Overview
'Bajević is well-known in the art world since the '90s for the series of performances Women at Work (2001), as well as for her interest in collective identity, the unpacking tragedies through the personal experiences of their witnesses.
Maja Bajević (b. 1967 in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Lives works in Paris, France) is an artist who takes a critical and witty approach to art in order to pinpoint dualities in human behaviour, in particular those involving power. The power of history is opposed to the power of choice and interpretation; collective memory to collective amnesia, objective accounts to subjective storytelling and imagination – as a construction in progress, fluid and unstable (the presence of scaffolding in her work is not fortuitous), whose shifts and derivations react to contradictory stimuli. Her work is about opening questions rather then giving answers, where every answered question opens a new territory with new brackets that give place to the unforeseen or the yet unspoken, in an never-ending continuum.
Since the mid-1990s, Bajevic has been working on a range of different issues, encompassing globalisation, inclusion/exclusion, exploitation, neo-liberalism and their reciprocal effects. At the same time, she repeatedly raises the issue of personal identity and homeland, and how these are constituted or “made impossible”. Bajevic’s work, ranges from video, installation, performance and sound to text, crafts, drawing, printmaking, machinery and photography.
Informed by the artist's own migratory life, previous works emphasised her interest in the contingent nature of political stability. Addressing themes like the abuse of power and religion, migration and marginalisation of the foreign, and the tension between local and global, her oeuvre can also be positioned within the tradition of art that performs a social, informative function and focuses on changing prevalent convictions.
Selected solo exhibitions include: Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2025), Centre Culturel Jean Cocteau, Les Lilas, France (2022), Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2017), The James Gallery, New York (2012), DAAD Galerie, Berlin (2012) and Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (2011). Selected group exhibition include: "Bounding Histories. Whispering Tales", Art Encounters Biennial, Timișoara, Romania (2025); "We never Sleep", Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2020); "Divided We Stand", Busan Biennale (2018), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2016); 56th Venice Biennial (2015) “Documenta 12”, Kassel, (2007). In 2017 Bajevic was shortlisted for the Prix Marcel Duchamp.
Selected works
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An artist who has no country is no artist, 2024 -
Je suis désolée, 2024
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Gap, 2024
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Facts and Figures, 2024
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Really?, 2022
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Ma seule pensée, 2022
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we are all UNequal, 2022
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Arts, Crafts and Facts (Share of Income Earned by Top 1%, Labor Productivity, Growth), 2020
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How to Explain the World to the Martians (Cold War), 2017
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Liberté pour les libres, Egalité pour les égaux, Fraternité pour les frères, 2016
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Arts, Crafts and Facts, 2015
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Art Has to Be National, 2012
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Layers - D10D1109Castor03210, 2011
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How do you want to be governed?, 2009
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ManKind V, 2003
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Women at Work - Washing Up, 2001
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Double - Bubble, 2001
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Dressed Up, 1999
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Women at Work - Under Construction, 1999
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Here’s to looking at you, Kid, 1996
Selected exhibitions
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Sculpture Today
With works by: Alÿs, Bajević, Caniaris, Los Carpinteros, Deplazes, Doherty, Favre, Hänsli, Ikemura, Leutenegger, Macchi, Modé, Shahbazi, Spichtig, William, Zmijewski
Zahnradstrasse 21, Zurich 4 Nov - 19 Dec 2025SCULPTURE TODAY Featuring works by Francis Alÿs, Maja Bajević, Vlassis Caniaris, Los Carpinteros, Andriu Deplazes, Willie Doherty, Valérie Favre, Christoph Hänsli, Leiko Ikemura, Zilla Leutenegger, Jorge Macchi, João Modé, Shirana...Read more -
Maja Bajević
A Short Histery of our TimesMuseum of Contemporary Art Metelkova
