Katarina Gotic DamianiBIO / CVimpressum
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Katarina Gotic


a desk is a desk is a world:
  1. we need a breathing tongue between
  2. overbound
  3. codified absence
  4. VENAC
  5. leerlauf
  6. Otkazna Pisma
  7. zamelte | dihtung

bio / cv

1


we need a breathing tongue between

poetry book, 2024


“one day facebook translated all posts written in my mother tongue to English. One was from a stranger looking for a ride from Prijedor, a town in northern Bosnia, to Rogaška Slatina, a town in Slovenia. When translated, the Bosnian town became “a part of somebody” and the Slovenian “far from a part of the morning”. The urgency of the request was also exaggerated – in the original message, “as early as possible” only appears once. In the translation, however, it is repeated three times. Almost like a charm.”
                                                                                
 (on “overbound”, from the interview with kith books)

                                                                               
we need a breathing tongue between is a book of many voices. Together, they sing of a family, a river, a border / of loss, and of language / a then and further then. If I could liken a book to a setting, “a breathing tongue” would be reclining in my grandma’s backyard in a white metal chair with coiled armrests. We drink black coffee and dip sugar cubes in the overfoam. She begins a quick succession of big questions, listens carefully, then doesn’t: she interrupts, asks, interrupts again. When I leave, it’s like I never leave, for the answers remain, somewhere between our cups and our mouths. When I do leave, I leave knowing that there, in the corner, purple hydrangeas began blooming / her jars of compote taste like usual / a cat has left a mouse in front of her window, and the lizards are out again, laying eggs in her tidy rock garden. I leave knowing she awaits the forecast every night, sitting through the big cities and far countries. She waits to know my weather and my brother’s weather. Berlin and Vienna. Who needs a unison?



  order the book  

read the interview




we need a breathing tongue between
kith books, 2024
Paperback
ISBN: 9798989769506

2


ovebound

performance, 2024


On March 19, we walked the bridge on the river Sava.

On March 19, we walked the bridge on the river Sava for the very first time.

On March 19, we walked the bridge  on the river Sava for the very first time and – on March 19 – we felt the bridge shake.

Axioms:

1 - The bridge on the river Sava is more than a bridge and less than a bridge, for

A) it is also a border,
B) it is a no-man’s-land.

2 - Where one land begins and the other ends is not known. Two solutions are possible:

A) each land extends to the middle, and only the point at which they meet belongs to no one.
B) the entire bridge, between the two border crossings, is a no-man’s-land. The length of the no-man’s-land is the length of the bridge.

3 - The bridge can be crossed only with a valid passport.

4 - Standing on the bridge is not prohibited but is discouraged.

Constraints:

On March 19, we were allowed to:

1) go to the middle of the bridge where we can’t be seen,
2) not make any symbols with the yarn,
3) take the yarn off when we finish,
4) not cross to the other side.

Intervention:

On March 19, I walked the bridge on the river Sava for the very first time. In the middle, I tied a red yarn, not making a symbol. Nemanja filmed me tying a red yarn, not making a symbol. We stood in the no-man’s-land (type 2A), tied the red yarn and filmed the tying of the red yarn. As we stood, we felt the bridge shake (not making a symbol).



Watch 





Concept & performance: Katarina Gotic Damiani
Filming & editing: Nemanja Šipka

3


codified absence

sound poem, 2022 – ongoing


codified absence is composed entirely of text found in and erased from the pages of the Schengen Borders Code (SBC). The SBC outlines border control and border crossing regulations within the Schengen area. As such, it is primarily concerned with preserving borders and regulating the entry of third-country citizens. The SBC consists of 52 pages of legal text that is divided into four titles, each of which is subdivided into chapters and articles. The aim of codified absence is to erase through the entire document. The animated erasure of the first seven pages of the SBC can be viewed at the following link.



Watch




Concept & composition: Katarina Gotic, Vincent Damiani
Voice: Katarina Gotic Damiani
Sound design: Vincent Damiani

4


VENAC

poetry book, 2022 – ongoing

All poems in this collection are found poems and all visual art is found art. They are assembled from text and images printed in “Venac”, a Yugoslav literary magazine for pupils and youth. Persisting through and responding to many layers of turbulent history, “Venac” became a valuable artefact of the past – printed in thousands, the magazine was distributed across all federative republics, spanning languages and local dialects. Today, most of “Venac” has vanished into thin air. This is not unusual, considering the great efforts each of the former republics took to eradicate the traces of their common past. As if overnight, Yugoslav memorabilia was packed into basements and attics, far from the all-seeing eye of its new nations. In my family home, an old photograph of my mother wearing a pioneer uniform was retrieved from the locked-up door of a heavy oak closet.

