M Y C E L I a Exchange Project for Women Artists M Y C E L I a Exchange Project for Women Artists
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M Y C E L I A Exchange Project for Women Artists M Y C E L I A Exchange Project for Women Artists A project initiated by artists from GEDOK Munich with artists from Riga in cooperation with PLATFORM Munich 22nd April ➝ 10th May 2020 Concept and curated by Anabel Roque Rodríguez The Artists Silke Bachmann (D) + Ieva Balode (LV) p. 08 – 13 Karin Fröhlich (D) + Gundega Evelone (LV) p. 14 – 19 Patricia Lincke (D) + Laura Feldberga (LV) p. 20 – 25 Penelope Richardson (D) + Sandra Strēle (LV) p. 26 – 31 Sabine Schlunk (D) + Guna Millersone (LV) p. 32 – 37 “Artistic success depends on a healthy Based on thoughts about biological network. But what does this network ecosystems, artists from Munich and look like in a society that puts Riga explore them in micro- competition over solidarity? cooperations. The fungus mycelium What does artistic success require? serves as a model for thought and What does a healthy artistic describes thread-like cells of a fungus. ecosystem need? The exhibition They grow invisibly in the culture Mycelia is a joint reflection on medium and combine underground success, ecosystem, networking and over square kilometres to form a huge detoxification. biological mass. In this network, mycelia also provide a healthy ecosystem for outside organisms.” Anabel Roque Rodríguez 4 5 “We need The first ideas for an international exchange project of female artists from Germany and Latvia were born collective MYCELIA: The fungus mycelium serves as a in 2017 during the stay of the Latvian curator Diana Popova (Riga) at the Villa Waldberta in Munich. Diana model for thought and describes thread-like cells Popova came to the GEDOK Gallery as part of an exchange programme for female curators. Her direct of a fungus. They grow invisibly in the soil and collaboration with GEDOK highlighted the importance of the exchange of experiences and the potential thinking. combine underground over hundreds of square of cooperation projects between women artists of different nationalities. In recent years we have witnes- kilometres to form a huge biological mass. In this sed the revaluation of female artists in Europe. The revision of art history, the new role of women artists We need network, mycelia also provide a healthy ecosystem and their growing cooperation at national and international level has helped women to gain greater for outside organisms. The exhibition Mycelia is a visibility and to actively confront the prevailing patriarchal structures. The MYCELIA project is part of this collaborative reflection on current issues of artistic movement and aims to act as both a digital and a real platform for exchange and collaboration between common success with a three-way focus on ecosystems, women artists from Munich, Riga and other European and international cities. networking and detoxification. Mycelia is our feminine form structures. of the term mycelium, the fibre The project started in 2018 in Berlin with a first impulse exhibition of wo- For the exhibition, female artists from Munich and network of the vegetative part men artists from Berlin, Munich and a presentation about women artists Riga reflected in small collaborative artist groups of a fungus. Usually, the abo- from Riga. In 2019 curator Anabel Roque Rodríguez joined the team and We need a across geographical distances. The internet is ve-ground visible fruiting bodies developed the concept and final exhibition of Mycelia in 2020 that cul- changing the possibilities for cooperation and develop from this mycelium. Due minated in the exchange between women artists from Munich and Riga. how to get in touch with other artists – ideas grow to the absence of the fruiting healthy The exchange took place via post and digital means and materialised in across distances; sketches and thoughts are sent bodies, the mycelium is not the form of a collective exhibition of works of art created within during via Skype, email and also in traditional ways like affected and continues to exist, it ecosystem.” can also include other organisms the collaboration. In response to the limitations of Covid-19 and to open letters and post packages. in symbiosis. Comparatively, we the exhibition to a broader public, the Mycelia artists created an extensi- In current times, in which COVID-19 is changing artists function as mycelium and ve online programme of artists talks and discussion panels through an public life, this exhibition became an unexpected our works as the fruit-bodies own YouTube channel „Mycelia: About Networking as a Female Artist“. space for exploring the consequences of isolation with the effort to let a symbiosis A further goal of Mycelia is to continue to grow as a platform and to and contact and reflecting on the massive econo- originate. Using Mycelia as a expand to other European regions. mic consequences for art, artists and culture. metaphor, this platform aims to create a network of relationships, exchanges and projects between women artists from Munich and Anabel Roque Rodríguez other European cities. 