Fia Backström

Fia Backström’s work focuses on the fabric of our co-existence
with and construction of subjectivity through the social life of images.
Backström works with structures of political address, corporate logic,
and pedagogical methods , destabilizing authorship and the semiotics of
images. She uses exhibition as a format for these structures, while
turning social situations into operative displays where methods and
media are chosen according to the situation and theme. Her work unfolds
via a wide range of media including language, marketing, propaganda,
typography, broadsides, objects, and performance. Her environments, live
events and projects challenge our habitual notions of what constitutes
an exhibition – its institutional context, its dialogue with the
audience, and even the works of art that are presented. Frequently works
by other artists are incorporated, as well as peers, visitors and
institutional staff alike, while she fluidly reworks the terms of
engagement.

Fia Backström ’s work has been part of numerous institutional,
international exhibitions and projects, including the Whitney Biennial
in 2008, MoMA 2010 (both New York), The Baltic, 2009 (Newcastle),
Tranzit 2008, (Prague), and Moderna Museet, 2010, (Stockholm). She has
shown her work with numerous non-profit organizations, such as White
Columns, Artist Space and the Kitchen, as well as with commercial
galleries, such as Greene Naftali and Murray Guy in New York and
Wilkinson Gallery in London. Among other places, she has performed in
the Serpentine Gallery, London, and United Nations Plaza in Berlin,
Madrid and Mexico. Backström represented Sweden in the Venice Biennale
2011. Her writings have been published in magazines such as Artforum,
Art on Paper, Pacemaker and North Drive Press. She has received grants
from Iaspis, Stockholm, Sweden; Cneai in Paris; and the Foundation for
Contemporary Arts in New York. Backström teaches at Princeton University
as well as the Columbia University MFA Graduate Department, and
co-chairs the Milton Avery Bard MFA photography department. She has
lectured widely on her work and has been a visiting artist in schools
such as NYU, Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, PennU and
MICA.