The same week I found eight issues of “Venac”, pressed under a dusty hardcover of “War and Peace”. In one, between the soft, yellow pages, I found a long-forgotten postcard sending “salty kisses” to my mother. In another, I found physics notes practising light refraction formulas. In all, I found highlights, writings, stars, circles, and signatures. It was clear: “Venac” lived in my family, and I began to believe that, by getting closer to its faded words, I might begin to understand Yugoslavia. With permission from my grandmother, I took her eight “Venac” magazines to Berlin. And so, “Venac” became / is becoming VENAC – a collage, a fragment, a multitude of voices. “VENAC” is Yugoslavia, seen through the eyes of a Bosnian poet. VENAC is my family, cut in time and reassembled.


5


leerlauf

poetry book, 2024

leerlauf is a visual and language collage. “the images of leerlauf are collaged from photographs of abandoned buildings in my hometown. many were taken during a walk with my parents. unlike me, they knew a factory where my grandma worked, a bakery that made soft, moon-shaped breads on sundays, and they knew there was Bosna – a shoe shop: they walked the world with our country on their feet. without the possibility of sharing the past, i see these sites as bricks, walls and faded signs hinting at another time. their insides haunt me: while hearing about a secret pool table in one of the basements, i look through a broken window / a missing wall / and find – not a story – but its scattered parts:  

a wrapper from a bounty bar
a blue peg
a red heart
a used condom
a yellow straydog, sleeping in the shade


                                                         
what am i to do with them?


as i write, i remember a long-dead pigeon in a window of an old factory. i chose not to photograph the bird for the bird is a body, and a body that can’t escape shall not be captured. to many, this building is “TRIKO”. to me, it is “the-window-in-which-the-bird-had-died”.      

this is our difference.”


(from “leerlauf”)


leerlauf is composed of 24 visual collages and 24 poems. It is awaiting bilingual publication—in German and English. A selection of poems and visual collages from leerlauf was published in several magazines, including Paperbag, ETC Magazine, ARTWIFE, Harbour Review, and Gulf Stream Magazine. In 2024, leerlauf was awarded by the Sarajevo Photography Festival and exhibited at the Bosnian Cultural Center. More recently, poems and visual collages from leerlauf were performed and shown at backsteinboot, Berlin, during the 25th Poesiefestival. 

The making of leerlauf was supported by a year-long grant awarded by the Berlin Senate for Culture and Social Cohesion in 2023.    


Read

6


Otkazna Pisma

visual collage, 2022 - ongoing


Otkazna Pisma (Letters of Termination) is a collective protest against Bosnia and Herze- govina's deep-rooted political, environmental and economic issues. Drawn by over 180 individuals, our scribbles intend to bypass the often censored mother tongue and allow us–– returning to the first form of visual expression–– to scribble out our frustration and hope for change.

The drawings were collected online and during the three group exhibitions––at DKC Incel (Banja Luka), KRAK (Bihać) and Gallery Manifesto (Sarajevo). Collaged together, they form one large, collective letter. This letter is addressed to all who made Bosnia and Herzegovina the most corrupt, polluted country in Europe. By drawing, we keep score. By drawing, we hold accountable.

Otkazna Pisma is an ongoing project. Our collective letter grows as our frustrations grow. There is no indication it will stop: in Bosnia, there is always news to scribble against.



7


zamelte | dihtung

performance, 2024


zamelte | dihtung is a performance piece centred around a collection of everyday Germanisms spoken by my family. Some arrived during the Austro-Hungarian occupation, lingering in the names of tools, household goods, and types of work. Others travelled with my great-great-great-grandfather, settling into our cakes and cookies, soups and stews. In adjectives we use to describe people.

On the second anniversary of my still-pending application for permanent residency in Germany, I walked to the Landesamt für Einwanderung wearing a veil of our shared language. When I arrived, I tied my Germanisms in front of the entrance: there, they stood as a makeshift memorial to our shared past. Perhaps, our shared future.



Concept, performance & editing: Katarina Gotic Damiani
Sound design: Vincent Damiani
Camera: wishes to remain anonymous



cv / bio



Katarina Gotic Damiani is a Bosnian-born poet dwelling in the in-between: between poetry and conceptual art, English and her mother tongue, Bosnia and Germany, between now and then and then and further then.

Katarina is the author of two poetry collections, we need a breathing tongue between (kith books, 2024) and leerlauf (2025), as well as several visual and performance pieces, all rooted in language.

She has received numerous grants and awards for her work, including the 2023 Work Stipend for Non-German Literature and the 2024 Research Scholarship for Translators awarded by the Berlin Senate. She has exhibited and performed extensively in both Bosnia and Germany.

She lives in Berlin.




