Nathalie Stirnimann and Stefan Stojanovic | 2022 Residency
Mainland China | Visual Arts
2022 — Visual Arts
Nationality: Switzerland/Serbia
Residency location: TBD
Partner organization: TBD
Nathalie Stirnimann (Born in 1990, Fribourg, Switzerland) and Stefan Stojanovic (Born in 1993, Vranje, Serbia) have been working as a duo since 2015 and are based in Zurich.
Stirnimann-Stojanovic’s concepts manifest and materialise through situations, performances, words, and objects. Social issues and structural questions of the art system seen from the perspective of emerging artists are central themes in their practice. They are interested in testing the boundaries between arts, activism, and society through transdisciplinary approaches and interdependent relations. By activating the audience, the spectators shift from being viewers to actors, depending on the situation, which allows a dialogue triangle to arise.
Stirnimann-Stojanovic aim by extending their understanding of the current situation within the art field, by putting its reality in question, and by operating through collective strategies, to open the field to fairer and more sustainable labour conditions.
“Art is not a mirror to hold to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” —— B. Brecht
Stirnimann-Stojanovic are interested to invest their time as artists in residence in Shanghai to further develop their collaborations with Shanghai-based artists Zhao Chuan and Keng Chen.
Since 2018, Stirnimann-Stojanovic, Keng Chen and Zhao Chuan have presented common works in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Zurich and Basel. In 2020, Stirnimann-Stojanovic were invited by Zhao Chuan to “Acts of Transmission” as participants of “Live Art Workshops” at Partout Festival in Kaserne Basel, supported by Pro Helvetia Shanghai. They are further developing this performance in the framework of the research “Collecting the Ephemeral” (HSLU, SNF). In 2018, Stirnimann-Stojanovic and Keng Chen created together with Wen-Chi Liu, Dino Radoncic and Nikolai Prawdzic the collective RRRRRR. The Shanghai residency will enable them to sustain these collaborations, develop new collective works and learn from the artistic context in Shanghai.
Stirnimann-Stojanovic each hold a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts: Nathalie Stirnimann from the Zurich University of the Arts and Stefan Stojanovic from the Academy of Fine Arts in Novi Sad, Serbia, and both have Master’s degrees in Fine Arts from the Zurich University of the Arts, a programme for which they enrolled and graduated as a duo.
Stirnimann-Stojanovic’s works were shown in Switzerland (Helmhaus, Zurich; Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich; Kunsthalle Fri Art, Fribourg; Arsenic, Lausanne; Stadtgalerie Bern; Kaserne, Basel; Manifesta 11, Zurich; Galerie C, Neuchâtel) and internationally (McaM, Shanghai; Performance Art Biennale, Chandigarh; Museo La Tertulia, Cali; Performance Festival Turku; U10, Belgrade; Acción!MAD, Reina Sofia, Madrid).
They were awarded the “Kunststipendium der Stadt Zürich 2021” (Helmhaus, Zurich) and are nominated for the “Werkschau 2021” (Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich). They are part of the two artist collectives RRRRRR and Intrdpndncy, and co-organize platforms for contemporary art such as Perform Perform and 345 off space in Zurich.
(Stirnimann-Stojanovic at New Performance Turku, Manilla, 2019, Photograph by Turun Sanomat)
