Category: Network

Mo Diener is a Choreographer, Performer, Video Artist, Researcher and Writer. She studied Art, Ethnography, Anthropology and Comparative Religion in Zurich. Since 2014 she holds an MA in Fine Arts from ZHdK. Her artistic practice is located in the transdisciplinary and conceptual field of critical art and theory. In 2009/10 she started researching her maternal ancestors line (Roma /Sinti) as part of her artistic research project “Science, Fiction & Politics” at Bern University of the Arts HKB. She was 2011 invited into the Master’s program at ZHdK to continue her research. In this context Mo Diener founded the Roma Jam Session art Kollektiv (RJSaK) 2013, together with RR Marki and Milena Petrovic. She is the artistic director of the RJSaK as well as board member of the connected association. Mo Diener introduced the public performance practice to RJSaK opening up new possibilities of intersectional collaborations. During the pandemic years she was editing the publication and art project Morphing The Roma Label together with RR Marki. 

RR Marki is a Roma activist, graphic designer, radio maker and performance artist. 1979 he was working at Radio Bran and 1980 he started his studies at the Technical university in Skopje. RR Marki emigrated 1985 to Switzerland, were he started in the 1990ties to work as an artist. He studied graphic design at the School of Media and Design F + F in Zurich. He worked in Radio Lora Romanes, an independent Roma program of Radio Lora in Zurich. Since the Millenium he exhibited in diverse galleries and off-spaces in Switzerland: Zentrum Karl der Grosse, Zigeuner Kulturtage, Shedhalle amongst others. During the pandemic RR Marki was co-editing the art publication Morphing the Roma Label with Mo Diener. RR Marki is a foundation and board member of RJSaK.

Milena Petrovic is a Serbian, Austrian and Swiss citizen. From 1994 to 1997 she was studying acting in Zurich. Since then she has worked on diverse projects for film and theater stage, among others in the Schauspielhaus Zurich and Maxim Theater Zurich. She was also engaged in Swiss Television SF1 and independent film projects. She collaborated amongst others with film director Reto Gmür, Peter Palitsch and the stage director of Maxim Theater Jasmine Hoch. From 2010 till 2014 she was an active member of the Maxim Theater Company. With their socio critical pieces the theater was touring on the Swiss German theater stages. Milena Petrovic was playing in the well received pieces Kreis Fear, Schweizerpass Superstar, KissKill KillKiss and Spielt Gott Fussball? She is an active and activist and one of the founding members of Roma Jam Session art Kollektiv.

RJSaK works with guests, friends, acomplices and organisations. We had the opportunity to work several times with Sophie Wanda Pagliai, artist, theoretician, activist and friend based in Geneva swell as with the Serbian radio journalist and writer Violeta Aleksic based in Switzerland. Since 2016 we performed and developed work with the great Desirée Gnaba, artistic researcher in performance and dance. 2018 we started to collaborate with Maricruz Penaloza, curator and performance artist based in Zurich who invited us for 9th Performancereihe Neu – Oerlikon and participated in the intervention in September. We currently work with Reinhard Schmiedt, our graphic designer who is engaged with our upcoming publication.
2017 we have been part of the OnCurating Programm (ZHdK) De-Colonizing Art Institutions, a Symposium held in Art Museum Basel (online publication ). 2018 we were part of the First Roma Biennale Berlin with CHROMA – Detox Switzerland – Detox Europe, performative Intervention in public spaces in the center of Berlin. In Mai and September 2018 we engaged into the intersectional project “die grosse um_ordnung”, again with public performances in the streets and in the Art Museum Helmhaus Zurich. The opening performance Nothing about us without us of the exhibition refaire le monde * Proposition involved 14 performative bodies and 2 compositions played live (concept Mo Diener).

In the last years we had great support of institutions: “INES” (Institute of New Switzerland), “Society for Threatened People Switzerland”, RomArchive Berlin, ERIAC Berlin.
We are supported by City Council of Zurich and Bundesamt für Kultur (BAK).
Thank you all for participating, inviting and supporting our work.