“Multidisciplinary feminist collective” is not a new name for a tax, is not a sexually transmitted diseases and it’s not just random fancy English terms. It’s a chance to get to know people and share opinions, ideas, art and projects about feminism, equality or more generally life. It´s how the collective COVEN BERLIN likes to present itself: a project that could easily take place in Italy too, where art and inequality are really a surplus.
So, are you in Berlin this summer? Do you have friends who will come around here soon and that could be interested in the projects of a collective like this? Share COVEN BERLIN around the world. But first, read what they are up to lately.
1) Let’s start with greetings and introductions. Who are you girls?
We are a sex-positive queer feminist art collective with an online platform that organizes art events in Berlin around queerness, gender and intersectional feminism. All our members come from different countries, as well as different artistic and political backgrounds. At the core of the organization it’s Judy Miel, Louise (who is also a performance artist), Angie Kohon and me. We have some regular collaborators based in Berlin, such as the performance collective Female Trouble, artists Goodyn Green, Sadie Lune, Fiona Thomann, Shelley Etkin, or Zinzi Buchanan, pornographer Lo-Fi Cherry, writer Lucy K Shaw, etc. But we also invited some artists who don’t live here to be part of our shows, for example we had kytten janae’s work for our last festival, and Shu-Lea Chaeng came from Paris for the screening of her cult movie I.K.U. On the website we’ve featured works by collagist Eugenia Loli, for example.
2) How would you define your style?
Our style is DIY, collaborative and community-based. Most of our artists and collaborators have day jobs (we also do). We are open to experitzrtzrtzrtzment and play. Our first exhibition was called “feminist conqueerors: A PLAYGROUND” and it was super fun. We embraced our naivity and our visitors engaged amazingly well with the concept.
3) How did it all start?
COVEN BERLIN started as an online magazine (we never had a printed version) focusing on feminism, but it has ended up being also a feminist artist collective. I think this is because of the nature of the people who have approached us during these years and not so much a decision founded on anything particular. We just ended up organizing more events, festivals, and exhibitions and having less time for writing. We had to open up the format and be less strict about deadlines. We work with “issues” so that we can all focus on a particular topic that we can explore together through different media. For example, our issue “I’d rather be a goddess than a cyborg” climaxed in a 2-week festival: here photos.
At the beginning, our issues were quarterly, but now they are more or less open. It is an inspiration source more than a fixed element, that’s why the online site is not so obvious about the division. We are open to the most various contributions. Right now, our current issue is LABOR OR LABOR , and among other things, we are working on a video documentary about the life of a queer sex activist and sex worker who is also a mum.
However we do still write, because we believe that our website is a great outlet for communication. I personally consider myself a writer and prefer this media, but we don’t work as a regular magazine.
4) What’s the goal of your collective?
COVEN BERLIN wants to create an open sphere to deconstruct the assimilated social structures on sexuality and gender, to transmit a positive message on sex, to defy body politics, to transversally think about immigration, race and sex and to fight against mind-constricted stereotypes on sex and different gender expressions.
5) Your website categories have vivid names: bile, blood, lymph, milk, sweat, tears. Why’s that?
It is just a playful way to regain bodiness. Female and non-cismale bodies have historically always been “owned” and this is an attempt to experiment, rediscover and marvel at the body.
5) Would you describe Berlin as a “queer heaven”?
Well, I think it depends so much on who you are. I can see why expats might find that Berlin is a “queer heaven” for them, but I don’t think it’s as easy as that for everybody else. It is true that Germany is quite open, but there is still a lot of homophobia. I mean, did you know that gay people are not allowed to marry here? So yes, I think it can be a “queer heaven,” but only at a community level, not at an institutional one. Plus, I think that people who don’t conform to gender expectations still have it very hard in their daily lives.
6) Three words to describe feminism.
Intersectional, queer, and sex-positive.
7) Three words to describe Berlin.
Inspiring, wild, and in constant evolution.
8) What are your future plans?
We are working on a summer event taking place by the end of July with amazing artworks, performance, music and night rituals. You shouldn’t miss it!
This original and interesting project, just like Bossy, is a nice example of how cash and microphones sometimes are not so crucial. Their articles, written in English, are as clever as never banal in the content. Go and check them out:
