About

Agnes Janich is a Swiss and European (of Polish Jewish origin) visual artist. Her visual art tableaux (works) are mise-en-scènes with herself as model, sometimes actors and extras, and herself as director. The light is always natural light and there is no re-touching of the skin and other body parts. While not a diary, everything is natural, both the emotions and their visual mirror - as it is in real life - this a conceptual and formal decision of the Artist.

 

Janich was born 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, Switzerland
  • the KODE – Art Museums and Composer Homes, Bergen, Norway
  • the Galapagos Art Space [now Detroit Biennial], New York, NY, USA
  • with an Asia-European Foundation Grant at the Maison Européene de la Photographie in Paris, France
  • the Auschwitz Jewish Center, Oświęcim (satellite of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, NY) & Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, MOCAK, Krakow
  • the Museo Laboratorio d'Arte Contemporanea (MLAC), Rome
  • the Centre for Creative Industries (CCI) Fabrika, Moscow
  • the Kunsthal 3,14, Bergen, Norway

 

Agnes Janich has been awarded grants and artist’s residencies from, among others :

 

  • Waverley Arts Council, Sydney, Australia
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, USA
  • Suisseculture Sociale, Zürich, Switzerland
  • Skrzynski Foundation [then Sky Foundation], Sydney, Australia
  • Centre for Creative Industries (CCI) Fabrika, Moscow, Russia
  • Pro Litteris, Zürich, Switzerland
  • Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Kitakyushu, Japan
  • Vermont Studio Center, USA
  • Koli Cultural Center, Koli, Finland
  • CCA Kitakyushu, Japan
  • Fonds d’entraide des artistes visuels suisses, Zürich, Switzerland
  • Villa Sträuli [now Kulturhaus Villa Sträuli], Switzerland
  • Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) Conference, Paris Photo, France
  • Galesburg Civic Art Center & Knox College, USA.

 

Her work has been reviewed by influential art critics worldwide, such as:

 

 

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, Norway, ISBN 978-82-91808-5
  • No more bad girls?, Ed. Kathrin Becker and Claudia M. 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, ISBN 978-9978-04-553-X

 

Her works are included in public collections in:

  • in Switzerland
  • the Museo d'arte della Svizzera italiana (MASI) Collection, Lugano
  • in Holland
  • the kunsttraject Collection, Amsterdam
  • in Austria
  • the Jewish Museum Hohenems Collection
  • in Italy
  • the Museo Laboratorio d'arte Contemporanea (MLAC) Collection, Rome
  • in Poland
  • the MCSW (CCA) Radom Collection, Radom, 
  • the Oshpitzin Jewish Museum & Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation Collection
  • in Norway
  • the KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes Collection, Bergen
  • the Kunsthal 3,14 Collection, Bergen
  • in South Korea
  • the La Pomme Museum of Modern Art Collection, Cheonggju
  • in Russia
  • the Centre for Creative Industries (CCI) Fabrika Collection, Moscow
  • in the United States of America
  • the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Collection, Amherst, VA,
  • the Carnegie Mellon University Collection, Pittsburgh, PA.