SMOM Extended Bodies

Regina José Galindo (GT), Larysa Bauge (BY/NL), Ruth Biene (DE/GB), Nel Acosta Bravo (VE/AR), Alice De Visscher (BE), Johanna Therese Folkmann (DE/AT), Nancy Gewölb Mayanz (CL), Dyana Gravina (IT/GB), Marija Griniuk (LT/DK), Anaïs Heraud-Louisadat (FR/DE), Alejandra Herrera Silva (CL/US), Casey Jenkins (AU), Isabel León (ES), Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro (GA/DE), Alexia Miranda (SV), Surya Tüchler (DE), Guadalupe Aldrete (MX/AT) and Vaida Tamoševičiūtė (LT).

SMOM was curated by Vaida Tamoševičiūtė and Guadalupe Aldrete in partnership with Teena Lange and Adriana Disman.

SMOM Extended Bodies is a collaboration between Meno Parkas Gallery (Kaunas) and the art spaces Minuszwei (Vienna) and Grüntaler9 (Berlin)

Minuszwei, 11 - 30 November 2021

The works shown in this selection reveal two parallel levels of significance. On the one hand, the conceptual and artistic content that the authors themselves decided to share, in which they address their relationship to (non)motherhood, the external and internal tensions that these entail, such as the relationship with oneself and with the "product" (as a newborn is called in some spanish speaking countries), as well as in many cases the violence (even physical) to which pregnant women are subjected. On the other hand, in a subtle and almost invisible way, the technical aspects of each video reflect the often precarious circumstances in which artists, especially mothers, are forced to create and share their work.

The sense of the lock down is tangible in some of the videos. Bodies are thirsty for live connection and audience. While new mothers were familiar with this feeling for a long time before the pandemic, COVID made isolation a shared feeling. Performing for the camera, searching for new perspectives of embodiment, even when the body is not present anymore, can be felt rooted in the gaze, in a feeling of space by the sometimes absent performer.

Mothers, (non)mothers, hurt children inside of all of us. Various topics and approaches that matter, that are a mirror of our society and yet are so little known and seen. We think these aspects of our lives should be discussed more loudly, more proudly and more bravely. The extensions we let from ourselves connect us to others. Living through a cycle of women's bodies – no matter whether they are mothers or not, there are connecting threads among us – a common language of Creation, our bodies are mostly craving for. Thus we leave our small traces of care.