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Alma Gačanin 008 Photo by Amina Imamović.jpg

Photo courtesy of Amina Imamović

Alma Gačanin


Visual artist and performer


          Drawing on her own labor history — as a flight attendant, client care worker, and research analyst, among other roles — Gačanin examines how shame, discipline, and gendered expectation settle into the body through service and repetition. She treats shame not as a private emotion but as a political condition, one rehearsed daily in the forms femininity is required to take.
 
Watercolor is the central site of her practice. Her paintings are not preparatory studies but sustained inquiries — where tensions that will surface in performance first take form, or return in another register after. Combining figurative watercolor with performances built around physical exertion, storytelling, and the delivery of text, Gačanin traces the quiet violence of what femininity is required to endure.

Gačanin is a member of the CRVENA Association for Culture and Art and currently works from a studio within its premises, in her hometown Sarajevo.


Contact: alma.gacanin@gmail.com
Education
2025 / 2026 ( currently) Interdisciplinary MA programme in human rights and democracy with a unique regional focus on Southeast Europe (ERMA)

2015 Master’s degree in Fine Arts Education from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, specializing in Art Education

2012 Graduated in Fine Arts Education from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, specializing in Art Education
CV

(selected solo & group shows)

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ALGORITHM OF CARE

Galerija November

Belgrade (Serbia)

May-June 2026

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ALGORITHM OF CARE
NGVU
Podgorica (Montenegro)
March-April 2026


AUTONOMOUS AGENT
Import-Export
U10
Belgrade (Serbia)
October 2025


BREAKING THE COURSE
OF THE EUROPEAN BOOMERANG
Group Show
Pragovka Gallery
Prag (Czech Republic )
October-December 2025

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SubDokumenta: International Biennale of Visual Arts - Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo (BIH)

October 2025


HOW WELL DID YOU PERFORM TODAY
Performance
Queer Festival (Skopje Pride Weekend)
Skopje (Macedonia)
June 2025

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IT’S AN HONOUR TO SERVE AND MY DUTY TO PLEASE

Solo Show

(performance GOVERNING BODY)

Contemporary Art Gallery Subotica

Subotica (Serbia)

June-August 2025

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LET’S PLAY

Solo Show

Goethe-Institute

Sarajevo (BIH)

February-April 2025

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MODRA LJUBIČASTA ZELENA ŽUTA

Group Show
Crvena
Sarajevo (BIH)
December 2024-January 2025

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GASTARBEITER 2.0,
Group Show,
Manifesto Gallery,
Sarajevo (BIH)
October 2024


HUSTERA
Group Show
Liget Gallery
Budapest (Hungary)
August-October 2024


WHITE GLOVES
Performance
Queer Museum
Vienna (Austria)
April 2024

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GASTARBEITER 2.0

Group ShownGbK am AlexBerlin,

April-June 2024

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HOW WELL DID YOU PERFORM TODAY

Performance-play

Premiere and two repeats

SMEEL, Stara Mestna Elektrarna

Elektro ljubljana

Ljubljana (Slovenia)

January 2024

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MY CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
IS TO SERVE
Manifesto Gallery
Sarajevo (BIH)
October 2023


PERSONAL BEST
Solo Show
Apoteka-Space for contemporary art
Vodnjan (Croatia)
September 2023

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RADI GRUBO, IGRAJ NAPORNO

(WORK HARD, PLAY HARD)

Solo Show

Nova BAZA

Zagreb (Croatia)

July 2023

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FAMILIAR FANTOMS

Group Show

Residency Unlimited

New York City

May 2022

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Awards

2024  Artist Changemaker Award by the Global Fund for Women for contributing to gender justice and feminism in her practice

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2022 Winner of the ZVONO Art Award for Young Visual Artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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2022 Award for Contemporary Art Novi Talasi (now known as Anur Hadžiomerspahić Award) Sarajevo (BIH)

Bibliography

2026 Clast Magazine: Radical Empathy (Colaboration project with Anastasija Pavić and Ana Simona Zelenović), UK 

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2025 Contemporary Gallery Subotica: Čast mi je služiti i dužnost zadovoljiti (It is an honor to serve and my duty to please), Serbia

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2025 Bosnian Girls, Art, and NationalismContemporary Feminist Art from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Uroš Čvoro, Australia

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2024 Gastarbeiter 2.0 - nGbK, Germany

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2023 SELFI 2.Broj, Serbia

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