About Augusta Atla
A self-portrait with analogue camera, 2024, Augusta Atla
“Creating art is my natural way of existing in the world – making art is my arch between everyday life and the mystery. To paint and compose images for me is a way to dwell on how we create and archive our collective history“.
Augusta Atla is a Danish artist whose works are investigations of psychoanalytic phenomena, collective consciousness, the body's perceptions, the inner emotional life and the ideas of art and cultural history.
Over the past two decades, Augusta has exhibited extensively at Danish institutions, including: Viborg Kunsthal, Charlottenborg Kunsthal, Museet for Samtidskunst, Kunsthal Rønnebæksholm and Brandts. Her work has also been exhibited at international institutions, for example: REMAP4 Contemporary Art Festival, Athens Greece; Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Spain; Tou Scene, Stavanger, Norway; Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany; Center for Contemporary Art, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France; The Danish Institute in Athens, Greece; Tallinna Kunstihoone, Estonia; Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, Greece.
Augusta’s artwork features in national Danish collections: for example, Horsens Kunstmuseum, Denmark, Randers Kunstmuseum, Denmark, the Danish Art Council, Denmark and The Danish Parliament, Denmark.
Augusta was granted awards by the Danish Art Council in 2011 and 2012 and residencies at the National Workshops of Copenhagen in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2016. Atla has also been supported by Danish private arts foundations and Danish institutions and embassies.
Augusta received an Award of Excellence from the Fine Art faculty of Goldsmiths, University of London in 2006 and the Horsens Art Museum Art Award in 2007. Augusta was awarded with Dansk Tennis Fond’s award in 2024.
Augusta is educated in London, UK between 2003-2007. Between 2008 and 2016, after the education, Augusta lived like a nomad, years in Venice, Rome, Athens, Paris. An ‘art pilgrimage’, visiting the works of the masters of European art, researching religious iconography and exploring the history of Greek Antiquity. Augusta’s travel patron between 2008-2010 was Peter J. Lassen (1930-2019), founder of Montana Møbler, Denmark
Augusta Atla in her atelier, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024
From 2014 to 2016, Augusta founded, curated and ran MAISON d’ART CONTEMPORAIN ATHÈNES (MACA) in Athens, Greece.
Augusta is also a passionate art critic and lecturer, and a politically engaged writer on gender discrimination issues in the world of contemporary art. Augusta interviewed the Danish Minister of Culture in 2022 regarding the gender gap in the practice og the state-supported museums of Denmark and participated in the resistance against the new blasphemy law in Denmark. Furthermore is a free speech advocate, especially concerning the arts.
Her articles have been published in Berlingske, Politiken, Magasinet Kunst, CHART Publication, Kulturmonitor, Art Matter, Børsen, Weekendavisen and Jyllands-Posten. Follow the writing in English: https://augustaatla.substack.com
Augusta has given artist talks and lectures at universities and art institutions, including the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Princeton University, Sophienholm Kunsthal, The Italian Institute in Denmark and the Accademia di Belli Arte di Venezia, to name but a few.
Augusta researches about artworks by women artists and uses the instagram profile @womenpainters as a memory board.
@PUBLIC, NATIONAL OR MAJOR PRIVATE ART COLLECTIONS
The Danish Art Council, Denmark
Horsens Kunstmuseum, Denmark
Randers Kunstmuseum, Denmark
The Danish Parliament, Denmark
Dimitris Daskalopoulou, Greece
Collezione Viafarini, Italy
@ Art clubs:
Rockwool Kunstforening, Kromann-Reumert Kunstforening, Topdanmark Kunstforening, SL Kunstforening, Red Cross Denmark Kunstforening, Nykredit Kunstforening, Novo Nordisk Kunstforening, Bech-Bruun Kunstforening, Dansk Industri Kunstforening.
From 2008-2018 Augusta collaborated with the gallery director, curator and artist Roberto Annecchini (1962-2018). The gallery, Change + Partner, was situated in Rome, IT
Education:
BA Fine Art Studio Practice, Goldsmiths College, London, UK (2003-2006)
MA History & Theory, Architectural Association, London, UK (2007-2008) (under art critic Mark Cousins)
Info: artfacts.net