Prominent members

Mirna Rudan Lisak (Zagreb, 1972) is a Croatian author of books and essays on culture and arts, some of which have been translated and published abroad. Her book entitled Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art: Chromatic Fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich (publisher: Matrix Croatica, Sisak, 2015) is kept in the Zagreb Libraries, Library of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Alexej von Jawlensky-Archive S.A. in Locarno (Switzerland), Memorial Museum of A.N. Scriabin in Moscow (Russia), Museum Wiesbaden (Germany) and Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (USA). She is also the author of an exhibition and monograph of art works by the internationally recognized Croatian photographer Stephan Lupino, entitled Art in the Maelstrom of Passion, Unrest, and Tension (publisher: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, 2021). She writes for Forum—journal for literature issued by Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Vijenac—journal for art, culture and science issued by Matrix Croatica, and Riječi (Words)—journal for literature, culture and science issued by Matrix Croatica Sisciae. Her researches include theory and philosophy of all branches of art in Western culture, from the early modern period to the present, with accent on abstract art. Her approach to the productive and reproductive art practice is comparative and multidisciplinary, as her chief focus is to search for analogies where only resemblances seem to exist, and to identify opposites to establish new wholes.

Simultaneously with her regular education, Ms. Rudan Lisak attended first-level music school studying piano, and a 4-year course in painting at Zagreb Art Education Centre. In 1991, she graduated from Grammar School for Languages, and in the same year she was ranked first at the preliminary examination to be admitted at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb. She graduated in 1997, in the class of renowned Croatian architect Nenad Fabijanić, with Multidisciplinary theatre hall as the thesis topic. In 2010, she enrolled in the post-graduate study course leading to Ph.D. at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. She completed all course requirements with honours and was the only candidate to defend a doctoral thesis prior to official schedule (in less than three years). Her mentors were Prof. Igor Rončević, Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (painter), Prof. Marcel Bačić (visual arts theorist) and Prof. Bogdan Gagić (classical composer). Her thesis topic was Influences of Jawlensky and Scriabin on New Reproductive Art Practice. Between 2011 and 2013, she was a member of the Academy Council. In 2017, she was a fellow of the French Government (Ministry of Culture), and within the programme Courants du Monde, in Paris and Montpellier she attended French-speaking lecture series with topic Enjeux et mise en œuvre de la politique des publics dans les structures culturelles (Challenges and Implementation of Public Policy in Cultural Structures).

Between 1997 and 2005, Ms. Rudan Lisak has conducted numerous marketing and advertising projects. She was awarded the 1st Prize in the competition for trademark design of International Internet Congress CEENet 1997. From 2006 to 2015, she has worked as a Strategic Planning and Development Advisor at the City of Zagreb, and since 2015 she has been employed as a Museum Programmes Advisor at the Zagreb City Office for Culture. She is the City of Zagreb Mayor’s representative at numerous cultural events.

Ms. Rudan Lisak has attended thirteen international conferences, and her video entitled Multidisciplinary Virtual 3D Installation was selected by the International ArtExpo & MECA (Mediterráneo Centro Artístico) for the International Experimental Video-Art Festival Pixels of Identities, held in 2014 in the Museum of Almería (Spain). In 2018, she was a visiting lecturer on the occasion of marking the 100th anniversary of establishing the Memorial Museum of A. N. Scriabin in Moscow (Russia), and in 2019, she was a guest lecturer on the occasion of marking the 100th anniversary of establishing Bauhaus in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb (Croatia). In 2019, for merits in promoting Scriabin’s art, she was awarded the Honorary Membership of the Croatian Society Alexander Scriabin, where she holds the position of Editor-in-Chief. She is fluent in Croatian (mother tongue) English, French, German and Italian; to improve the command of English, she attended Central College, London (UK).