About – Jana Astanov

Jana Astanov is a multidisciplinary artist, a poet, and an independent curator who lives in New York. Born in Poland, she studied anthropology, philosophy, and linguistics in France, and arts in the UK. She is a founder of CREATRIX Magazine: www.creatrixmag.com, a portal for creative expression focused on art, activism, and spiritual practice. Her work includes photography, poetry, performance art, sound art, and installation. She describes her performance art practice as “mythology vs ideology”, referring to her two main interests: the political & economic foundations of our civilization, and mythological/religious values. In her work, she utilizes elements of hypnosis, spirituality, dance movement derived from the Grotowski technique, sound art, ritualistic theatre, and astro-feminism, a term she has developed through her character Yannanda – The One Who Speaks With The Stars. She has started three feminist performance groups, JeDeive (Self Proclaimed Goddess), Red Temple (also a publishing house) and W.I.S.E. focused on the global ecological emergency. Astanov encourages other women to create and write their own stories that she often includes in her performances and her magazine with an aim to portray the female world. Together with her partner, Niko van Egten, they have created an electro-organic music group, ASTRALOOP, featuring her poetry set to his dark electronic arrangements.
She has performed at Tate Modern, Queens Museum, Smack Mellon Gallery, Grace Exhibition Space, Venice Biennale, Documenta 2017, and many other galleries, festivals and independent venues worldwide.
She is also the author of five collections of poetry: Antidivine, Grimoire, Sublunar, The Pillow Book of Burg, and Birds of Equinox.

Web:
www.creatrixmag.com
http://www.janaastanov.com/

Social media:
IG @Jana_Astanov https://www.instagram.com/jana_astanov/
Twitter @JanaAstanov https://twitter.com/JanaAstanov
Fb JanaAstanov https://www.facebook.com/jadeiverasos

Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/antidivine
https://soundcloud.com/astraloop

EDUCATION
2003 – MA Anthropology / Sociology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland
2004 – Philosophy, University Rennes 1, France
2011 – Digital Film Making, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2011 – Photography, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2012-2013 – MA Media Production University of the Arts London, UK

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & PERFORMANCES

2019

Yannanda, The One Who Speaks With The Stars, durational one year long performance art piece consisting of specific gallery & museum based performances as well as online presence with regular updates on New Moons and Full Moons as well as a series Cosmic Portals: http://www.creatrixmag.com/category/astral/
Performing Motherhood Part 3 Quack Quack Opera, Performance Art, Osmosis performance art series curated by Ming Liu & Joseph Sledgianowski, Bodeguita Bar, NYC http://www.creatrixmag.com/osmosis/
Radical Healing: Yannanda, The One Who Speaks With The Stars, Performance Art, Full Moon Cypher curated by Ultracultural Others, Local Project Art Space, Long Island City, NYC http://www.creatrixmag.com/full-moon-cypher-2/
NOUMENA: Music of the Spheres, Jana Astanov’s curatorial project: magic and shamanism performance art series, performing as ASTRALOOP, The Park Church Co-op, Greenpoint, NYC http://www.creatrixmag.com/noumena-music-of-the-spheres/
Papierzyca Papierowek, Polish version of Eating From The Tree of The Goddess, Performance Art, John Paul II Plaza, Elk, Poland http://www.creatrixmag.com/polish-madonna/
Eating From The Tree of The Goddess, Performance Art, curated by Claire Zakiewicz, ARTI 3160 Gallery, Venice, Italy
Polish Madonna, Performance Art, Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy. http://www.creatrixmag.com/polish-madonna/
NOW is the Future, Local Project Art Space, Group Exhibition, work included photography series Jadeive, NYC, USA
Performing Motherhood Part 2, Performance Art, Performance Anxiety series curated by Ventiko, Chinatown Soup, NYC, USA
ERA JUNOH, Performance Art as JaDieve queer mama performance group, curated by Pas Musique, Muchmore’s, NYC, USA
Her Story, Performance Art with Maija Rutkovska, Itinerant Performance Art Festival, Queens Museum, NYC, USA

2018
Creatrix Cult, Local Project Art Space, Solo Show: performance art, photography, video installation, NYC, USA
Noumena: SheUniverse, Local Project Art Space, Performance Art series about magic & shamanism curated by Jana Astanov, L.I.C., NYC, USA
The Femocrats, Photography exhibition, performance art. Art Basel, Miami, USA
Noumena: Initiation, Plaxall Gallery, Performance Art series about magic & shamanism curated by Jana Astanov, L.I.C., NYC, USA
Trauma Choir, Grace Exhibition Space, Performance Art, NYC, USA
The Personal Is Political, 100 Bogart Street Gallery, Performance Art, Group Show Size Matters curated by Norton WR, NYC, USA
Woman’s place is everywhere, Performance, Group Exhibition, Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself, Cigar Factory , NYC, USA
Who Should Decide? Performance, Smack Mellon, Itinerant festival, NYC, USA

