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Artist Bio

 

Katarina Poljak is an award-winning filmmaker and interdisciplinary performance artist whose work has been shown at The Kimmel Center, Vox Populi Gallery, Icebox Project Space, and several international film festivals including ARFF Paris, Croatian Fashion Film, Indie Short, and Rethink Dance. Their often performance based films are informed by a critique of social traditions and technology. Scenes located in their work immerse the audience in a fantastical universe steeped in retro futurism, sculptural set-design & ornate hand-made costumery.  They have been greatly influenced by their collaborations with experimental film and performance artist Kathy Rose and are invested in continuing to create work that references both the past and future of mass culture, and the unspoken boundaries that define our social lives.

Poljak received a BFA from University of the Arts, where they studied both Dance and Film, and was awarded the Shannon D. Moore major film award for their thesis film in 2019. They are interested in humanity’s trajectory into a "posthumanism" and how this is framed by our sense of  the idealized human body.  Their work evokes a sense of surrealist suspense, indulges in contemporary culture’s collective obsession with the spectacle of gore, and connects audiences to the visceral nervous system of the grotesque. The imagery they compile suggests an exaggerated evolution so extreme that we see the horrors of the glamorized human form.  Poljak’s latest film Incredible Machine Glass Body was selected, screened, and won at several international film festivals in 2020. They are currently a 2023 Artist in Residence at Mascher Space Cooperative, where they continue to curate interdisciplinary performative work involving projection and the body and is working to bring a new short film, Source Architecture, to life.  

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September 30th 2022

Photo of live performance "This is Not a Toy"

Education 

2014-2019

The University of the Arts

Awards / Screenings

2018

Philadelphia Women In Film and Television Female Filmmaker  Showcase

The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2019

Shannon D. Moore Major Film Award,  Winner of "Most Exceptional Film"

The University of The Arts

2019

Eco Fashion Film Festival

Thessaly, Greece

2019

Indie Short Fest special mention and Finalist nomination for "Best Costume Design"

Los Angelos, CA

2019

Rethink Dance Film Festival Finalist for "Best Choreography for Film"

Fargo, ND

2020

Croation Fashion Film Festival, Finalist for "Best Emerging Talent"

Debrovnik, Croatia

2020

 Beyond The Curve International Film Festival, Finalist for "Best Woman's Film"

Paris, France

2021

Around International Film Festival Paris Winner of "Best Experimental Film" 

Paris, France.

2022

Come as Your Madness Fashion Show, Crowned the "Muse of Madness"

Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Exhibitions 

2018

"Number 11" Screening

The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2018

"Red Room" Installation part of Tongue and Cheek Artist Showcase

Headlong Theater, Philadelphia PA

2019

"Body: Unknown" Live Performance Installation part of "Dreams and Delusions"

The Painted Bride Theater, Philadelphia PA

2021

"Mountain of One" Live Performance part of  Mascher Cooperative's "Fresh Juice Showcase" 

Headlong Theater, Philadelphia PA

2022

PhillyCam Live for TV performance of "Mountain of One"

Philadelphia, PA

2022

"This is Not a Toy" Live Performance part of  "Come As Your Madness Fashion Show and Masquerade Ball"

Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2022

"This is Not a Toy" Encore Live Performance part of "Vox Populi's Boo Bash"

Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2023

"Blacklisted" Live Performance 

Icebox Project Space, Philadelphia PA

Upcoming

2021- ongoing

"SOURCE ARCHITECTURE" Short film 

Writer/ Director/ Editor

2022- ongoing

Untitled Feature Documentary

Associate Producer/ Audio Engineer

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