Holding Space

Artists: Every Ocean Hughes, Eva Koťátková, Rory Pilgrim, Finnegan Shannon, P Staff, Dorottya Vékony, Sophie Utikal, Anna Witt

Curated by Flóra Gadó and Judit Szalipszki

How can we be companions of ourselves and each other, perform acts of mutual care, and hold space for one another? The exhibition applies the concept and practice of the doula as a framework to examine how our relationship towards the notion of care has changed in the past years and what forms of individual and collective responses can we decipher.

The practice of the doula contains both a pragmatic as well as a spiritual understanding of transitional periods, such as infertility, birth, (chronic) illness, dying, grievance, as well as gendertransition or migration. The doula is a figure that accompanies people or communities during these in-between periods, assisting the rites of transition (for it to be smooth, efficient, yet personal and intimate) and holds space for those who are in need. Doulas connect different spaces and temporalities of becomings; the different realms of the unborn, the ill, the dead and the not-yet.

Primarily understood in a medical context, a doula is a trained professional who provides expert guidance for the service of others and supports another person (or communities) through significant, often life-changing experiences. The doula’s goal and role is to help the client feel safe and comfortable. The exhibition project regards this figure in an extended/expanded context, one that helps us understand and acknowledge our interdependence in a political as well as an ecological sense. It highlights the significance of subjective and personal, of individual and communal experiences, and the potential of subverting the status quo of hegemonic/formal institutions by questioning the (epistemic) injustices inherent to these systems and proposing alternatives.

With the support of Tschechisches Zentrum Wien