2017
Botanical, Local Project, Group Exhibition, work included photography series Caribbean Breeze Resting Wet Between The Palm Leaves & My Eyelids, NYC, USA
The Art of Saving the Arctic, Performance / Photography Installation, documenta Halle, Kassel, Germany
Light of Her New Consciousness, Performance / Poetry / Installation, NYC Poetry Festival, Governors Island, NYC, USA
Poetry Alchemist, Performance / Poetry, Rosekill Performance Space, USA
Illimitable Night, Performance, Stone Circle, Hilly Fields, Brockley, London, UK
The Justice, 3sf Deptford League, Psychogeographical Society of London, Fordham Park, London, UK
Sublunar Tide, Performance / Poetry, Portugal
Veiled Negatives, Poetry, Fiery Tongues Poetry Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The city belongs to us, Poetry / Performance, Rough Night Press, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2016
Lost Psalms of Destruction, Winter Solstice Performance / Poetry, 23 Windows, NYC, USA
Northern Grimoire, Performance / Poetry, Front Room Gallery, NYC, USA
Venus of New York, Durational Performance, Diverse Universe Festival, NYC, USA
Love You, Hate You, Performance / Poetry / Video Installation, PerforMIA, Art Basel, Miami, USA
Julia Must Die, Performance / Poetry / Installation, Spread Art, Detroit, USA
Inside Her Head, Performance / Poetry / Installation, New York Poetry Festival, USA
Time Lapse Double, Performance / Photography series, Rosekill Performance Space, USA
Triple Fire Ritual, Performance, Rosekill Performance Space, USA
Battle of Rosekill, Performance, Rosekill Performance Space, USA
Black Swan Waltz &the Fire Tree, Performance, Torus Porta, NYC, USA
Devi Oracle, Performance, Undercurrent Projects Gallery, NYC, USA
Men of Flowers, Performance, Torus Porta, NYC, USA
She-Universe, Performance, Ruigoord, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Holy of Spring, Performance, Tate Modern, London, UK

2015
The Ultimate Truth of The Human Is HERS, Performance, Point B Gallery, NYC, USA
Network, Point B, Group Exhibition, work included Primary Connection – shamanic exploration within the female community of Red Temple, NYC, USA
Transcendence, Point B Gallery, Group Exhibition, work includedContemporary Landscape of EcoFeminism, NYC, USA
Red Temple installation, Sag Harbour, USA
Flames or I.P.P.R. (International Party for Proportional Representation), Performance Times Square, NYC, USA
Transmission Day, Performance, Point B Gallery, NYC, USA
Direct Current, Point B Gallery, Curated by Lalita Salander, NYC, USA
No Place to Hide, Performance with The Living Theatre, New York Earth Day, NYC, USA
Cosmic Serpent, Performance, The Living Gallery, NYC, USA
Antidivine, Performance, The Silent Barn, NYC, USA
She as He, Performance, Vector Gallery, NYC, USA
Je suis Supernova, Performance, 59 Rivoli Gallery, Paris, France
Illumination, Performance, 59 Rivoli Gallery, Paris, France

2014
The Art of Saving the Arctic, SpaceBy3 Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
Naked Poetry Dive, Performance, Baptist Church, NYC, USA
Performing with Kembra Pfahler, Auto Body, Spinello Projects, Miami, USA
https://vimeo.com/129301268
Bodies of Water, the Planetary Change, Performance with W.I.S.E., Climate March, NYC, USA
Married to 100 people, Performance, Burning Man, Nevada Desert, USA
#Belfie, ongoing social media project, social media hashtag action #belfie

2013
Three Witches, Summer Solstice, Photography series, Free Form Festival, Pennsylvania, USA

2012
The Muse, Photography series, Paris, France
Live West Die Young, Photography series, London, UK
Les Reves en Papier-Mache, Photography series, London, UK
Doll Infested Wonderland, Photography series, London, UK
Thrilling, Video art, Poland
Junction, Video art, UK

WHERE THERE IS WOMAN, THERE IS MAGIC.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Destiny of the Unknown
The urge to express something that cannot be captured in the logic of the language brings me to the images, I travel between the worlds and dream in symbols. Since our humanity translates itself through each civilisation’s mythology the waters I swim in are those of the Jungian sea, the collective unconscious and the personal from where the archetypes emerge.

The Shamanese
Anthropology, philosophy and an early fascination with theatre, especially the ritualistic meditative kind are the roots of my artistic practice. The Shamanese, the go-between medium, revealing the will of the divine and connecting the tribe with its vital force, can be compared to the Platonic concept of the Poet / Artist who translates the meanings of cosmic consciousness for the rest of us.