Milena Kalinovska
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Milena Kalinovska (born 1948) is a curator of visual arts and art educator. She has Czech and Russian ancestry, and is a triple national with British, American and Czech citizenship. She was nominated for the
Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...
in its second year, 1985. She was director of public programs and education at the
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desig ...
in Washington, DC from 2004–2015 and she became director of the modern and contemporary art collection at the
National Gallery in Prague The National Gallery Prague ( cz, Národní galerie Praha, NGP), formerly the National Gallery in Prague (), is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic and presents masterpieces of Cze ...
in 2015. Previously, Kalinovska served as director of the
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple na ...
and as adjunct curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Kalinovska has worked with artists including Richard Deacon, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Nan Goldin, Antony Gormley, Magdalena Jetelova, Isaac Julien, Cildo Meireles, Annette Messager, Mariko Mori, Ilya Kabakov, On Kawara, Jiri Kolar, Stanislav Kolibal, Edward Krasinski, Richard Prince, Adriena Simotova, Nancy Spero, Bill Viola, Kara Walker, and Lawrence Weiner.


Early and personal life

Kalinovska was born in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. Her father Adolf worked in the film industry for film director
Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968. Forman ...
; his family were furniture manufacturers in
Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...
. Her mother's parents left the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution and moved to Prague, where her grandfather became the founder of the Slavonic library at the
Charles University in Prague Charles University ( cs, Univerzita Karlova, UK; la, Universitas Carolina; german: Karls-Universität), also known as Charles University in Prague or historically as the University of Prague ( la, Universitas Pragensis, links=no), is the oldest an ...
. Her mother Věra was an accountant at TESLA, but lost her job in the 1950s due to her white Russian ancestry and then worked shifts in a factory. She grew up in the
Strašnice Strašnice is a cadastral district in Prague. It became part of Prague on 1 January 1922. It lies mostly in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 10 while a small part is in Prague 3. The district is bordered by Vršovic ...
district of Prague, speaking Russian at home with her maternal family. She became interested in art at a young age, and was a teenager during the
Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
of 1968. She began to study law at Charles University, and spent time in the UK as an
au pair An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a monet ...
after the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, returning to Prague in 1969. She joined a group tourist trip to London in 1970, and she claimed political asylum. Subsequently, she was given a 3-year prison sentence in communist Czechoslovakia, and was stripped of her Czechoslovak citizenship for her dissident activities (her Czech citizenship was restored after the
Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...
). In England, Kalinovska studied at the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
, graduating in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in comparative literature and art. She then received a master's degree in Slavonic studies from the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
in Canada in 1980 while also attending non-credit courses in Museum Studies at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, and then turned to the arts. She is a graduate of the
Getty Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University The Museum Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University (MLI@CGU), California, United States, is an educational program that brings museum professionals, board members, academics, philanthropists and public officials together for contin ...
in Los Angeles, CA. She married Jan Vaňous in 1986; he is a Yale-educated economist and consultant who was also born in Czechoslovakia, and moved to the US in 1970. They have two children, Milena V Vaňous and Jan M Vaňous.


Career

Kalinovska was exhibitions director at the
Riverside Studios Riverside Studios is an arts centre on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. The venue plays host to contemporary performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production. Having closed for redevelopment i ...
in London from during 1981-86, and then associate director for exhibitions during 1986-89. After moving to the US in 1986, she was an adjunct curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York for one year from 1989 to 1990, and then succeeded
David A. Ross David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
as director at the
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple na ...
from 1991 to 1997. She was director of public programs and education at the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
's
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desig ...
in Washington, DC from 2004 to 2015, While at the Hirshhorn she initiated and oversaw a wide range of learning experiences, including talks, lectures, panel discussions and symposia. She introduced new gallery interpretation programs, performance events, and educational initiatives. Kalinovska has also worked as an independent curator organizing numerous exhibitions including "Beyond Preconceptions: The Sixties Experiment", which toured major museums in Europe, South America, and the USA, and "Art into Life: Russian Constructivism 1914 to 1935", at the
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...
in Minneapolis and
Henry Art Gallery The Henry Art Gallery ("The Henry") is a contemporary art museum located on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. Located on the west edge of the university's campus along 15th Avenue N.E. in the University District, it wa ...
in Seattle. She was one of four curators of the 2004 Gwangju Biennale in South Korea, and has served on the national advisory committee of Art:21 for PBS. She has organized many international exhibitions as an independent curator. She became Director of modern and contemporary art collection at the
National Gallery in Prague The National Gallery Prague ( cz, Národní galerie Praha, NGP), formerly the National Gallery in Prague (), is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic and presents masterpieces of Cze ...
in 2015.


Awards

Kalinovska is the recipient of several awards including the
Tomas Alva Negri Award Tomas may refer to: People * Tomás (given name), a Spanish, Portuguese, and Gaelic given name * Tomas (given name), a Swedish, Dutch, and Lithuanian given name * Tomáš, a Czech and Slovak given name * Tomas (surname), a French and Croatian su ...
for "Beyond Preconceptions: The Sixties Experiment", and the
Penny McCall Foundation Grant A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...
established to honour curatorial efforts supporting the visual arts in the US. She was honoured by the
President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was an advisory committee to the White House on cultural issues. It worked directly with the Administration and the three primary cultural agencies: the National Endowment for the Art ...
(under
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
) for "Docent-Teens," the youth museum guide program at the ICA, Boston. Kalinovska was nominated for the
Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...
in 1985. She is one of only two non-artists ever to be nominated for the Turner Prize. Her personal papers from her time at
Riverside Studios Riverside Studios is an arts centre on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. The venue plays host to contemporary performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production. Having closed for redevelopment i ...
are at the
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
Archives, London.“Turner Prize year-by-year"
Tate Gallery, Retrieved 13 October 2015.


References


A Pilgrimage to Prague
The Boston Globe, 16 January 1994

Berkshire Fine Arts, 19 September 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalinovska. Milena 1948 births Living people American art curators American women curators American people of Czech descent American people of Russian descent People from Prague 21st-century American women