SELMA SELMAN. FLOWERS OF LIFE

Selma Selman (b. 1991) advanced confi­dently and vigor­ously into the inter­na­tional art world just a few years ago, describing herself as “the world’s most dangerous artist.” Together with her family, she canni­bal­izes former status symbols like cars by Mercedes-Benz, in order to acquire the few precious metals that are still usable. The spoken perfor­mances by this artist with a Romani back­ground are usually loud, for she gives expres­sion to anger and her urge to reverse power rela­tion­ships. Selman’s art describes impres­sively, and through a variety of media, auto­bi­o­graph­ical expe­ri­ences of discrim­i­na­tion, violence, patri­archy, and sexism. The SCHIRN is dedi­cating a major solo exhi­bi­tion to the artist, presenting specially devel­oped new works. With the poetic title “Flowers of Life”, an instal­la­tion consisting of orange peel grabs refers to her family’s means of liveli­hood, since they collect and sell scrap metal. Selman will also be creating the video piece “Crossing the Blue Bridge” about flight in her mother’s arms during the Bosnian War.