As part of ArtistLab 2022, we conducted interviews with several female artists and initiatives. Here you can find a documentation of the interviews with Daniella Strassfogel and Maicyra Leao.
Maria Walser and Maicyra Leao
We had invited the collective “Maternal Fantasies” to our first LAB, with a focus on other art disciplines. The collective is an interdisciplinary group of international female artists and cultural producers based in Berlin. Currently it consists of 7 artist mothers and their total of 10 children and 2 babies.
Since none of the collective had time for our LAB appointment, I met Maicyra Leao, from “Maternal Fantasies” for an interview and talked to her about the core issues of the LABs:
Why does the term mother, especially in the art scene, often has a negative connotation?
For the artists of the collective, the concept of motherhood is central. They shape their discourse through collective artistic processes. The collective includes the artists as well as their children. It is about the connection between care work and the creative process. In contrast to the art scene, where mothers are often concerned with separating family and care work from artistic work in order to be efficiently available, the work of the collective is about a clear integration of children and care work. Their artistic practice uses integrative, community-oriented experiments as alternatives to traditional structures of art production.
Which (artistic) perspectives do artists develop in parenthood during the pandemic?
The pandemic made the work of the collective almost impossible. Because the digital alternative would always have meant sitting in front of the computer with the children. But that quickly lost its appeal. So the adult artists remained in lively exchange to develop different writing practices with each other. Basically, however, each was far more concerned with organizing her own family life. Fortunately, there is the fruitful experience of the years before the pandemic, so there is enough motivation now to slowly pick up the thread of working together again, sharing space, time and authorship.
Maria Walser
Daniella Strasfogel is a violinist, performer and teacher. We had invited her to the networking meeting with other art disciplines. Due to scheduling overlap, we alternatively conducted a Zoom interview on the core issues of Artist Labs:
Which (artistic) perspectives do artists develop in parenthood during the pandemic?
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How can central structures (funding, theaters, venues for training and residencies) in the dance scene be made more accessible to them and new networks be established?
Anja Kolmanics and Daniella Strasfogel
For Daniella, the digital media were at first a blessing to be back in (more or less) direct contact with the audience via streamed concerts after a long break. After a few digital months, however, the desire to return to the haptic quality arose and the idea was born to produce a book with experiential art for the whole family at home.
In May 2021 SCHRUMPF! was released, a DIY puzzle with mp3 with sound and movement for the home in cooperation with Biliana & The Instrument. Watch it here: https://www.loudsoft.de/archiv-1/schrumpf-archiv/biliana-the-instrument/
In April 2021 Daniella produced a book for all senses together with Mila Koistinen. A dance piece to be read, read aloud and danced by yourself. The book can be ordered by e-mail. Read more on the website of the production platform LOUDsoft https://www.loudsoft.de/archiv-1/schrumpf-archiv/schrumpf-koistinen-on-a-clear-day/.