Jana Kießer
Jetzt lach doch mal!
Experiences with verbal everyday sexism are the focus of the artistic-participative project "Now laugh!". In a round, 8 square meter walk-in installation, framed by silver fabric panels sewn with plant photographs, stories of these experiences become audible. The space created is intended to make room for an examination of sexism. As part of the project, I have also founded a feminist round table. The round table serves to exchange ideas about and empower people against sexism as well as to network artists and non-artists. Together with the participants we spent six days sewing the installation. During the round table, we also designed an artist's book together with potential reactions to the sexist statements in the stories, which visitors could then add to in the exhibition. The aim of this project is to exchange about and empower each other against sexism, to share knowledge and to bring people together.
To make the feelings and conditions associated with sexist discrimination visible I decided to translate them into photographs of plants. For me it is an experimental, abstract way of expressing and visualizing feelings such as disgust, anger, aggression, wanting to push someone away, the feeling of a thousand eyes staring at you, goose bumps, a cold shiver running down your spine – but also "wanting to hide away", turning away. In some of the photographs, I inverted the colors – red, pink, purple – for me, these signal colors embody the state of alarm that our body enters when we feel threatened. By inverting the colors, the photographs look like a view through a microscope, they take on something organic, an inner life, which symbolizes the reflections that are supposed to take place through my work.
The project was made possible by the protagonists and realized with the support of Kristina Leko and my fellow students of the master‘s program Art in Context as well as the Equal Opportunities Officer of the Berlin University of the Arts, the members of the feminist roundtable which I founded for the project, Schokofabrik e.V., Unkraut Kollektiv & VielRespektStiftung.
The participative book was designed & produced with the advice and support of Manaf Azzam, SHIFT BOOKS and Franka Geiser.
A million thanks to all participants & supporters!
Special thanks to Zoë Sebanyiga for the great sewing support, Simon Kießer for the construction building, Sara Zewde, Lucia Alfaro Valencia, Oana Maria Pop and Anna Kießer for sewing with me, Oana Maria Pop for hosting us, Cosmo König for the workshop on critical masculinity, Larisa aka Tru:L for the music, Sebastian Wells & Annemie Martin for the photo documentation and Tara Mianji for the support at KUNSTRAUM Potsdamer Straße!
The installation was shown for the first time in the duo exhibition „the tide is high“ @KUNSTRAUM Potsdamer Straße, Berlin together with works by Annemie Martin in October 2023.
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