Podcast series 2025
Project leader Doris Weinberger in conversation with Nikola Pisarev about his activist and artistic practice in Skopje.
© Nikola Pisarev, Doris Weinberger/ IGBK
Preview image: Urban installation, solar system. © Lake Dojran
The podcast series features interviews with European local artistic initiatives as part of the IGBK's 2025 annual project "Opening Space | Promoting Encounters."
About:
Nikola Pisarev (*1975 in Skopje) is an art historian and archaeologist. Since 2015, he holds an MA in Public relations and Strategic communications from High school for Public Relations in Skopje. In 2018 he finished school of artistic activism in New York, in organization of the Center for Artistic Activism from New York, USA.
He is founder of the group Urban art actions – Urban Guerrilla that was established in Skopje and within the last seven-eight years, spread its way of work and approaches on wider region of south Europe. At the moment Pisarev works as a program director at Contemporary Art Center, Skopje.
Since 1999 he actively works on projects dedicated on improvement of cultural and social life of communities in Macedonia and wider regions of western Balkans. One of his biggest achievements is that he is one of the pioneers that start to use creative activism combined with art and communications for solving of different community problems and initiating social changes. Pisarev is author of many projects that still have strong feedbacks in western Balkans like PhotoVoice, Mobile/Montage Gallery, Citizens activator, Rurual communities culture (project awarded by SCP AND SDC with special award for social impact), Urban Art Actions (one of widely recognized CSOs projects in history of Macedonia). Furthermore he is founder of numerous initiatives among which are: I love GTC, Initiative for saving Radika River, Initiative Arsena for clear drinking water in Gevgleija, Parkobrans, and many other community initiatives and is author of many articles from the field of Art History, Urban Environment and Urbanism, Social Anthropology and Civic Activism.
Doris Weinberger, who grew up in Germany and Japan, is a freelance artist with an inter/national exhibition/interaction and performance practice in semi/public spaces.
She is an active member of the board of the BBK Bundesverband and the IGBK as well as various committees.
Doris Weinberger's work as an artist is primarily interdisciplinary and collaborative in the formats of installation/interaction/performance. Her main areas of interest are mechanisms of representation and projection in the production of hegemonic imagery and (linguistic) structures, their creation of legends, their deconstruction and transformation. Doris Weinberger is a founding member of the artist collectives mark and ANTZ! She teaches performative methods & participative strategies at universities and colleges, gives lectures and advises organizations.