WAWA (Women+ Artists Web Archive) is a web archive aimed at the creation, indexation, and distribution of information on women+ artists based in Berlin. It strives to achieve visibility for women+ artists, create a network composed of gestures of care, and activate an embodied archive through online and offline spaces facilitating discussion, collaboration, and sharing. WAWA brings together women+ artists living in Berlin from Afghanistan, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen. These countries have undergone severe conflicts and wars in the past decades, leading to willing or forced migration. Berlin’s unique historical, intellectual, and international character has attracted many artists who are in search of new places to carry on their artistic work. As a result, in recent decades, many women+ artists moved to Berlin to continue their creation in the transnational space between Berlin and their place of origin. Such mobility has reshaped the dynamic and diverse artistic landscape of Berlin. WAWA’s goal is to record traces of this changing scene and provide more visibility to new artists by including the artists themselves in WAWA’s creation process. Here’s the text to annotate.¹



Why women+?

By women+, we refer to anyone who identifies as one: we stand against systems that marginalize and impose normative categories of gender and sexual binaries, embracing intersectional identifications. Women+ artists coming from these countries have been exposed to patriarchal as well as gendered cultural practices and traditions that situate them as “Other.” In this regard, we believe it is crucial to foster a sense of togetherness; the archive aims to facilitate gestures of care towards one another.

Why an archive?

WAWA will be an embodied archive, made up of online and offline space, where interaction and ongoing conversations among members will be a key feature. This is the shared intention of WAWA artists, yet we are still in the interactive process of discussing what an archive means to each of us. While many ideas are being exchanged, what we all agree upon is that we want the archive to serve as an open platform through which collaboration among these women+ will be possible, facilitating discussions, seminars, and workshops on displacement, feminisms, and queer approaches. We hope to create a collaborative environment as a result of these encounters.

Geographies

As a first step, this artistic community-building web archive includes seven countries: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen. Since its conception, Apartment Project has worked extensively with artists coming from these countries. In the following steps, we hope to extend the network to include other countries in the Middle East, Balkans, and Eastern Europe, showcasing artists contributing to and transforming Berlin’s intellectual and creative output.

Our Process

As WAWA, we organized face-to-face meetings with our members to introduce the archive and our initial ideas. We asked all members, “what kind of archive would you like to be a part of?” This archive is thus designed collectively and horizontally, facilitated by the WAWA team, and hosted by Apartment Project. The archive facilitates search through artists, geographies, themes, and disciplines. Each artist was asked to provide keywords that summarize their creative research; these are the words that make up the “themes” section. Artists also provide the disciplines in which they create and the geographies from which they come. Moreover, the archive will put out a regular newsletter, providing information regarding the activities that each member is involved in, so we can multiply our venues of togetherness.

Funding

This project has been funded by the Neustart Soziokultur Fund.