Jeanno Gaussi
Traveling and Displaced Objects: Exploring Narratives and Emotional Attachments
Block seminar, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Saturday/Sunday, 13./14.1. and 3./4.2.2024, each 10-17 h, Hardenbergstr. 33, room 004

Registration on Moodle starts 16.10.2023 / Anmeldung auf Moodle beginnt am 16.10.2023: https://moodle.udk-berlin.de/moodle/course/view.php?id=2028
Moodle Enrollment Key / Einschreibeschlüssel: objects

The contemporary societal landscape is significantly shaped by experiences of mobility, forced migration, and relocation, giving rise to the notion that objects hold profound emotional significance for their respective owners. The seminar aims to investigate the intricate relationship between these mobile objects and their possessors.

It commences by addressing the conceptualization of “traveling and displaced objects”. This involves an exploration into the narratives, codes, and information carried by such objects, as well as the underlying motivations for retaining them during periods of mobility and forced migration. Students are encouraged to undertake an imaginative exercise, artistically expressing their connection to personal objects they bring in the class, or to assigned objects, fabricating fictional memories. Using mediums like collages, drawings, paintings, photographs, and other creative forms, they will capture the essence of the object's emotional significance. In addition, participants will create memoirs that weave a narrative around the object's backstory, elucidating the reasons behind preserving the object during the journey of relocation.

Ultimately, the seminar aims to compile the artworks and stories into a comprehensive publication. This anthology will serve as a collective reflection on the multifaceted relationships that exist between individuals and objects that traverse borders. Through this creative exploration, the seminar seeks to deepen our understanding of the intricate interplay between human experiences, emotions, and material culture.

Requirements for the ungraded Studium Generale credit points: Artistic expression of their connection to their chosen object. Using media such as collages, drawings, paintings, photographs and other creative forms. The students are asked to write a short fictional essay on the topic.

Jeanno Gaussi wasborn in Kabul, Afghanistan, and raised in Kabul, Delhi, and Berlin. Her interests transcend national borders and genres. Based on a narrative concept, Gaussi creates intimate installations about home and memory. Her work spans a wide variety of media, including video, photography, objects, and text. A central theme of her practice is exploring the places where she has worked, traveled, and had meaningful encounters. Through these encounters, her work deals with questions of memory, the search for identity, and the social and cultural processes associated with this. Gaussi has participated in numerous international exhibitions including dOCUMENTA (13), 12th Havana Biennial, and 2nd Karachi Biennial, Pakistan. She developed many of her installation projects during residencies in Pakistan, Jordan, and Palestine, among others. In 2023, she won the Ann Wolff Foundation scholarship. Gaussi is a Fellow at the Käthe Hamburg Research Center “Dis:connectivity in Processes of Globalization” in Munich. Currently, she lives in Berlin and Munich. Currently, her work can be seen in the exhibition „Kindheit(en). Von Erinnerungen in der Kunst“ at Haus Coburg, Delmenhorst.