Agnes Janich is a visual artist. Her visual art tableaux (works) are mise-en-scènes (staged images), following a long on-set production with actors and herself as director, and meticulous post-production. She oversees the entire process herself, up to the archival, acid-free framing of the works, ensuring them 300-year longevity.
Janich was born in 1985 in the traditionally multicultural city of Lodz, Poland and raised in Singapore, South Africa and New York City (NYC). She lives and works between Mendrisio, Ticino, Switzerland and Genève, Switzerland.
A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, she has shown her work in, among others:
- the Progr Art Center in Bern, CH
- the KODE – Art Museums and Composer Homes, Bergen, NO
- the Galapagos Art Space [now Detroit Biennial], New York, NY
- the Maison Européene de la Photographie in Paris, FR (as part of the Asian-European Foundation Grant)
- the Central European House of Photography in Bratislava, SL
- the 9th Sharjah Biennial, UAE
- the Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, AT (curated by Claudia M.Stemberger, PhD & Kathrin Becker, NBK Berlin)
- the Platform / Fotomuseum Winterthur, CH
- the Auschwitz Jewish Center, Oświęcim (satellite of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, NY) & Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, MOCAK, Krakow, PL
- the Centre for Creative Industries (CCI) Fabrika, Moscow, RU
- the Museo Laboratorio d'Arte Contemporanea, MLAC, Rome, IT
- the Kunsthal 3,14, Bergen, NO.
Agnes Janich has been awarded grants and artist’s residencies from, among others :
- Waverley Arts Council, Sydney, AU
- Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, USA
- Suisseculture Sociale, Zürich, CH
- Centre for Creative Industries (CCI) Fabrika, Moscow, RU
- Pro Litteris, Zürich, CH
- Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Kitakyushu, JP
- Vermont Studio Center, USA
- Koli Cultural Center, Koli, FI
- Fonds d’entraide des artistes visuels suisses, Zürich, CH
- Villa Sträuli [now Kulturhaus Villa Sträuli], CH
- Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) Conference, Paris Photo, FR
- Galesburg Civic Art Center & Knox College, USA.
Her work has been reviewed by influential art critics worldwide, such as:
- Daniele Muscionico for Neue Zürcher Zeitung, CH
- Silas Marti for la Folha de São Paulo, BRA
- Der Standard, AT
- Marta Pietrasik for Gazeta Wyborcza, PL
- Jena Opoldusova for Pravda, SK
- LeMonde.Fr
- Oliver Good for The National, UAE
- Melanie Kolbrunner for Landbote, CH.
Janich's work was included in numerous books on visual arts, as well as gender and identity politics, such as:
- a monograph of her works, accompanied by essays by:
- Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, PhD, an art critic for Artforum, & Lyle Rexer, PhD, an art critic for Aperture,
- was out with Fotohof Edition, Salzburg, AT, ISBN 978-3-902675-80-4.
- Desire, exhibition catalog, 2012, Ed. Eli Okkenhaug, KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes, Bergen, NO
- Era New Horizons catalog, Ed. Robert Kardzis, Era New Horizons, Wroclaw, ISBN 978-83-925733-9-5
- No more bad girls?, Ed. Kathrin Becker and Claudia Marion Stemberger, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-200-01861-7
- Provisions. Sharjah Biennial 9. Book 2, Ed. Antonia Carver and Lara Khaldi, Bidouin and Sharjah Biennial, New York and Sharjah
- Provisions. Sharjah Biennial 9. Book 1, Ed. Antonia Carver, Valerie Grove and Lara Khaldi, Bidouin and Sharjah Biennial, Dubai, ISBN 9789948-04-607-2
- Paris Photo 2005 Catalogue, Agnieszka Jeziorska [now Agnes Janich], Poland, 2005, Editor’s Note.
Her works are included in public and private collections in Europe (in Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Austria, Norway, Russia, Monaco), South-East Asia (Japan, South Korea), Australia and the US (New York City).