Ana Prvački
Ana Prvački presents the potato as a body that absorbs light and returns it as shadow, a dual role underscored by the title Throwing Shade. The phrase recalls its 1980s origins in Black and Latinx ballroom culture, where “shade” signified resilience and sharp humor—later popularized by the documentary Paris Is Burning and carried into broader queer expression. Over time, it has also come to suggest a sly, understated critique, often delivered with irony rather than confrontation. A further pun extends the play: potatoes belong to the nightshade family, a group of plants now “thrown into shade” by dietary fads that cast them as suspect. In Prvački’s hands, the root becomes a quiet trickster, its shadow a gesture of subtle defiance. True to her practice, the watercolor balances wit and delicacy with deeper contemplation, showing how ordinary forms can bear social, ecological, gendered, or dietary weight, and how small shifts in perception can alter meaning.
Ana Prvački’s training and background in music, theater, mask work, architecture, fine art, and beekeeping inform a cross-disciplinary practice that ranges from watercolor to video, performance, and augmented reality. Prvački’s interdisciplinary work often revolves around sound and sensuality. In her work she often follows a gently pedagogical and comedic approach, aiming for a conceptual practice with a low carbon footprint. Her work has been presented in many international exhibitions, including the: 13th Gwangju Biennial, Korea (2021); Bangkok Art Biennale, Thailand (2020); “SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms” – 14th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey (2015); Contour Biennale 7, Mechelen, Belgium (2015); dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, Germany (2012); Sydney Biennale, Australia (2007); 1st Singapore Biennale, Singapore (2006); and the Turin Triennale, Italy (2005). Solo exhibitions of her work and other projects were presented worldwide, in venues such as: the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA; the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA; Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy; the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore; and 1301PE Gallery, Los Angeles, USA. Her works are included in private and public collections and institutions, like MOCA, LACMA, and Castello di Rivoli. She was the first Digital Artist in Residence at the Gropius Bau Museum in Berlin, Germany (2021). Prvački is based in Berlin and holds the position of Associate Professor at Bauhaus University in Weimar.
