Matea Bakula

Matea Bakula

Bio

Matea Bakula (Sarajevo, 1990) graduated from HKU Utrecht in 2013 and currently lives in Utrecht. In her creating process Bakula is looking beyond the aesthetics of the material she is using. She almost works like a chemist or a physicist who is trying to find the answers of the material’s secrets. She does not only want to know the qualities or limitations of the materials she is using; she also wants to find out the reasons behind them - like why a certain material easily stretches or why another material spreads out in an oval or roundish way - and shows her version of the answers through her sculptures. Bakula’s fascination and respect for chemicals like polyurethane foam and methylethylketon is clearly visible and it seems that the works are the result of a collaboration in which Bakula took the role of a choreographer who by putting it to an extreme is able to find the profound character of the materials.

Recent shows include We Do Matter (Beyond the Black Box / De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, 2020; Playground / STUK, Leuven, 2019; Working Title Festival / workspacebrussels, 2016), Jonge Beelden (Beelden in Leiden, 2019), Between grace and fury (solo, Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, 2018), The chemistry between dr. Frank and me (solo, Lumen Travo gallery, 2017), Let us meet and let us meet again (Casco, Utrecht, 2016), I wish I never kissed that frog (Jeanine Hofland gallery, Amsterdam, 2015), Matea Bakula (solo, GAVU, Cheb, 2014) (Start Point Prize, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, travelled to KASK Ghent & Dox Prague), and Formal Attire (Kunstpodium T, Tilburg, 2013).

Projects