-
![Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse]( "Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse")
infoAnti-doomscrolling ASMR therapy session with a touch-based sensory experience.
-
![Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse]( "Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse")
infoPLA 3D-printed sculpture of Silitra, the Goddess of Slime.
-
![Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse]( "Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse")
infoA4 catalogue archive of celebrity reviews from visitors to Cache Cleanse
-
![Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse]( "Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse")
info -
![Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse]( "Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse")
infoAnti-doomscrolling ASMR therapy session with a touch-based sensory experience.
-
![The Goblet of Delusion. obj]( "The Goblet of Delusion. obj")
infoThe Goblet of Delusion is an artifact of today’s society, an object that archaeologists of the future might stumble upon. These future archaeologists will face challenges when examining this artifact due to its enigmatic nature, struggling to decode all the glitches and bruises it carries. They will attempt to uncover the story behind it and understand its purpose.
-
![SPAM-In Defence of the abandoned billboard]( "SPAM-In Defence of the abandoned billboard")
infoPhoto by ©Martina Peneva
-
![SPAM-Future Oracle]( "SPAM-Future Oracle")
info -
![SPAM]( "SPAM")
info“SPAM” is a result of an investigation into screen addiction and how we are constantly distracted by our digital existence in capitalist societies. This project tackles the promise of freedom of information, expression, and hierarchical society is what continues to draw us, even as we become aware of it being a mirage obscuring how opportunistic digital platforms are capitalising on us as if we were objects. By changing the lens through which we perceive media, the artworks separate the scrolling experiences from the content, shedding light on the vacuity, trauma, and inherent stress of social media. But trauma is also the contemporary opium of the masses—a private property that simultaneously invites and resists foreclosure.
-
![The Goblet of Delusion. obj]( "The Goblet of Delusion. obj")
infoThe Goblet of Delusion is an artifact of today’s society, an object that archaeologists of the future might stumble upon. These future archaeologists will face challenges when examining this artifact due to its enigmatic nature, struggling to decode all the glitches and bruises it carries. They will attempt to uncover the story behind it and understand its purpose.
-
![The Goblet of Delusion. obj]( "The Goblet of Delusion. obj")
infoThe Goblet of Delusion is an artifact of today’s society, an object that archaeologists of the future might stumble upon. These future archaeologists will face challenges when examining this artifact due to its enigmatic nature, struggling to decode all the glitches and bruises it carries. They will attempt to uncover the story behind it and understand its purpose.
My storytelling-driven practice blends investigative methods with playful elements to explore personal and speculative narratives at the intersection of the physical and digital.
My artistic practice combines an investigative approach with playful experimentation and storytelling, often inspired by memories from my childhood. I use familiar, everyday objects as narrative tools to reflect personal experiences while imagining alternative worlds and speculative futures. Storytelling becomes a method for world-building, where new universes of being can emerge. My work frequently merges digital and physical realms, exploring how the virtual can take shape in the tangible world. Through the use of diverse materials and techniques, I aim to blur boundaries between the real and the virtual, creating immersive experiences.
