ABOUT
Bio
Jatun Risba (they/them) is a Slovenian migrant transdisciplinary artist whose work investigates the entanglements of ecology, embodiment, technology, and multispecies reciprocity. Grounded in ecofeminist and posthumanist thought, their practice spans performance art, transmedia and relational practices, often employing moist media and abject aesthetics.
Through interdisciplinary artistic research and embodied inquiry, Risba investigates the essential role and creative potential of life-affirming materials—including air, water, carbon, soil, chlorophyll, urine, and menstrual blood. Their work cultivates forms of expanded awareness by reshaping sensory perception through Vajrayana Buddhist practices and deviant uses of contemporary technologies. These investigations materialize as participatory performances, installations, and social interventions that challenge anthropocentric modes of being and cultivate ecologies of care and codependence. Their art practice unfolds along two trajectories: Arts for Health and Art as Nourishment for the Bodymind.
Central to this work is Risba's lived experience of radical self-healing from multiple sclerosis between 2012 and 2019, which continues to inform their understanding of transformation, resilience, and embodied knowledge. They are the founder and co-facilitator of the international Live Art project Be-coming Tree.
Risba has exhibited, performed, and presented work internationally at venues and festivals including Funkhaus Wien and k48 (Vienna), VIRA art.sound gallery (Seoul), Galerija O.K. (Rijeka), the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica-Gorizia 2025, Crow's Nest (Baltimore), Schmiede Hallein Festival, Studio Alta (Prague), Opens platform (Singapore), Prague Biennale Re-connect Festival, Meta.morf Trondheim Biennale, Bangkok Biennial, Fabbrica del Vapore (Milan), Kino Šiška, Kersnikova Institute, Cirkulacija2 (Ljubljana), and Pixxelpoint Festival (Nova Gorica).
Their lectures, workshops, and artist talks have been hosted by academic and art institutions including PMT House of Dance (New York), the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, the University of Music and Theatre Munich, the Akademia Sztuk Pięknych in Wrocław, the University of the Underground, Goethe University Frankfurt, the Moving Image Research Lab Montreal, the University of Strasbourg, and the Taboo, Transgression & Transcendence in Art and Science Conference (TTT2020, TTT2023, TTT2025).
Risba's academic papers and interviews have appeared in publications including Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, Body, Space & Technology, Utsanga.it, the Taboo, Transgression & Transcendence in Art and Science Conference Proceedings, and ecoartspace.org. They are the recipient of the a-n Artist Bursary (2019), an ERSTE Foundation Fellowship (2020), and the Social Art Award (2021). Their work is held in the permanent art collections of the Artothèque de la Ville de Strasbourg and IoDeposito.
Risba holds a BA (Hons) from NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan (2009), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Art & Science from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (2020).
Artist statement
My artistic research is inspired by the world’s wisdom traditions, such as Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism and the pre-Christian nature-worshipping practices of Western Slovenia (staroverstvo). It explores unconventional uses of contemporary technologies, including mobile phones, Wi-Fi networks, sensors, and microcomputers. Performative processes function as a vehicle for unveiling the poetry and magic embedded in everyday reality, while seeking to dismantle structures of exploitation and the master/slave binary.
My work is informed by my lived experience of holistic recovery from multiple sclerosis (2012-2019) through unleashed dancing in public spaces (“dances of urgency”), guerrilla artistic interventions and a practice of different meditative and bliss-inducing techniques. These practices included clubbing, (self-)hypnosis and erotic expression. Collaboration with human, non-human and more-than-human entities is central to my art. It allows me to challenge and transcend personal echo-chambers for the sake of creating works that expand the view and add flash, weight and layers of complexity to the atomized experiences of the real. Art becomes a tool to spark creative strategies and mind-opening conversations about ethics and ecosocial justice that impact the way of inhabiting our inner, outer and sacred territories.
Another important characteristic of my practice is the cultivation of reciprocity and kinship with all forms of life. This is done by altering & awakening human sensory awareness, through physical and mental training and/or use of technology, based on the realization of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all phenomena. As an artist, researcher and pedagogue, I am firmly rooted in inclusive, accessible practices and strongly believe that the working process is as important as the outcome. I am actively engaged in bridging Art, Science and Spirituality, wherefore each discipline opens the other to more expansive ways of engaging with reality.
Artist Portfolio & CV
Interactive portfolio (January 2025)
Detailed Curriculum Vitae (January 2026)
*+++ photo by Franco G. Livera from the making of the art film 'Salamandra, Salamandra, Salamandra'