Nici Jost (*1984 Banff, Canada) is a conceptual/multimedia artist/photographer based in Switzerland.
The essential element of Nici Jost’s work is the exploration of the sublime tensions between technology and nature, space and perception. Her artistic research is driven by investigations into social constructions and the way in which individuals navigate their surroundings. Jost challenges the passive “consumption” of art in a crowded environment and provokes questions about the broader, often disquieting, implications of our ever-accelerating technological evolution and the position of the individual within. Her artistic practice is unapologetically devoted to the colour pink, its distinctive characteristics, its history and the position the colour has in psychology, art, poetry, literature and politics. However, Jost does not only work with pink as a controversial and divisive element of social and cultural associations; pink is Jost’s sociopolitical lens, as it manages to polarize as no other colour in the spectrum.
2016 Master of Arts in Fine Arts, Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in Basel
2010 Bachelor of Arts in Media-Art, University of Applied Sciences and Arts (FHNW), Aarau / Basel
2008 Internship, Pipilotti Rist, Zürich
2003 Dipl. Photography / Digital Imaging II, NSCC, Halifax
Solo exhibitions
2023
«Mika - The celestial odyssey» in collaboration with Nadine Friedel,
Lechbinska Gallery, Zurich
2022
«Extract» AXA Exhibition Wall, Winterthur
2021
«桃花源 Land of Peach Blossom» Kunstraum, Baden
2019
«To be continued ...» Gallery balzer projects, Basel
2018
«Silent Pink» invited by the Swiss Embassy in China during
the Swiss Incubator in Tianjin, China
«open studio» Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, China
2017
«instinctive desire vol.III» Gallery balzer projects, Basel
«instinctive desire vol.II» Zimmermannhaus, Brugg
2016
«instinctive desire vol.I» Galerie3000, Bern
2013
«ROSAROT» Gallery balzer projects, Basel
2011
«Frisch» Kabinett visarte Zürich
«Earth to Sky» Gallery balzer projects, Basel
«just a piece of meadow» Kunstraum Aarau
Group exhibitions (selection)
2024
«Rose is...» Campus Condorcet Humathèque, Aubervilliers Cedex, FR
2022
«AiR» Kultur macht Schule Kanton Aargau.
Project with Pedro Wirz, Schule Oberlunkhofen
2021
«Auswahl 21» Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
«WELCOME! 10 years of Swatch Art Peace Hotel» MAXXI Museum, Rome, IT
«液 态 fluidity» Lingang Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, CN
«第六感 The Sixth Sense» Art cn gallery, Shanghai, CN
«KUNST IM SETZKASTEN» E-Werk Galerie, Freiburg, DE
2020
«WEIRD» Pavel Kovalenko Apartment, Basel
«KUNST IM SETZKASTEN» Forum Kunst, Rottweil, DE
2019
«Splendid Isolation - Not in our Name» Kunstraum Riehen
«I AND THE MACHINE, EXPERIMENTIEREN MIT DIGITALITÄT» E-Werk Galerie, Freiburg, DE
«Rauschen am Bildrand» Kantonsspital Aarau, Aarau
«Here are Dragons 1/3: Because We're Worth It» Centre d'art de la Maison Populaire, Paris, France
2018
«Auswahl 18» Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
«Guck mal Günther, Kunst» Tommasini, Lenzburg
2017
«PEINTURE EN PROMO - IAN ANÜLL» Haus für Kunst Uri, Altdorf
2016
«Auswahl 16» Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
«UNTITLED» Art Fair, Miami Beach, FL, USA
«Every Contact Leaves a Trace» Kunsthalle, Basel
«quelle langue alors?» Villa Moyard, Morges
«Serendipity» Campus der Künste, Basel
«FORMATION OF PATTERNS» Kunstraum Florenz, Basel
«raum I space» Gallery balzer projects, Basel
2015
«Auswahl 15» Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
«Regionale 16 - visual politics» Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal
«Schwarz-Weiss in Farbe» Kunsthaus Zofingen
«IRMA LA DOUCE – REVISITED» Penthouse Gallery, Zürich
2014
«History under your feet - 3000 years of shoes» Spielzeug Welten Museum, Basel
«VOLTA10» Contemporary Art Fair, Basel
«SHOEting Stars ‹Shoes in Art and Design›» Kunsthaus Wien Museum
Hundertwasserhaus, Vienna, A
