Project grants 2006

"Gardeners and researchers – pioneering research at Loheland 1919 – 1933"
Applicant: Dr. sc. agr. Anja Christinck, Gersfeld (Rhön)
Type of project: publication
Funding: euro 4,000
The founders of Loheland, a rural settlement close to Fulda in Germany, were part of the avant-garde movements of the 1920s and early 1930s. They were women who desired to lead a largely independent life in the countryside and to try out new forms of community living. In addition to growing their own food, these women pioneered research in the newly emerging fields of organic farming and horticulture. Dr. Anja Christinck's project aims to make the existing Loheland archives accessible and to document the contribution of the founders of Loheland to the development of bio-dynamic farming.

"Female circus artists in Germany 1850 – 1937"
Applicant: Stephanie Haerdle, Berlin
Type of project: publication
Funding: euro 3,000
There has been little scientific research on the historic circus. As a result, there exists no publication on female circus artists either, even though they were once worshiped and admired like pop stars. As circus artists, they were able to live and work outside the constraints which bourgeois lifestyles of the time placed on women. They earned good money, travelled the world, and were not discriminated against in spite of breaking the conventions of preconceived feminine roles. It was only during the years of the Weimar Republic (1991 – 1933) that the public esteem of female circus artists began to wane. The author will base her publication on the few surviving personal records of the artists (letters, journals, autobiographical material), a wealth of visual material and historic news articles.

"Emigrant biographies"
Applicant: Dr. Sylke Bartmann, Oldenburg
Type of project: publication
Funding: euro 2,300
Dr. Sylke Bartmann's publication project is based on autobiographical material written by emigrant women in 1940 for a "prize competition" initiated by the Harvard University under the heading "My Life in Germany Before and After January 30, 1933." On the basis of ten selected texts, Dr. Sylke Bartmann will elaborate on their authors' individual perception of and dealing with the Nazi regime. A particular focus of her work is on locating "biographical resources," which enabled the emigrants to cope and live on.

"Come home"
Applicant: Stephanie Adams, Cologne
Type of project: exhibition series
Funding: euro 3,500
This series invites artists to present their works in private apartments, far away from the bustle of professional shows and galleries. Many of the pieces shown were created as one-offs, free from the "pressure of the market." After an initial show in Cologne, the exhibition will travel to other locations in the world. Nationality, home decor and personal preferences of the occupants will place the exhibits in an ever-changing individual context. maecenia will bring the exhibition to Frankfurt, looking forward to the perspectives which the entirely open concept will afford.

"City of Bucur"
Applicant: Aurelia Mihai, Hamburg
Type of project: video project
Funding: euro 3,000
In her new video project, Aurelia Mihai takes a close look at the history of her native city, Bucharest. The work describes a wide arc from the idyllic founding myth of the city all the way to the monstrous "People's Palace" as part of the architectural heritage of the Ceaucescu regime. maecenia will fund this work for its creative approach to issues of national origin and contemporary identity.

"Recognition of women artists"
Applicants: Moira Zoitl and Doris Berger, Berlin
Type of project: installation
Funding: euro 3,000
Moira Zoitl and Doris Berger work on a project combining art and science. Their work examines which media women artists have been able to establish themselves in since the 1970s. Why, for example, do most of the few female professors in art schools work chiefly in performance and media art? Which institutions and campaigns support women artists and to what extent are they successful? The applicants have compiled interviews with contemporary women artists and statistics into an installation, which will be part of the exhibition "Sexy Mythos" in the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst ("New Society for Fine Arts") in Berlin. A catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition, which will subsequently travel to Graz and Leipzig.

"In the midst of the malestream"
Applicant: Helke Sander, Berlin
Type of project: film essay
Funding: euro 3,000
maecenia will fund the postproduction of a film by Helke Sander, which, owing to its topic, only has a slim chance of being widely distributed in our media. The film focuses on the early years of the new women's movement in Germany and on its specific internal disputes. What became of the analyses and demands made between 1968 and the early 1970s? For her film, the author combines old documentary material (news reports on demonstrations, personal footage of feminist campaigns, etc.) with recent footage of a discussion featuring some of the movement's activists and younger women. During her research, Helke Sander repeatedly found that footage that is not part of the "malestream" is at a high risk of being lost, and indeed, she has been able to rescue some of this material when making her film.

Film series "photofilm"
Applicant: Katja Pratschke, Berlin
Type of project: film series
Funding: euro 2,500
Katja Pratschke and Gustáv Hámos curated a series of "photo films." Their own award winning photofilm "Fremdkörper" ("Transposed Bodies") and a new project titled "Rien ne va plus" have already been presented in maecenia's Queens' Ways II series at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. So far, the genre of "photofilm" has not played any major role in film history or theory. The series, which the authors curated to be shown in 2006, will include photofilms by Agnès Varda, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, Hubert Fichte/Leonore Mau and others. The series will run in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Folkwang Museum in Essen as well as at several film festivals in Germany and abroad. maecenia also intends to bring the "photofilm" series to the Film Museum Frankfurt.

"Who's talking?"
Applicants: Maria Binder and Verena Franke, Berlin
Type of project: documentary film
Funding: euro 3,000
Maria Binder and Verena Birgit Franke's documentary tells the story of five women who were tortured by Turkish police. Having talked about torture and violence in public, some of these women now face charges for "insulting Turkishness." The film poses questions such as: Who formulates the definitions? Who has the hegemony? Who pronounces the sentences? The film looks at concepts of "private" and "public," and it shows how public speech can become an act of resistance. The directors present women who are no silent victims but active and acting people.