Bojana (S) Knežević Harpirexia: Study of a Predator

In Harpirexia: Study of a Predator, the artist embodies a hybrid bird-woman predator, engaging in a series of audio-visual micro-choreographies, each contributing to a collection of superpowers, vital for her survival as an immigrant woman artist. Inspired by mythology, the realm of nature, female superheroes, and fables, the project reacts to the systemic silencing of female, queer, and non-human bodies in patriarchal society. Through the lenses of ecofeminism and feminist speculative fiction, Harpirexia: Study of a Predator reflects the unpredictable and surreal nature of our realities, capturing the disorienting chaos that defines the world today. In the face of global crises, intersectional discrimination, and existential struggles, it highlights the extraordinary resilience, courage, and inner strength required to confront the ever-shifting tides of social and political turmoil.

Co-curated by Daphne Rüde (Balkan Radikal co-founder)

CREDITS

Bojana (S) Knežević

Harpirexia: Study of a Predator (2025)

video: Miroslav Dajč / Janis Binder / Bojana (S) Knežević

costume: Ferhat Kartal

headpiece/mask: Sada Leigh Sherrin

hair/assistance: Juliette Brasseur

overall assistance/support: Bojan Bajazetov

special thanks: Ingo Schulz, Rita Macedo, Silke Neumann (Bureau N)

The Balkan Radikal Initiative, founded by Daphne Rüde and Nataša Vukajlović, foregrounds artistic, socio-cultural and critical approaches from the Balkans and the diaspora. Approaching the Balkans by geographical, cultural, and historical terms, we recognize its multifaceted and complex nature and hold to an understanding of the Balkans as a geographically concrete area shaped by numerous and diverse historical legacies (Todorva 2009: Imagining the Balkans). We initiate and realise projects with the aim of representing marginalized perspectives in contemporary society. Taking up the term "radical", we want to challenge its meaning of extreme change and imagine what can be considered radical in opposition to the current political and societal climate. By looking at strategies that are rooted in connection, support, love, and intimacy, we want to open up imaginations for various forms of resisting patriarchal norms. please visit Instagram: @balkan_radikal

Bojana (S) Knežević is a media artist and researcher, working in the fields of performance, audio-visual installation, sound and radio art, and art education. Focusing on the unheard voices of marginalized or hidden individual, collective, and hybrid identities, she aims to deconstruct various stereotypes, social structures, and systems of patriarchal society. She is a co-author of an art & media project and podcast Femkanje, and a founding member of an international sound art collective Audio Leakage Community.