Larisa Sitar was born in 1984 in Baia Mare, Romania, and lives in Bucharest. She is this year’s KVOST scholarship holder and recipient of the Claus Michaletz Prize 2023.
fig.above: Larisa Sitar, Robust Boast, Suprainfinit, Bucharest, Romania / 2022.
In her exhibition Hope swapping, fixed at KVOST, Larisa Sitar explores the points of contact between art and architecture in East and West, focusing on ornamentation as a socio-political statement. Her sculptures and bas-reliefs are informed by her own biographical background.
Architecture in Eastern Europe changed rapidly in the 1990s in response to the opening of the borders. Sitar makes specific reference to the fact that workers began to adopt fancy designs and romanticised ornaments from the West and recreate them with the materials at their disposal. To evoke these diverse cultural associations, she combines familiar analogue motifs with digital techniques to create a link between past and present.
Larisa Sitar studied at the Faculty of Photography and Moving Image at the National University of the Arts in Bucharest, where she graduated in 2010.Her interdisciplinary artistic work explores issues of cultural heritage, memory and nostalgia. Her solo and group exhibitions include: Robust Boast (2022), Suprainfinit Gallery in Bucharest, Romania; Chronicles of the Future Superheroes (2021), Bega Art Gallery in Timisoara, Romania; Robust Boast (2019), WIELS, Brussels in Belgium; Life, a User’s Manual, Art Encounters Biennale (2017) in Timisoara, Romania; Inventing the Truth. On Fiction and Reality (2015), Romanian Cultural Institute at the 56th Venice Biennale.
Larisa Sitar is a laureate of the KVOST Scholarship and the Claus Michaletz Prize 2023. The artist was selected from 174 applications. This year the jury consisted of Nadine Barth (author and curator with a focus on photography), Karen Boros (Boros Collection and VIP Relation Art Basel) furthermore Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher (curator:inside team with a focus on Eastern and Southeastern Europe), Dr. Silke Manske and Corinna Reuter (Secco Pontanova Foundation) and Stephan Koal (curator and director of the Kunstverein).
KVOST – the Kunstverein Ost – supports artists who come from Eastern and Central Europe or whose lives and working methods have been shaped by the experience of the former Eastern Bloc. The KVOST scholarship was awarded for the first time in 2019 and includes an artist residency in Berlin followed by a solo exhibition at KVOST. Since 2022, the scholarship has been awarded in combination with the Claus Michaletz Prize. The full amount of the prize money of 10,000 euros is at the free disposal of the scholarship holders. The award ceremony and the opening of the exhibition traditionally take place during Berlin Art Week.
WHERE?
KVOST
Kunstverein Ost e.V.
Leipziger Strasse 47 /
Entrance Jerusalemer Strasse
10117 Berlin
WHEN?
Exhibition period: Thursday 14.09. – Sunday 19.11.2023
Opening and awarding of the Claus Michaletz Prize: Wednesday 13.09.2023 . 7 p.m.
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday . 14 – 18 h
