Takeover #197 Maja Simisic
Maja Simisic: Instagram / Website
#197 (14/03 - 18/03, 2022) written by Robin Speijer / interview by Joris Broekhoven
Let’s immerse ourselves in the world of Maja Simisic! Maja graduated in 2021 from Willem de Kooning with a Bachelor’s in Autonomous Fashion Design. Within the freedom of this bachelor Maja created an art practice which may not fit the expectations one may have of this bachelor. She calls herself a transdisciplinary artist: performance, installation, and video are all involved in her practice.
“The bachelor was very open and gave me a lot of space for experimentation. I never saw myself as someone who makes things for a purpose, such as clothes to be worn. I struggle with labels, as my work doesn’t fit in one box. It’s mostly more about the story and the research behind it.”
As part of her research Maja reads a lot of books and scours through social media websites where the true faces of society come out. What is most important to her however, is talking to people and exchanging opinions. Like a sponge she absorbs all of the information she finds and archives it for later use.
“When I was younger, I was always creating my own universe and fantasies. Now I am basically doing the same thing. I use it to analyze what I don’t understand about the world, and try to make it into something I do understand.”
Maja grew up in Germany with her parents, who are Serbian. Because of her parents’ work, she spent a good chunk of her childhood moving back and forth between Germany and Serbia. This left her questioning where her home really is. This became a recurring theme in her work, where she tries to tackle that question: How do you create this happy space of home?
“My work is like micro activism or emotional activism. All these little things will little by little cause a change.”
Maja wants to make the audience question themselves and provoke a reaction. It doesn’t matter if this reaction is positive or negative, it’s about the interaction and leaving an impression on people that they will remember. During this week’s takeover, Maja will look to interact with us as well. Not just showing past works, but also future works she is working on.
“The bachelor was very open and gave me a lot of space for experimentation. I never saw myself as someone who makes things for a purpose, such as clothes to be worn. I struggle with labels, as my work doesn’t fit in one box. It’s mostly more about the story and the research behind it.”
As part of her research Maja reads a lot of books and scours through social media websites where the true faces of society come out. What is most important to her however, is talking to people and exchanging opinions. Like a sponge she absorbs all of the information she finds and archives it for later use.
“When I was younger, I was always creating my own universe and fantasies. Now I am basically doing the same thing. I use it to analyze what I don’t understand about the world, and try to make it into something I do understand.”
Maja grew up in Germany with her parents, who are Serbian. Because of her parents’ work, she spent a good chunk of her childhood moving back and forth between Germany and Serbia. This left her questioning where her home really is. This became a recurring theme in her work, where she tries to tackle that question: How do you create this happy space of home?
“My work is like micro activism or emotional activism. All these little things will little by little cause a change.”
Maja wants to make the audience question themselves and provoke a reaction. It doesn’t matter if this reaction is positive or negative, it’s about the interaction and leaving an impression on people that they will remember. During this week’s takeover, Maja will look to interact with us as well. Not just showing past works, but also future works she is working on.