Artist in Residence at ISCP in New York, January-March 2025

Tony Karlsson Savci is currently invested in a poem about the sun as the Syriac Orthodox church, using the image to understand the church’s nature in producing and destroying identity, culture, and community. Personal histories and geopolitical realities influence Karlsson Savci’s practice. During the fall of this year, they made a research trip to their father’s hometown, Midyat, in the Tur Abdin region. This area is today marked by great monasteries under threat and ancient cities submerged due to state and capital interests taking precedence over Indigenous communities’ cultural history and sense of belonging.

Tony Karlsson Savci

Collaboration and collective processes lie at the heart of Tony Karlsson Savci’s work, spanning performance, installation, text, and social practice. Their practice engages with the conditions of queer life, the healing of intergenerational trauma, and the cultivation of community resilience. They have worked with artists such as Every Ocean Hughes, Makda Embaie, and Mar Fjell, pop star Zhala, and as a member of the collective Brown Island. Together with Sara Kaaman, Michael Bekele, and Johnny Chang, they run Munnen—a cultural center and meeting place for art, publishing, workshops, and other activities, free and open to all. Munnen is located at Byälvsvägen 18 in Bagarmossen, Stockholm.

Karlsson Savci has exhibited at Mint ABF, Stockholm; Konsthall C, Stockholm; Index 19/Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm; Södertälje konsthall, Södertälje; Baerum Kunsthall, Oslo; and Off Biennale, Cairo, among others.