Ana Rajčević

Ana Rajčević (Serbian Cyrillic: Ана Рајчевић) is a Serbian artist who is based in Boston and Berlin.^[1] She works at the intersection of art, design, and technology, and is known for her 'hybrid prosthetics', or what she terms ‘chimeric embodiments’ works—non-anthropomorphic, animal inspired prosthetics and wearables that augment human physicality. Rajčević holds a PhD in Artistic Research from the art and science department at University of Applied Arts in Vienna,^[2] and is also a visiting lecturer at UAL-University of the Arts, London. Starting in 2024, she joined Hugh Herr's MIT Biomechatronics group at the MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, as a Research Scientist.^[3] The Independent voted her one of the most promising artists from the University of the Arts in London in 2012.^[4]

Rajčević studied architecture in Serbia^[4] and Masters of Arts at the University of the Arts London, where she won the MA Award in 2012.^[5] That same year, she won the grand prize for her project "Animal - The Other Side of Evolution" at International Talent Support, in Trieste, Italy.^[6] Other awards include SEED Organization Award for Exceptional Talents by University of the Arts, London, UK, and Worth Project Grant by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry in Belgium. She has been nominated for the Artist of the Year Award by Global 3DPrint Awards in London, and Outstanding Creation and Invention Prize by Biennale internationale du design de Saint-Étienne ^[fr] in France, where she presented her work in 2014.

Rajčević work spans across multiple platforms that include scientific research, art installations, exhibitions, performances and photo/video works. With a multi-disciplinary inquiry that combines experimental art and design with research in biomedicine, robotics, materials science, and psychology, Rajcevic creates hybrid human-embodiments using most notably natural and synthetic polymers and medical biomaterials, as well as novel technologies, such as AI, robotics and biotechnologies.

Rajcevic exhibits internationally in such museums and galleries as the Smithsonian Design Museum - Cooper Hewitt (NYC),^[7] Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (NL), Venice Biennale (IT), Design Museum Den Bosch,^[8] and have been published in The Independent, The Guardian, Wired, CNN, and Dazed & Confused, among others. In 2015 she has been elected a member of the Royal Society of Arts. Rajcevic regularly works and collaborates within the performing arts field, and her performance collaboration were shown in venues such as Sadler's Wells (UK), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (DE), and Münchner Kammerspiele (DE).

Rajčević's wearable sculptures were part of the travelling Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial show in 2016.^{[9][10][11][12]} Her collection, "Animal: The Other Side of Evolution", was made of epoxy, acrylic resin, wax, fibreglass and silicone rubber, and refers to what she calls "prosthetic body sculpture". The work performs a double role. Once on the body, the sculpture becomes fused with the person, existing as artefact attached to the body. Once on its own, it becomes independent artwork exhibited in galleries.^{[5][13][14][15][16][17]} The exhibit addresses issues of evolution and according to the artist "it symbolizes an imagined evolution where humans have developed more in tune with their natural habitat. It suggests a world where mankind is not obsessed with overcoming nature for its own benefits, but instead allows himself to be shaped and transformed by novel natural processes.".^[18] In 2017, she participated in a group exhibition in Warsaw, Poland that questioned how art and fashion react to social, economic, and environmental upheavals.^[19]

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