Curriculum vitae · Source updated 13 October 2026
Dušan Josip Smodej
Dušan Josip Smodej is a curator, writer, and editor based in Venice. A graduate of FAMU Prague and member of the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art, he founded Fotopub Association in 2014, which The Guardian named one of the best photography institutions in the world in 2018. He served as Head Curator at Fotopub's Project Space in Ljubljana until 2022, during which time he was also a founding board member of Ulay Foundation. Between 2020 and 2022, he led Academia Nuts, an academic programme co-organised by the Ulay Foundation and Ljubljana's art academies, and served as editor-in-chief of Culture.si, the main Slovenian online cultural magazine published by the Ministry of Culture. Since 2022, he has worked freelance across Europe, collaborating with institutions including Sotheby's, Dover Street Market, The New Centre for Research and Practice, We R the Nomads and a/political. His critical writing appears regularly in Nasty Magazine, Culture.si, Triple Ampersand and Rivista Segno. In 2024, he was selected as one of three finalists for the inaugural CEI Young Art Critic Award at the 60th Venice Biennale. He currently serves as Artistic Director of Sardegna Biennale.
Open Google Docs CV ↗education
2023 New Centre for Research and Practice, Art & Curatorial Practice
2018 BA — FAMU Prague, Photography
selected work experience
2024 — current Executive Producer and Curatorial Advisor, We R the Nomads Agency
2023 — 2025 Senior Grant Writer, Funded.team
2020 — 2022 Tutor, Academia Nuts, Ulay Foundation
2020 — 2022 Editor-in-chief, Culture.si, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia
2019 — 2022 Board Member, ULAY Foundation
2017 — 2020 Board member, Jazzinty, Novo mesto Institute of Culture
2014 — 2022 Founder and Director, Fotopub Association for Contemporary Culture
2011 — 2013 Executive Producer, Novo mesto Film School, Klapa Society
2009 — 2014 Project Coordinator, Simulaker Gallery, LokalPatriot Institute
selected curated exhibitions, performances and interventions
2026 Katharina Bosch: Dérive, performance, Nauru National Pavilion, 61st Venice Biennale, Italy
2025 Fragmented Nations (on dropping bomb*shells), Museo del Risorgimento, Bologna, Italy
2024 Oceans of Time, group exhibition, Galerie Variation, Paris, France
2024 Let the Sunshine In, group exhibition, Galleria Itinerarte, Venice, Italy
2024 Firouz FarmanFarmaian: Shimmer, Galleria Itinerarte, Venice, Italy
2024 The Chinese Bar, group exhibition, Biennale Arte 2024 collateral event, Venice, Italy
2024 On Times (Paradise) Lost, group exhibition, Sotheby’s Milan, Italy
2024 Deserted Island (on dropping bomb*shells), group exhibition, ARTCITY Bologna, Italy
2023 Petits Objets, group exhibition, 229 LAB, Art Basel Paris, France
2023 Infinite Movement, group exhibition, co-curated with Ugo Nardini, 3537, Paris, France
2022 Petr Davydtchenko: Untitled 2022, Opyum Festival, 3537, Paris, France
2022 Epos 257: Entry Prohibited, Alkatraz Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2022 Andrei Molodkin: Putin in Blood of Ukrainian Soldiers, intervention, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2021 Lina Akif: Slovenski Pasijon, performance, Triglav Mountain, Slovenia
2021 Mentorja: Uranjek Vaukman, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2021 Andrei Molodkin: White House Filled with Blood, intervention, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2021 Petr Davydtchenko: Perftoran, BPS22, Charleroi, Belgium
2021 Academia Nuts #1: Leave Group?, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2020 Name: Curfew, public intervention, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2020 Dan Perjovschi: Humanity, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2020 Autopornography on St. Nicholas' Day, group exhibition, private apartment, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2020 Young Boy Dancing Group, performance, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2020 Petr Davydtchenko: Perftoran, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2020 Jenny from the Block, group exhibition, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2019 Jakub Jansa: Club of Opportunities: Ten Years Night, Fotopub Ljubljana, Slovenia
