Štefan Papčo: Diagonal Fling
We are glad to announce Štefan Papčo’s participation at Sonsbeek´s 20→24, quadrennial's public programme as HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts) Laureate.
Sonsbeek´s 20→24, international contemporary art exhibition, Arnhem, Netherlands
The ambition of the work is to activate several layers of dialog between the space, birds and audience.
Diagonal Fling consists of a wooden model of mental architecture originally explored during a climbing ascent in the mountains of High Tatras. An ascent, or climbing route, is outlined in the form of a schema or map using a specific visual language, where each rock formation (e.g. pillar, chimney, fissure, slab, overhang) has its special symbol linked with the real environment and experience. The link between the poetics of titles and individual schemas forms a basis for achieving individual models of a so-called ‘mental architecture’.
Wooden model becomes a spatial score to activate and keep dialogue with the surrounding environment alive. The artist himself will design a birdhouse according to the shape and proportion of the score. And possibly, the birds will find their own place to build a nest.

Štefan Papčo: Diagonal Fling, 2020 – 2021, interactive sculpture, birdhouses, wood
The sonsbeek exhibition was initiated in an effort to help Arnhem recover from the severe damages the city suffered during the Second World War (The Battle of Arnhem). Since this first edition in 1949, sonsbeek has significantly contributed to and helped redefine international contemporary art exhibiting. As one of the first international art projects after Venice Biennale (1895), Whitney Biennial (1932), and preceding documenta (1955), sonsbeek has always been a ground-breaking and pioneering exhibition regarding art in public space. sonsbeek 20→24 aims to follow the legacy of its iconic prior editions that took place between 1949 and 2016, which were curated by Wim Beeren (1971), Saskia Bos (1986), Valery Smith (1993), Jan Hoet (2001), Anna Tilroe (2008) and ruangrupa (2016).
The 12th edition of sonsbeek takes place under the auspices of artistic director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and his team of co-curators: Antonia Alampi, Amal Alhaag, Zippora Elders and Aude Mgba. In this new, more sustainable form, sonsbeek will abandon the usual rhythm of contemporary art production and exhibition, and instead stretch out in a continued public process until 2024, thereby consolidating and encapsulating two editions. This means that sonsbeek20→24 will be a platform in which various activities like exhibitions, discursive programs, residencies, publishing, radio and more can emerge throughout its time-frame.