This shirt had been laid secretly among the others the day after the opening of the exhibition.
Exhibition at China World Trade Centre | Trends Lounge | Beijing
Photo Woman from Zimbabwe, writing on a white shirt with a red pen | 50x80cm (Red as a color was not accepted by the World Trade Center, I opted for black and white photos.)
CURATOR Crossroads Centre Art Space Li Dan | Director Chinese NGO organization that seeks to raise awareness about women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights in China through the use of film and art
CURATORS World Trade Center Ms. Roselyn | General Manager of Trends Lounge | China World Trade Center | Beijing Li Dan | Director | Crossroads Centre | Beijing
Solo Performance in Collaboration with NGOs, Woman Rights Organizations & UN Women China
For my art installation UNTOLD STORIES, 500 white shirts were tied together with thick ropes to form a huge globe. There are only a few shirts lying on the ground that are connected to the globe with a thin line of blood. This pile of shirts found their way out of the harmful prison of silence that is the globe, which allowed them to be written on.
We are here today to portray our determination to break the silence of women affected by all kinds of gender-based violence and discrimination.
The event is intended to show and confirm China’s social and societal support for these women, the seriousness of the violence, and the commitment to end it. It allows the WOMEN IN THE DARK to express themselves and assures them that people want to hear what they have to say. The act of cutting the ropes by members of NGOs and human rights organizations helps the shirts fall down and “frees“ them from being held back. These shirts will be picked up by professionals and handed out to the women who want to speak out.
In 2016 China created their first law against domestic violence. This law is very politically significant; however the cultural roots of domestic violence still need to be changed in order to remove pressure and dramatic consequences for the women. Women need to feel safe to report violent husbands and family members to the police and to seek separation from their abusers.
Franziska Greber Artist & Psychotherapist Switzerland
HOME | 2020 HOME should be a place of safety and retreat, trust and tranquility. But war, terror and violence force people to leave their HOME or it transfers to a place of fear, pain and horror. Many women and children and other vulnerable groups are humiliated, controlled and disempowered and devalued even in peaceful times. If HOME is out of balance, they are existentially threatened, especially if they choose the path to freedom. In times of particular strain, these existing processes are magnified and multiplied. Not only does the contempt for women dramatically increase, but also racism and homophobia.
(Photo: Doris Binda)
Franziska Greber & Nicolas Galladé | City Councilor of Winterthur
Ma Yiying Artist and curator, vice president of the Oil Painting Academy of China – Contemporary Fine Arts Institute of Culture, 2018 Chinese Annual Art Event. Representative Exhibition: Chinese Abstract Art (UN) Exhibition Shenzhen & Longjing Li Curator and art broker Shanghai
Speaking often conflicts with various interests. What women express, when, and why depends on many factors, including country, culture, and context. Values serve as an important reference, as does a sense of safety. The line between voices that resonate and make an impact—and those that fall silent again—is very thin.
BOOKS | 2019 The two books gather all the texts from the video VOICES, bringing together the perspectives of women from Switzerland, India, and Zimbabwe.
UNTOLD STORIES | Ø 300cm globe | 500 white shirts, tied together with Ropes | 6 shirts with texts, written by women from China, lie on the floor | 2016
Curator Ma Yiying Artist and curator, vice president of the Oil Painting Academy of China – Contemporary Fine Arts Institute of Culture, 2018 Chinese Annual Art Event. Representative Exhibition: Chinese Abstract Art (UN) Exhibition Shenzhen
Pinakothek der Moderne | Denkraum Deutschland | Munich | Germany | 2021
Group Exhibition
‚WOMEN IN THE DARK – aufruhr des schweigens‘ – in collaboration with Miro Craemer | Curator & Initiator | DENKRAUM DEUTSCHLAND | Pinakothek der Moderne & Pia Brüner | Art Education | Pinakothek der Moderne | Munich
FEMININE – THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL POWER OF THE FEMININE IN ART AND SOCIETY
WOMEN IN THE DARK – aufruhr des schweigens | 2021 shirts | fabric | 600 x 2000 cm
The installation consists of white shirts with texts in around 40 languages by 690 women from Germany who have written their experiences with discrimination and violence, but also hopes and demands, on these clothing with a red pen.
WOMEN | 2021 Video | 20:00 min
17 women from 5 countries (Zimbabwe, Switzerland, China, India and Mauritius) read their text, which they wrote with a red pen on white clothing. It is about their experiences with discrimination and violence.
The video work WOMEN is part of the international, transdisciplinary and participatory art project WOMEN IN THE DARK.
HE(A)R | 2021 Audio-Installation | 60:00 min
60 women each read a text, written by 60 women from Germany – selected from the 690 shirts.
BOOK | 2021 661 transcribed texts translated into German, 29 photos – each page of the book shows one text or a shirt, written by a woman from Germany.
