Elisabeth Piskernik

Elisabeth Piskernik is the director of Le Cube – independent art room which she founded in 2005 in Rabat in order to create a platform for exhibitions, residencies and research, focusing on contemporary art practices.

Born in Vienna, Austria, she graduated in Art History and Romance Philology at the University of Vienna. She has completed a training course in gallery management (Galerie Lang, Vienna) and cultural management (Institut für Kulturkonzepte Wien). She was also responsible for the artistic programming at Galerie Freund in Klagenfurt.

In 2004, she moved to Rabat and created one year later the art space Le Cube – independent art room in collaboration with the Collectif 212 which she co-founded with the artists Amina Benbouchta, Safaa Erruas, Jamila Lamrani, Myriam Mihindou, Hassan Echair, Younes Rahmoun and Imad Mansour.

Since 2006, Elisabeth Piskernik has established several residency and research programs that accompany emerging artists in Morocco and internationally in the conception and production of their artistic work and exhibitions: the summers lab project, new generation as well as residency programs in collaboration with Prohelvetia Cairo, the French Institute of Morocco, La Maison Salvan, the Austrian Ministry of Culture.

She is involved in numerous art projects in Morocco as well as on an international level questioning social, cultural and political issues, among others Binatna, Cube – independent art room, Rabat, 2013, Palais Porcia, Vienna, 2014; residency and research project Attokoussy, Hinterland, Vienna, 2017, Cube – independent art room, Rabat, 2018; Interspaces, Künstlerhaus Klagenfurt, 2018; regional programme travelling narratives, Rabat, Algiers, Cairo, Nouakchott, 2018/19, Big Ideas, philomena+, Vienna, 2020; ECHOS, Alte Münze, Berlin, 2023 ; Tired Palm Trees, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, 2024.

Participating in various conferences and events in Morocco and abroad (among others In search of archives in Berlin organised by Sarah Dornhof in collaboration with Universität Konstanz (2020), PROYECTOR, 12th Videoart Festival in Madrid (2019), she has also co-organised a number of events in Morocco and abroad, such as the MENA international conference: Norden project on the situation of contemporary art in Morocco in collaboration with artscabinet and Mimeta Foundation (2017) and the lecture series and round tables in the framework of the travelling narratives project with Lotte Arndt, Françoise Vergès, le peuple qui manque, Yvette Mutumba and Nanette Snoep (2018-2019).

She also acted as a member of the jury of the BJCEM (Biennial of Young Creators of Europe and the Mediterranean), of the Institut Français du Maroc in the framework of the residency programme at La Friche, Marseille, as well as for the call for applications in cooperation with Al Safar Paris, etc.

Responsible for the annual editions of the different projects of Le Cube – independent art room, Elisabeth Piskernik regularly publishes books on specific art projects, such as travelling narratives, Attokoussy and co-edits publications of collaborative projects, such as Big Ideas, Frontières Fluides, etc.

She lives and works between Rabat and Vienna.