Websites
Personal website
gjorgjidespodov.com/Social media
Curriculum vitae
Education
-
2023 - 2025Nonlinear Narrative Den Haag, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten diploma
-
2022 - 2022Design+Science Symmer School Cohabitation University of Ljubjana
-
2015 - 2019Advertising Design Sofia, National Academy of Art diploma
exhibitions
-
2025Honey I’m Home Dom mladih Split Split, Croatia The exhibition Honey, I Am Home! consists of two artworks that explore themes of belonging and the search for home within the queer community through animation and 3D modeling. The short film, titled Honey, I am home!, presents a playful narrative in which the artist positions himself within a virtual world. “As he moves through the story, he explores the house as a literal and symbolic space of escape, completely dissociating himself from reality and entering absurd scenarios. These surreal moments reflect a deep sense of longing often present within the queer community – a longing for a space of belonging,” the announcement text reads. The second work, From Where I Publish, draws on the imaginative potential of play as an escape from reality. By constructing a dollhouse and creating new worlds, the artist represents “how many queer people as children escaped reality through imaginative play.” In this work, Despodov refers to the TikTok trend where people decorate the inside of their computer cases, connecting the online sphere with the queer experience. dom-mladih.org/en/organization/queeranarchive-2/ Solo
-
2025Play Day n' Night #1 Worm Rotterdam, Netherlands WORM presents: Play Day n’ Night We’re launching a new cultural, cross-disciplinary programme under the banner Play Day n’ Night: a space to nurture new ideas, grow unexpected collaborations, and breathe fresh energy into Rotterdam’s day-nightculture with cultural curiosity and transformation, creativity, and community. For two weekends (40+ hours!), we’re throwing open the doors to UBIK, S/ash Gallery, and even spilling out onto the sidewalk. worm.org/production/play-day-n-night-1/ Group
-
2025Where are you now? #2 Paradise Den Haag, Netherlands This edition invites five artist duos to explore intimacy as a shared experience — one that is broken down, reimagined, and reshaped through the creative expression of each collaboration. Through their combined work, new meanings and identities will emerge, reminding us that who we are is always shaped by the external. By exposing the private, we seek to examine how intimacy transforms when shared and reshaped by others, challenging the agency we hold over both our personal lives and our art. www.kabk.nl/en/events/where-are-you-currently-2 Group
-
2025THE SEXSHOP ARTSHOW Nolimitsartcastle Amsterdam, Netherlands THE SEXSHOP ARTSHOW is a group exhibition that celebrates the intersection of art, intimacy, and the unexpected. Can the masterpiece also be the sex toy? Where does the line blur between an object to admire and one to experience? In this show, EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE! Come and spend your money on the sensual and sublime, art in all its unashamed forms. This isn't just an exhibition; it's an invitation to rethink and savor the spaces where art and intimacy intersect. At No Limits! Art Castle, these two sides are always embraced: the acknowledged and the overlooked, the celebrated and the stigmatized. In previous exhibitions, we've reflected on these dynamics, both in the art world and among the artists themselves. This time, we focus on the object, a work of art that exists between two worlds. nolimitsartcastle.nl/evenement/the-sexshop-artshow/ Group
-
2025back2breaks Greyspaceinthemiddle Den Haag, Netherlands Group
-
2025A Bright Past Is Ahead of Us Škuc Gallery Ljubjana, Slovenia A Bright Past Is Ahead of Us explores the unsettling concept of generational promises – ideals and beliefs passed down through lineage that bind us to expectations we may neither trust nor identify with. Using the theory of fairy tale narrative codes as a curatorial pretext, the exhibition features work by five artists, Enar de Dios Rodríguez, Gjorgji Despodov, Jaione Cerrato, Klelija Živković and Lara Reichmann, who envision narratives that challenge our understanding of human and social relations. Set in a semi-darkened space that masks unease, the exhibition contrasts fantastical and poetic elements with stark political, environmental and economic realities. It becomes a site for layered reflection and dialogue, guided by speculative design and documentary methodologies. www.galerijaskuc.si/exhibition/a-bright-past-is-ahead-of-us/ Group
-
