This project is a video and performance-based artistic research on how love, bodies, and relationships are shaped by socio-economic structures. It examines women’s experiences within dominant forms of intimacy and explores how relationship models and family structures are shaped by capitalism and tradition. The project combines theoretical research, fieldwork, and embodied practice to investigate how socio-economic structures shape bodies, love, and relational norms.
The research is guided by the following questions: What imaginaries of love, intimacy, and belonging are produced by capitalism and tradition? How are these imaginaries experienced and negotiated by women? And what alternative forms of intimacy and social organization exist beyond dominant models of relationships and family?
The first phase consists of theoretical research through readings and interviews with scholars in gender studies, sociology, and philosophy, providing a conceptual framework for the artistic process.
The second phase takes place on Kihnu Island in Estonia, a historically matrifocal community. Together with Thilda Bourqui, rituals and everyday practices are observed, and video material is collected that combines documentary and experimental approaches. This phase explores how ritual and tradition shape relational models and alternative forms of social organization.
The third phase focuses on embodied research through performative and choreographic experimentation in collaboration with Anna Christen. Movement-based and score-based material is developed to explore how norms of love and femininity are inscribed in bodies and interactions.
The project is expected to result in new video material and a live performance.
Grantee
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Joela Vogel |
Project partner / cooperations |
Thilda Bourqui, MFA student
Anna Christen, Alumni DFA
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Date and places
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February to April 2026, Zürich
June 2026, Kihnu Island (Estonia)
August 2026, tbd
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