In Dialogue
Aleksandra Scepanovic’s story begins in then-Yugoslavia, where the stark presence of brutalist architecture shaped her early sense of form and space. As a journalist during the 1990s she reported on the Balkan conflicts, bearing witness to the fractured landscapes of cities such as Sarajevo.
Her move to New York brought another turning point. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, she encountered warehouses and abandoned factories transformed into centers of creative activity. This moment reinforced her enduring fascination with places that hold layers of history and memory, where neglect and possibility coexist. That awareness now guides her curatorial initiative Site Seen in the Hudson Valley. It grew from her impulse “to listen for what spaces might still be saying.” This interview introduces Aleksandra Scepanovic and the vision behind Site Seen.
Tell us about Of Needle and Nerve, your recent pop-up project.
In August, Site Seen launched Of Needle and Nerve in a former tattoo parlor in Kingston. More than thirty artists brought work that examined permanence, vulnerability, and the marks we carry. The once empty commercial space, hidden in plain sight on the block, was itself a participant, its hollow walls, CBGB’s-style grungy bathroom (preserved and left intact and honest — though we did clean the toilet and the sink), and distant echoes of ink and skin thickening the atmosphere. That energy resonated with the exhibition’s premise: art as both wound and mark, both ephemeral and indelible.
We used tattoo flash — the sheets of designs we imagined once hanging on the parlor’s walls — as a metaphor for how art, like tattoos, makes an imprint, sometimes visible and sometimes internal, that cannot be erased. At the opening reception, we shared temporary tattoos of all the participating artworks, a way for visitors to carry the exhibition on their own skin, if only for a while. For a few passing weeks, the space pulsed with conversation, community, and the thrill of transformation.
What is your next project about?
The next Site Seen activation is Of Hull and Hush, co-curated with fellow artist Jennifer Miller, opening in early October inside a cavernous, textured marina building on the Rondout Creek waterfront in Connelly, NY. The site, with its timber ribs and drifting river air, holds a vast, reverberant presence. We are inviting works that lean into fragility, rawness, and presence. This two-day pop-up exhibition is not about white gallery walls. It is not about polish. It is about space and resonance. It is designed to give artists and visitors an encounter with art that is inseparable from place. It imagines art as a beacon, as a conduit, that can be everywhere, and anywhere.
What is your vision for the coming year?
The year ahead is about deepening both my studio practice and the Site Seen initiative. As a sculptor, I am continuing to work with fragmented forms and compressed identities, testing how fracture can embody not only rupture but resilience. As a curator, I see Site Seen evolving into a more formalized platform that activates multiple underused spaces across the Hudson Valley while building partnerships and opportunities to sustain the work. I hope to create chances for artists to boldly show in unexpected contexts and for audiences to encounter art outside of traditional white walls. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with white walls, but this initiative is about sparking dialogue in spaces that might otherwise remain silent. In doing so, we may all be given an opportunity to affirm the continuance and interdependence of art and community, and the role art plays in troubled waters.
About the artist and curator: Aleksandra Scepanovic @atelierwdstk
www.site-seen.com @site_seen_arts