Anger, sadness and fear can look back on a long history of social taboo in the cosmos of emotions. When asked about the current political reality in Germany, they also run the risk of being instrumentalized for right-wing nationalist and populist purposes. In addition to the escalating debate about migration and the declining climate protection agreements, the cultural sector is also coming under massive pressure. What role can feelings of anger, sadness and fear play in artistic practice? Are they a catalyst or also a way of confronting and resisting? These are questions that artist Cihan Çakmak and curator Maria Hlavajova will address. Moderated by Emily Winkelsträter and Paulina Akbay.
This panel was organized and developed by Eva Świątkowski, Paulina Akbay & Emily Winkelsträter (students of the KHM).
Cihan Çakmak was born in Lower Saxony in 1993 and grew up in Worpswede and Bremen. After studying photography at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, with an interim study visit to Lisbon, she enrolled at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts in 2017. There she studied in the class of Prof. Tina Bara and received her diploma in 2021. In 2023, she completed her master student studies, also at the HGB. In 2020, Cihan Çakmak received the Paula Modersohn Becker Young Talent Award, Worpswede, and in 2023 the ein-blicke Award at the blicke film festival, Bochum. In addition to exhibiting, she speaks in the form of artist talks on current topics and discourses.
Maria Hlavajova is an organizer, researcher, pedagogue, curator, and founding director of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (since 2000). Hlavajova has instigated and (co-)organized numerous projects at BAK and beyond, including the series Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2017–2024), among many other international research, education, exhibition, and publication projects. Her curatorial work includes Call the Witness, Roma Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2011; Citizens and Subjects, Dutch Pavilion, 52nd Venice Biennale, Venice, 2007.
Eva Świątkowski was born in Wiesbaden and studied art, German and gender studies at the University of Cologne. This was followed by work in the field of art education, including at documenta fifteen. Since 2022, she has been studying at the Academy of Media Arts with a focus on documentary work at the intersection of moving image, photography and experimental forms.
Paulina Akbay (*1997 in Istanbul) has been studying the Media Arts programme at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne since autumn 2020 as well as Cross-Disciplinary Strategies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna for an Erasmus semester. They hold a Bachelor's degree in Media Art, Media Psychology and Media Pedagogy from the University of Cologne. Akbay works at the interface of multimedia art, film and research with a focus on culture, ecology and politics.