Many years of working within my nyc community to create an ecosystem in an empty lot, where one could survive without pollution or waste, not connected to the electrical grid and the sewage system, evolved into the project Nature’s Calling. Using all reclaimed materials, I …
cHURCH OF MONIKA – Rumsey Street, 2016, desanctified church, performance series, Art Prize audience, curated by site:lab During the famous Art Prize in Grand Rapids the cHURCH OF MONIKA at Rumsey Street took place within a desanctified Catholic church, converting the space into a music …
Doing and Undergoing, Columbia University Teachers College, New York, 2013 Galerie pro arte, Austria, 2005 Front Room Gallery, By Artificial Resemblance, New York, 2005 “Your presence leads to conflict (however, there is little reason to think that your absence will lead to peace.)” deals with …
Throughout my career, I have created socially engaged art. I am interested in setting a stage for people to take on different roles in society and play out utopian models for a more balanced environment.
I received my MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where I studied with Michelangelo Pistoletto. During that time I participated in “progetto arte,” a manifesto, which emphasizes that artists have a responsibility to establish ties between all human activities. This notion and my friendship with Michelangelo Pistoletto has been a continuing influence on my work. Since 2015 I have been an ambassador of the Terzo Paradiso, a project by Michelangelo Pistoletto, which encourages a worldwide engagement to promote art as a catalyst for change.
I have worked on large-scale projects since 1995. I created a space for garment factory workers to establish their own museum shop in the Pecci Museum in Florence, Italy. The Open Source Gallery Soup Kitchen is a community dinner that takes place every night in December and invites neighbors, friends and the homeless community, while interacting with art. The cHURCH OF MONIKA, a town hall-style conversation and performance series, is another project recurring once a month that encourages active exchange. Environmental activism was always part of my practice, especially within my work with youth, where my organization KoKoNYC engages students in working with reclaimed and recycled materials to be inventors, who rethink the way we live, learn and play.
Over the years I have been awarded the SHIFT residency by the Elizabeth Foundation, a residency and exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum and multiple grants. I serve on the advisory board for the Puffin Foundation. I am the founder and executive Director of Open Source Gallery, which has been featured by The New York Times, Hyperallergic, BOMB Magazine, and the Brooklyn Rail.