Ljubljana, Slovenia
27 Jun 2025 - 4 Jan 2026Curated by: Bojana Piškur and Kristjan Sedej A Short Histery of Our Times presents the oeuvre of Maja Bajević , an artist who has figured prominently on the art scene...Read more -
Shifting
Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich. Maja Bajevic, Travis Boyer, Kenrick McFarlane, Fabian Marti, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Tobias Spichtig, Christine StreuliZahnradstrasse 21, Zurich
25 Jan - 29 Mar 2025Shifting Maja Bajevic, Travis Boyer, Kenrick McFarlane, Fabian Marti, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Tobias Spichtig, Christine Streuli January 25 - March 29, 2025 Zahnradstrasse 21, Zurich Galerie Peter Kilchmann is pleased...Read more -
Maja Bajević
Damaged GoodsGalerie Peter Kilchmann
Rue des Arquebusiers, Paris
6 Jan - 2 Mar 2024Maja Bajević Damaged Goods Jan. 06 - Feb. 22, 2024 Opening: Friday, January 5, 6 - 8 pm 11-13 rue des Arquebusiers, 75003 Paris Galerie Peter Kilchmann is delighted to...Read more -
Maja Bajević
PERFORMING PAC: Dance Me to the End of Love (Group show)Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milano, Italy
11 Jul - 10 Sep 2023This year's title, Dance Me To The End Of Love , is a quotation from a song by Leonard Cohen from 1984, a song inspired by the drama of the...Read more -
Maja Bajevic
Watch Your StepGalerie Peter Kilchmann
Zahnradstrasse, Zurich
8 Apr - 20 May 2022Maja Bajevic's exhibitions are like carefully developed choreographies in which each work takes its own position while acting as a connecting link for the larger discourse. In Watch Your Step,...Read more -
Maja Bajević
EchosCentre Culturel Jean Cocteau, Paris, France
13 Jan - 5 Mar 2022A travers la performance, la vidéo et l'installation, elle tisse son expérience avec des histoires individuelles et collectives pour construire une mémoire commune. Les œuvres existantes et celles produites spécifiquement...Read more -
Maja Bajević
Power, Governance, LaborMigros Kunstmuseum, Zurich, Switzerland
20 May - 13 Aug 2017At the same time, Bajevic also repeatedly raises the issue of personal identity and homeland, and how these are constituted or “made impossible”. The presentation at the Migros Museum für...Read more -
Maja Bajević
All the World's Futures56th Venice Biennale
Arsenale, Venice, Italy
5 May - 22 Nov 2015Maja Bajevic: 'Arts, Crafts and Facts' responds to the denigration of human labor caused by the financialization of the global economy. To compose the libretto of 'Arts, Crafts and Facts',...Read more -
Maja Bajević
DAAD Galerie, Berlin, Germany 7 - 18 Feb 2012The quantity and the content of slogans from a certain period speak of the social temperature of that moment. In times of political turmoil there are more political slogans than...Read more -
Maja Bajevic
LayersGalerie Peter Kilchmann, Zahnradstrasse, Zurich
11 Nov - 23 Dec 2011The series Layers (2011) attest to the interest with which Maja Bajevic has followed the protests and tumults in Europe and the USA during the last months. The photographic images,...Read more -
Die Nase des Michelangelo
Special location: Marktgasse 4 - 6, Zurich, Switzerland 10 - 19 Dec 2010Rita Ackermann / Francis Alÿs / Maja Bajević / Michael Bauer / Christoph Büchel / Valentin Carron / Urs Fischer / Peter Fischli & David Weiss / Bruno Jakob /...Read more -
Maja Bajevic
Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zahnradstrasse, Zurich 28 Feb - 4 Apr 2009“Space and Time” is a double projection, shown on the front and the reverse of a projection screen in a dark room. Upon entering the room, at first only one...Read more -
15 Jahre Galerie Peter Kilchmann 1992 - 2007
Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Limmatstrasse, Zurich 30 Aug - 11 Oct 2008Rita Ackermann / Francis Alÿs / Maja Bajević / Michael Bauer / Willie Doherty / Bruno Jakob / Jochen Kuhn / Zilla Leutenegger / Jorge Macchi, Teresa Margolles / Fabian...Read more -
Documenta 12
Kassel, Germany 16 Jun - 23 Sep 2007What that meant was that, over the course of human history, visual culture has had only a limited number of basic forms with which to work-forms that have been used...Read more -
Maja Bajevic
Be Nice or LeaveGalerie Peter Kilchmann, Zahnradstrasse, Zurich
27 Aug - 1 Oct 2005Differently sized, used speaker cabinets and CD-players are placed on the floor of the gallery (see invitation card). When walking through the installation titled Avanti Popolo, 2002-05, patriotic songs from...Read more
Video
Press
Publications
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Maja Bajevic
Power, Governance, Labor, 2017 Texts by Barbara Biedermann, Manuel Borja-Villel, Boris Buden, Ana Janevski and Raphael GygaxMigros Museum, Zurich
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Maja Bajevic
... and other stories, 2002 Read more -
Maja Bajevic
Women at Work, 2002 Texts by Yvana Enzler, Dunja Blaževic, Bojana PejicNational Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo
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