Artist in residence, Stockholm, 1 March – 31 May 2024

Silvia Susanna is an architect, researcher, and filmmaker based in Rome. Her work challenges Western assumptions, questioning established norms that contribute to unjust social practices and environmentally harmful spatial production. Her practice intersects critical-oriented approaches, community-driven projects, and counter-narratives. Currently, her research focuses on heritage preservation and value.

Silvia Susanna

During her IASPIS residency, Silvia will continue to focus on her research on how culture is valued and stories are remembered, considering the questions of who decides and what methods are used. Delving deeper into the material decay at Borgo Rizza (Sicily, Italy) and the paradoxes in Italy’s Authorized Heritage Discourse, Silvia will conduct a comparative analysis with the Saalecker workshop (Saxony, Germany) — an architectural site tied to the legacy of racist ideologist Paul Schultz Naumburg, where she recently conducted an art project as a fellow of die-DAS Academy.

Her work has been exhibited in various spaces, including Ground Stockholm, Sweden (2022), “NòtFilmFest” in Italy (2020); Avalanche Art Space in Massachusetts, USA (2020). Silvia Susanna holds a BA in Architecture and Construction Techniques and an MA in Urban and Architectural Design from La Sapienza, Rome, Italy. She also obtained a short-term diploma in Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy in New York City, USA, and a Postmaster in Decolonizing Architecture from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden.

She has recently obtained grants from the Goethe-Institut and Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen, and a fellowship at dieDAS – Design Akademie Saaleck. Susanna has contributed to major international exhibitions as an assistant curator for the Slovenian Presentation [Home at Arsenale] at the Venice Biennale in 2016 and as an architect assistant for the Tunisian Pavilion in 2017, as well as for Maruša Zorec in 2018.