New Exhibition “ÉTATS DE PRÉSENCE | States of Presence” Opens in Geneva on June 9
The exhibition ÉTATS DE PRÉSENCE | States of Presence will open on June 9, 2026, at Salle Venturelli in the Geneva area, Switzerland. The exhibition brings together twelve women and men artists from Serbia of different generations and media approaches, whose practices explore the ways in which inner experiences are translated into material, spatial and visual forms. Through paintings, objects, sculptures, installations, collages and drawings as modes of expression, the artists shape spaces of intimacy, reflection and transformation, thereby affirming their presence. The selected works move between the organic and the geometric, the personal and the collective, the contemplative and the engaged, creating a polyphonic field of diverse states of presence – emotional, bodily, psychological and social. In the context of this exhibition, presence is understood not only as the physical existence of the artwork itself, but also as an existential mode of being in the world. In order to affirm its presence, human beings must act, create, reshape and transform the world around them, since it is precisely through the act of creation that a relationship with the world and with one’s own existence is established. In the process of translating different experiences – thoughts, memories, emotions, vulnerabilities, resistance, intimacy – into works of art, the works become sites of encounter between the inner and the outer, the visible and the invisible. Relying on themselves, on their own experiences and personal value systems, the artists create works that move between the aesthetic and the ethical, where visually articulated forms reflect upon and question the themes that shape the reality surrounding us and in which we live. Within this narrowed space between formal autonomy and the need for social reflection, through different materials, textures, spaces, and atmospheres, the artists initiate acts of reflection and empathy, where art is understood as a form of presence – not only in space, but also in the experience of contemporary life. Artists: Aleksandar Stanojević Kempa (b. 1992, Paraćin) is a visual artist whose work spans sculpture, painting, and three-dimensional objects to explore the human figure. His artistic inquiry into three-dimensional forms is characterized by the creation of monumental, monochromatic, totem-like sculptures assembled from everyday objects and recycled materials. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Painting from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, studying under Professor Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić, and received Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at the same institution. His professional development includes participations in the Summer Academy of Fine Arts residency project in Salzburg (2015), the prekARTe ’24 residency in Graz (2024), and an Erasmus student exchange at the Faculty of Fine Arts (Facultad de Bellas Artes, Alonso Cano) at the University of Granada, Spain (2017). To date, he has held more than 20 exhibitions, both domestically and abroad. Statement: I characterize my work so far as an exploration and examination of various styles and techniques through the motif of the portrait, primarily using painting techniques, but also graphic, drawing, and sculptural methods. While my fascination with the human figure developed during my studies, through further research, practice, and progression, the main focus of my interest has shifted to human-made objects—specifically, everyday utilitarian items that have been used and, by losing their purpose, become unwanted and discarded. Under the theme Mummification, I express my interest in the three-dimensional object in human form. The core concept behind creating these sculptures relies on utilizing discarded, non-artistic, utilitarian objects that are part of our daily lives. By highlighting the high consumption and daily disposal of these items, I point to the consumerist society we live in, while also exploring the potential of recycling to grant new forms and values—thereby shifting the environment, intention, and purpose of the discarded. Andrea Ivanović Jakšić (b. 1979, Slavonski Brod) graduated in 2005 from the Department of Painting at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, in the class of Professor Milan Blanuša. Her artistic practice encompasses various media and diverse forms of visual expression. She has presented her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, including in Japan, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, and France. Her artworks are included in prominent private collections across Serbia, Austria, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, and the USA, as well as notable corporate collections, such as the Philip Morris International Collection, the Niš Art Foundation Collection, the Wiener Städtische Collection, and the MOL – Új Európa Alapítvány (MOL New Europe Foundation) Collection. She lives and works in Zrenjanin. Statement: My work emerges at the intersection of matter and inner experience. Natural materials are not merely means of expression, but vessels of time—traces of decay and endurance in which I recognize the ontological dimension of existence. Through scratching, burning, and fracturing the surface, I do not construct a painting in the classical sense; instead, I reveal layers, much like consciousness uncovers itself through the fissures of its own complexity. Every mark becomes a record of transience, yet also a testament to presence; destruction is thus transformed into an act of revelation. The absence of color in my work is not an aesthetic reduction, but an attempt to strip form down to its essence. Divested of decorativeness, the paintings become spaces of silence where the viewer is confronted with their own existence. In this encounter, the artwork ceases to be an object and becomes a question. „I ground my entire artistic oeuvre in a personal philosophy of life, which relies significantly on Heraclitus’s ontological and cosmological ideas—such as change being the only law of nature, the conflict and harmony of opposites, and man and nature as One.“ Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić (b. 1971, Novi Sad) completed her undergraduate (1994) and postgraduate (2000) studies in Painting at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, where she currently serves as a Full Professor in the same field. She has been a member of the professional artist associations SULUV and ULUS since 1995 and actively participates in multimedia projects as part of the art group Multiflex. Since 1992, she has showcased her work in