Selma Selman
During the opening on February 10, Selma Selmans performed Superpositional Letters to Omer. This was followed by an introduction to the exhibition by Director Mia Christersdotter Norman, curator Amila Puzić and representatives of Röda Sten Konsthall’s partner institutions Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut 2024.
An artist talk was conducted between Selma Selman and the exhibition’s curator Amila Puzić.
The exhibition Crossing the Blue Bridge is conceived around Selman’s new film of the same name, and is based on her mother’s memories of war in her native Bihać during 1994. It binds together the different socio-political and cultural contexts which Selma Selman sovereignly inhabits, living as she does between different places and realities – primarily, her Roma origins and community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond, and her feminist position in art and activism, which often switch places to trouble prevailing norms, codes and prejudices.
The artist will also be exhibiting the video installations A Pink Room of Her Own and You Have No Idea, the sound installation Superpositional Letters to Omer, and a series of new drawings on paper. The artist will perform Superpositional Letters to Omer at the opening: a lyrical performance in which she addresses her intimate feelings and desires to Omer, a fictional character.
Crossing the Blue Bridge is realized in collaboration with Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, which will host a solo exhibition of Selman’s in June, and Bad Ischl, the 2024 European Capital of Culture, where her work will be exhibited in September. The exhibition is produced with support from The Mondriaan Fund, the public cultural funding organization focusing on visual arts and cultural heritage.
Selma Selman was born in 1991 in Ružica, Bihać, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She divides her time between New York, Bihać, and Amsterdam, where she recently completed a residency at the Rijksakademie, and where she currently lives. Sensitive, harsh and ironic gestures alternate in her work, revealing identity discrimination, role expectations and stereotypes.
Selman´s work has been shown at Gropius Bau, Hamburger Bahnhof, documenta fifteen, Manifesta 14, Kunstraum Innsbruck, MO Museum Vilnius, Kasseler Kunstverein Museum Fridericianum, the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Acb Gallery, the FutuRoma Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, and many other venues.
She is the founder of the organization ”Get The Heck To School”, whose mission is to empower Roma girls facing poverty and societal ostracization around the world.
Do you want to see more? You can see more images from the exhibition in our Flickr album. You can also find albums with photos from our other exhibitions on our Flickr.
The exhibition is produced with support from The Mondriaan Fund, the public cultural funding organization focusing on visual arts and cultural heritage.
