Biography

About

Advisor at the Zagreb City Office for Culture. Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and PhD from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. Fellow of the French Government in the program Courants du Monde (Paris & Montpellier). Author of books and book chapters (publishers: Matrix Croatica, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, National Museum of Modern Art, Manuscriptum, and Scriabin Museum). Published a series of essays on culture and arts (literary journals Forum, The Wreath & Words), some of which have been translated and published abroad. Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Words, and Honorary Member and Editor-in-Chief of the Croatian Society Alexander Scriabin. 

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. She writes for the literary magazines Forum, Vijenac (The Wreath), and Riječi (Words), as well as for Večernji list (The Evening Paper) and Telegram. Her essay on the German philosopher Oswald Spengler was selected as a required text for essay writing in the 2023 National Matriculation in the Croatian language. Her research includes the theory and philosophy of all branches of art in Western culture, from the early modern period to the present, and her approach to the productive and reproductive art practice is comparative and multidisciplinary. Her most notable book is the essay collection Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art: Chromatic Fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich (publisher: Matrix Croatica, Sisak, 2015). It is kept in the Zagreb Libraries, the 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). After the book was noticed by Alexander Serafimovich Scriabin, a descendant of the famous composer’s family, Dr. Rudan Lisak accepted the invitation of the Memorial Museum of A. N. Scriabin to present her work in Moscow in 2018, as part of commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Museum’s foundation. The networking of professionals from the two countries led to the foundation of the Croatian Society Alexander Scriabin, and the essay on the mystic chord was translated into Russian and published in a book marking the 100th anniversary of the museum and announcing the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Scriabin’s birth.

Dr. Rudan Lisak has been playing the piano since the age of five. In her youth, she also exhibited artwork at group exhibitions. In 1991, she graduated from the Grammar School for Languages, and in the same year, she ranked first in the preliminary examination to be admitted to the Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb. She graduated in 1997, in the renowned Croatian architect Nenad Fabijanić class. In 2010, she began a post-graduate Ph.D. program at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. Between 2011 and 2013, she was a member of the Academy Council.  She completed all course requirements with honors and chose the thesis topic Influences of Jawlensky and Scriabin on New Reproductive Art Practice. Under the mentorship of Prof. Igor Rončević, Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (painter), Prof. Marcel Bačić (theoretician), and Prof. Bogdan Gagić (composer), she is the only candidate to defend her doctoral thesis before the official schedule (before the end of the 3rd year of study). Subsequently, in 2017, as a scholarship recipient of the Government of the French Republic under the Courants du Monde program, she further improved her skills in Paris and Montpellier, attending lectures and presenting her work in 16 famous cultural institutions such as Musée Picasso, Éditions du Centre Pompidou, and ICI—Centre chorégraphique national.

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

In 2014, the International ArtExpo group in cooperation with MECA (Mediterráneo Centro Artístico) selected her video work Multidisciplinary virtual 3D installation (synthesis of Scriabin, Jawlensky, and Pogorelich in a light installation) for screening at the International Festival of Experimental Video-Art Pixels of Identities, which was held in the Museo de Almería (Spain). After holding a lecture on the mystic chord in 2018 as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Scriabin Museum’s foundation in Moscow (Russia), in 2022, as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, she held a lecture on his light organ. In 2019, she was also a guest lecturer on the occasion of marking the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Bauhaus at the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (Croatia).

Dr. Rudan Lisak has attended fourteen international conferences. She is a member of Matrix Croatica and is also a member of the Editorial Board of the magazine for literature, culture, and science Riječi (Words). In 2019, for her contribution to promoting Scriabin’s art, she was admitted to the Honorary Membership of the Croatian Society Alexander Scriabin, where she holds the position of Editor-in-Chief. She is fluent in Croatian (native language) English, French, German, and Italian; to improve her command of English, she attended Central College, London (UK).

