The Past - A Selection
IMPULSE FESTIVAL, 2025
The Embassy
Berichte zur Lage in Europa++
Nach der Vollversammlung für das Schöne Leben Anfang des Jahres haben sich Kulturschaffende aus NRW weiter mit Kolleg*innen aus anderen europäischen Ländern vernetzt. Ihr Ziel: sprach- und handlungsfähig bleiben, einander unterstützen, Widerständigkeit trainieren.
What are the shifts and changes in cultural politics a symptom of?
What broader and long-term political and social transformation processes do they point to?
How do systemic and symbolic changes impact the cultural sphere, its order, organisation and practices?
What strategies of resistance, protest, subversion and critique exist and develop in this context?
The Embassy versammelt Kulturschaffende aus zehn europäischen Regionen, um die sprachen- und länderübergreifende Verständigung zu aktuellen kulturpolitischen Entwicklungen in Europa zu fördern. Im Fokus steht dabei die Frage, ob und wie sich reaktionäre und demokratiefeindliche Tendenzen auf die Bereiche Kunst, Bildung und Soziales auswirken und welche Strategien existieren, um die kritisch-affirmative Handlungsfähigkeit dieser Bereiche zu erhalten.
Hinweis:
The main working language of The Embassy will be English, translation from and into other languages can be arranged spontaneously and according to the skills and competencies of the assembly.
10:00–14:00
Die öffentliche Veranstaltung am Vormittag ist den Lageberichten der Botschafter*innen gewidmet. Durch ihre Beiträge wird nach und nach eine Landschaft aufgerufen, durch die sich die Teilnehmenden auf der Suche nach analytischem Klarblick und solidarischen Allianzen gemeinsam bewegen.
15:00–17:30
Am Nachmittag diskutiert die Versammlung öffentlich mit allen Interessierten über die vergemeinschafteten Herausforderungen, Handlungsansätze und Hoffnungsschimmer.
CREDITS:
Mit: Özge Açıkkol (Künstlerin, Istanbul / Berlin), Georg Döcker (Theatertheoretiker, Wien), Flori Gugger (Dramaturg und Kurator, Wien), Antoine Palévody (Theaterwissenschaftler und Literaturübersetzer, Paris), Christian Raimo (Autor und Aktivist, Rom), Michał Rogulski (Performing Arts-Kurator und Produzent, Warschau), ŠKART Collective (Belgrad), Anna Stiede (Darstellerin, Performance-Künstlerin und Politologin, Berlin), Biljana Tanurovska-Kjulavkovski (Kulturarbeiterin, Wissenschaftlerin, Kuratorin und Autorin, Skopje), Martin Vongrej (Künstler, Bratislava), Seda Yıldız (unabhängige Kuratorin, Kunstwissenschaftlerin, Göteborg / Rotterdam)
Konzeption und Durchführung: Emre Abut, Maren Becker, Johanna-Yasirra Kluhs, Locu Locuratolo, Rika Sakalak, Laura Strack
„The Embassy” wird von der Landesinitiative Europa-Schecks des Ministers für Bundes- und Europaangelegenheiten, Internationales sowie Medien und Chef der Staatskanzlei des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen unterstützt.
In Zusammenarbeit mit der Vollversammlung für das Schöne Leben NRW, dem Observatoire critique et solidaire des politiques culturelles, dem Impulse Festival, dem FFT Düsseldorf, der Plattform FREISCHWIMMEN und dem Netzwerk Cheers for Fears.
Berlin-Tempelhof, 2025
FIGHT OR FLIGHT II
an Exhibition about Money
curated by Julie Legouez & Evelina Reiter
In times of crisis, culture is often the first thing to be cut. This has become strikingly evident in Berlin over the past months: the Senate’s austerity measures have hit freelance artists particularly hard. That’s why the second edition of the exhibition series fight or flight turns its attention to something essential for artistic work and livelihood – and at the same time, painfully lacking: money.
Curated by Julie Legouez and Evelina Reiter, the exhibition brings together 33 artistic positions. Their works reflect lived realities where creative labor is inseparable from economic pressure. At the core is the everyday life of the art world. These works dismantle the myth of artistic labor and expose the often harsh realities beneath. They address classism, marginalization, and the biographical factors that shape access and visibility. The spectrum ranges from job centers to luxury goods, from rejected grant applications to predatory landlords. The works orbit around status symbols, violence and morality, bureaucracy and gambling, nutrition and home ownership, penny-pinching and lucky charms. One thing becomes clear: being an artist alone is rarely enough to make a living – many work additional jobs, often in care work or other sectors.
In short, fight or flight II is an emotional rollercoaster between euphoria and exhaustion. The participating artists visually explore the complexity of a system that demands creativity while offering little protection. Their works revolve around the fight for space – both literally and symbolically: housing shortages, rising rents, lack of funding structures, and the stigmatization of state aid run through the exhibition like a red thread. Central to the project is close collaboration with FINT* artists (women, intersex, non-binary and trans individuals). It sees itself as a space of mutual support, fostering a network where artistic and solidaric connections can grow. Through collaborative work, new professional contacts, long-term relationships, and perspectives emerge that extend far beyond the exhibition.
An extensive program of workshops, readings, and discussions creates additional spaces for exchange. Artists and visitors come together, share experiences, develop collective strategies, and connect across disciplines and institutional boundaries.
fight or flight II raises its voice, creates visibility, and breaks supposed taboos. In a time of crumbling funding structures and mounting pressure on the independent art scene, the project sends a strong collective signal – against social and economic inequality in the arts. What remains? Coming together – in solidarity, in new alliances, and in the pursuit of a more just art world.
Fair-Fashion Forum Ruhr, 2024
Workshop on Fashion, Queerness, Gendermarketing & Sustainability.
