Susana Vásquez Torres
Occupying the public spaces: feminist art in the streets of Latin America
Block workshop, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Saturdays, each 10-17 h, 26.10., 2.11., 9.11. & 16.11.2024, Hardenbergstr. 33, room 201

Registration on Moodle starts 14.10.2024 / Anmeldung auf Moodle beginnt am 14.10.2024:
https://moodle.udk-berlin.de/moodle/course/view.php?id=2476
Moodle Enrollment Key / Einschreibeschlüssel: occupy

The occupation of public space for social change represents a crucial tipping point in artistic practice. Interventions interrupt the urban quotidian and interact with a much wider public than that of white cubes, constituting an intrinsically political action. In Latin America, the feminist struggle has used the appropriation of public space as an essential battlefield against colonial and patriarchal structures. In these sociopolitical contexts inherited from the colony, making the private visible and putting the body in the public sphere has been vital.
This seminar aims to briefly review the feminist movement in Latin America and analyze cases of intersectional feminist resistance to generate knowledge based on artistic references and narratives from the global south. Additionally, it seeks to develop methodologies of intervention in public space that are both communitarian and confrontational.
Through the analysis of significant works, participants will discuss, reflect, and debate the issues facing the feminist struggle in various Latin American countries, and explore the strategies used to respond to specific contexts through site-specific proposals. As a fundamental part of the seminar, students will create their own artistic proposals, applying the knowledge and methodologies learned. The seminar will culminate with the presentation and collective evaluation of designed group interventions, encouraging a collaborative approach.

Konkrete Leistungsanforderungen für den unbenoteten Schein // Fulfilment criteria for ungraded accreditation: Active, regular participation. Reading and interpretation of texts and plays. Final presentation of the design of a proposal to be carried out in a specific public space.

Susana Vásquez Torres (Lima 1990) Bachelor in Fine Arts by the National School of Fine Arts of Peru and Master in Art in Context by the UdK Berlin. Interdisciplinary feminist artist whose work encompasses performance, screen printing, book art and documentary animation. From political activism and feminist struggle, she has developed projects that seek to question and denounce the prevalence of violence in patriarchal societies in which we live as well as generate spaces of empowerment and exchange. Among these, the projects Bleeding Stories (2019-2024) and The Wounded Hours (2016-2018) stand out. Her work stems from intersectional feminism and community art and explores themes such as violence, femicide, the role of women in history, menstruation, migration and mourning. She currently works in different artistic projects and in educational spaces seeking the generation of new narratives to build thoughts and structures that do not follow patriarchal and colonial patterns.