2025Xenospaces NOVAgallery Pula, Croatia Humans navigate their surroundings through sensory perception and culturally constructed logics, shaping how we claim, interpret, and transform space. Yet this perspective, though central to our understanding, is not absolute. HEKA Lab investigates the limitations of this human-centric dominantly visual framework, exploring how spaces, the materials within them and the soundscapes are experienced and influenced by both human and non-human interactions. By challenging the static notion of space as a human-visual-dominated construct, each project uncovers its dynamic and relational nature. These “xenospaces” reveal the layers of coexistence, where diverse forms of life and alternative ways of perceiving the world create unexpected relationships. Rather than fixed or universally understood, space becomes an active participant in shaping realities, encouraging new perspectives that transcend human logic and sensory bias. Through installations that translate these overlooked dimensions into tangible experiences, HEKA Lab invites visitors to reconsider their place within the shared, interconnected fabric of existence, where perception and reality are far more fluid than they might appear. novogallery.net/en/exhibitions/xenospaces/ Group
-
2025Archief F(r)icties: een uitnodiging om ontrafelde verhalen te traceren, te bevragen en te verschuiven National Archives Den Haag, Netherlands The exhibition Archival F(r)ictions includes thoughtful narratives exploring topics like the colonial plant trade, the blank spaces in cartography, the provision grounds of plantations, the oral histories of indigenous cultures, the songs of ancestral sorrow, the deterioration of archival material, the concept of an ‘amphibious’ archive, the history of the limbo dance, the fear of getting lost, the legacies of corporate colonialism, and feminist spatial practices. From coffee rituals to the trade in botanical plants and from shadow performances to fossil capitalism, there is plenty to see in this upcoming exhibition. It will undoubtedly offer new perspectives on the common past and present new possibilities for the future. www.kabk.nl/en/events/masterstudenten-non-linear-narrative-presenteren-archival-frictions Group
-
2025Ambiguous Beauty KO-OP Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria FIG 4.0: Ambiguous Beauty. The exhibition explores the ambiguous boundaries between figuration and abstraction, constantly shifting and blending into one another, giving rise to images and symbols that feel familiar yet different. Embracing ambiguity encourages us to look deeper, broadening our perspectives and enriching our understanding of the world. Eventually, when the fog lifts, we hope for sunshine... fig.bg/ Group
-
2024Bricolage, The House of Confluence RU House at Colonels Row, Building #404B on Governors Island New York, United States In August 2024, “The House of Confluence” presents a group exhibition “Bricolage.” It showcases the works of five artists currently in the residency program of RU: Cecilia Barreto (Mexico), Shia Roan Conlon (Finland), Gjorgji Despodov (North Macedonia), R.B van Heesch (Netherlands), and David Přílučík (Czech Republic). This exhibition is curated by RU Guest Curator Data Chigholashvili. Bricolage is a loanword from French that relates to the exhibition not with its direct translation, but conceptually through its multifaceted understanding in arts, humanities, and social sciences. It connects with “The House of Confluence” by reflecting on international exchanges in the arts, and in this process, bringing residency group shows together to offer new insights. Moreover, bricolage here is seen as worldmaking (introduced by Nelson Goodman), more in a sense wherein culture and meanings are (re)considered in flux, as lived experiences – that critically build on existing symbols, knowledge, and imaginations to create new understandings and directions. Through different topics and approaches found in the artworks, the exhibition proposes a diversity in worldmaking. In this bricolage, we find revisiting symbols and charts, representing personal or imaginary worlds, addressing less-known stories, and exploring fragments of reliefs or landscapes – aspects that flow and differently emerge in the works, creating interconnections concerning the complexity of how we make the (sense of) world around us. The first floor of the house presents rather personal aspects in worldmaking, while the two installations differ in approaches and forms of expression. residencyunlimited.org/programs/the-house-of-confluence-bricolage/ Group
-
2024A Girl Named Work, Cejla Brno, Czech Republic Showcases a long-term collaboration between artists Zarevska and Despodov. This installation was made in the timespan between March 2023 and May 2024, and stands as a trilogy based on three poems by Zarevska — “Queen of Something, “Margaret” and “Future of Work”. It invites the viewer to speculate on labor, identity, resilience, and what it means to be a woman at the end of the world. In addition, it is about women (but not only) resisting through rest, negligence, writing poetry and through being free of guilt, as the world melts down from the heat of everyday evil. www.kubaparis.com/submission/438478 Duo
-
