Villa Aurora Grant Recipients | 2023

Apr, May, Jun

Maroan el Sani | Visual Artist (with Nina Fischer)

Maroan el Sani & Nina Fischer | Image: Privat
Maroan el Sani & Nina Fischer | Image: Privat

Maroan el Sani, born 1966 in Duisburg, studied Film and Communication Studies at the FU - Free University Berlin. Nina Fischer, born 1965 in Emden, studied visual communication at the Berlin University of the Arts and directing at the DFFB - German Film and Television Academy Berlin. The Berlin-based artist duo has been working together since 1995.


Project Description
Nina Fischer and Maroan el Sani’s work project for the Villa Aurora is an artistic reengagement to the “Biosphere 2” experiment, which was carried out 30 years ago and becoming more topical today due to the advancing climate catastrophe. “Biosphere 2” is a gigantic greenhouse in the Arizona desert built in 1991 with the goal of creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that is independent of the outside world. In a media installation, the Biosphere 2 cosmos would be made tangible in the form of VR domes. In addition to archive and documentary material, recordings with a 360-degree dome camera for a VR video installation will be produced on site.


Solo exhibitions (Selection)
2019 | Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani - The Active Guest, Edith Russ House for Media Art, Oldenburg, Germany
2017 | Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani - Freedom of Movement, MAXXI - Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome.


Group exhibitions (Selection)
2023 | Thinking Historically in the Present - Sharjah Biennial 15
2020 | Les Parallèles Du Sud - Manifesta 13, Marseille


Prizes/Awards (Selection)
2019 | Short Tiger Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam / Candidate European Short Film Award
2011 | Villa Kamogawa - Artist in Residence, Goethe-Institut, Kyoto
1999 | Rompreisträger:innen - Scholarship of the German Academy Villa Massimo, Rome
1998 | Karl Hofer Award, Berlin University of the Arts

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