Care Webs and Cuddles

Artists / collaborators: Artur Belja, Eva Egermann & Cordula Thym, Tanja Erhart, Crip Folx, Leno Gasser, Raisa Kabir, Iris Kopera, Nkeny Bakilam Nsangong, Paul Prothesis, Jasbir Puar, Lotti Seebeck, Marin Shamov, Julischka Stengele, Power Makes us Sick, Trans Mutual Care Network, Verein für Barrierefreiheit in der Kunst, im Alltag, im Denken, RA Walden

Curated by Ema Benčíková
kültüř gemma! Fellow

Care is what we all need. Care and rest. The past years have been disastrous for marginalised people. I feel the pain of my trans, disabled, BIPOC friends. Facing abandonment by the state institutions, it is crucial to question our current support structures. Care webs as a concept emerging from the disability justice movement and formulated by the crip artist and activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha returns to care with tenderness, accountability, and solidarity.

Queer people need cuddles. Crip people need cuddles. All othered people need cuddles. If they want them. I imagine a world where we can distribute cuddles and care more evenly, more fairly, more lovingly. I hope that the exhibition Care Webs and Cuddles can archive and generate structures of support for people that need them. So that we can heal and create, share knowledge and take shelter from the rapidly descending outside world.

How do we learn from the fragility of our experience?

Ema Benčíková explores the critical phenomenology of trans and crip embodiment, mutual aid initiatives, and performativity of disability, through the lens of gender studies and queer theory. Her theater work is focused on community building and empowering marginalized people.