Project Grants 2012

The Appointment (Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet)
Applicant: Ricarda Ciontos, Berlin
Type of project: Theatre production
Funding: Euro 3,000

The novel The Appointment (Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet) by Nobel Prize laureate Herta Müller is used as a basis for interviews with women, conducted in Romania and Germany, on the subject of betrayal. In the play, parts from the interviews will be interwoven with parts from the novel. Thus, the theatre makers will venture beyond the novel in an attempt to fathom the fundamental meaning of betrayal in political and in private life.

The project was initiated by Romanian-born actress Ricarda Ciontos. In 2006, she founded the theatre festival Nordwind, which aims to present international theatre projects from Germany's Nordic and Baltic neighbours in Berlin. Silke Saalfrank from Berlin will be production manager and Franziska Damian, who until 2011 was director in residence at Staatstheater Magdeburg, will direct the play. The play will be performed in Germany and Romania throughout 2012.

'Therapeutic society: Of feelings of well-being and unwell-being in contemporary culture' ('Die therapeutische Gesellschaft. Von Wohl- und Unwohlgefühlen in der Gegenwartskultur')
Applicant: Dr. Elisabeth Mixa, Vienna, Austria
Type of project: Research
Funding: Euro 4,000

In recent years, the so-called 'wellness-boom' has played an important role in our society. The imperative to relax and enjoy has produced new concepts of what are 'normal' and 'abnormal' sensations. New pathologies have emerged: Feelings of exhaustion, fear and sadness are defined as 'burn-out' ¬– a disease of civilization. The increasing popularity of these diagnoses that, looking at the statistics, could also be described as 'new women's diseases', is deemed to be a problem of postmodernism. The project will research into this phenomenon while challenging its gender aspect. An international research cooperation is also planned.

Elisabeth Mixa works in Vienna as an independent scholar. She is a sociologist and science coach.

'Thai town'
Applicant: Natasha Tagwerk, Berlin
Type of project: Documentary film
Funding: Euro 3,000

Berlin's Thai community has a dense and varied social network. It's mostly female members use it for support in coping with everyday life. Some of their communication takes place in secret and some in public, for example, at the Garküchenmarkt (Cookshop Market) in Preußenpark in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. The documentary wants to portray the life of several female protagonists and German-Thai couples over the period of one year and give insight into the traditions, practices, values, and changes of the community in Germany.

Natasha Tagwerk has worked as a set designer for several films. 'Thai Town' will be her first documentary.

'Sparta's women'
Applicant: Eva Lang and Waltraud Sperlich, Kalamata, Greece
Type of project: Book
Funding: Euro 3,000

Ancient historians and philosophers such as Aristotle, Plutarch and Xenophon report that Sparta's women lead a freer life than the women of Athens. They enjoyed the same education as the 'sons of Sparta' and, in contrast to women elsewhere at the time, were appreciated as valued members of the community. Basing their research on old and new finds from excavations in Sparta, the authors want to present the other - female - side of Sparta's culture, which research has hardly paid any attention to.

The journalist Eva Maria Lang and the historian Waltraud Sperlich both live in Greece (Peloponnese). In 2005, they founded their own publishing company, LYSO Verlag, in Kalamata. One of their first publications was Messene – die erträumte Metropole (Messene – Dream City).

'Iran. Interrupted'
Applicant: Beatrice Minda, Berlin
Type of project: Exhibition of photographs and book
Funding: Euro 5,000

The photographic work of Beatrice Minda often deals with residential or living environments. Minda explores private, semi-public and public spaces and their cultural, historical and political dimensions. In Iran, life inside the house, in patios and in private gardens enclosed by walls is an important aspect of everyday life. Minda wanted to know to what extent these interiors represent an alternative to the outside world in this repressive country. In the process, she discovered that space is treated here completely differently than we Europeans tend to think. An independent publication is planned in addition to the exhibition.

Beatrice Minda studied art history and fine arts. In 1997, she was student in the master-class of Prof. Katherina Sieverding. Numerous exhibitions followed in Germany and abroad including an exhibition in Heusenstamm Galerie in Frankfurt in the context of maecenia's Queens' Ways IV series.

'portrait # 0611 Maryanne Amacher'
Applicant: Elisabeth Schimana, Hainburg, Austria
Type of project: DVD portrait
Funding: Euro 5,000

The IMA Institute of Media Archaeology dedicates the sixth portrait in its DVD series about media and sound artists to Maryanne Amacher, the pioneer of electronic music who died in 2009. Maryanne Amacher once described her way of making music by saying: 'I play spaces'. She studied with Stockhausen, collaborated with Cage but cut her own way nevertheless. The film wants 'to follow the remaining traces of her presence and to capture them before they fade away completely.'
Previous portraits in the series were presented at international festivals in Linz, Ljubljana, Vienna and Yekaterinburg and may be purchased via http://ima.or.at.

Elisabeth Schimana, initiator of the DVD series, is a co-founder and artistic director of the IMA Institute of Media Archaeology in Hainburg, Austria. She studied electro-acoustics and experimental music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and musicology and ethnology at the University of Vienna. For many years, her work focussed on the relationship between voice, body and electronics.

'Cabinet grant' (Schrank-Stipendium)
Applicant: Verena Lettmayer, Offenbach
Type of project: A satire about scholarships
Funding: Euro 1,000

'Cabinet grant' is an art project that focuses on the difficult living conditions of artists and other people who make a living in the arts and culture scene. Many of them depend on grants, which are hard to get and often imperfectly suited for the purpose. In the face of this precarious situation, four artists took action and created their own arts grant at studio house Kunst Raum Mato (Offenbach am Main) for which they appointed themselves as jury. They advertise a two-week grant in which a cabinet will serve as living and working space. The other conditions and application criteria of the 'grant' also serve to unmask the structures of contemporary grant policy in an ironic way.

Artists Verena Lettmayer, Ruth Luxenhofer, Eva Moll and Charlotte Malcolm-Smith advertised the first 'Cabinet grant' in 2009 in Offenbach am Main.

'Revolutions'
Applicant: Constanza Macras, Berlin
Type of project: Series of lectures, performances and workshops
Funding: Euro 4,000

Argentinian dance theatre choreographer Constanza Macras will invite four Islamic feminists, activists and artists to Berlin for a series of lectures. They will talk about their on-going political and artistic activities in their home countries Egypt, Sudan, Iran and Palestine. The lectures and performances will be complemented with workshops. The events are intended to spark exchanges and discussions to build a bridge between Islamic and non-Islamic countries.

Constanza Macras was born in Buenos Aires in Argentina. She studied dance and fashion design in Amsterdam and New York. In 1995 she moved to Berlin and where she works as director of her performance and art space "Studio44" and of the dance company "DorkyPark".