VHS-Herne, 2024
Gendermarketing & Diversity
Lecture at Opening of “All inclusive - Queer Unterwegs”
an exhibition by the Youth Museum Berlin
We live in a society that is characterized by categories and dualism, such as day and night, man and woman, foreign and domestic. But what about all the nuances in between? Introducing the opening of the exhibition , Locu, as a non-binary person, gives a lecture on what is in social discourse: What is between being a man and a woman or being neither? Using a personal story, viewers can see Judith Butler's gender theories tested: Is gender as a form of identity really just invented? A discourse in which many lose track because we are used to seeing and categorizing people - as men or women - and now the basic principles are being shaken up? Together we will open up how we can use this discourse to look behind the picture and meet people as people, allow for diversity and act more inclusively in our interactions with one another.
Organised and funded by: Eine Welt Zentrum Herne, Ev. Kirchenkreises Herne, Büro für Gleichstellung und Vielfalt der Stadt Herne & vhs Herne.
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, BE, 2023 - 2024
Cultivating Together: Presence, Connection and Balance
A project by Locu & Bernadette Zdrazil
in Dialogue with Chiara Ravano & Hadas Cnaani
At this event, Bernadette & Locu will introduce Meditation, Yoga, and Nutrition as tools to deepen the relationship with presence, connection, and balance. It is a pitch for an upcoming meditation and yoga program. This evening, we will engage in a dialogue with guest speakers Hadas Cnaai and Chiara Ravano, who will present their projects and provide insight into how the microbiome affects our thoughts. Moreover, we will delve into how we can thrive in our well-being and artistic practice, exploring how together we can establish a conscious environment at the Royal Academy. You are very welcome to join, share your opinions, and ask questions.
Part of the Expanding Academy programme
Tutors:
Bernadette Zdrazil graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 2021 with a master in sculpture. Her art practice is centered around relational and spiritual art. As a multidisciplinary artist, she sees potential in materializing this tendency in art through craft, collective learning and awareness. To feel grounded and better connected with your body and emotions and therefore with your environment, Bernadette will explore during the course: Cultivating together – Presence, Connection and Balance techniques of yoga, which will focuing on movement and the observation of our minds.
Locuratolo (*they/them) uses their body as a medium to connect people, places, and spirits. Locu is an alumna of In-Situ at the Royal Academy and works interdisciplinary in socially engaged, performative and fine arts. By engaging with people, the site and the institution, Locuratolo applies to their field of interest Artpractogogy. For Extra Academy, Locu will engage in techniques of meditation, non-self mastery and healing to strengthen a more conscious dialogue between ourselves and our environment.
Guest Speakers:
Hadas Cnaani is a cook and a mother, who spreads her roots through cooking, writing, working with her hands and occasionally teaching. She operates under the namesake “the Subterranean kitchen atelier”. Nutrition to her is not only what we eat but also an information to our cells and microbiohm, we should aim to understand not only how our bodies function but also how we feel, what is our believe system, connect to our elders, chat with our intuition. In her talk, Hadas cnaani wishes to share her interest in food culture, preventive medicine and all things vegetables.
Chiara Ravano, former owner and chef of Wild Project restaurant, shifted her attention to a more holistic way of living by learning and incorporating practices to reconnect the mind with the body. Stemmed from a personal need, she found her way into body therapy, combining deep tissue massage with emotional release.
Hase29, Osnabrück, DE, 2023
GROUNDED – EXPLORING AN ARTISTIC MATERIAL
curated by Friederike Fast, Jasmina Janoschka and Dr. Tim Pickartz
Artists: Ilana Halperin, Locuratolo, Maria Reneé Morales Garcia, David Moritz, Asad Raza, Adrien Tirtiaux
Earth isn’t just a static entity – it’s a dynamic material that’s perpetually evolving. Beyond its role in food production and construction, earth cradles vast resources, and at the same time it serves as a repository for waste. Yet, symbolically, it resonates with a variety of interpretations – from representing home and fertility to encapsulating wastelands and life’s fleeting nature.
In view of climate change, persistent drought in certain regions and the associated erosion processes that lead to the disappearance of entire landmasses, earth is increasingly becoming the focus of art. This group exhibition with international artists shows traditional and new, partly speculative ways of dealing with earth. As an artistic material made up of different components, it is used in different contexts – whether as an architectural material, a life-giving recipe or a symbolic representative of existence and the search for identity.
Furthermore, the exhibition endeavors to immerse visitors in multifaceted interactions with earth. It encourages individual and collective actions, invokes a range of sensory experiences, and fosters dialogue as well as reconnection with our shared world. Certain artworks also dynamically evolve, shaped by the involvement of visitors or selected groups during the exhibition.
Fröbel, Essen, 2023
DAS KANN ICH AUCH !
curated by Jasmina Janoschka & the Kids of the FRÖBEL Kindergarten
The exhibition DAS KANN ICH AUCH invites you to immerse yourself in colorful worlds and experience art from the unique perspective of children. The portraits, paintings, and playful sculptures have been created as part of the FRÖBEL Atelier Scholarship. Together with Locuratolo, the children from the FRÖBEL Kindergarten on Marktstraße in Essen had the opportunity to engage in artistic activities and experiment with various forms, materials, and techniques. Based on the approach of Artpractagogy, which intertwines artistic practice and art education, these works captivate with their immediacy, intuition, and vitality, reminiscent of Participatory Naive Art.
In addition, a selection of auratic portrait drawings and paintings by Locuratolo will be presented in dialogue. With intense colors, recurring shapes, and impressionistic strokes, these works translate the energetic and the invisible aspects of the subjects into an artistic medium.