Apolonija Šušteršič

Prototype for Self-organised Economic Unit Prototype for Self-organised Economic Unit

Prototype for Self-organised Economic Unit

Skulptur Biennale Münsterland, 2003

Šušteršič’s broad ranging interest starts with a phenomenological study of space and continues its investigation into the social and political nature of our living environment. Her critical analysis of space usually focuses on the processes and relationships between institutions, cultural politics, urban planning and architecture. Situated somewhere between art and public services, Šušteršič’s practice creates and integrates communities of users who develop scenarios of alternatives and spaces for hope.

Prototype for self-organised Economic Unit is developed as a support structure to create an alternative for employment within the Warendorf Region (Germany). It provides a trading structure for women over 40 who are unemployed and have their own back garden or yard to grow food. The Unit is designed as a red box, which functions as a minimal urban sculpture when closed, and as a market place and kiosk in a prime market place when it is open.

The use of the minimal sculpture as a market stall continued after the Biennial as a self-organised joint venture by the group of women. The conceptual plan for the Unit is developed in co-operation with Skulptur Biennale Münsterland and the Municipality has provided a rent free space for the Unit.

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About

Apolonija Šušteršič is a visual artist and architect working within the specific context of a public space.

Born in Slovenia, Šušteršič originally studied architecture there, before moving to Amsterdam in 1993 to pursue studies in visual arts at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten. For the next five years, she was professor and head of the Monumental Department (Department of Public Art) at the The Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. She was awarded a PhD research position shared between Lund University and Malmö Art Academy, Sweden in 2008, where she is currently finishing her research under the supervision of Professor Sarat Maharaj and Professor Gertrud Sandqvist.

Most recently she was appointed Head of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London and her work Light Therapy is shown at Arte Util at Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven.  Šušteršič has participated in a wide range of international exhibitions as well as published and exhibited projects within and beyond international contemporary art institutions, including personal shows at the Moderna Museet Stockholm, Berlin Bienale, Luxembourg City of Culture, and the twelfth Architecture Biennale in Venice.

Other exhibitions include The Avantgarde: Specters of the Nineties, Marres – Centre for Contemporary Culture, Maastricht, Territories, Identities, Nets, Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Service, Mucsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, 2. Berlin Biennale, Berlin.