhibition “wAFFENstillstand in friEDENsgefährdeten Zeiten” addresses central aspects, actors, figures, forces, contradictions, and absurdities of war—both specific and universal. Against the backdrop of rising global tensions and conflicts, military spending is rapidly increasing, new defense alliances are being formed, and national security strategies are being redefined. This exhibition engages with this ambivalent moment—situated between ceasefire and rearmament.

More than 50 artworks from Veronika Tzekova’s “CDoupbles” series will be presented in rotation from November 2025 to the end of June 2026 in the large display window of the hybrid cultural space Atelier 12 in Graz. “CDoupbles” is an artistic concept developed by Veronika Tzekova, based on a specific linguistic phenomenon: words in which another word unexpectedly and coincidentally resides, without any etymological relation, opening up imaginary mini-scenarios and surprising semantic spaces. These linguistic symbioses function as metaphors for the hidden layers of our linguistic and societal reality.

Display window, Atelier 12 Münzgrabenstraße 24 8010 Graz, Austria

click on the photo for more exhibition views and artworks
My Blog
challengedgames.blogspot.co.at

The CHAlleNGED GAMES blog was conceived with the hope to stimulate divergence thinking and challenge the viewer to rethink one's routines and shift his/her perspective on the status quo.

The blog was initially  dedicated to the CHAlleNGED GAMES series and seeks for extended meaning in playing and its relation to aspects of human existence and production.

As with the time I started to experiment with another system - the language, to apply mathematical logic and seek patterns in words, in the last years my publications are mostly about this part of my work.

CHAlleNGED Games
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st.art

Author: Veronika Tzekova
Publish Date: September 27, 2010
Dimensions: 18 x 18 cm, 70 pages
Language: English/Italian

As a manner of artistic creation in many of my recent works I employ existing urban situations, objects, visuals, texts and just add often a small detail, which significantly changes their meaning and/or function.

St.art book includes art works in the period 2004-2010, some still in progress at the time and some as ideas developed during 2010. The selection is made to guide the viewer through an artistic process that lead to the birth of ideas such as Space NRGZers and Dadissuasori.

The book ends with a couple of blank pages, which are to e filled in with sketches and ideas for new works employing the same approach. 

Vimeo




Veronika Tzekova veronika.tzekova@gmail.com