Artists in Residence in Stockholm 15 November 2024–25 February 2025

Gaja Mežnarić Osole, eco-social designer and Danica Sretenović, architect, are based in Lubliana, Slovenia. They are co-founders of Krater collective – a group of transdisciplinary enthusiasts that took courage to reinvent their respective professions, studios and working conditions to act as guardians of rewilded ecosystems at pending construction sites in Ljubljana. Since the Krater ecosystem is continually at the verge of extinction, the collective cultivates creative resilience in face of urgency by inventing feral tactics, events and formats, treating administrative and other restrictions as an object of artistic interventions.

Photo: Amadeja Smrekar

Danica Sretenović and Gaja Mežnarić Osole

Alongside site-specific work such as the cultivation of biodiversity, Krater hosts internationally acclaimed educational formats to introduce new typologies of work into human culture (The School of Feral Grounds), laboratories to experiment with biomaterials (Notweed paper, invasive plants, mycelia and wild clay), advocacy strategies (banquets, mediation processes, public speeches), exhibitions (Forbidden Vernaculars BIO27, Feral Occupations GB35), conferences (The Feral Palace), and other public programmes (Krater Vibrascapes, harvesting Japanese knotweed, Feral Cartographies Cycling Tours, Tea Ceremonies, Little School of Urban Ecologies, etc.).

During the IASPIS residency, they will further explore protection and representation mechanisms for Krater and Krater-like sites, drawing inspiration from activist and creative practices, particularly in response to its threats of extinction. Their focus will be on presenting their work across pedagogical contexts to extend their agency and international network of supporters, while working on integrating situated tactics, research, alliances and topics into curating Krater’s upcoming cultural and pedagogical program that includes collaborations with educational institutions, cultural organizations, and municipalities to introduce feral approaches to managing public green spaces in the city.

Danica Sretenović is an architect and curator currently acting as a mentor at the Creative Impact Research Center Europe. Gaja Mežnarić Osole, who holds a master’s degree in Design Futures from Goldsmiths, University of London, is a co-founder of the Trajna Association and a co-initiator of Krater. Joining their professional paths within the Krater collective, they have been invited artists at Graphic Arts Biennial in Ljubljana (2023), the Biennial of Design in Ljubljana (BIO27, 2022), and mentors at L’internationale programmes The School of Common Knowledge and The School of Many Easts (2024). Krater’s work has been exhibited among others at: Ars Electronica 2024, MODEM Museum of Contemporary Arts, Silent Green Kulturquartier, Festival IZIS, Vienna Design week, Salone del Mobile, Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden, 42nd Split Salon, MGLC, MAO and Cukrarna Gallery. Their contributions have also been featured on platforms like Koozarch, CIRCE and e-flux, with an upcoming article with Routhledge’s Building Ground for Climate Collectivism. The duo has collaborated with institutions such as Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, the University of Sheffield, the University of Amsterdam, Floating University in Berlin, Atelier Luma in Arles, the Masters for Architecture in Luxembourg, the The Creative Impact Research Centre Europe (CIRCE) in Berlin, and The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in Tamale, Ghana. To keep the collective practice alive they have also contributed to several funding applications for (inter)national programs from Horizon to Creative Europe.

https://voices.skd.museum/en/voices-mag/krater-project-from-a-feral-plant-to-a-feral-site/