Maria BelovaInterdisciplinary Artist

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mariavbelowa@gmail.com

CurrentHyper-Myths, Counter-Rituals
Group exhibition at Artemis Gallery Vienna

Until January 13
Webgasse 6, 1060 Vienna

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About Maria Belova is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, installation, sound, and performance. She has studied Transmedia-and Fine Arts in Vienna (prof. Brigitte Kowanz, Jakob Lena Knebl, University for Applied Arts) and London (Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts). Recent exhibitions and contributions took place at Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Council Memorial Church (Konzilsgedächtniskirche) Vienna, Kunsthalle Wien, Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, as well as through multiple performances and interventions in public spaces.

Maria’s practice is a sustained inquiry into the choreography of belief — how it is performed, enforced, and aestheticized across religious, political, and cultural spheres. She explores the tension between transcendence and control, engaging with religious heritage as both a metaphysical force and an instrument of earthly power. Drawing on iconographic traditions, she reflects on contemporary rituals, digital spiritualism, and the enduring influence of spiritual and ideological systems on both private lives and public institutions.



Education Transmedia Art (Brigitte Kowanz, Jakob Lena Knebl), University for Applied Arts Vienna, 2020–now
Fine Art (Mary Evans), Chelsea College - University of the Arts London, 2023

Art Photography (Anja Manfredi), Schule Friedl Kubelka Wien, with the teaching contributions by Elfie Semotan, Josephine Pryde, Timm Rautert & others, 2019–2020



CV2026  Group exhibition at AG18, Vienna, curated by Julia Harrauer, opening January 27

2025  Hyper-Myths, Counter-Rituals, Artemis Gallery, Vienna, curated by Manuel S. Mendonça
Driveway Dreams,
bureau fomo, Vienna
Fragile Constructs, gezwanzig projects, Vienna
re:stART International Residency, Quartier am Hafen, Cologne (DE)

2024  Maria Belova: Nobody’s Watching, solo show at Vienna Collectors’ Club, Vienna
PASSAGE, accompanying program with Jakob Lena Knebl and Ashley Hans Scheirl, Falckenberg Collection Deichtorhallen Hamburg (DE)
Budapest Contemporary Art Fair, Budapest (HU)
Women in Tech, Villa Mautner Jäger, Vienna
Interspace, Galeria WY, Łódź (PL)

2023  ReA! Art Fair, Milan (IT)
PARALLEL VIENNA, Vienna

2022  Figures of Imagination. Trans..., Georg Kargl Permanent, Vienna, curated by SHE SAID,
Soft Machine, Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, Vienna, curated by Jakob Lena Knebl
Anti–Anti–Anti: de-visibility, unbiased biases and friends, Angewandte Festival, Vienna, curated by Mauricio Ianes de Moraes
Get It While You Can!, Never At Home, Vienna, co-curated by Maria Belova
Search for Your People, performative action with Mariya Vasilyeva, University of Applied Arts, Vienna
A shop is a shop is a shopbeta. Conceptual store, Kunsthalle Vienna, curated by Klaus Speidel

2021  Maria Belova: Unspoken, solo show in Konzilgedächtniskirche, Vienna, curated by Gustav Schörghofer SJ
The 8th Catholic Arts Biennial, The Verostko Center for the Arts, PA (USA)
REALITY, Kunstsalon FLUC, Vienna, curated by Anna Zwingl & Brigitte Kowanz,

2020  Stille Räume, das weisse haus, Vienna, curated by Itai Margula
Bingo!, performative solo intervention, Belvedere 21, Vienna
Net Works, with Darja Shatalova, Kara Agora European Art & Research Center, online, curated by Julia Hartmann,

2019  Ya I Ona, performance with Darja Shatalova, in the framework of Question Me & Answer, Improper Walls, Vienna, curated by Smaranda Krings, Osama Zatar & Justina Speirokaite,



Cooperation & ProjectsFreelance Social Media & Branding Consultant, 2024–now
Digital Communications & Branding,
viennacontemporary, 2021–2024

Freelance art documentation & Content creator (with viennacontemporary, Phileas, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, ZAHORIAN & VAN ESPEN gallery, das weisse haus, Question Me & Answer, Improper Walls gallery, lt.art festival, multiple individual artists), 2020–now
Co-Curator, Get It While You Can!, Never At Home, Vienna (with Ganaël Dumreicher, Isolar Mesec, Felix Schellhorn, Marlene Stahl, Iris Writze), 2022

PR & Communications Responsible, A shop is a shop is a shopbeta. Conceptual store, Kunsthalle, Vienna, 2022

There Was No Boy But He Continues To Live, 2023/24

    Hand-Embossed Aluminium, 32x28,5x1 cm each

During World War I, the narrative of the Crucified Soldier—a purported account of an Allied soldier crucified with bayonets on the Western Front—gained widespread attention despite inconsistent eyewitness reports and a lack of physical evidence. A century later, similar stories are revived with the same aim: to shock the populace and vilify governmental "enemies."

This series of artworks interrogates the pervasive nature of media propaganda. It employs the form of riza—traditional metal coverings for Orthodox icons—to depict how propaganda stories function as "icons." These narratives, while widely recognized, often distort or entirely misrepresent the people and events they claim to portray. The intentional void left for the icon signifies the emptiness of these fabricated reports. The series also examines how such stories purposefully evoke martyr-like imagery, blending propaganda with Christian iconographic traditions to trigger deep-seated Judeo-Christian associations of suffering and sacrifice, thereby deeply resonating with the audience.

Exhibition view, There Was No Boy But He Continues to Live, Villa Mautner Jäger, Vienna, 2024