An international & transdisciplinary network of women investigate about the topic of "women intimacy" through 3 projects:

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An annual and nomadic exhibition in countries in development. 

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An archive of pioneer women artists and researchers. 

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An audio platform presenting the investigation about women intimacy through vocal testimonials, sound creations, podcasts.

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WHO?

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The network is composed of volunteer based artists, cultural managers, and researchers who investigate about the topic of "intimacy".

4 Berlin based women are managing the platform in 2020: Diane Barbé, Salomé Jashi, Bussaraporn Thongchai and Celia Stroom. Celia Stroom initiated Heroines and THE ENCLOSED GARDEN, the first nomadic PopUP nighttime exhibition program for women. Every year 10 emergent artists from East, North, South and West are selected for a month of experimental investigation & artistic practice in a country in development to challenge there what is the political and psychological impact of intimacy.

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THE ENCLOSED GARDEN #1

took place in Tbilisi (Georgia) with 20 women in October 2019 and was organized by the Georgian filmmaker Salomé Jashi. 

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THE ENCLOSED GARDEN #2 will open its doors all around the world on September 2020. The curator invented here a unique web design experimentation online with an online exhibition for 30 women artists. 

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THE ENCLOSED GARDEN 3# is invited in January 2021 Bangkok (Thailand) by Thai artist & researcher Bussaraporn Thongchai, guest of Bangkok Biennale as specialist of human trafficking.

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WHy ?

THE ENCLOSED GARDEN

01

A SPACE FOR EXPLORATION

How do women form their vision of the world? How do we cope with unequal education, coercive norms in society, and monotonous role models? How do we feed future imaginaries?

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In THE ENCLOSED GARDEN, artists question their physical and emotional behaviors. How free are we? How locked away from our intimate realities are we? What is this constrained world we have mentally built since childhood?

All the artists who apply are focusing their research on the study of the reality of what intimacy is, from a psychological, political, sociological and anthropological perspective.

02

A HAND IN HAND PROJECT

True intimacy implies reciprocity, transparency, unreserved exchange, as well as deep communion. This is the statement that unites the artists selected every year to participate in THE ENCLOSED GARDEN. 

Every year, 6 artists from the host country and 6 from abroad are meeting.

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Through a collective residency, isolated in nature, we build a community of local and international women who would have never met outside of THE ENCLOSED GARDEN. Here, we strive to dismantle explicit and implicit forms of censorship in order to better apprehend together the social and ontological resonances of intimacy in contemporary society.

Press Release

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A POP UP EXHIBITION

One of the challenges of the selected artists is to create a series of artworks within 2 weeks of residency and to exhibit them a week later. With such an intensive format, we nourish creativity and deliver spontaneous art. The artists take up the challenge to create in immersion, living together and working continuously in order to blend their different visions of the concept of Intimacy. 

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Winter + Spring: Fundraising

Summer: Call for artists by a board made of independent people (no affiliation to institutions).

Fall: Residency + Exhibition

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FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR WOMEN

The cost to maintain a residency program can be quite significant for a nonprofit organization and only few programs are covering expenses.

Producing such an ambitious project every year in a new country represents significant costs. Therefore, the organisation raises funds to prepare the project, to finance the residency space and to cover the budget for the production of the exhibition. It also provides artists with accommodation on site and daily stipends. If artists cannot apply for a travel grant, HEROINES may support travel fees as well.

Moreover, all artists receive a small but equal compensation for the exhibition

LISTEN 

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What inspire the artists who join Heroines.

Text by Celia Stroom on 

Soundscape composition by Diane Barbe 

Voices of the artists of the edition 2019 

Heroines

research

create

perform

about

INTIMACy

HEROINES

ENCLOSED GARDEN