Uterus Effects: book, talk and music Event

Verein Kunstentropie
presents
Book presentation: a talk on art and reproduction in times of Covid 19 and a concert

Online event in BCS (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian)
Moderator: Mirjana Đotunović Mustra
Participants: Aleksandra Aleksić, Željka Aleksić, Milena Gajić, Tatjana Hardikov i Ivana Kralj
Music by KATHI POWER
https://soundcloud.com/katharina-kawalle

Friday, 26th of September
17h-20h
Bezirksmuseum Ottakring (1160, Richard-Wagner-Platz 19b)

As we did not manage to hold presentations of the book Uterus Effects in March due to the Coronavirus pandemic, now we have the opportunity to start a conversation in a completely new format about the topics imposed by the pandemic itself in the context of art, migration, motherhood, and patriarchy. Since the participants in the publication are also participants in the presentation, we will be able to hear their experiences both regarding the publication and about the overall situation in society.
Potential questions/ issues:
How has our way of life changed? How will it continue? How can we defend ourselves against incipient patriarchal (re)structuring? How exactly are we as artists and migrants affected? How has the COVID 19 world crisis changed our artistic work practice?
The publication “Uterus Effects” is an experimental-feminist endeavor aimed at identifying and analyzing social, political, and cultural interpretations of the reproductive system organs’ functions (maternity) and dysfunctions (diseases). Given that there is a lack of public discourse and insufficient attention is paid to women in their late pregnancy, after childbirth, or during the recovery from cancer surgery or some other diseases of reproductive organs, this publication has aspired to provide the necessary space for all those who wanted to share their own experience or reflections on this issue. An important aspect of thinking about this topic is the context of art and art as a potential therapeutic agent for faster psycho-physical recovery.
The publication is the sum of analytical texts, illustrations, and free (artistic) forms that re-examine the relationship between art and maternity/reproductive system diseases. The content is divided into three parts: the first part covers analytical texts which, from different theoretical and methodological approaches, interpret topics such as motherhood dysfunctionality seen in the artist Tabita Rezaire’s work titled “Sugar Walls Teardom” (text by Giulia Guaran), the maternal aspect of Virgin Mary (text by Jovana Pikulić), and the art therapy as a way of dealing with trauma (text by Ivana Mančić). The second part comprises of the works about (negative) experiences of the institutional treatment of delivery, in the form of a diary segment by Petja Grafenauer and letters by Jelena Milojević. This part also includes a documentary drama and translation of the Käthe Leichter’s questionnaire (placed at the end of the book) by Jelena Micić. In the third, and the last, part of the publication, the reader will find the illustrations and brief explanations of the works, by the artists themselves: Dženana Pindžo-Mekić, Flora Lu, Jana Adamović, Jelena Cvetković, Kathleen Day, Laura Mahnke, Marija Janković, Mia Arsenijević, Milena Gajić, Nina Babić, Sanja Umičević, Saša Bezjak, Tatjana Hardikov, Vladislava Savić, and Željka Aleksić.
The editor of the publication is Amalija Stojsavljević.

Biographies:
Aleksandra Aleksić (1974, Ključ/ Bosnia and Herzegovina) on the crossroads of Bosnia and Austria, finished her diploma at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (Class of Marina Gržinić). She is working as a woman, mother, artist, and can find her mostly on a construction site, developing different inspiring spaces to feel, exchange, learn, think, and make experience possible.
Željka Aleksić (Knjaževac/ Serbia, 1989) studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, with professors Ashley Hans Scheirl and Gin Müller. She attended High school in Niš, Serbia, and she is a founding member of the group Centar za kulturu i umetnost K019 (Center for Culture and Art K019), a group of cultural professionals who implement their artistic work in the form of performances, lectures and photography, workshops and exhibitions. She has exhibited in several solo shows in Serbia and Austria and would like to underline her last performance in Vienna, together with her mother, Gledaj majku, biraj ćerku (Like mother, like daughter). Two generations of women dressed in black try to quickly tap their index, middle, ring, and little fingers alternately with their thumbs. This performance for artists’ workgroup I KNOW I CARE made at the Festival Wienwoche in September 2019. She also got a second-year scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
www.zeljkaaleksic.com
Milena Gajić (Negotin/ Serbia, 1985) graduated from the Department of Wall Painting at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade and currently pursuing her doctoral studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She has participated in several colonies in Serbia and exhibited 10 times in the country and abroad. Over the years, in her artwork, she has been researching line, form, and image as an installation.
http://www.milenagajic-art.com/
Tatjana Hardikov (Zagreb/ Croatia, 1977) lives and works in Vienna. She studied the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and Venice (2002-2006).
https://www.tatjanahardikov.com/
Mirjana Djotunović- Mustra (Serbia/ Belgrade, 1978) works in Vienna at the interface of fine arts, performance, and fashion. The focus of her artistic projects is on feminism, gender, capitalism, and migration, as well as activist practices. The intensive exchange in collective with different artists is an important part of her work. Her artistic position is characterized by her experiences as a woman, migrant worker, and gastarbajterka. Since 2016 she studies at Academie of Fine Arts in Vienna. She has been an Austrian citizen since 2017. Mirjana is the mother of a son (born 2018), whom she raises alone. Her work was presented in Bushwick Art and Shipping (2013, NYC), Dessous (2015, Vienna), Donaufestival (2015, Krems), Wienwoche (2016, 2017, 2018, Vienna), Das Weisse Haus (2018, Vienna), Raw Matters (2018, Vienna), etc.
As a curator, Mirjana organized several group exhibitions and one art festival. As an artist, Mirjana works with various media and formats. In 2016, during her studies, she rediscovered her passion for knitting. Since then, she is experimenting with the idea of collective knitting as an activist practice as well as exploring its’ potential for empowerment and political activation in everyday feminism.
Amalija Stojsavljević (Pančevo/ Serbia, 1984) graduated with a degree in history of art, after which she worked as a curator and librarian at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina). She attended World of Art-School for Curatorial Practice and Critical Writing in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and later she enrolled in the Master´s Program in Art History in Vienna. She is the founder of the Kunstentropie association from Vienna. Among numerous realized ventures, which include exhibitions, critiques, essays, lectures, workshops, etc., she would particularly like to mention the ongoing project Uterus Effects about art, maternity, and reproductive system diseases.
http://amalijastojsavljevic.com/
Kunstentropie - Association for Contemporary and Non-Academic Art and Cultural Events was founded in early 2018, based in Vienna. The main objective of the Association is to support and promote non-academic artistic tendencies through various activities such as exhibitions, workshops, discussions, or festivals. By marginal artistic tendencies, we mean all those activities that take place outside of the official art institutions and therefore are not subject to their guidelines. Our target group is young artists, but also other people who have a desire for creative development and experimentation in the field of art. Since the Austrian cultural context is specific due to the interaction of people from different parts of Europe and the entire world, special attention is given to the promotion of interculturality and diversity, ie the promotion of social minorities at home and abroad.
www.kunstentropie.com