SKOPJE.- The Biennale of Young Artists organised by the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje announces the appointment of Sebastian Cichocki and Nada Prlja as co-curators of its fifteenth edition, which will unfold across sites and spaces in Skopje and beyond. The Biennale will begin on 29 October 2025 and will develop as a sequence of exhibitions and events until the final phase in October 2026.

Sebastian Cichocki is an established and internationally recognised curator, based in Warsaw. He is currently serving as Senior Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and also lectures at the University of the Arts in Poznań. Nada Prlja is an internationally acclaimed artist and currently also an Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje.

In a statement with regards to their appointment as curators of the 15th Biennale of Young Artists, Cichocki and Prlja write: The Biennale will be taking a more experimental approach: unfolding over the course of a calendar year, it will be conceived in phases and predominantly extend beyond the physical parameters of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje. The participants of the first (local) phase of the Biennale will be selected by the curators, based on recommendations from the Advisory Board, as well as an Open Call to be announced on 20th July 2025. The Biennale will embrace various forms of artistic expression, including sound, dance, poetry, site-specific work and interventions. The Biennale will also explore the concept of ‘young art,’ emphasising the importance and vitality of ‘early artworks,’ regardless of age or educational background of its participants.

“Since its formation, the Biennale of Young Artists has been a platform for creative experimentation, collaboration, and social impact, fostering support for generations of artists in formation. Rooted in our contemporary context, we have created a space of meaningful regional and international exchange,” says Tihomir Topuzovski, the acting director of MoCA – Skopje. Furthermore, of Cichocki and Prlja’s appointment as the Biennale curators, he says:“Sebastian Cichocki and Nada Prlja each bring distinct perspectives shaped by their individual practices. The 15th BYA will continue to promote thought-provoking contemporary art practices by establishing itself as a key platform for supporting early-career artists—a space for engaged inquiry and collective reflection. Through their curatorial visions, the Biennale will critically re-examine what a Biennale of Young Artists should represent within contemporary conditions.”

Sebastian Cichocki is Senior Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (MSN), Poland, where he curated “Banner. Engagement, Realism and Political Art” (2025), “Primary Forms” (2021-ongoing), “The Penumbral Age: Art in the Times of Planetary Crisis” (2020), “Making Use: Life in Postartistic Times” (2016), amongst other exhibition and research programmes. He recently curated “The Gleaners Society Club” at The Haus for Media Art in Oldenburg; 40th EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art; “The Postartistic Assembly” at the 14th Gwangju Biennale and “Primary Forms” at the 3rd Thailand Biennale in Chiang Rai. Other projects include the Polish Pavilions at the 52nd and 54th Venice Biennials of Art. Cichocki is a founding member of the Office for Postartistic Services – a network of art workers contributing to pro-democracy political struggles. He is a lecturer at the University of the Arts in Poznań, Poland (UAP) and a 2018 fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership, MoMA, New York. Sebastian Cichocki has been visiting Skopje since 2005 and has forged close links with the local art scene.

Nada Prlja is an artist whose projects are multilayered, site or condition-specific. Prlja represented the RN Macedonia at the 58th Venice Biennial She has participated in various international biennials, including the 18th Tallinn Print Triennial in Estonia (2022), the14th Baltic Triennial in Lithuania (2021), Innsbruck International Biennial in Austria (2022 & 2020), the 7th Berlin Biennale in Germany (2012), Manifesta 8 in Spain (2010), the 28th International Printmaking Biennial in Slovenia (2009), and others. She has presented her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including at MAXXI, Rome; Kunsthalle Krems, Krems; White Cube, London; Calvert 22 Foundation, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork; BODE Gallery, Havana. She also works as a curator, currently as a curator-collaborator at MoCA – Skopje. Between 2004-2015 she lectured at various universities in London. Prlja received an MPhil research degree from the Royal College of Arts, London, UK, after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Skopje.

MoCA – Skopje’s commitment to artistic practices in formation, is embodied by its initiative The Biennale of Young Artists, whose 15th edition will be held in 2025 and 2026. The programme traces its origins to two landmark exhibitions held in 1967—Contemporary Macedonian Painting and Young Generation and Contemporary Macedonian Sculpture—which set a precedent for the Museum’s sustained engagement with early-career artists and their distinct approaches, methodologies, and discourses. The concept was formalised in 1987 as the Youth Biennial and to date, each edition has expanded the scope of media and curatorial themes, broadening participation from local to regional and international contexts, while also refining the selection process in each edition. MoCA – Skopje offers a recognised institutional space for supporting and presenting evolving artistic practices, with the Biennale of Young Artists remaining a vital platform for dialogue and experimentation.