I KNOW, I Self-CARE | Taking Back Self-Care

Collective Writing Workshop, facilitated by Elke Krasny, Lena Fritsch, Sophie Lingg, and Claudia Lomoschitz. Organized by Mirjana Djotunovic Mustra, I KNOW I CARE and Elke Krasny, Program for Art and Education at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

The radical legacies of self-care are rooted in feminist thought, in particular in the work of intellectual activists and scholars such as Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldúa or Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Do 4.2.2021, 17h
online

Self-care is at the center of divisive debates. Care, and self-care, are hotly debated issues in pandemic times. Yet, long before the pandemic self-care has been turned into a buzzword characteristic of the neoliberal spirit of capitalism and the tyranny of individual success. The good subject is a productive subject. The obedient subject is a subject that cares for their productivity. How to turn self-care into political warfare to follow the famous words of Audre Lorde? How to make self-care a collective endeavor? How to sustain self-care over time and in moments of pressure and rupture? How to link self-care to activism and collective struggles for radical transformation? This collective writing workshop seeks to voice collectively feelings, practices, strategies, and thoughts helpful for taking back self-care against the toxic regimes of co-option and exhaustion.

Lena Fritsch is an art educator and researcher. She works at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Elke Krasny is a cultural theorist, scholar, and educator. She is Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Sophie Lingg is an art educator and social media researcher. She works at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Claudia Lomoschitz is an art educator and performance artist. She works at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

They share interests in transformative and emancipatory pedagogy and anti-fascist, anti-racist, as well as transnational feminist practices in art making and curating.

Thanks to Mirjana Mustra and to the collective I KNOW I CARE for co-hosting this event as part of their program at VBKÖ – Vereinigung bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs in collaboration with the Program for Art and Education at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Fachbereich Kunst und Bildung – Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien.