Irini Miga

MFA in Visual Arts, Columbia University, NY, USA

Irini Miga (b. Larissa, Greece) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Her teaching approach fosters collaboration and values experimentation as a catalyst for innovation. In her art practice Miga explores the fluidity of time and memory, while challenging conventional hierarchies and dissolving boundaries. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Atlanta Contemporary, Essex Flowers (New York), Emerson Dorsch (Miami), Neuer Essener Kunstverein (Germany), Capsule Shanghai (China), and in “The Equilibrists” at the Benaki Museum (Athens), organized by the New Museum and DESTE Foundation. Miga has received grants and residency fellowships from several organizations, including the Fulbright Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, The Drawing Center, the Fountainhead Residency, the Watermill Center, and the Bemis Center. Her work is held in collections such as the European Central Bank Collection in Frankfurt am Main, Germany; the Dakis Joannou Collection / DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art in Athens, Greece; and other private collections worldwide.

Find out more about her work at: https://irinimiga.com/

Research Projects

• A Part and Not Apart [Perspective’s Diagram to Oscar Wilde] [Materials: metal, plasterboard, wood, acrylic paint, plexiglass, markers, pencils, collared pencils, 240 x 240 x 450 cm.] “A map that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at.” — Oscar Wilde
  This slightly altered quote from Wilde’s The Soul of Man Under Socialism is hidden within the word search puzzle of a participatory bus stop sculpture—tucked inside a white cube underground. The puzzle, etched into the side panel, acts as the work’s only interpretive prompt; the reverse side offers a blank, open invitation. Pencils and markers are provided without instruction—anything already at hand is equally valid. What if every private reflection left a mark on the structure that held it? A Part and Not Apart is conceived as a platform for the accumulation of thoughts and desires—a space where voices layer, obscure, amplify, and respond to one another. Miga’s participatory work investigates the tension between private introspection and public inscription, between a communal object and the institutional frame that contains it.— Shown at A Link and a Break in Time, curated by Christos Asomatos, Ana S. González Rueda & Ioanna Papapavlou, ACG Art Gallery, Athens, Greece.
• In Longevity Was Not a Priority in The Autonomous Region of Light [Super8 film transferred to digital video, color, sound, 3 minutes and 7 seconds (looped), projection on suspended plexiglass], a burning candle flickers before a poster of wild horses—symbols of Americana. The work invokes vanitas, a genre of still life that centers on perishable goods and symbolizes human greed as well as the fleeting character of life. The work explores the dual meaning of ‘reflection’—both imagery and perception—while evoking Plato’s allegory of the cave, where illusions replace reality. In contrast, this Super8 film sensitizes viewers to their built environment and broader ecological crises. — Shown at: The Ember’s Song,  curated by Florent Frizet, Sylvia Sachini, MISC x IGNI, MISC, Athens
• . & a [Unglazed ceramic 3/4 x 1/2 x 1/4 inches // 2 x 1 x 0.5 cm. & carving of the map of Athens pointing the artist’s studio, ceramic push pin, aprox. 2 x 1 1/2 x 1/2 inches // 5 x 3 x 1 cm.] Irini Miga’s works capture the aesthetic conditions of that which often disappears in plain sight: a single fingerprint of the artists pointer finger is sunken into the wall. Made from unglazed ceramic and seamlessly fitted into the wall’s surface, the remaining mark is barely perceptible from a distance of more than a few feet. It is the record of a motion–of pointing to, pointing at, pointing out. a. is a refraction of a space as an accidental mark on the wall. The labor and attention required to create these easily dismissible items weigh counter to the humbleness of each work’s first impression. In reverberation of an unstable time, these micro-interventions highlight the unfixed nature of appearances to those who pay close attention. — Shown at: Ramp’s Edge, curated by Marissa Graziano, Below Grand, New York, NY
• Landscape in Motion [Materials: metal, glazed handmade ceramics, natural pigments, watercolors, graphite, gum arabic, drywall. A work in five parts. It extends across a 20M./65 FT-long wall]  is a site-responsive artwork intertwining painterly and sculptural elements to create a continuously evolving landscape. Inspired by the graceful motion of a twirling leaf in the air, it is a visual and conceptual homage to the natural harmony and innate beauty of Crete’s endangered flora. Drawing inspiration from the ‘Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece’, each of the five panels highlights specific species of flowers and plants endemic to Crete known for their critical conservation status, focusing the viewers’ attention to their delicate beauty and the urgent need for their preservation. Through colorful and abstract gestures, Miga mirrors the movement of the wind and the fluidity and perpetual transformation inherent in natural landscapes. By highlighting the fragility and beauty of the island’s flora, Miga reminds us that it is within our power to create a world where even the most delicate ecosystems can thrive.— Shown at: G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize, curated by Sotirios Bahtsetzis, Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece
