Ana Strika, 2024
born 1981 in Zurich, Switzerland; lives and works in Zurich
Ana Strika, born in 1981, lives and works in Zürich. She studied fine arts at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Her work process is, in itself, research into procedural development of form and form-finding as experienced within the creative process. Her installations emerge in resonance with space, time and circumstance. Her artworks are constructed by selecting elements from her carefully stored and archived collection of materials. Cardboard, scraps of paper, parcel string, tree branches, wood and plaster are plucked from their respective 3D catalogue to be united, juxtaposed and contrasted in order to create an ever-changing material dialogue. This store of “props” is in constant flux as it moves between the studio and the exhibition space, producing combinations in which these elements come together with whole new levels of meaning. The diversity of materials and the designs created as a result, are open to different interpretations and activate the viewer’s associations and memories.
Her works have been shown internationally. Strika has exhibited at Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Kunsthalle Arbon, CRAC Alsace – Centre Rhénan d’art contemporain, Altkirch, Espace d’Art Contemporani de Castelló (EACC), the Blackbridge Offspace, Beijing, the Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts, Shedhalle, Zurich, the Atelierhaus im Anscharpark, Kiel and Kunstmuseum Bern.
Her works are to be found in the Zürich city art collection, the collection of Kunst (Zeug) Haus in Rapperswil-Jona, the Art Collection of the Canton of Zurich, and Kunstmuseum Bern.
In addition to winning numerous prizes over the years, she was awarded a Werkjahr grant from the City of Zurich Department of Cultural Affairs in 2021, a fine arts work grant from the Canton of Zurich in 2019, a recognition award from the UBS Culture Foundation in 2016, and a six-month studio stipend in Istanbul from the City of Zurich Dept. for Cultural Affairs. In 2023, she was awarded a three-month studio stipend from the Jakob and Emma-Windler Foundation at the Chretzeturm in Stein am Rhein. Ana Strika will be the 2024 Artist-in-Residence at the ZF Art Foundation in Friedrichshafen.