6 7 8 9 Ieva Balode “Touch“, Digital print, RIGA 100 × 150 cm, 2020 “Network/Fungusfilm“, 80 x 35 mm slides, 2020 Whilst the capitalist driven world is expecting the The viewer sees a black and white photograph where highest performance from our work and products, two hands are depicted vertically holding each other which is mostly achieved by competition as a driving and reaching for mutual support. In the lower corner force of economics and power, there are also other of the image is a projection of 80 35mm analog film means of coexistence which can be found in a slides which depict the process of fungus growing nature. Mycelia as a network of fungi bacteria which on the actual film. The slides combine film found is responsible of nurturing and connecting plants with fungus growing on them already and images and trees through the soil can be used as an analogy created by the artist through using different organic of the way human world can support each other and matter to incubate fungus on the film surface. in particular, the female world which has historically been exposed to many injustices and male Ieva Balode (born in 1987, Riga, Latvia) is an artist and power. Instead of fighting for their power and com- film curator working with analog image. She participa- peting against other women, we can resist through tes in international exhibitions and festivals presenting cooperation and mutual support as sister to sister her work both in installation, as well as cinema and giving a hand to each other to reach further to- performance situations. As a curator she is a founding gether. member of the Baltic Analog Lab – artists collective providing a space and platform for analog film pro- duction, research and education. She is also a director of the experimental film festival Process happening in Riga since 2017. 10 Silke Bachmann MUNICH Ieva Balode and I thought about focusing on the reflective surface produced by the shiny oil paint symbolic representation of a female network. We applied to the surface in this area of the painting. both find hands fascinating and appreciate their This mirror metaphor was not intended, but I find meaning, for example when you hold hands. For it very appropriate to reflect my own position in my both of us this symbolizes cohesion among wo- existing network. men, which we believe could be improved. Our common theme in Mycelia is the visible connection In addition, I exhibit drawings made during the through the touching hands in the interaction of painting process on self-made paper in organic the hidden connection through the fungal plexus form. The drawings reflect the way in which I am (mycelium). always searching while painting. My work is divided into two parts, on the one hand, Silke Bachmann was born in Leipzig and grew up in I show a classical oil painting on a stretcher frame. Berlin, where she completed her Masters in Art speci- The title of the work is "Mycelia" from 2020. It alising in painting. Since 2012 she lives in Munich and shows two hands surrounded by a net-like structure is a member of the BBK and the GEDOK Munich. and mushrooms. On the left, my hand is shown, on She exhibits regularly and has been working for several the right is Ieva's actually injured hand, from whose years with various artists in cooperation. In 2016 she wound fungal fruiting bodies grow. received an international scholarship. More recently she got a 3-year studio grant from the City of Munich. The mycelium, the net-like structures in the picture, In 2019 she established her studio for painting and flow towards an oval shape, in which they condense drawing in a light-flooded former greenhouse within Drawings ”Mycelia I - III“, ink on paper and and dive into the hidden. The oval could also be a the Botanikum artist atelier complex. ”Fruchtkörper I - III“ 2020, ink on paper, diameter 18 cm. mirror, both because of its form and because of the Page 9 ”Mycelia“ 2020, oil on canvas, 160 x 200 cm 13 14 15 Gundega Evelone RIGA The installation “The rise of the Golden Age – Prolo- Gundega Evelone (1988) is a multidisciplinary artist. gue“ anticipates a likely to happen scientific event – Although she holds an MA in Sculpture from the Art the finding of cosmic ova. The work of art deals with Academy of Latvia, her practice spans various mediums the starting phase of gigantic changes in society that are called upon as required in order to create an caused by the discovery of feminine ova which are ever more encompassing staged version of reality that able to self-organize and create new life.