Publications

BOOKS

• Rudan Lisak, M. René Miković : Hallucinatory Melancholies (exhibition & accompaigning publication), National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb, 2023.
• Rudan Lisak, M. Stephan Lupino : Art in a Maelstrom of Passion, Unrest, and Tension (exhibition & monograph), Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, 2021
• Rudan Lisak, M. Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art : Chromatic Fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich (book of essays), Matica Hrvatska, Sisak, 2015

BOOK CHAPTERS

• Rudan Lisak, M. Oswald Spengler Conquers History—again and again, in: Engels, D., Morgenthaler G., Otte M. (ed.), From Herodotus to Spengler : Comparing Civilizations throughout Time and Space, Manuscriptum, Edition Sonderwege, Lüdinghausen, 2024

• Rudan Lisak, M. Светоорган Александра Скрябина в музиыкальном иконостасе художника Апексея Явленского, in: Listochkina, V. V. (ed.) УЧЁНЫЕ ЗАПИСКИ : Выпуск 11, Memorial Museum of A. N. Scriabin, Moscow, 2024

• Rudan Lisak, M. Мистический аккорд Александра Скрябина и марионетка Генриха фон Клейста, in: Rubtsova, V. V., Listochkina, V. V. (ed.) УЧЁНЫЕ ЗАПИСКИ : Выпуск 10, Memorial Museum of A. N. Scriabin, Moscow, 2021
• Rudan Lisak, M. Antiquity in the Foundation of Western Thought : Fabijanić’s Return to the Origin (book chapter), in: Fabijanić N. (ed.), To the Homeland ’20, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, 2021

SHORT STORY

• Rudan Lisak, M. About the Artist, All the Best, Evening Paper (the short story rubric “Ranko Marinković” has been published since 1964 and is one of the longest-standing short story newspaper traditions in the world), Zagreb, 2023; 21181: 64.

ESSAYS

• Rudan Lisak, M. Višnja Machiedo’s essays radiate chivalry even today, Riječi (Words)—journal for literature, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, Sisak, 2023; 1-2:1-7.
• Rudan Lisak, M. Machiedo’s Bilingual Monologues, The Wreath—literary journal for art, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, Zagreb, 2022; 751-752:12.
• Rudan Lisak, M. Oswald Spengler Conquers History, Again and Again, The Wreath—literary journal for art, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, Zagreb, 2022; 725:16-17.
• Rudan Lisak, M. High Splendour of Organs and Pianos From the Heferer Artistic Workshop, The Wreath—literary journal for art, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, Zagreb, 2021; 738:12-13.
• Rudan Lisak, M. From Hell to Heaven and Back, The Wreath—literary journal for art, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, Zagreb, 2021; 720:12-13.
• Rudan Lisak, M. Painting Memento in Space Beyond History : Fabijanić’s hommage to Ivo Šebalj 100 years after Spengler’s Decline of the West, Forum—journal for literature, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, 2019; July-September: 979-997.
• Rudan Lisak, M. The legendary Zagreb Professor Bogdan Gagić passed away : This is the story about his fasciniting life, Telegram.hr—Portal for social and cultural issues, and the world that comes, 2019
• Rudan Lisak, M. Unconquered Forest and Radovan Ivšić in the Museum of Contemporary art Zagreb, Riječi (Words)—journal for literature, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, Sisak, 2016; 4:20-27.
• Rudan Lisak, M. Alexander Scriabin’s Mystic Chord as a Marionette of Heinrich von Kleist, Riječi (Words)—journal for literature, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, Sisak, 2014; 1-4:5-33.
• Rudan Lisak, M. Music Iconostasis of the Painter Alexej von Jawlensky, Riječi (Words)—journal for literature, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, Sisak, 2012; 3-4:52-60.
• Rudan Lisak, M. Abstraction in Reproductive Art as the End of Western Culture, Riječi (Words)—journal for literature, culture and science, Matrix Croatica, 2012; 1-2:135-141.