2024Visibility Horizon Galeria17 Prishtina, Albania Post-truth politics and manipulative mainstream media form and frame the visibility horizons in the contemporary world. The concept of post-truth has been a prevalent concern in modern times and has become ingrained in the political landscape of democratic societies. George Orwell, in his dystopian novel “1984”, portrays a society in which the totalitarian regime asserts its control over all cultural and social domains, establishes a distinct language, manipulates historical events, and suppresses those who resist the government. At different times in history, different modes of visibility are created by power to control society (Michel Foucault, “Discipline and Punish”, 1979). Because of this, governments and other powerful groups often create the technology of a disciplinary order, to control what people see and how they experience the world. When we talk about increasing exposure (visibility) as a form of political acknowledgment, isn’t it a word about shaping and re-shaping the Truth? How many levels of Reality (Horizons) can we talk about and how do we accept and select what is Truth and what is False or Spin? galeria17.org/en/visibility-horizon/ Group
-
2023XVII DENES Nova Agora Cifte Amam Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia akto-fru.org/%D0%9D%D0%9E%D0%92%D0%90-%D0%90%D0%93%D0%9E%D0%A0%D0%90-20-%D0%93%D0%9E%D0%94%D0%98%D0%9D%D0%98-%D0%9D%D0%90%D0%93%D0%A0%D0%90%D0%94%D0%90-%D0%94%D0%95%D0%9D%D0%95%D0%A1_new-agora/ Group
-
2023Precarity has a Chance Structura Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria The rapid shrinking of public space amid global capitalism is directly damaging the emergence of the public sphere and, consequently, the public person. The atomization and subsequent privatization of public spaces depoliticizes everyday life and changes whole contexts and ecosystems in the post-truth era. The neoliberal urban restructuring in post-socialist societies has shrunk and transformed public spaces to sites for passive reception of consumerist and nationalist messages rather than being places for nurturing democratic political subjectivities. Artists have always tended to enter contested and polarized grounds, to set the stage for the public to emerge, to imagine “new ways of operating” in the formal rules and “disciplinary structures” as de Certeau’s tactics… And, this selection is precisely that – different artistic endeavors that reclaim and redefine the public sphere and the public space by creating tactics for its re-conquest and access for the precarized and silenced. These art practices can create public space anew through the struggles for the rights and in close relation with the social movements or even stimulate them in times when it seems that they are weak. structura.gallery/en/exhibitions/%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B0-%D1%88%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8-%D0%BF/ Group
-
2023Humano Tehnologia Cankarjev dom Ljubjana, Slovenia After three years of interdisciplinary development, bringing together various stakeholders and pushing the boundaries in the fields of augmented reality technologies, robotics and artificial intelligence, digitization and digitization of cultural heritage, ecology, and sustainable development, innovative and visionary pilot projects, products, artworks, festivals, and educational programmes will be presented. We will connect and present several creative areas, methodological approaches, and production contexts through the displayed projects, in which we will try to introduce new technologies into the basic postulates of the modern society of the twenty-first century according to the principle of technology humanization. Confronting the works that emerge from the postulates of consideration and reflection, openness and cooperation, mutual reciprocity, ideas and action were the ideas of only pushing to assemble the parts into a coherent community and opening spaces for the realisation of projects with knowledge and behaviour, ingenuity, research, and experiments as artistic elements. www.kibla.org/projekti-koprodukcije-in-mednarodna-sodelovanja/aktualni-projekti/ruk/dogodki/za-humano-tehnologijo/ Group
-
2023Queen of Something PrivatePrint Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia The artists point out that the concept of “queen” has been widely popularized and democratized on social media in recent years; anyone can (and should) be a queen if they want to, without having to explain themselves – instantly and for free. “This installation, based on the poem of the same name by Zarevska, refers to the loneliness of existence in a world where humanity has died out, and the queen is left alone to contemplate her existence. In the poem, the queen is confronted with various objects and creatures that represent different aspects of her identity, but also her professional appearance, because after all – she happens to be the CEO of a poetry production company at the end of the world,” the authors say. They add that at the same time, Despodov builds the infrastructure that defines but also limits the “Queen of Something”, surrounding her with objects that compromise her essence, making her paradoxical and desperate, but at the same time beautiful and full of hope. www.favu.vut.cz/en/ffa-news-f26745/dragana-zarevska-gjorgji-despodov-queen-of-something-skopje-(nmk)-d238845 Duo
