“Go upstairs, guests are going to be here any minute.”Behind a closed door; four walls, two windows, a bed and a carpet.
up I fly over the fields, change shape and touch the sun with my feet.
up
up
Who will be who,
who will do what,
maybe I will be the who and do the what.
In the freedom of play lost is the sense of time.
until the next
interruption.
Behind a closed door / a scar,
behind a mask / a heightened truth,
On the floor
I try to find
a way.
To walk through rough words,
I go back to where I come from.
No address.
“Could you please turn around? I can’t fall asleep if I don’t see your face.” So I turn.
photographs and video by Tihana Vukić
C O D E
By Andrea Popović14 - 15 August, 2025
Vernissage: 14 August, 16:00 - 19:30
Performance: 15 August, 21:00 - 21:30
Spazio Elle, Piazza G. Pedrazzini 12,
6600 Locarno
CODE is an installation that examines the fluid dynamics of identity. Andrea Popović examines how identity is constructed, adapted, and performed through the lens of play and imagination.
This exhibition draws on the artist's experience of code-switching, the subtle changes in language, behaviour, and culture across different contexts, to explore how childhood experiences of staging become formative arenas for self-discovery and transformation.
Code-switching is an integral part of Popovic’ growing up. A child of immigrant parents, raised in a small town, cultural and linguistic shifts became second nature.
At school, being “othered”, triggered an instinct to shape-shift, to appeal to whichever group Popovic was navigating. The artist reflects on this ingrained reflex, born of both exploration and survival, that has followed him into adulthood. This ability to shape-shift, to wear different identities, resurfaces in the artist’s professional life, personal life and artistic life, reactivating the performance of belonging.
As children, we explored our identities through dolls, dress-up, and make-believe, testing boundaries and stepping into alter-egos with curiosity and freedom.
The artist suggests that for him, these early forms of play are a kind of staging, of preparing roles for the real world. As adults, this act of “trying on” identities continues through the daily performances of code-switching. Much like actors stepping into characters on stage, we shift between roles depending on the spaces we inhabit. In CODE, the artist draws a parallel between these early imaginative acts and the shifting performances of identity in contemporary life.
This exhibition draws on the artist's experience of code-switching, the subtle changes in language, behaviour, and culture across different contexts, to explore how childhood experiences of staging become formative arenas for self-discovery and transformation.
Code-switching is an integral part of Popovic’ growing up. A child of immigrant parents, raised in a small town, cultural and linguistic shifts became second nature.
At school, being “othered”, triggered an instinct to shape-shift, to appeal to whichever group Popovic was navigating. The artist reflects on this ingrained reflex, born of both exploration and survival, that has followed him into adulthood. This ability to shape-shift, to wear different identities, resurfaces in the artist’s professional life, personal life and artistic life, reactivating the performance of belonging.
As children, we explored our identities through dolls, dress-up, and make-believe, testing boundaries and stepping into alter-egos with curiosity and freedom.
The artist suggests that for him, these early forms of play are a kind of staging, of preparing roles for the real world. As adults, this act of “trying on” identities continues through the daily performances of code-switching. Much like actors stepping into characters on stage, we shift between roles depending on the spaces we inhabit. In CODE, the artist draws a parallel between these early imaginative acts and the shifting performances of identity in contemporary life.
Central to CODE is the dialogue between private and public spaces: the childhood bedroom, a site of make-believe and unfiltered identity, and the exhibition space, a performative stage that offers freedom through its theatrical nature. Through this parallel, the artist suggests that both spaces, though seemingly opposite, allow for experimentation and reinvention.
This private space is a safe space to experiment and prepare the face which one will even present to the world in the public space.
This installation includes 8 ceramic sculptures, each representing an identity or character, and a custom-designed rug by Bianca Luna Franzoni reminiscent of childhood play mats.
Much like a child would play with dolls on a rug, these elements are then activated through a live¨
performance by the artist on the stage, in costume. The sound of the performance was produced by Theodor Vasiljevic.
This inclusion of collaborators is a purposeful act, an invitation into a shared world of play, memory, and transformation. This reflects the ongoing process of self-construction, shaped by both concealment and performance. By merging the intimate world of childhood with the performative nature of the stage, CODE invites viewers to consider how play unlocks new ways of being, revealing authentic selves between all the characters performed on the imaginary stage.
Andrea Popović (b. 1993): Is a Swiss artist with balkan roots based in Zurich, specializing in
storytelling. His practice spans a wide breadth of media, from painting to sculpture to moving images.
Instagram: @popartovic
Website: https://andreapopovic.com/
This private space is a safe space to experiment and prepare the face which one will even present to the world in the public space.
This installation includes 8 ceramic sculptures, each representing an identity or character, and a custom-designed rug by Bianca Luna Franzoni reminiscent of childhood play mats.
Much like a child would play with dolls on a rug, these elements are then activated through a live¨
performance by the artist on the stage, in costume. The sound of the performance was produced by Theodor Vasiljevic.
This inclusion of collaborators is a purposeful act, an invitation into a shared world of play, memory, and transformation. This reflects the ongoing process of self-construction, shaped by both concealment and performance. By merging the intimate world of childhood with the performative nature of the stage, CODE invites viewers to consider how play unlocks new ways of being, revealing authentic selves between all the characters performed on the imaginary stage.
Andrea Popović (b. 1993): Is a Swiss artist with balkan roots based in Zurich, specializing in
storytelling. His practice spans a wide breadth of media, from painting to sculpture to moving images.
Instagram: @popartovic
Website: https://andreapopovic.com/