2019 Brad Downey: Melania, public sculpture, Sevnica, Slovenia
2019 Fotopub Festival, various locations, Novo mesto, Slovenia
2019 Freštreš: dekontamiNACIJA, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2018 Fotopub Festival, various locations, Novo mesto, Slovenia
2018 Anouk Kruithof: Transformagic, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2017 Fotopub Festival, various locations, Novo mesto, Slovenia
2017 Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs: On the Other Hand, Fotopub, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2016 Fotopub Surprise, group exhibition Organ Vida Festival, Zagreb, Croatia
2016 Fotokub, group exhibition, Brighton Photo Fringe, Brighton, United Kingdom
2016 Fotopub Festival, various locations, Novo mesto, Slovenia
2015 Fotopub Festival, various locations, Novo mesto, Slovenia
2014 Fotopub Festival, various locations, Novo mesto, Slovenia
selected published works
2026 [editor: book] Art and War, Artistic Practices in the Age of Permanent Conflict, Meltemi, Milan, Italy
2024 [essay] Make Porn not War, Sporno Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria
2023 — ongoing [writer: magazine] Rivista Segno, Pescara, Italy
2022 — 2024 [writer: online magazine] Nasty Magazine, Milano, Italy
2020 — 2022 [editor-in-chief: online magazine] Culture.si, Beletrina, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2021 [editor: catalogue] Academia Nuts #1, ULAY Foundation, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2014 — 2019 [editor: catalogue] Fotopub Festival, Društvo Fotopub, Novo mesto, Slovenia
2012 [writer and director: documentary film] 20 let DNŠ, LokalPatriot, Novo mesto, Slovenia
selected residencies, talks and portfolio reviews
2025 [lecture] The Last Speech, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain
2025 [lecture] Passivism, La Laguna University, Tenerife, Spain
2024 [lecture] Socially Engaged Art, Academy of Fine Arts Bologna, Italy
2024 [organiser: residency] Fondazione Fondaco Parrino, Catania, Italy
2024 [residency] Asortymenta Kymnata, Kyiv, Ukraine
2024 [lecture] Visionari: Cinema, Gestione, Architettura e Forma, Liceo Artistico Guggenheim, Venice, Italy
2023 [moderator: biennial] Contemporary Biennale Sardinia, Donori, Italy
2023 [moderator: panel talk] VII. No Avantgarde Started in the Beginning, 3537, Paris, France
2020 [organiser: conference] Jenny from the Block, Museum of Architecture and Design Ljubljana, online
2020 [panel talk] Aesthetic Impunity: Art, Politics and Animal Rights, Fotopub Project Space, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2020 [lecture] Photography Between Personal and Political, Academy of Fine Arts Ljubljana, Slovenia
2019 [panel talk] Art for Sale, Centre for Creativity, Maribor, Slovenia
2019 [portfolio review] Riga Photomonth, Riga, Latvia
2018 [lecture] The Photographic, Athens School of Fine Arts, Greece
2018 [portfolio review] Athens Photo Festival, Athens, Greece
2018 [portfolio review] Krakow Photomonth, Krakow, Poland
2017 [talk] Fotopub, ALUO, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
2016 [talk] Festival Talk, Brighton Photo Fringe, Brighton, United Kingdom
2015 [portfolio review] Journées photographiques de Bienne, Biel, Switzerland
2015 [talk] Format Festival, Journées photographiques de Bienne, Biel, Switzerland
selected press
2024 Forbes — Firouz FarmanFarmaian
2024 Nasty Magazine — Deserted Island (on dropping bomb*shells)
2023 Rivista Segno — Contemporary Festival
2022 The Art Newspaper — Pyotr Pavlensky: Pornopolitics and Other Precedents
2021 Mladina — Lina Akif: Slovenski Pasijon
2021 Dnevnik — Name: Curfew
2021 Brussels Times — Petr Davydtchenko: Perftoran
2021 Forbes — OOU Biennial
2021 Szum Magazine — Academia Nuts
2020 The Art Newspaper — Petr Davydtchenko: Perftoran
2020 BBC — Brad Downey: Melania
2020 The New York Times — Brad Downey: Melania
2020 ArtForum — Ljubljana Protests
2020 Artnet News — Ulay Foundation
2018 Elephant.art — Fotopub
2018 The Guardian — Fotopub