-
2022KIBLIX Love and Peace International Festival of Art, Technology, and Science KIBLIX Maribor, Slovenia The epidemic-marked KIBLIX 2020–2021 explored what virtual worlds are today; it turned out to be the most consistent display of space-time »digital arts« and the most relevant exhibition of »digital realities« in the world. This year’s edition KIBLIX 2022 serves as a platform of the Network of Art and Cultural Research Centers – RUK. The network, created by the Delavski dom Trbovlje, PiNA from Koper, and KIBLA from Maribor, has implemented pilot projects, productions, residencies, workshops, debates and supported artistic creations by opening spaces of thought and action. After four years of networking, the facilitation of productions for artists, guest performances and exchanges, collaborations, presentations, and screenings has borne fruit. We leave you to decide how. www.kibla.org/en/festivals/kiblix/kiblix-2022/kiblix-2022-workshop-marko-vivoda-gjorgji-despodov/ Group
-
2022
-
2022Welcome to PlanetB Ars Electronica Linz, Austria ars.electronica.art/planetb/files/2022/08/festival22.pdf Group
-
2021
-
2021New Fashion Narratives Fashion Clash Festival Maastricht, Netherlands www.fashionclash.nl/fcf-2021 Group
Projects
-
2025
Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse GRADUATION FESTIVAL @ KABK Den Haag, Netherlands graduation.kabk.nl/2025/gjorgji-despodov Welcome to the Cache Cleanse. Please leave your phones and algorithmic dependencies at the door. In this immersive installation, we enter a near-future scenario where the world is terminally online, and the collective consciousness is suffering from a little-known, absolutely-made-up-but-totally-real condition: Brain Rot. Caused by chronic overconsumption of low-effort, low-quality, high-repeat media (meme dumps, TikTok loops, Reddit scrolls, that one girl explaining Plato through a Hailey Bieber lip gloss review), this condition leaves civilization drooling, dopamine-fried, and spiritually unwell. But worry not: in this world, we don’t abolish the Brain Rot—we treat it. Enter Cache Cleanse. This is not a spa. This is not a hospital. This is a fabulative materialization—part-therapy center, part-delulu chamber, part-speculative design proposal, but an entirely serious response to the collapse of attention and meaning. It replaces traditional wellness centers with community whisperers, anti-doom scrolling slime stations, and mood-based rituals. Envision a meditation session where instead of breathwork, you're softly instructed to "shhhh, swipe away." Imagine therapy, but your therapist is a softly-whispering voice repeating, "you are basically chronically chill." The Cache Cleanse is not a product. It is not a solution. It is a provocotype—a prosthetic for the critical mind, designed to stretch our collective imagination around what care and content detox might mean in a world that cannot unplug. It doesn’t want to save you. It wants you to think about why you needed saving in the first place.
-
2025
Honey, I am home Queeranarchive Split, Croatia kulturpunkt.hr/najava/izlozba/gjorgji-despodov-honey-im-home/ Honey, I am home! Is an exhibition comprised of two artworks that explore themes of belonging and the search for home — particularly within the queer community. Short film titled Honey, I am home! , presents a playful story in which the artist positions himself in the virtual world. As he moves through the story, he explores the house as a literal and symbolic space of escape, completely dissociating from reality and entering into absurd scenarios. These surreal moments reflect a deep sense of longing often present within the queer community—a longing for a space of belonging. The movie is set like a loop, the end does not feel like a conclusion, but like a possible beginning. Cyclical structure reflects how many queer people perceive the concept of home: even when they find it, they often don't feel completely safe or protected - it's never quite what "home" should be. The second work, titled From Where I'm Posting, plays with the idea of dollhouses and the creation of miniature worlds - reflecting how many queer people ran away from reality as children through imaginative play. In this piece, the artist draws inspiration from a recent trend on TikTok where people decorate the interiors of their computer cases, turning them into dollhouse-like micro-environment. Through this work, the artist reflects on how queer individuals often find belonging in online spaces, building communities and expressing themselves freely through digital networks.
