Zuzanna Zgierska (she/her) is an artist-researcher and filmmaker working at the intersection of ArtScience, Transmedia Storytelling, and Digital Culture. Her artistic practice is driven by the need for critical narratives in the age of “ex-” (extraction, exclusion, and extinction). She untangles the planetary tongues through fieldwork, geo-hacking, and cross-cultural exchanges. From Earth Simulation Lab to the North Pole, Zuzanna creates landscape imaginaries by connecting scientific research with indigenous wisdom, challenging the existing knowledge paradigms.
She teaches Theory in Practice and Research and Discourse at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, and Interscalar Research Methods at the Design Academy Eindhoven (MA Critical Inquiry Lab). Zuzanna is currently a Digital Culture Fellow 2023–24 (Netherlands Film Festival, Utrecht) and a member of “Politics of Knowledge” Research Group 2022–24 (Lectorate Art Theory & Practice, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague). Besides her appointments at art academies, Zuzanna gave presentations worldwide at community centers, galleries, artist initiatives, film festivals, research institutes, science seminars, and radio shows.
Zuzanna received a Talent Award 2024 (Creative Industries Fund NL), a Golden Calf in Digital Culture 2022 (Netherlands Film Festival), and a Landscape Research Award 2021 (Landscape Research Group UK). Her cinema-expanded and installation works have been shown at international festivals and galleries, including Sonic Acts Biennial (Amsterdam), Netherlands Film Festival (Utrecht), Digital Art Festival (Taipei), Noorderlicht International Photo Festival (Groningen), W139 (Amsterdam), MU Hybrid Art House (Eindhoven), and Stroom (The Hague). She has a studio at Quartair Contemporary Art Initiatives in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design (2020), Graduation Award (Main Prize)
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
Activities: Curatorial Team; Reading Group; Design Research; Hack Club
Foundation Diploma in Graphic Design, Minor Audiovisual Design (2015), Distinction
Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam, NL
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Industrial Design (2014), Distinction
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Cracow, PL
Activities: Experimental Design; Design Methodology; Multimedia Imaging Laboratory
Academic Experience
Tutor Research Group, Research & Discourse (BA), Feb 24 – Present
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
Tutor Moving Matter: Interscalar Research Methods, The Critical Inquiry Lab (MA), Dec 23 – Present
Design Academy Eindhoven, Eindhoven, NL
Research Candidate Politics of Knowledge, Lectorate Art Theory and Practice, Oct 22 – Oct 24
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
Board Member Theory Platform, Sep 22 – Present
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
Tutor Theory in Practice, Foundation Year, Sep 21 – Present
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
Other Experience (Selection)
Digital Culture Fellow, Sep 23 – Sep 24
Netherlands Film Festival (NFF), Utrecht, NL
Artistic Team Member, May 21 – Present
Quartair Contemporary Art Initiatives, The Hague, NL
Artistic Team Member, Sep 20 – Present
ARK Collective, Amsterdam, NL
Artist, Researcher, Filmmaker, Feb 20 – Present
Studio Zuzanna Zgierska, The Hague, NL & Worldwide
Recent interdisciplinary and intercultural collaborations (selection):
Artist Louis Braddock Clarke, The Hague, NL & Worldwide, Sep 18 – Present
Film Producers Manuela Girón & Luis Andrés Schwartz, Guatemala City, GT, May 23 – Present
Qaanaap Ratiunga (Qaanaaq Radio), Qaanaaq, GL, Jul 22
StarPlan (Centre for Star and Planet Formation), Copenhagen, DK, Nov 21 – Sep 22
Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, DK, Nov 21 – Sep 22
Paleomagnetic Laboratory, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NL, Oct 21 – Sep 22
Earth Simulation Lab, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NL, Oct 21 – Sep 22
The Nest Collective, Nairobi, KE, Apr 21 – Sep 21
David Casey/Surface Area Media, Detroit, USA, Mar 21 – Sep 22
Video Power, Maastricht, NL, Oct 20 – Present
Advanced Soft Matter, Delft University of Technology, Delft, NL, May 20 – Sep 20
Artist Guy Ben-Ary, Leiden, NL & The Hague, NL, Sep 18
Artist Assistant, Jun 18 – Nov 18
iii (instrument inventors initiative), The Hague, NL
Photography Editor, Jan 17 – Dec 17
Katrin Korfmann, Amsterdam, NL
Editor, Nov 12 – Oct 14
Austeria Publishing, Cracow, PL, Budapest, HU, Syracuse, IT
Grants & Awards
2023 Creative Industries Fund (Stimuleringsfonds), Talent Development Grant, Proj. “Moving Matter,” Rotterdam, NL
2022 Netherlands Film Festival, Golden Calf in Digital Culture, Proj. “LAWKI,” Utrecht, NL
2022 Creative Industries Fund (Stimuleringsfonds), Digital Culture Grant, Proj. “Out of Focus,” Rotterdam, NL
2021 Netherlands Film Fund & Mondriaan Fund, De Korte Verbeelding Award, Proj. “Out of Focus,” Amsterdam, NL
2021 Video Power, Talent Award, Proj. “Out of Focus,” Maastricht, NL
2021 Niemeijer Fund Grant, Proj. “Out of Focus,” Dordrecht, NL
2021 Mondriaan Fund, Kunst Opdracht Grant, Proj. “LAWKI—NOW,” Amsterdam, NL
2021 Landscape Research Group, Research Grant, Proj. “Out of Focus,” Poole, UK
2021 Creative Industries Fund (Stimuleringsfonds), Digital Culture Grant, Proj. “LAWKI—NOW,” Rotterdam, NL
2020 Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Graduation Award (Graphic Design Main Prize), Proj. “ex.citable inter.faces,” The Hague, NL
2015 The Van Beek-Donner Foundation, Study Grant, Rotterdam, NL
2015 Marjanne Knüppe-Hüsken Fund, Art & Design Talented Student Award, Arnhem, NL
2014 Soroptimist International, Study Grant, Cambridge, UK
Residencies & Fellowships
2024 Upcoming: Self-initiated Residency, Guatemalan Highlands, GT
2024 Arcadia Leeuwarden-Fryslân, Proj. “Exploring Collaborative Boundaries in Hybrid Knowledge Creation,” Leeuwarden/Frisia, NL
2024 Wongema, Proj. “Politics of Knowledge,” Hornhuizen, NL
2023 Netherlands Film Festival 2023, Digital Culture Fellowship, Proj. “Exploring Collaborative Boundaries in Hybrid Knowledge Creation,” Utrecht, NL
2022 Self-initiated Residency, Northern Greenland, GL
2021 Self-initiated Residency, Northern Greenland, GL
Art Commissions
2023 Arcadia, Commission, Proj. “Arcadia Leeuwarden-Fryslân 2028,” Leeuwarden/Frisia, NL
2022 Stroom Den Haag, Commission, Proj. “Meteorite 82149,” The Hague, NL
2022 Digital Art Festival Taipei, Commission, Proj. “LAWKI—Passages,” Taipei, TW
2022 Sonic Acts, Commission, Proj. “Hard Drives from Space,” Amsterdam, NL
2021 MU Hybrid Art House, Commission, Proj. “LAWKI—ALIVE,” Eindhoven, NL
2021 Noorderlicht Photography Foundation, Commission, Proj. “LAWKI—NOW,” Groningen, NL
