The cities of Luxembourg and Saarbrücken (Germany) have announced the selected artists who will take part in this year’s Artmix artist residency project.
The Artmix exchange programme took place on an annual basis until 2019 and was redesigned in 2023. For its new edition, the programme will be aimed both at artists and open to exhibition curators.
The jury, made up of six members, met on 23 October 2023 at Cerclé Cité in Luxembourg to select the participants in the Artmix 2023 programme.
The jury was made up of representatives of the artistic and cultural scenes of Luxembourg and Saarbrücken:
• Bob Seyler, Neimënster/Luxembourg
• Alexandre Bugnet, neimënster/Luxembourg
• Charles Rouleau, Casino Display/Luxembourg
• Anastasia Chaguidouline, artistic director Cercle Cité/Luxembourg
• Leo Scheidt, independent curator/Saarbrücken
• Katharina Ritter, M.A., artistic director Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken
After an in-depth discussion, the jury chose Noé Duboutay (they/he) (Luxembourg) and Darja Linder (Germany) as well as curator Ira Yeroshko (Germany). The two selected artists will each be able to invite an additional artist. Noé Duboutay thus chose Sophia Lökenhoff (they/them) and Darja Linder will take Hannah Mevis with her in the new team of Artmix artists.
The objective of the jury was to constitute a group of creative people capable of working together on an exhibition project, including managing the communication and mediation aspects. The establishment of public workshops during residencies in Luxembourg and Saarbrücken will complete the project, thus making it possible to create new forms of collaboration and professionalisation and to promote the creation of networks at the regional level but also between geographically close artistic circles.
The projects of the selected artists were able to convince the jury with their approach and their use of different media. In addition to their own very contemporary aesthetic, the artists address current themes such as identity and the questioning of social norms. These themes are shared by curator Ira Yeroshko, who, in her previous projects, has sought to make different voices resonate within communities. In addition, the jury wanted to place the projects in political news by ensuring that the artistic formats chosen would offer a platform for artistic exchanges beyond borders and nationalities.
The five participants are in the early stages of their careers and can count on their participation in the Artmix project to gain experience. According to the jury's conclusions, the artistic proposals convinced as much by their aesthetic dimension as by their commitment and their positions on contemporary socio-political questions.
Noé Duboutay (*1995 in Luxembourg; lives between Berlin and Luxembourg) is a performance artist and author. He uses his body and voice as a medium, creates installations and writes. Noé Duboutay explores the relationships between human entities and abstract concepts. His performances question the forms of the incarnation of the body. By mixing fictional and autobiographical elements with his stories and his movements, he leaves the marked paths to penetrate a space made of uncertainty and fragile gentleness.
Noé Duboutay chose to be accompanied by Sophia Lökenhoff (*1989 in Essen/Germany; lives and works in Berlin), a transdisciplinary performance artist, who creates immersive performances to explore the body and mix temporalities, spaces, objects, sounds and their relationship to the invisible. Since 2020, Sophia Lökenhoff has been working on an ongoing performance cycle (op. {{}} 001-005) which explores the transitions of a fantasized figure called IAGA. IAGA co-exists in sympoiesis with and through many bodies, exploring the vestiges of the triple goddesses in contemporary knowledge systems. The particular format of the performances oscillates between workshop, game and ritual, inviting the audience to participate in the experience.
The work of Darja Linder (*1992 in Thälmanskij/Russia; lives and works in Saarbrücken). Her work focuses on interactions between people and the telling of individual stories. His visual universes not only honor their subject, but also address social and identity themes. She mainly works in painting, but also uses other media to create a connection with people and their stories, such as writing, recording conversations or taking photos.
Darja Linder will be accompanied by Hannah Mevis (*1989 in Heidelberg/Germany; lives and works between Saarbrücken and Brussels. In her work, she explores the possibilities of representing bodily perceptions to integrate them into a historical or socio-political context. She is not tied to a specific medium, but works contextually and conceptually, with a strong interest in audience involvement.
Ira Yeroshko (*1994 in Luzk/Ukraine; lives and works in Saarbrücken) is currently completing their master's degree in Curating and Exhibition Management at the Saarland School of Fine Arts. Recently, they have organised several exhibitions and projects dealing with social and political discourses. Their work pays particular attention to valuing the stories and experiences of the Ukrainian people.
The cross-border Artmix residency project, suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed in 2023 with new partners and a redesigned concept: in addition to the artists, the jury now selects a curator. The project, created in 2005, brings together artists from the Greater Region with the aim of promoting regional exchanges between neighbouring artistic scenes. This initiative aims to encourage new forms of collaboration and seeks to professionalise the sector.
The Cercle Cité, Abbaye de Neumünster (neimënster), Casino Display from Luxembourg and the Saarbrücken Stadtgalerie from Germany will participate in this project.