International exchanges/Residencies
-
2024Residency Unlimited, New York, Verenigde Staten New York, United States Residency Unlimited is a Brooklyn-based arts organization that hosts international and local artists through its residency programs. As part of the DENES Award I received for Young Visual Artist of the Year in Macedonia, I participated in a two-month residency at RU, where I developed my practice, connected with curators and fellow artists, and took part in public programs across New York’s contemporary art scene. residencyunlimited.org/
-
2022ART & SCIENCE LAB HEKA Koper, Slovenia HEKA is a laboratory at the intersection of art and science, which is open since September 2021. It is a fruitful result of a long strategic plan programme MCRUK of the Association for Culture and Education PiNA. www.chlaydoscope.eu/heka-koper-slovenija/
Commissions
-
2025INNER BLOOM Dance company Sofia, Bulgaria INNER BLOOM is a dance film that presents the different stages of femininity with the means of choreography and 3D animation. The project is made by director Kosta Karakashyan, 3D animation artist Gjorgji Despodov and choreographer Stephanie Handjiiska, aiming to create a visually impressive product in which the woman and the female body are the protagonist and creator of the world around them. filmfreeway.com/INNERBLOOM670 finished
-
2025PARISH Den Haag, Netherlands Poster design for a club night dedicated to queering spaces. www.instagram.com/parish_queer/ finished
-
2024Anal Body-Anal Politics Dance company Tenerife, Spain I created an animation to accompany the lecture performance Anal Body–Anal Politics, visually complementing and amplifying the critical themes explored throughout the presentation. aleksandargeorgiev.com/ finished
-
2024Expo Bricolage Residencyunlimited New York, United States Designed the promotional poster for Expo Bricolage, capturing the spirit of creative assembly and experimental art-making. residencyunlimited.org/
-
2023ES U NO PARAR Dance company Tenerife, Spain Designed the promotional poster for ES U NO PARAR, a dynamic dance solo by Darío Bardam. finished
-
2021HARIBO x Sage House Commercial Type Shanghai, China Led the spatial art direction for a Haribo-themed project set within a mall environment, transforming the space into a playful, fictional world inspired by the brand’s whimsical identity. The centerpiece of the design was a vibrant pyramid structure that anchored the experience, surrounded by immersive zones that invited visitors to explore, interact, and indulge in the Haribo universe. The project merged retail space with fantastical storytelling, creating a surreal pop-up world that blurred the line between imagination and reality. www.sage-house.com/ finished
-
2021London Fashion Week x Open Studio: Digital Fashion London, United Kingdom Developed 3D rigging and animation for Congregationdesign, a sustainable fashion brand exploring digital expression in fashion. The project involved creating and animating 3D-modeled garments, bringing virtual fashion pieces to life in a fully digital environment. www.congregationdesign.com/collection1 finished
-
2021FNL NETWORK Digital Fashion Los Angeles, United States Developed a promotional 3D animation for FNL Network to support the launch of their content on new streaming platforms. The animation highlighted the network’s focus on fashion, lifestyle, and global media, using bold visual storytelling and dynamic motion design. fnlnetwork.com/ finished
-
2021GAY TIMES GAY Times London, United Kingdom Invited by Gaytimes alongside six other queer artists to create a visual celebrating their new brand identity and the queer community. www.gaytimes.com/ finished
-
2019ARTPOP FEVER Commercial Type Hong Kong, China Led the art direction and spatial design for Art Pop Fever, an event celebrating the bold, eclectic spirit of art pop culture. The venue was transformed into a vibrant, immersive environment inspired by pop aesthetics, blending playful visuals, layered textures, and dynamic color schemes. The design aimed to blur the lines between high art and pop culture, creating an engaging space where performance, installation, and audience interaction converged. www.chunkyonion.com/en/ finished
Publications
-
