About Jelena Jureša
Jelena Jureša, a visual artist born in Yugoslavia (Novi Sad), explores themes of identity, collective violence and complicity, the politics of memory and oblivion, through film, video installation, photography and text.
Her film work moves beyond conventional film language, probing the boundaries of the medium while continually interrogating historical and political narratives. In recent years, her research has focused on practices of oppression—how they operate and implicate us in systems of violence—resulting in multidisciplinary projects that are as politically charged as they are deeply personal.
Jureša’s work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at Argos Centre for Audiovisual Arts in Brussels, Künstlerhaus in Graz, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. In 2015, during her residency as a Jackman Goldwasser artist in collaboration with the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, she began researching the intersections of public art, capitalism, and patriarchy, alongside the construction of male and female histories within these frameworks. As a Q21 artist-in-residence in Vienna in 2016, she studied the work of anthropologists and racial hygienists during the Austrian imperial period, as well as the post-WWII politics of oblivion in Austria.
Recent work
Jureša’s film project Aphasia, which traces a continuum of power, racism, injustice, and violence from Belgian colonialism and Austrian anti-Semitism to the atrocities in Bosnia during the Yugoslav wars, was co-commissioned by the Contour Biennale, where it was shown in 2019, and was also featured in the 2022 Manifesta Biennale. Aphasia has been showcased at numerous international venues, including Kunstverein in Hamburg, BAK – basis voor actuele kunst in Utrecht, Budapest Gallery, Display in Prague, Maxim Gorki in Berlin, the Center for Cultural Decontamination in Belgrade, Cinematek in Brussels, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Fotomuseum in Antwerp, De Cinema in Antwerp (MHKA), and Doc Lisboa. It received the main award at the 23rd Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in Prague. Expanding on her meticulous research and collaboration with the performers from the film, Jureša conceptualized and directed an eponymous concert-performance, which premiered at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels in 2022. This performance, born out of praxical research, aims to devise new strategies for engaging the spectator, addressing issues of group dynamics, obedience to authority, and polarization.The performance toured various venues, including Theaterformen in Hannover, Zürcher Theater Spektakel in Zurich, De Singel in Antwerp, Donaufestival in Vienna/Krems, STUK in Leuven, AMOK in Brugge, and Auawirleben Theaterfestival in Bern.
Jureša currently teaches at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent. She holds a Ph.D. in Arts from Ghent University’s Faculty of Arts and Philosophy and KASK. Since 2020, she has been working on her postdoctoral research project titled Revolt! On a Refusal to Sing—Thinking Resistance Through Music, Waste, and Complicity.