Elena Apostolovski


Curating
Meanwhile, in the Glossy Interface 
Click, post, play
What the Swans Are Twittering About in the Riverbed
On Point of Climax
A less obedient version of Alexa — Carmen de la Roca
all GAME no PLAY
In transmission
On Point of Oversight
Sound Occupations
At Once
68’

Teaching
Attentive Alleys

Writing

Coaching and advising

contact me if you’d like to work together on a concept, artist statement or development of your practice 





Elena Apostolovski
Info
  1. Independent curator, writer and researcher.
  2. She seeks to question the relationship between social reality, artwork and the audience while affirming experiencing art as the physical experience of the body in space shared with other people.
  3. Her practice is focused on the exploration of interpersonal relationships in physical and digital realities shaped by dominant ideologies, aiming to find strategies that contribute to strengthening the connection within the community and disrupting conventions.

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Elena Apostolovski
is a curator, writer and educator.







Dramaturgical work is a form of care that acts as an indispensable connective tissue between contextualisation, conceptualisation and creation of working methods within an artist’s work

— Lili M. Rampre & Valerie Wehrens                
TakeMoreCare (TMC)
from Movement Research
Performance Journal #61


Hi!
Nice of you to encounter this website. Curious about my work? Lately, I mostly love to collaborate with artists and artspaces on developing ideas, concepts and strategies. In recent years, I have supported artists, dancers and performers in the development of their practice, conceptualisation and contextualisation of artworks; and collaboratively written texts.
I taught classes and workshops about exhibition making, artwork developpment and writing about art at different universities and art spaces.
Currently, I am a member of the advisory board of Gallery NOVO  (Pula, Croatia) and independently advise and coach artists through multiple development trajectories in the Netherlands and Croatia.
If you wish to get to know each other better, send me a message!



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I work as a curator in visual and performative arts, which can take the shape close to dramaturgical work. The focus of my work is observing the relationship between the maker's intention, the material created and ways to present it, and how it is received in another body. When I make exhibitions, my lens is on shaping the experience for the visitor, the ways they are invited to move through the space and interact with the artworks. The questions I ask are how this space could make them feel and relate to each other. This depends on the shape and context of the presentation, but also on what the visitor is bringing with them. Like the specific experiences the visitor faced throughout their life, their worldview and their motivation to engage at that moment with the sensorial narrative presented, to name a few factors that we can never fully comprehend, but we can be curious and considerate about.

As a trained observer, I look at images, bodies, and spaces, and relate to them with my body. When I write about art, my body is a tool to experience the artistic situation presented. Later, I put it in text, having in mind my specific perceptive filter, which is constituted by my own positionality within the world and my affinities. Simultaneously, I can speculate how it could be for someone who relates to it differently. I write about artworks and shows that make me feel something strong, whether that is excitement or discomfort, and when I think it is important to give stage to the messages embodied in the experience which encounters with artworks have offered to me.

Contextualisation of the material is important for me: what is being presented, where and why? How does it reflect the positionality of the ones involved and with what intention for the ones who will get to see it? When I teach, coach, or collaborate, we mostly focus on going deeper into the artist’s motivation to create and present material and then reflect on the possibilities and probabilities of the reception.

For me, art is a space of associative, nonverbal or critical communication, where we can practice empathy and stand together. Artistic presentation, as well as artists' processes, are forms of group or individual work that involve exploring oneself, understanding one's relationship with others, identifying what one finds important, and navigating one's experiences and clarifying intentions within social contexts. I often work with groups, offering the artistic medium as a tool to reflect one's own positionality and explore how personal is political. The group dynamic that emerges is an important tool for this process to enhance. Through theatre, movement, writing and other suggestions and exercises – that involve playful exposing, reflecting, connecting – we collectively learn and exchange.


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Collaboration has always been at the core of my practice, as my work occurs at the intersection of group exchange and critical thinking. I value innovative forms of co-creation and participation. In past years, curiosity led me to frequent collaborations with individuals and associations across culture, the humanities, social and technical sciences, and the fields of visual arts, dance, and performance. The exhibitions and public programs in recent years were created in collaboration with:

  •  Metamedia Association in Pula (Meanwhile in the Glossy Interface 2024),
  •  Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka (Click, Post, Play 2024),
  •  Other Sea Association in Rijeka (Looking upside down: Ne damo vam sve 2020, Ide ide identitet 2021, Baci kamen prvi 2022),
  • Trixie The Hague (What The Swans Are Twittering About In The Riverbed 2022, Carmen Roca Igual: A Less Obedient Version of Alexa 2023)
  • 1646 Experimental Art Space in The Hague and The Other Sea in Rijeka (All My Friends Are Phones and Tablets 2020),
  • Royal Academy of Arts in the Hague (I forgot how I got here 2025),
  • Conservatorium in the Hague (Attentive Alleys in West Den Haag during Rewire festival 2026),
  • Human rights and civic participation association Pariter (Public feeling 2023, Moja Publikacija 2026)
  • Rijeka 2020 European Capital of Culture (The Point Of Oversight 2021),
  • KNAP Centre of Culture, Zagreb (Striptease 2022),
  • Croatian Association of Interdisciplinary Artists in Pula (Dividing Lines 2022),
  • STIFF Student International Film Festival (all GAME no PLAY 2022, In Transmission 2021, Sound Occupations 2020, At Once 2019),
  • Student Cultural Centre of the University of Rijeka (Creative Director of the artspace, program 2018-2020),  

Next to my independent curatorial practice, I work as a program coordinator and agent for the artist-run space and community platform Instrument Inventors Initiative in The Hague, which operates at the intersection of technology, sensorial experience, and performance. Alongside this work, I write exhibition reviews, teach, and coach.

Read an interview about my work before 2023, in conversation with Danijela Knapić for Kulturistra, April 2023

Here you can find the list of engagements, including lectures, exhibitions, publications, and more.

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My exhibitions focus on researching image-based environments as a sphere of interhuman relations and how digital data transmissions intertwine with our corporeality. What are their effects on the perception of our own bodies and the way we connect? How do they affect our movement? How do we stay grounded amidst the digital whirlwind? I am increasingly more interested in the dancing body and emotions, which I explore through text, movement and improvisation.

My approach is experience-based, and my research develops in contact with artists, spaces, stages, and audiences. You can see more of my selected projects on this website!