2013
«wandeln» Museum Rosenegg, Kreuzlingen
«Auf Schritt und Tritt | At Every Turn» Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot, DE
«VOLTA9» Contemporary Art Fair, Basel
«Landscape: A Story of Rehabilitation» Gallery balzer projects, Basel
«What a Wonderful World» balzer projects @ Gallery Erika Deak, Budapest, H
«HCP´s 2013 Print Auction» Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX, USA
«Raumwelten» Museum Bärengasse, Zürich
2012
«ZELENÁ GREEN» Gallery Deset - Waldesovo muzeum, Prag, CZ
«Enigma della Modernità» Spazio, Chiasso
«Untitled» Chelsea Galerie, Laufen
«Rock-Paper-Scissors» Mindy Solomon Gallery, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
2011
«Auswahl 11» Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
«PULSE» Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, Florida, USA
«SH Contemporary» Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai, China
«5X5 Castelló 11» Espai d’art contemporani de Castelló, Spain
«VIDEO VIDEMUS» Fishpiece Galerie, Zürich
«BLOW-UP» Villa Wenkenhof, Riehen
2010
«Regionale 11» FABRIK culture Hégenheim, FR
«Fashionable ART – Die Mode in der Kunst» Kunstraum Riehen
«Diplom 10» Messehalle 5, Basel
2007
«One Minute Festival» Aarau
2006
«Dialog Festival» Winterthur
Grants, Awards, Residencies
2022 7 weeks artist in residency, Kultur macht Schule Kanton Aargau, Schule Oberlunkhofen
2020 Projektbeitrag, Sinokultur
2018 6 month residency, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai
2017 «Primeur», publication grant, Aargauer Kuratorium
2016 One week residency at the Institutes of Polymer Engineering (IKT) and Polymer Nanotechnology (INKA), FHNW Brugg / Windisch
2015 Werkbeitrag, Aargauer Kuratorium
2011 Kulturförderpreis Alexander Clavel Stiftung, Riehen
Publications
Instinctive Desire, Nici Jost, Primeur issued by Aargauer Kuratorium, 2019 editionfink, ISBN 978-3-03746-233-1
100 MIRADAS Al Arte Contemporaneo, p. 54, 2014 Arte Al Limite, Santiago de Chile
At Every Turn, Hoenes-Stiftung und Dr. Stefanie Dathe, Museum Villa Rot 2013,Catalogue of the exhibition, ISBN 978-3-9816250-0-4
ONE LIFE - Stories Told Through Photography, 2012 by See Me Group Inc.
Houston Center for Photography, Print Auction 2013, Catalogue of the exhibition
Enigma della modernità, Visarte Ticino-Zurigo 10 proposte, Catalogue of the exhibition,2012- ADV Publishing House, ISBN 978-88-7922-109-2
Artistes tous farceurs 1 / Artisti tutti burloni 1, Collectif, 25.03.2012 Éditions Dasein
kunst &&// neoanalog, Ars Electronica 2007 Campus2.0, August 2007 FHNW, Aarau
Press (selection)
Kunstbulletin 6/2021 «Nici Jost — Schanghai durch den Farbfilter», Gianna Rovere
Radio SRF 2, Kultur Kompakt 15.5.2021, 11.29 Uhr (00:13:35) «Land of Peach Blossom»: Nici Josts
Ausstellung zur Farbe Pink im Kunstraum Baden.», Fabienne Nägeli
Radio SRF 3, Nici Jost: «Es gibt keine Farbe, die so kontrovers ist wie Pink» Fabienne Nägeli
Aargauer Kulturmagazin, «Durch den pinken Filter geschaut», Gianna Rovere, Mai 2021
Aargauer Zeitung, «Zu hübsch für die Kunst», Anna Raymann, 23.4.2021, Nr. 93
Rundschau, «Die Suche nach der Welt in Pink», Gina Kern, 21.4.2021
Effingermedien, «Zimmermannhaus strahlt in Pink», Annegret Ruoff, 24.8.2017
Kunstbulletin 10/2017 «Hinweis, Nici Jost, Camille Medardus Hagner», Feli Schindler
Bremgarter Bezirks-Anzeiger, «Ihr Universum ist pink», Lisa Stutz, 7.7.2017
Basler Zeitung, «Pink im Selbstversuchart», Annette Hoffmann, 1.2.2016
art-tv contribution to the exhibition «visual politics» Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal
(https://www.art-tv.ch/12086-0-Palazzo-Liestal-Regionale-16.html)
art-tv contribution to the exhibition «Schwarz-Weiss in Farbe», Kunsthaus Zofingen
(https://www.art-tv.ch/11609-0-Kunsthaus-Zofingen-Schwarz-Weiss-in-Farbe.html)
Spielplatz Zeitung, Kunst / Kultur, No. 2/2014, p. 19, Spielplatz Presseverein Zürich
art-tv contribution to the exhibition «just a piece of meadow», Kunstraum Aarau, 2011
(www.art-tv.ch/7526-0-Kunstraum-Aarau-Nici-Jost.html)