All the Spells We Need To Cast

What spells do we need at times when the conditions we live in form a curse that often seems impossible to break? In this episode of the Breaking the Spell podcast, we look at spells and witchcraft practices as artistic and political ones, unpacking their potential to transform reality - or at least the way we look at it.

In a conversation featuring Alexandra Borys, Mike Dittrich Frydetzki and Stefanie Wenner we reflect relationship between artistic work and spellcasting, attempt to grasp the impact of more-than-human presences on our being in the world, and to see the language as potentially powerful performative tool.

The meeting was recorded during the last gathering of Breaking the Spell, in Viernulvier in Ghent in March 2023. Additionally, three more artists offer sound contributions as their responses to the conversation. Ingrid Vranken introduces her formula for spellcasting. Martina Hefter sends a sound-postcard in which she touches upon the figure of witch and her power. Georgia Ohanesian Nardin share their thoughts on spells and their performative agency.

Becoming with others. Feminist practices of thinking-with in performing arts

With whom do feminist artists think? How can artistic practices associate different voices and perspectives? In this episode of the Breaking the Spell podcast, we discuss feminist strategies of thinking-with in performing arts - practices of sharing knowledge, transcending the individualistic paradigm of creative work and relating to humans and more-than-humans in art projects.

In the conversation with Silvia Bottiroli, Charlotte Eifler, Caroline Kapp and Samara Hersch we share our practices thinking-with and explain how those practices are situated in time and space. In the end, we dwell on the notion of discomfort in a collective knowledge creation.

Sound intervention for the episode was created by Agata Siniarska and rat milk.

How to build alliances from peripheral positions? Ukrainians and Poles in the international art world

What is the position of artists and curators from Ukraine and Poland in professional relations with Western partners? How can we build alliances and solidarity? How to break the spell of colonial and auto-colonial practices? What can the Western art world learn from Eastern European artists about decolonization?

In this episode we continue the discussion that has started during Breaking the Spell gathering in Warsaw between the participants of the project and members of the “Sunflower” Solidary Community Center. Together with Maria Beburia, Marta Jalowska and Yulia Krivich, we share our experiences of working internationally in the art world and discuss the notion of Eastern European peripherality. In the end, we speculate about decolonial, international alignments that would enable us to solidarize and share resources.

The conversation is accompanied by two sound commentaries created by Alicja Czyczel and Agata Maszkiewicz.

Creating space for what remains out of sight. In search for institutional alignments

What type of institutional alignments do artistic practices of thinking-with need? What traces do they leave in institutions when the project is over - if any? How to translate an exception into a condition?
Feminist artistic practices of thinking-with seek a systemic change in the working conditions in the arts field. This process needs to involve not only individual artists and their communities, but also art institutions which accumulate economic and symbolic capital that can potentially alter the artistic and social imaginaries.

The conversation is joined by Marieke De Munck (Viernulvier in Ghent), Thomas Frank (Residenz Schauspiel Leipzig), Grzegorz Reske (InSzPer) - three representatives of performing arts institutions or organisations who hosted and co-produced Breaking the Spell. We tackle main challenges and takeaways that emerged within the project and try to understand how the format that does not necessarily fit the typical institutional framework can become disruptive and generative at the same time.

Additionally, two artists participating in Breaking the Spell proposed sound contributions as their responses to the conversation. Damla Ekin Tokel created sound postcards in which she explains the complex relationships of Bodies of Knowledge collective's with art institutions. And Aleksandra Borys reads a card spread as an invitation to speculate about the future of an art institution.