HOW SOCIAL IS ART? Chances and limits of an interaction
Mit Kunst gegen sexualisierte Gewalt? February 14, 2019 | Radio Dreyeckland | Germany Interview with Claudia Meise | Notruf Göttingen | participating in WOMEN IN THE DARK (in German) 1:58 min
From left: Pia Brüner | Carolina Trautner | Franziska Greber | Antje Krüger | Dr. Monika Schröttle | Susan Bühler, DieKulturBotschaft, Moderator | Miro Craemer, initiator & curator DENKRAUM DEUTSCHLAND
STATEMENTS OF PARTICIPANTS
Carolina Trautner | Bavarian State Minister for Family, Labor and Social Affairs, Commissioner for Women’s Issues of the Bavarian State Government « […] that many women have written down their oppressive stories here in order to then strike their liberation blow on this wall. I find that incredibly impressive – I think it’s ingenious, linking social issues and art.»
Pia Brüner | Art Education Pinakothek der Moderne « […] because through Franziska Greber’s art people come into contact with each other on very different levels. […] it’s a wonderful example for me of how I imagine the museum, as a lively place, as a socially relevant place, and as a place where people meet and exchange ideas.»
Dr. Monika Schröttle | Political and Social Scientist « […] This scientific, political and artistic approach and bringing together […] is a whole other level of seeing and recognizing things […] you want to climb up a ladder and read everything […] and like to do more and further evaluate these treasures that are in there.»
BACKSTAGE – Experiences with the international art project WOMEN IN THE DARK Workshop with the artist & initiator Franziska Greber and other participants in the project
Antje Krüger & Patricia Kielinger, project partners and coordinators WOMEN IN THE DARK Germany Doris Felbinger, BIG e.V. Berliner Initiative gegen Gewalt an Frauen (BIG e.V. and der PARITÄTISCHE Bayern implemented WOMEN IN THE DARK – aufruhr des schweigens in Germany) Ute Brechtelsbauer from Frauenhaus Nürnberg, one of the participating organizations across 12 federal states, provided support to the women throughout their writing process. Nina Wurman (implementation of the sound installation) Michael Wladarsch (implementation of the book) | Anja Papenfuss (participant in the sewing process)
STATEMENTS OF PARTICIPANTS
Antje Krüger | Project Partner WOMEN IN THE DARK Germany «The idea to do that came up in Switzerland when you presented to us, what you had done in other countries – and then for us very quickly the thought that this is also possible here with us. […] Before that, it was partly unimaginable. […] There are always people who you can inspire with this idea […] The theme of this DENKRAUM ‘feminine’ and the examination of the potential of femininity in art and society, that also has something to do with this project.»
Michael Wladarsch| cultural organizer, artist & designer «Your art […] creates an abstract size, which is simply not comprehensible, to open […] where one is touched. […] The care with which each individual shirt, each individual woman, each fate is valued and also respected […] and that, in my view, distinguishes an art that interferes and that is political and that also has a statement. […] an artist who has very good ideas and a very good concept to make a situation visible.»
Nina Wurman | Musician «It was very clear to me that I was doing this. […] Everything kind of fell into place. […] What I totally underestimated is what it means for women to read these texts.»
Ute Brechtelsbauer | Social Worker « […] exciting how the mood has changed […] suddenly a spirit of upbeat has arisen […]. I was here with five women […] it was so moving.»
Anja Papenfuss | Young BPW – Business and Professional Women Club «I was able to become part of such a big whole […] that alone made a big impression on me […] it was quite an extraordinary work for me.»
SUPPORT Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Familie, Arbeit und Soziales
CURATORS Miro Craemer | Artist and Social Designer | Initiator TOGETTHERE-Experience: GIVE ME 5 | DENKRAUM DEUTSCHLAND | Munich | Germany Pia Brüner | Art Education | Pinakothek der Moderne | Munich | Germany
Franziska Greber in collaboration with Der PARITÄTISCHE in Bayern (Antje Krüger, Projectpartner WOMEN IN THE DARK Germany Berliner Initiative gegen Gewalt an Frauen BIG e.V. (Patricia Kielinger, Projectpartner WOMEN IN THE DARK Germany) for the nationwide organization and coordination of the institutions involved Frauenunterstützungssysteme for carrying out the writing process and accompanying the women Nina Wurman for her collaboration in planning and realizing the audio installation HE(A)R all the people who transcribed the texts on the shirts and translated them into almost 40 languages 84 GHz in Munich for conceptual thinking and realization of the BOOK
‚WOMEN IN THE DARK – aufruhr des schweigens‘ in collaboration with CORA State Coordination Office Against Domestic and Sexualized Violence | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern & Die Beginen | Frauen Kulturverein Rostock & State Council for Crime Prevention | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern & HMT Hochschule für Musik und Theater | Rostock
aufruhr des schweigens | 2022 shirts | fabric | cardboard boxes | red carpet | 120 m2
FACETS OF PARTICIPATION | 2022 Video | 75:00 min
WOMEN | 2021 Video | 20:00 min
BOOK | WOMEN IN THE DARK – aufruhr des schweigens | 2021 700 pages
Franziska Greber with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Consumer Protection Jacqueline Bernhardt – the patron of the exhibition ‘WOMEN IN THE DARK – aufruhr des schweigens’
