Marc Kiska was born in France in 1983 and raised by schoolteachers in a small town close to Saint-Etienne. As an adolescent he was deeply attracted to underground culture and alternative lifestyles, romanticizing decadence and rebellion, which has deeply influenced his work. As a quiet, introverted boy, Kiska started writing at the age of 14. In love with fantasy and the wondrous, with dreams and the inner, troubled worlds of youngsters; doubting, opposing and distrusting the hollow, grave reality of adulthood. Disillusioned by a lack of substantial mirroring and genuine ideals, he absorbed himself with the outlands of normality, a Kaspar Hauser, falling in love with Arthur Rimbaud, who promises something more, somewhere else.
Kiska wasn't ultimately satisfied by his writing, and at the age of 20, he started taking a fast growing interest in photography; discovering a whole new dimension in which he could express himself. He started off taking photos to illustrate his short stories, and he immediately connected to the lens and found great passion in this new dimension to explore and communicate his vision and inner enterprise. One of his first shoots (2004) was literally inside the walls of the City Hall of Oslo, where he worked as a cook. He discovered there small, secret passages inside some of the walls. This portrays his artistic identity, revealing itself in that space, mysterious, hidden, in between parentheses and brackets, barely sheltered from the numb and rigid, institutional charade playing out on the other side of those duplexed walls.
After 10 years of art photography he launched his book Outlandish /Room/ (2014) which got great attention in several countries. “Les vestiges d’Alice” (ed. TABOU, 2017) is Kiska’s debut novel, which he first started to work on in 2009 after having focused on short stories since 2001. “Les vestiges d’Alice” won the Jury's Special Mention at the french Gay Novel Price 2017.
AWARDS
2019 OSLO MUNICIPALITY'S ARTIST AWARD 2018 FOR PRIDE ART
Marc Kiska has had a central position in developing, curating and directing Pride Art since 2007 and was member of the board when the group got the award.
2018 AUDIENCE PRICE FOR BEST ART
for the sculpture Conversion Therapy at the exhibition Shameless, Oslo, Norway. The audience (25 000 entries) voted between 500 pieces of art.
2017 GAY NOVEL PRICE 2017, JURY'S SPECIAL MENTION
for the novel Les Vestiges d'Alice, France.
EXHIBITIONS
2022 - 2007 Group Exhibitions, Skeive Kunstnere/Pride Art, Norway
2021 SER DU MEG HARDANGER, Galleri Skarpeteigen, Group Exhibition, Herad, Norway
2021 TILFLUKTSROM, Galleri Havna, Group Exhibition, Oslo, Norway
2021 FRIHET TIL Å ELSKE, Group Exhibition, Moss, Norway
2020 CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE : RESIDENTE O VISITANTE, Group Exhibition, Romantso Gallery, Athens, Greece.
2019 GOD SAVE THE QUEEN(S), Group Exhibition, Photo Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.
2019 FESTIVAL RACCORDS, Violette and Co, Paris, France
2019 HOMOSURREALISM PARIS, Group Exhibition, Les Souffleurs, Paris, France
2018 MELK, Group Exhibition, Kunstplass, Oslo, Norway
2018 HOMOFILI, KUNST OG OFFENTLIGHET, sculpture "Convertion Therapy", Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
2018 SKAMLØS, Group Exhibition, Mint Art Gallery, Kristiansand, Norway
2018 SKAMLØS, Group Exhibition, Gamle politi stasjon, Arendal, Norway
2018 SHAMELESS, Group Exhibition, Youngstorget, Oslo, Norway
2017 LES SOUFFLEURS, A la tombée des Masques, Paris, France
2017 CITY HALL OF OSLO, Group Exhibition, Oslo, Norway
2016 GENIUS, Group Exhibition, Oslo, Norway
2015 CITY HALL OF OSLO, Group Exhibition, Oslo, Norway
2015 CYAN GALLERY, Group Exhibition, Oslo, Norway
2014 AUBERGE LENTAISE, Lent, France
2014 LES MOTS À LA BOUCHE, Paris
2014 THE BLACK FAWN, Oslo, Norway
2012 ALT FOR NORGE, Galleri Vepsebolet, Oslo, Norway
2008 TORNADO, Galleri Vrangsiden, Group Exhibition, Halden, Norway
2007 Château Neuf, Oslo, Norway
2006 MS Innvik, Oslo, Norway
EVENTS
2019 GOD SAVE THE QUEEN(S), Book Signing, Photo Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2019 CONFERENCE "L'IDENTITE DANS L'ART" FESTIVAL RACCORDS, Violette and Co, Paris, France
2018 PRIX DU ROMAN GAY 2017, Award Ceremony, Paris, France
2018 SALON DU LIVRE GAY, Book Signing, Paris, France
2018 SALON DU LIVRE, Book Signing, Paris, France
CONTACT
contact(..at..)marckiska(..dot..)com
Photo : Emmanuel Barrouyer
Photo : Tara Lennart
Photo : Sigrid Sund
Photo : Anders
Photo : Lulu
Photo : Lulu
Photo : Lulu
Photo : Lulu
Photo : Solenne Priolon