German artist Verena Stenke and Venetian-born artist and writer Andrea Pagnes have worked together since 2006 as VestAndPage. With roots in contemporary visual and conceptual art; classical, oriental and social theatre; philosophy, anthropology, anthropoetics and political science; the study of rites, myths and spiritual-philosophical sciences—particularly alchemy, ancient Greek and Christian iconology, Yoga darśana, and Sufism, VestAndPage explore performance art as a phenomenon through their collaborative practice and research, which encompasses live performance cycles, performance-based film, writing, curation, publishing, and temporary artistic community projects.
Animated by a nomadic and confrontative spirit, VestAndPage perform situation-responsive. They conceive their performances psycho-geographically in response to social contexts, natural surroundings, historic sites, urban ruins and particular architectures. Through their “Poetics of Relations”, they examine notions of perception, memory strata, communication and fragility of the individual and the collective within social and environmental spheres.
They apply the themes of pain sublimation, endurance, union, trust in change, and risk-taking with a poetic bodily approach to art practice and a focus on human experiences. VestAndPage are the conceivers and the independent curatorial force behind projects such as the Venice International Performance Art Week, recipients of the Best Film Award at the Berlin Independent Film Festival (2018), and lecturers at ArtEZ University of the Arts (Netherland) and UNIDEE Academy (Italy).
**
VestAndPage. (2017). After the Fear. KPGT, Belgrade (SRB). Still from the film. In the image, Ivana Ranisavljević.
VestAndPage. (2017). After the Fear. KPGT, Belgrade (SRB). Photograph by Maya Reef. In the image, Andrea Pagnes.
VestAndPage and the Anam Cara Collective. (2018). Anam Cara - Dwelling Bodies. ECC, Palazzo Mora, Venice (IT). Photograph by Alexander Harbaugh. In the image, Sara Simeoni and Fenia Kotsopoulou.
VestAndPage. (2017). After the Fear. KPGT, Belgrade (SRB). Photograph by Vlademir Opsenica. In the image, Verena Stenke and Shola Cole.
VestAndPage and the Anam Cara Collective. (2018). Anam Cara - Dwelling Bodies. ECC, Palazzo Mora, Venice (IT). Photograph by Lorenza Cini. In the image, Susanne Weins.
VestAndPage and the Anam Cara Collective. (2022). UnderScars. ECC, Palazzo Mora, Venice (IT). Photograph by Lorenza Cini. In the image, Verena Stenke and Enok Ripley.
VestAndPage and the Anam Cara Collective. (2022). UnderScars. ECC, Palazzo Mora, Venice (IT). Photograph by Lorenza Cini. In the image, Aldo Aliprandi.
VestAndPage and the Anam Cara Collective. (2022). UnderScars. ECC, Palazzo Mora, Venice (IT). Photograph by Alexander Harbaugh. In the image, Verena Stenke and Fenia Kotsopoulou.