LISTE Basel
Booth: 50
Mladen Stropnik’s work emerges from the ordinary. In the banality of daily life, he discovers ideas that take shape before the artwork itself exists. A keen observer, he often begins with everyday objects, from which he elicits new ways of being and interacting—humorous, multilayered, and quietly moving. Mirrors have become a central tool: instruments of reflection that shift perspective, (de)centralise the viewer, and create a pause, a space to “bring something into the moment.”
For LISTE, Stropnik proposes a single installation: a large freestanding mirror panel supported by three sculptural “bodies” positioned behind it. These figures are sleeping bodies, reclining or seated, suggestive of dreaming or inward thought. They inhabit the subtle space between material presence and mental projection, between the world of communication, screens, and digital interfaces, and the internal world of imagination or lucid dreaming. The mirror cannot stand alone; it is held up materially and conceptually by these bodies. This interdependence forms the conceptual core of the work, reflecting how perception, consciousness, and digital self-observation are inseparable from embodied presence.
Viewed frontally, the mirror appears monolithic, though a small aperture allows for a double perspective: one of the familiar self-reflective gaze, akin to a mediated image sent through a phone, and another of the surrounding space that often goes unnoticed. Within this hidden environment, awareness and true attention emerge, hinting at the narrative concealed behind the reflective surface. The mirror functions like a digital interface, collapsing the world into a singular, self-contained image. Stropnik uses this narrowed field to probe contemporary attention, showing how easily perception can contract into cycles of self-observation. The mirror enacts a moment of suspension, making the act of looking itself perceptible.
Behind it, the sculptural forms maintain this tension: the latent, sustaining reality of the body that underpins thought, perception, and reflection. The installation makes visible the often invisible dependencies between mind and body, material and mental states, inward attention and outward form.
Originally presented at the 2025 Ljubljana Biennale, curated by Chus Martínez, the installation will be recreated for LISTE, adapted to the scale of the booth. The arrangement preserves its essential tension: the reflective façade is immediately visible upon entry, while the supporting bodies are discovered through movement around the structure. Visitors navigate between two states—the self-reflective gaze and awareness of the bodies that sustain it—revealing the dual logic of attention grounded in material form.
Resisting conventional definitions, Stropnik’s practice calls for a suspension of habitual reading patterns. Over the last decade, five themes have emerged in his work—repetition, sexuality, (in)visible labour, desire, and “looking for this moment right now”—which anchor both his exploration and the viewer’s experience. Often in the most ordinary, seemingly banal moments, the most profound ideas arise, and mirrors are the tool he uses to pause, reflect, and bring them into the present. This installation offers a precise, understated reflection on inhabiting both physical bodies and digital mirrors, making LISTE an ideal context for its intimate yet conceptually rigorous exploration, inviting viewers to experience the space between material presence and mental projection.
Mladen Stropnik (1977, SI) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2001 and completed a master’s degree at the same institution in 2004. He has been active on the Slovenian and international art scene since 2001, establishing himself as a (post-)conceptual artist working across media, from drawing and collage to performance, video, and NFTs, and exploring recurring themes of perception, materiality, and everyday life. His works are held in numerous public and private collections.
He has presented his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Slovenia and internationally, including at Gregor Podnar, the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (MG+MSUM), Cukrarna, the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, RAVNIKAR (2024), UGM | Maribor Art Gallery (2024), the City Art Gallery Ljubljana (2024), and the 2025 Ljubljana Biennale, curated by Chus Martínez.
Collectors Agenta | In the Studio
Maja Babič Košir
Available works
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