User:Jasminuba/Polona Tratnik

Polona Tratnik, slovenian humanist, Senior Researcher, University Professor, and Cultural Figure, * 1976, Slovenj Gradec.

She works as a Senior Researcher at the IRRIS Institute for Research, Development, and Strategies of Society, Culture, and the Environment, and as the head of the research group at the Center for Digital Humanities at the IRRIS Institute. She is also a full professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Ljubljana.

Life and Work
Polona Tratnik was born in 1976 in Slovenj Gradec. She graduated from Bežigrad High School in 1995. She completed her undergraduate studies in painting in 1999 and earned a master's degree in sculpture in 2001, both at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana. She obtained her Ph.D. in philosophy and theory of visual culture from the Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska, in 2007.

She was a research associate at the Science and Research Centre and an assistant professor of cultural philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska, from 2008. Between 2006 and 2008, she was an assistant at the same faculty. From 2008 to 2011, she led a postdoctoral project (funded by ARRS), and from 2002 to 2006, she worked as an independent cultural worker.

In 2012, she was a Fulbright researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz..

Since 2011, she has been the president of the Slovenian Society for Aesthetics. She has been a member of the executive committee of this society since 2000 and served as its secretary from 2005 to 2011. She is a member of the advisory board of the Society for Phenomenology and Media (since 2011), secretary of the Ljubljana Innovators Association (since 2006), and a member of the International Association for Aesthetics (since 2006). She has been a member of over 17 program and organizing committees of international symposia, including the Mediterranean Congress for Aesthetics (2006). In 2012, she was a member of the program committees for the conferences Surplus Art: Art – Science – Philosophy, Ljubljana (chair), and Philosophy of Media: Art and Media, Opatija.

She is the founder and director of Horizonti, an institute for art, culture, science, and education (since 2005). She was the artistic director of the multimedia festival Break 2.3 New Species (2005). She was a co-curator of the project Kiparstvo danes. She is a member of the interdisciplinary group for cultural and artistic education in the field of intermedia art at the National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (since 2009). She was a juror for critical writing at the Memefest festival (2010).

She is a pioneer in biotechnological art.

University Teaching and Visiting Positions at Universities Abroad
At the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts'', she teaches in the Department of Sociology, covering courses such as Cultural Analysis and Representation, and Sociology of Media and Communication. At the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, she has taught courses including Sculpture and Contemporary Artistic Practices I, II, Media Theory MA, Social Theory of Contemporary Art, and New Media Theory I-IV. Additionally, she has taught courses at the second and third levels at the Faculty of Slovenian and International Studies at the New University: Theory and Methodology of Scientific Research in the Humanities, Culture in the Age of Late Capitalism, Culture in Slovenia, and Myths and Popular Culture.''

At the Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska, she taught in the Department of Cultural Studies, covering courses such as Introduction to Cultural Studies, Selected Topics in Slovenian Culture, Media Culture, and Film Studies. She also led courses in the doctoral program in Philosophy and Theory of Visual Culture, including Contemporary Experimental Arts, Film and Photography in Global Conditions, and Contemporary Visual Art and Culture of Europe.

As a visiting professor, she has worked at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Beijing Normal University, University of Art and Design Helsinki Taik, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She has also lectured at the University for Science and Technology of China (Hefei), University of Greenwich (London), University of California, Santa Barbara, Marquette University (Milwaukee), China Youth University for Political Sciences (Beijing), among others.

Editorial Work
She is a member of the editorial board for the Anagoga series (Goga, since 2009), chair of the editorial board for the Transars series (Horizonti, since 2010), and was a member of the editorial board of the journal Maska (2010–11). She has served as the section editor for cultural anthropology and contemporary art at the journal Monitor ZSA (Annales, UP ZRS, since 2008). She is the founder and editor of the journal Horizonti (for the philosophy of art) (since 2004) and was a co-editor of Likovne besede (2003–04). She edited Surplus Art (2011), Art: Resistance, Subversion, Madness (2009) and co-edited Prostori umetnosti (2002).