2025Een boek met negen boeken Book Private Print Ilija Prokopiev and Marija Hristova Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia privateprint.mk/en/books/a-book-of-nine-books Ilija Prokopiev and Marija Hristova In conversation with Ivana Mirchevska, Gjorgji Despodov, Klelija Zhivkovikj, Jovan Josifovski, Viktorija Poposka, Dzemiliana Abdulova, Hristina Krsteska, Viktorija Machkovska, and Hana Korneti, Ivana Chaloska and Dimitar Samardjiev In this book, curators Ilija Prokopiev and Marija Hristova invite readers into a rich and reflective exploration of emerging art practices within the cultural landscape of North Macedonia. A Book of Nine Books is the culmination of a three-year journey of collaboration, dialogue, and creative experimentation with a new generation of artists and cultural workers—those who defy easy classification, resist imposed systems, and move fluidly between disciplines and identities. Through fieldwork, studio visits, and close-knit collaborations, A Book of Nine Books reveals a growing ecology of artists rethinking authorship, identity, and social engagement. From queer memory work in small towns to feminist archaeology, from permaculture storytelling to Roma cultural resurgence, the featured projects refuse static definitions, embracing experimentation and uncertainty as vital tools for cultural transformation. Book of Nine Books is the first volume in the Curatorial Insights series, published by PrivatePrint. The Curatorial Insights series examines contemporary curatorial practices and working methodologies and offers different perspectives on the theoretical and practical frameworks that inform curatorial discourse today. The project is sponsored by Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development
-
2021SKIP AD Book Private Print Gjorgji Despodov Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia privateprint.mk/en/books/skip-ad SKIP AD is the first artist’s book by the graphic designer Gjorgji Despodov. Despodov creates a playful artistic method called the "Session for self-discovery," an integral part of the more comprehensive SKIP AD project. Through this method, critically oriented towards mass consumerism, Despodov opens the possibility for an alliance between the graphic designer and us, the users. Graphic design uses particular mechanisms to address users' needs; this project uses the very same mechanisms to assist us in discovering our own individual and essential needs. Hence, this act of self-discovery is simultaneously an act of resistance and an opportunity to create a new visual world. The project is sponsored by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development
-
2019SLANTED MAGAZINE #34 Book Slanted SLANTED MAGAZINE Karlsruhe, Germany www.slanted.de/product/slanted-34-europe/ Slanted Magazine #34—Europe is a plea for a multi-faceted and vibrant Europe, against the backdrop of an Europe of nations, right-wing populism, and selfish politics. It is an inventory of Europe, showing a comment, a perspective, a feeling of illustrators, photographers, writers and graphic designers from all around Europe.
reviews
-
2022Gjorgji Despodov's book is a must-read for taking mass consumerism out of graphic design Website Joey Levenson United Kingdom www.itsnicethat.com/articles/gjorgji-despodov-graphic-design-070422 Gjorgji Despodov's book Skip Ad offers a critical examination of graphic design's role in shaping consumer culture. Through a "session for self-discovery," Despodov invites readers to engage with design elements that challenge conventional advertising norms. The book's conceptual layout encourages introspection, allowing individuals to explore their own needs beyond commercial influences. By repurposing design mechanisms, Despodov fosters a dialogue between designer and user, promoting a more mindful approach to visual communication.
Awards and grants
-
2023DENES Award for Young Visual Artist in North Macedonia AKTO-FRU Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia The DENES Award is a prestigious biennial (now annual) prize for North Macedonian visual artists under 35, founded in 2002/3 by the Contemporary Art Center – Skopje in collaboration with the Foundation for Civil Society. Since 2015 it’s been led by FRU, and offers finalists a residency in New York at Residency Unlimited, funded by Trust for Mutual Understanding
Representation
-
--
Secondary art-related activities
-
2025 - 2025Queer narratives through personal artifacts, Galerija Kocka, Split (HR)
-
2023 - 2023FUTURE OF SPAM: Guest lecturer, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Technology, Brno (CZ)
-
2023 - 2023KIBLIX: Dunch at The Holy Crab performative workshop in collaboration with Marko Vivoda, KIBLIX Love and Peace International Festival of Art, Technology, and Science, Maribor (SL)
-
2022 - 2022Dunch at The Holy Crab: Performative workshop, IZIS Festival – Pipes / Cevi, Koper (SL)
-
2022 - 2022Virtualization of Reality, R.O.R Festival, Nova Gorica (SL)