The artists nominated by
Organ Vida presents a group of emerging photographers and visual artists selected via open call, aimed at broader regional context of former Yugoslavia. Although coming from different backgrounds, their practices share common interests in exploring the fluid, fragmented and ever-shifting nature of memory and identity.
Five nominated artists navigate personal and collective histories through photography, sculpture, installation and moving image. Across their works, the past become a space of active construction — where childhood, lineage, relationships, and technology collide in a process of re-imagination. In 'Familiar characters' Igor Schiller revisits his childhood memories, both as a host and a visitor, balancing nostalgia with the uncanny. As he reimagines the past, his playful photographic series triggers deeper explorations of identity and belonging. Similarly, Marija Mandić in 'White Bee' excavates lost histories, tracing a matrilineal presence that has been systematically erased. With her project she delves into themes of memory, female identity, and family connections, shaped through lingering intergenerational bonds. The intimate structures of relationships are further questioned in 'TWO', a project by Sara Perović which dismantles conventional notions of love, partnership, and permanence. Through a personal photographic archive, the artist redefines "two" as a shifting, fluid equation. Fluidity and notion of transformation extend into material itself in Sara Rman's body of work titled 'In process'. By intervening in photographic surfaces with fire, light, and decay, the artist exposes the unseen textures of image-making, embracing imperfection and change. Finally, in 'Terminal Tears / The Feminine Urge to…' by Laureta Hajrullahu, identity is not only remembered but actively reconstructed through interaction with technological devices. Screenshots, digital artifacts, and cast objects become tools for dismantling archetypes, questioning how the internet and media shape our perception of selfhood.
Organ Vida's 2025 nominations were curated by:
Organ Vida (curatorial collective)
Barbara Gregov
Lovro Japundžić
Lea Vene
Tena Starčević, curator
Vanja Žunić, curator
Hana Čeferin, curator and publisher
Schiller’s artistic practice explores the lasting imprint of childhood, drawing inspiration from memories and his Balkan roots. Through photography, film, and set design, he transforms family archive into uncanny dreamscapes saturated with tenderness and warmth. Embracing play as both method and subject, he turns toys, lullabies, and games into historical artifacts that reveal how tradition and upbringing shape and perpetuate rigid systems. As colors grow richer and characters take form, the line between remembering and reinventing begins to blur. What started as a search for fragments of memory became an unfolding tale of identity and belonging.
