Biography
Vuk Vuković is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and Film and Media Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh. He works on the nexus of modern and contemporary art from a global perspective, with an emphasis on questions of methodology and intellectual history. His dissertation research examines the exhibition of time-based media, video art history, and the work of Nam June Paik.
His curatorial research has supported institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro, and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, among others. He received a B.A. in Art History and Film and New Media Studies from New York University Abu Dhabi.
Education Details
Ph.D., History of Art and Architecture and Film and Media Studies, University of Pittsburgh, in progress
Dissertation: “Electronic Superhighway: The Networks of Nam June Paik in the Global Village”
Advisor: Josh Ellenbogen; Committee Members: Alex J. Taylor, Jennifer Josten, Mark Lynn Anderson, Barbara London (Curator Emerita, MoMA)
M.A., History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh, 2022
Thesis: “The Institutionalization of Video Art at the Museum of Modern Art”
Advisor: Josh Ellenbogen; Second Reader: Alex J. Taylor
B.A., Art History and Film and New Media Studies, NYU Abu Dhabi, 2019
NYU Florence, Florence, Italy (Spring 2017)
New York University, New York, USA (Winter 2017)
New York University, New York, USA (Winter 2016)
Curatorial Experience
Curatorial assistant to Barbara London for “Barbara London Calling” 2.0, Independent Curators International (ICI), Kramlich Art Foundation, 2021–22
Co-curator for the exhibition “Pattern Makers,” The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, USA, 2020–21
Curator, Contemporary Art Centre of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro, 2019–20
Curatorial research intern to Gražina Subelytè for the exhibition “Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity,” Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy, 2019
Co-curator for the exhibition “Within/Without,” NYU Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2018
Curatorial research intern to Ron Magliozzi for the exhibitions “Modern Matinees: Iris Barry’s History of Film” and “Private Lives Public Spaces,” MoMA, Department of Film, New York, USA, 2018
Collections research intern to Kim Moinette for the exhibition “Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952–1965,” NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2017
Selected Publications
“The Institutionalization of Video Art at the Museum of Modern Art.” Journal of Curatorial Studies 12, no. 2 (Fall 2023): 144–73. Peer-reviewed journal article.
“Patronage of Video Art: The Relationship of the Rockefeller Foundation and Nam June Paik.” Sleepy Hollow: Rockefeller Archive Center (January 18, 2024): 1–11. Research report.
“Restoring Time in Media Art: The Cybernetic Sculpture of Wen-Ying Tsai.” Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh (September 18, 2023). Constellations blog.
“Nam June Paik and Transnational Networks of Video Art.” Dortmund: Museum Ostwall (August 9, 2023). Commissioned online essay.
“Nam June Paik und transnationale Netzwerke der Videokunste.” Dortmund: Museum Ostwall (August 9, 2023). Commissioned online essay.
“Spotlight: Graduate Students Organization.” JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 62, no. 3 (Spring 2023): 4–7. Co-authored with Joseph Roskos, Yulia Gilich, David Kocik, and Hamidreza Nassiri. Peer-reviewed journal article.
“Serbo-Croatian.” Foreign Language Index 2 (Society of Contemporary Art Historians, February 2022). 20–21. Exhibition review.
“Feeling the Spirit in the Dark, Shikeith, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 2020–March 2021.” SECAC (Spring 2021). Exhibition
“Queer Eye for Lakota Art.” Scientific Sections: Anthropology and Archeology. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Spring 2021). Museum blog.
Selected Presentations
“Art Beyond Borders: The Satellite Projects of Nam June Paik (1984–1988).” Experimental Bodies & Borders Across the Globe, Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Boston, USA, March 16, 2024. Presenter.
“Electronic Superhighway: The Satellite Networks of Nam June Paik in the Global Village.” Art that Re-imagines Community and the Commons in the Vacuum of Outer Space, College Art
Association Annual Conference, Chicago, USA, February 15, 2024. Presenter.
“Global Signals: The Satellite Networks of Nam June Paik.” Routes Not Roots, Sohbat-Yaji Gathering: On the Frontiers of Asian Arts, Graduate Students Symposium, Department of the
History of Art, Yale University, New Haven, USA, January 20, 2024. Presenter.
“Unraveling Highways of Inequity: Nam June Paik and Electronic Superhighway: U.S., Alaska Hawaii (1995).”American Art, SECAC Annual Conference, Richmond, USA, October 13, 2023.
Presenter.
“Deconstructing Americana: Nam June Paik and Electronic Superhighway.” Fugitive Media: Aesthetics and Escape, Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP/14) Annual Conference, Seattle, USA, September 30, 2023. Presenter.
“Challenging Institutions.” Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP/14) Annual Conference, Seattle, USA, September 30, 2023. Chair.
“Nam June Paik and Transnational Networks of Video Art.” Fluxus Global, Symposium: The Crazies are on the Loose – Fluxus Global/Diverse, Museum Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany, June 22, 2023. Presenter.
“The Institutionalization of Video Art in Southern California.” Extra-Filmic Discourses and the Processes of Institutionalization, Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Denver, USA, April 13, 2023. Presenter.
“Global Groove: Nam June Paik and Global Television.” Connections in Media, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies Virtual Annual Connections Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, April 13, 2023. Presenter.
“Extra-Filmic Discourses and the Processes of Institutionalization.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Denver, USA, April 14, 2023. Chair.
“Understanding the Nation: Nam June Paik’s Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii (1995).” Annual American Studies Symposium, Centre for American Studies, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, May 19, 2022. Presenter.
“Making It Work: Histories of Media-Industry Labor.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Chicago, United States, April 2, 2022. Chair.
“Posthumous Recognition of Nadežda Petrović: The Artist, War Hero, or Both?” Legacy: Women and War, College Art Association Annual Conference, Chicago, United States, February 19, 2022. Presenter.
“Institutionalization of Video Art: Barbara London’s Curatorial Practice and Rockefeller Foundation Grants at the Museum of Modern Art (1975–1978).” Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image, London, UK, September 24, 2021. Presenter.
Selected Awards
Arts & Sciences Summer Research Grant, University of Pittsburgh, 2023
Research Stipend, Rockefeller Archive Center, 2023
Dietrich Summer Research Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2021, 2022
Arts & Sciences Graduate Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2020–21
Chevening Scholarship, The Courtauld Institute of Art, United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, (declined), 2020–21
Arts and Humanities Capstone Research Funding Award, NYU Abu Dhabi, 2018–19