Painting teacher Tina Gillen represents Luxembourg at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2021.
Gillen's project Faraway So Close was selected by the jury from 19 applications for its "artistic and intellectual relevance, visual strength and sensitive approach to space".
The jury praised Tina Gillen's visual art practice as one that "takes into account the history of painting and allows it to enter into dialogue with other media such as photography and cinema". Furthermore, the jury was also convinced by "the way in which the project resonates with problems in contemporary society and the current situation worldwide".
The jury, chaired by Mudam director Suzanne Cotte, consisted of Kevin Muhlen, director of Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain; Anke Reitz, curator of the Steichen Collections - CNA in Clervaux; Dirk Snauwaert, director of Wiels in Brussels; Lorenzo Benedetti, curator Kunstmuseum de Saint-Gall; Michelle Cotton, head of artistic and content programming at Mudam; Christophe Gallois, curator, responsible exhibitions at Mudam.
Tina Gillen graduated from the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in Vienna and from the HISK in Antwerp. She previously resided at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and ISCP in New York.
Gillen currently teaches at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
She lives and works in Brussels.
Exhibitions have been held at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (2019), Mudam Luxembourg (2018, 2010, 2009), Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin (2012), MuZEE in Ostend (2010), WIELS in Brussels (2009), M HKA in Antwerp (2007) and Galerie Nosbaum Reding, which has represented her since 2001.