Current Research Projects

 * 2024–2026 project leader: Research of Sociocultural Dynamics Through Computer Folkloristics in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley, funded by ARIS.
 * 1/7/2022–30/6/2025 project leader: Political functions of folktales. Scheme: Slovenian Research Agency (ARIS), complementary scheme for applications to calls for proposals from the European Research Council (ERC) (N6-0268), parent institution IRRIS Institute..
 * 7. 2019–30 6. 2022 project leader: Social functions of fairy tales, scheme: ARIS project tender (ARIS J6-1807), parent institution: Alma Mater Europaea – Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis. Participating institution: IRRIS Institute for Research, Development and Company Strategies.
 * 2021 project leader: The right to heritage as an incentive for sustainable development, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.

Selected Bibliography
Polona Tratnik is the author of numerous scientific monographs and articles. Some of her significant publications include: :


 * V deželi pravljic. K družbenim funkcijam pravljičnih narativov. Koper: Annales, 2024.
 * Translation of Art as Capital: The Intersection of Science, Technology and the Arts to Chinese. Henan University Press, 2024.
 * GONZÁLEZ VALERIO, María Antonia, TRATNIK, Polona. Through the Scope of Life. Art and (Bio)Technologies Philosophically Revisited. Cham: Springer, 2023.
 * Živo onkraj telesa i umetnosti. Belgrade: Academy of Fine Arts, translation and adaptation of In vitro: živo onstran telesa in umetnosti, 2024.
 * Art as Capital: The Intersection of Science, Technology and the Arts. Lanham [etc.]: Rowman & Littlefield. XII, Global aesthetic research, 2021.
 * Umetnost u savremenosti. Belgrade: Orion, translation of Umetnost kot intervencija, 2018.
 * Conquest of Body. Biopower with Biotechnology. Dordrecht: Springer SBM NL, 2017.
 * Umetnost kot intervencija. Ljubljana: Sophia, 2017.
 * Vstop v intermedijsko umetnost. Ljubljana: Inštitut Nove Revije, 2016.
 * Hacer la presencia. Fotografía, arte y (bio)tecnología. Mexico City: Herder, 2013.
 * In vitro: živo onstran telesa in umetnosti. Ljubljana: Horizonti, 2010.
 * Transumetnost: kultura in umetnost v sodobnih globalnih pogojih. Ljubljana: Institute for Education, 2010.
 * Konec umetnosti – genealogija modernega diskurza: od Hegla k Dantu. Koper: University of Primorska, ZRS, Annales, 2008.

Exhibitions

 * Soft Control, European Capital of Culture, Maribor (2012),
 * Managing Life, Beograd (2012),
 * Sin origen / Sin semilla, Mexico City (2012),
 * Asymetric Europe, Novi Sad (2012),
 * Szenarien Über Europa, Leipzig (2011),
 * BIO+FICTION, Dunaj (2011),
 * SEAFair, Skopje (2010),
 * Ars Electronica, Linz (2008),
 * Accidentes Controlades, Mexico City (2008),
 * Vitrti (2007),
 * BIOS 4, Sevilija (2007),
 * Biennial for Electronic Arts Perth,
 * Bio Difference (2004),
 * L'Art Biotech, Nantes (2003) idr.

Nagrade in priznanja
Fulbright Visiting Scholar Award (2011), three-time nominee for the Prešeren Fund Award of the Republic of Slovenia (2009, 2010, 2011), Bartol Award for research work (2008), work scholarship for creators from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia (2008), Preglej Award for the play Čakalnica (2007), Zlata ptica Award 2005, Liberal Academy Award for achievements in the field of visual culture (2006), Spletno pero Award for short prose (2005), Rotary Club scholarship for sculpture (2001), Student Prešeren Award for painting (2000), Silver Vega Award for mathematics (1990). During her postgraduate studies, she was a scholarship holder of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia (2004–06, 2000–01).