Join us for an evening of book presentations and talks by Lise Haller Baggesen (US), Andrea Francke (UK) and Christa Donner (US).
This program is part of the weekend-long The Mothernists event at Leeszaal West, Upominki and PrintRoom, in collaboration with m/other voices and Upominki, with deep gratitude to all contributors. Full program 5/6/7 june 2015
Book presentations:
-Mothernism by Lise Haller Baggesen
-Invisible Spaces of Parenthood Manual by Andrea Francke
–Propositions, Manifestos & Experiments by Christa Donner
Tunes by Loes Verstappen
more info:
MOTHERNISM by Lise Haller Baggesen
At the intersection of feminism, science fiction, and disco, MOTHERNISM aims to locate the mother-shaped hole in contemporary art discourse. If the proverbial Mother is perhaps perceived as a persona non grata in the art world, because her nurturing nature is at odds with the hyperbolic ideal of the singular artistic genius, MOTHERNISM amplifies her presence, channeling her energy, complexity, and sublime creative potential in a series of intimate and critical reflections. The resulting collection of letters—dedicated with love from one mother to her dear daughter, sister, mother, and reader—fuse biography, music, art, and history into an auto-theoretical testimony that recalls and redefines the future imperfect.
Lise Haller Baggesen (1969) left her native Denmark for the Netherlands in 1992, to study painting at the Academy of Art and Industrial Design in Enschede and the Rijksacademy in Amsterdam. In 2008, she relocated with her family to Chicago, where she graduated from the School of the Art Institute in 2013 with an MA in Visual and Critical Studies. Over time, her painting practice evolved into a hybrid production, including teaching, curating, writing, and multimedia installation work. She has shown internationally in galleries and museums including Overgaden in Copenhagen, the Municipial Museum in the Hague, MoMu in Antwerp, Württembergischem Kunstverein in Stuttgart, CAEC in Xiamen, The Poor Farm in Manawa, Wisconsin, 6018 North, Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. MOTHERNISM (Green Lantern Press, 2014) is her first book.
Invisible Spaces of Parenthood Manual by Andrea Francke
The ISP Manual is part of Invisible spaces of parenthood: A collection of pragmatic propositions for a better future, a Communal Knowledge project by Andrea Francke that explores issues surrounding childcare in collaboration with local nurseries, childminders, children’s centres and parent groups, and looks for new models and possibilities. This included setting up an exhibition and a workshop space at The Showroom, summer 2012, for visitors to test out DIY designs for furniture and forms of play, some of which were gathered through an open call.
The manual contains eight especially commissioned essays as well as interviews, event excerpts, discussions and documentation from the exhibition.
Andrea Francke was born in Peru and is currently based in London. She is currently developing two main research projects. Invisible spaces of parenthood: A collection of pragmatic propositions for a better future explores issues surrounding childcare in collaboration with local nurseries, childminders, children’s centres and parent groups, and looks for new models and possibilities. It uses 1960s and 70s DIY culture as a frame of reference to question political, pedagogical, social and economic structures around parenting. The Piracy Project, a collaboration with Eva Weinmayr as part of the AND Publishing program (2011 – 2013), is an exploration of the philosophical, legal and practical implications of book piracy. She was a recipient of the Red Mansion Art Prize (2011) and a Communnal Knowledge resident at The Showroom gallery in London (2012). In early 2013, she was an artist in residency at CCA, and working on a commission for the 2 degrees festival in London.
Propositions, Manifestos & Experiments is a risographed think-tank exploring the intersection of contemporary artmaking and family life through text and image from 28 international artists, published in glorious duotone by the collective Temporary Services with a centerfoldout poster of the Cultural ReProducers Manifesto. The zine features contributions by: Christa Donner, Candida Alvarez, Laura Berman, Andrew Yang, Lise Haller Baggesen, Keiler Roberts (Powdered Milk), Lenka Clayton, Jennie Temple (Project!! Wakaka!), Stephanie Diamond, Selina Trepp, Chiara Galimberti, Lauren Weinstein, Alberto Aguilar, Fred & August Sasaki, Orla Whelan (AtHomeStudios, the Mothership Project), Crystal Ann Brown & Eliot Hown (The Hown’s Den), Libby Clarke, Rebecca Niederlander & Iris Anna Regn (Broodwork), Jane Marsching & Andi Sutton (Plotform), Kyle Schlie (S.A.C.K.), Melissa Potter, Claire Ashley, Andre Francke & Kim Dhillon (Invisible Spaces of Parenthood).
Christa Donner is an American artist based in Chicago. She investigates the human/animal body and its metaphors using a variety of media, ranging from small-press zines to large-scale installations. Her work is exhibited internationally, including projects for The Worldly House in dOCUMENTA 13 (Kassel, Germany); BankArt NYK (Yokohama, Japan); Chiaki Kamikawa Contemporary Art (Paphos, Cyprus); the Museum Bellerive (Zurich, Switzerland), ANTI Festival of Contemporary Art (Kuopio, Finland), the Centro Columbo Americano (Medellin, Colombia), and throughout the United States. In 2013 Donner initiated Cultural ReProducers, an evolving creative platform supporting active cultural workers who are also raising children.