• Peace Ties. A symbolic gesture of planting a young olive tree as a sign of Peace. Visitors and participants of the 2024 festival in Thermisio wrote messages of peace on white strips of fabric, which were then tied to the olive tree, connecting it to a support column. — Shown at: East Beat, curated by Nadja Argyropoulou and Lakis & Aris Ionas / The Callas, Thermisio, Argolis, Greece
• 22 notes [Materials: glazed ceramic, brass, wood, acrylic, gouache, pencils, personal handwritten notes, Dimensions: 304  x 518 x 6 cm / 10 ft × 17 ft × 2.5 in ] is a work that weaves intricate connections, paying homage to the art of improvisation within the framework of an annual calendar. Drawing inspiration from the composition “Das Jahr (The Year)” by Fanny Mendelssohn, an overlooked, female composer from the Romantic Era, and personal handwritten notes crafted during the year 2022, this piece emerges as a unique embodiment of a bygone year. Each one of the twelve months is represented through fragments of the musical score. Seven handwritten notes, honouring each day of a week, are either interwoven within the musical score or scattered throughout the composition, taking the form of delicate paper spheres.  Graceful, small, and dynamic painterly gestures compose a landscape in movement that brings together, as a symphony in motion, all the constituent components. Sculptural pieces such as glazed ceramics, wooden and brass bars, engage in harmonious conversations with painterly and drawing elements of this mural. Ripples in time and moments of silence make this work a terrain for a new system that is trying to organise and record time’s elusive nature. — Shown at: Fountainhead Biennial II: Last Days of a House, Curated by Omar López-Chahoud, Emerson Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL
• The Molecule of Impossibility [Materials: metal, drywall, painted ceramic, brass, gouache, natural pigments, colored pencils, acrylics, 185 x 110 x 7 cm with metal anchoring brackets that extend on the wall about 60 cm in each direction] Through the joyful gesture of tossing confetti, an almost cosmic explosion unfolds Amidst the chaos and while the clock is ticking, scattered letters hint at the word ‘Permanence,’ symbolizing the ungraspable concept of time. This work, made also from delicate, handmade ceramic confetti, serves as a reminder of time painstakingly preserved through an ancient, enduring craft. Positioned in a corner, the artwork tilts clockwise, representing changes in the tilt of Earth’s axis caused by the environmental crisis. The melting of ice sheets and glaciers, the extraction and overuse of groundwater, are altering our planet’s weight, rotation axis and equilibrium, and this is emphasized here by the work’s position.—Shown at: Outraged by Pleasure, curated by Nadja Argyropoulou, “Nobel” building – cultural space in the City of Chalandri, Athens
• A Trace [Materials: natural pigments, watercolor and graphite on marble, steel 100 x 60 x 40 cm] utilizes the Niocastro archaeological site in Pylos as a platform to raise environmental awareness, drawing attention to the fragility of the natural world. Referencing the educational function of museum plaques—which typically provide historical and cultural context—this work reimagines the plaque as both an informative and poetic object. It centers on Fritillaria conica, an endemic plant species classified as critically endangered, as documented in the Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece. Miga carefully rendered the Fritillaria conica on a marble plaque using natural pigments, watercolor, and graphite, capturing the plant’s delicate form as it appears in the wild. A botanical drawing and description accompany the image, deepening the viewer’s understanding of the species and its ecological urgency. What sets this plaque apart is its fragility: a single rainfall could erase the artwork. This ephemerality serves as a quiet but powerful metaphor for the threatened state of native flora—and a call to collective care and accountability for the natural world. — Shown at: Avarna Fluida, curated by Stella Christofi, Niocastro, Pylos, Greece

Selected Publications

Her work has been featured in publications such as Artforum, Flash Art, Ocula, Time Out New York, Ran Dian, Vima, Kathimerini, The Art Newspaper Greece, Athens Voice and Lifo.