Maryna Makarenko
Reclaiming Witchcraft through Art and Collectivity
Seminar and mini lecture series, English, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Thursdays, 15-18h, weekly: 8.6., 15.6., 22.6., 29.6., 6.7., 13.7., 20.7.2023 (room tba), Hardenbergstr. 33, room 102

Guest on 13.7.2023, 15:00 Uhr: Kat Válastur: "Myth and Ritual" - online. Stream is here: https://stream.udk-berlin.de/w/vXjyiH94iMAavB9KpaEK1T
Guest on 22.6.2023, 14:30 Uhr: Pêdra Costa (She/Them): "Oracles: Tarot Practice"


This workshop invites you to look at the notion of witchcraft as a form of knowledge that is decentralized, non-institutional, subversive and various in its traditions. We have to reclaim the image of witches from being an image of a fantasy, a fictional character of tales and films, and give them cultural and political agency. Since having a witchy mindset is not anymore a social threat, it can become a strategy for meaning making practiced collectively and artistically.

We will explore questions about how we listen to the multitude of human and non-human voices around us. What does it mean to have a witchy mindset today, when we can openly practice and speak about it?  And what is an intimate entanglement between witchcraft, art-making and collectivity?

In this weekly seminar we will guide each other through an embodied experience of creating a shared space filled with collective practices. Our somatic explorations include Deep Listening, sounding, intuitive voice work and journaling. To nurture our thinking minds we will briefly look at works of a few scholars like Silvia Federici. And of course once in a while we will take out our broomsticks and cook some magic potion under the light of a full moon.

Requirements for the ungraded Studium Generale credits: Students are expected to regularly attend all sessions, document individual processes through small weekly assignments such as keeping a diary, developing a final assignment, presenting it to the group, and taking part in feedback to fellow students.

Maryna Makarenko, was born and grew up in Ukraine, lives and works in Berlin. She graduated with BA at the Institute of Journalism in Kyiv, BA in Visual Communication and Diploma and Meisterschüler in Art and Media at the Berlin University of the Arts. She was a guest at the Integrated Media Program at OCAD University in Toronto and for BA in Dance, Context, Choreography at the HZT Berlin. Her works span a variety of formats, from films and video installations to collective performances and workshops, addressing the phenomena of transient states: processes and bodies that deviate beyond normativity. They are presented internationally at the festivals and venues such as Marta Herford Museum, Kunstmuseum Ulm, Videonale.17, in Kunstmuseum Bonn, Images Festival Toronto, Transmediale Vorspiel, Goethe-Institut Tel Aviv and Martin-Gropius Bau Berlin, among others.