Indrani Ashe – Agata Bogacka – Sophie Calle – Teresa Gierzyńska – Christa Joo Hyun D’Angelo – Jolanta Marcolla – Natasza Niedziółka – Ania Nowak – Ewa Partum – Fabiana Sala – Kama Sokolnicka – Maria Stangret – Ewa Surowiec – Allison L. Wade
The six characters that make up the title, abstract signs it would seem, can be read as a sentence “And I love you too.” In today’s world communication is becoming more and more condensed and straightforward, and the use of emojis brings to mind a return to pictograms and the beginnings of writing. All you need to express your feelings or share a deeply personal message is to tap a few symbols on a smartphone.
This development is the starting point of the exhibition. Foregrounding one perspective – the female one – &I<3U2 explores how women artists speak about love, feelings, their own bodies, their sensuality and other private experiences.
&I<3U2 brings together several generations of artists: beginning with Maria Stangret (born 1929), through artists born in the 1940s and 50s, to those who launched their artistic careers in the age of the Internet and social media.
The exhibition includes works from the 1970s (Jolanta Marcolla, Teresa Gierzyńska, Ewa Partum). Some of them, due to their unusual character and themes, were rarely presented to the public or they were placed in contexts that didn’t allow for their full reading. We also include brand new works (Indrani Ashe, Fabiana Sala, Christa Joo Hyun D’Angelo) marked by openness, a readiness to transgress taboos and a directness of message.
What is important to the exhibition is the figure of the artist herself and her attitude as a woman who actively and uncompromisingly analyses her experiences, rejecting her traditionally passive role. At the same time the exhibition questions the boundary between the private and the public, between what is intimate and what is social. The lack of shame breaks a taboo of femininity. For these women artists, the search for a language to express their most intimate experiences entails not only questions about identity but also about the social significance of desire, sex, and romantic relationships, as well as loneliness and separation.
Artists: Indrani Ashe, Agata Bogacka, Sophie Calle, Teresa Gierzyńska, Christa Joo Hyun D’Angelo, Jolanta Marcolla, Natasza Niedziółka, Ania Nowak, Ewa Partum, Fabiana Sala, Kama Sokolnicka, Maria Stangret, Ewa Surowiec, Allison L. Wade
Curated by Paulina Olszewska
Partners: Goethe Institute, Berliner Senat
Exhibition design: Krzysztof Skoczylas
Exhibition hours Tuesday to Sunday 12 PM – 6 PM
Closed on June, 11, 2020