Christina Stark

I work with spoken language, inner speech, polylanguaging and language change.

Spoken and written text is my artistic material. Linguistic methods become my artistic tools.

At the Saari Residence I will focus on the Finnish ‘missä’ case or inessive case – a fascinating linguistic feature – and research the way we act and comprehend our environment, interdependently, through language use.

When I am looking at a text and when I am listening to spoken language, I’m always looking for structures and patterns; I count, extract and mark a lot. I try to slow down the process of reception and deconstruct language material into the smallest possible fragments.

Being surrounded by the tone of the language I am involved with is the best way for me to work and being surrounded by languages I don’t understand makes me experience them in their musical and mathematical form. Also, I love to work in a multi-language situation, because I seek a certain insecurity in my perception of language.

Bio:

As a Berlin based artist and researcher, Christina Stark has received different kinds of local and European fundings and residencies: for artistic research about polylanguaging by Decentralized Cultural Work, Berlin; nomination for the Haus am Kleistpark Art Prize, Berlin; artistic research residency at TUO TUO, Joutsa, Finland; funding for the feminist intervention galerie asterisk* by the federal programme NEUSTART KULTUR, Commissioner for Culture and the Media in Germany; and a stipend at Mercator Berghaus Stiftung, Krzyżowa, Poland.

Besides her artistic research she has carried out feminist art interventions such as galerie asterisk* and solidary:WE. She is active in artist organisations like Fair Share for Women Artists and Kunst+Kind Berlin, an initiative for equal opportunities in the art business.

Education

2018, Bachelor of Arts in linguistics and philosophy, Humboldt-University Berlin

2000, Diploma in Fine Arts, Alanus University of Arts and Social Science Alfter