Education

10.2023 - 02.2024M.A. Art in Context, Universität der Künste, Berlin, DE
10.2016 - 09.2018M.Sc. Neural and Behavioural Sciences, Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, DE
10.2013 - 05.2016B.Sc. Psychology, Universtiy of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Publications

Books

Gotic, Katarina. we need a breathing tongue between. kith books, 2024.

Selected journal publications

––. “leerlauf: six poems / six visual collages” Paperbag, vol.1, no.15, 2024. paperbagazine.com
––. “leerlauf: BINGO” ETC. Magazine, vol.1, no.3, 2024.
––. “2+1=sun”, stadstsprachen, vol.2, no.25, 2023. stadtsprachen.de
––. “Zvono23, Poetry in an expanded field: Otkazna Pisma III”, e-flux Announcements, 2023. e-flux.com
––. “ŽELJA”, stadstsprachen, vol.2, no.25, 2023. stadtsprachen.de
––. “leerlauf”, Harbor Review, vol.2, no.11, 2023. harbor-review.com
––. “leerlauf: three poems / collages” LCB Digital Essay: Literatur in den Sprachen Berlins, 2023, vol.1, no.3, 2023. lcb.de
––. "codified absence", Stoff aus Luft, vol.2, no.7, 2023. stoffausluft.de
––. “LJUBAVI, KOMUNISTO”, Nux Vomica, vol.2, no.X, 2023, pp. 14-16
––. "leerlauf: six visual collages”, ARTWIFE, 2023. artwifemag.com
––. “leerlauf: she finds no thorn”, Gulf Stream Magazine, vol.1, no.32, 2023.gulfstreamlitmag.com
––. “ALKA”, SAND, vol.1, no.25, 2023, pp-63-65.

Selected translations

Kaplan, Almin. “House people” Translated by Katarina Gotic. Lyrikline, 2024. lyrikline.org
Kaplan, Almin. “It is morning and sun carries naked treetops like antlers” Translated by Katarina Gotic. Lyrikline, 2024. lyrikline.org
Mladenović, Dragana. “RELATIVES” Translated by Katarina Gotic. Lyrikline, 2024. lyrikline.org
Gotic, Katarina. “1+2=SJA” Translated by Katarina Gotic. stadstsprachen, vol.3, no.26, 2023. stadtsprachen.de
––. “A WISH” Translated by von Katarina Gotic. stadstsprachen, vol.2, no.25, 2023. stadtsprachen.de

Exhibitions


Solo exhibitions

“she opens herself to thirteen thirty-two ways of looking at a motherland” Gallery VAGON, Banja Luka, B&H, 2025. [upcoming]
“leerlauf: a thin band of glue” 25. Poesiefestival Berlin. backsteinboot, Berlin, DE, 2024.

Group exhibitions

“leerlauf” Sarajevo Photography Festival. Bosanski Kulturni Centar, Sarajevo, B&H, 2024.
“Otkazna Pisma III” Poetry in an Expanded Field. Gallery Manifesto, Sarajevo, B&H, 2023.
“Otkazna Pisma II” Poetry in an Expanded Field. KRAK, Bihać, B&H, 2023.
“VENAC” Novi Talasi. Bosanski Kulturni Centar, Sarajevo, B&H, 2023.

Selected performances

a thin band of glue. 25. Poesiefestival Berlin. 08.07.2024, backsteinboot, Berlin.
we need a breathing tongue between. 14.02.2024, Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee, Berlin.
Vocations – Reimagining the Lied. 16.11.2023, Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
some words nearly in ruins. 02.11.2023, Hopscotch Reading Room, Berlin.
Literatur in den Sprachen Berlins 2023. 25.08.2023, Literarisches Colloquium, Berlin.
codified absence. 23 Poesiefestival Berlin. 17.06.2022. Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

Grants and awards

2025.  Secondary Archive. Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation (Warszawa, PL), Visegrad Fund (Bratislava, SK), Association of citizens Obojena klapa (Sarajevo, B&H). (Link.)
2024. “Mijenadaha” Research Scholarship for Translators. Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt, Berlin, Germany. (Link.)
2024. “leerlauf” Sarajevo Photography Festival: Conceptual Photography Award. Sarajevo Photography Festival, Sarajevo, B&H. (Link.)
2023. “leerlauf” Work Stipend for non-German Literature. Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt, Berlin, Germany. (Link)
2023. “VENAC” Pop Art Festival Award. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2023. “Otkazna Pisma” ZVONO Award. KRAK (Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Residency Unlimited (New York, USA), Trust for Mutual Understanding (New York, USA). (Link) 
2016 - 2019. Max-Planck Society fellowship. Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.

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Katarina Gotic Damiani

E-Mail: studiokatarinagotic@gmail.com

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Katarina Damiani

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Katarina Damiani

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Last Updated: [05.02.2025]