Schwarze Schokolade
Die Nebelwanderung
Schwarze Schokolade was founded in 1982 by Chris Werner, Lisa Lancelle and Rotraud von der Heide in a former chocolate factory occupied by a group of women in Kreuzberg in Berlin in 1979. It is considered the first feminist artists’, art and performance group to experiment with an aesthetics beyond the mainstream in Germany. In addition to the three artists mentioned above, the core group has also included Roswitha Baumeister, Petra Baumgardt, Ursula Bierther, Catharina Cosin, Renate Hampke, Anne Jud (see JUD 1), Katharina E. Karrenberg, Gerda Leopold, Susanne Muel, Claudia Schmidt, Hella Utesch and Ute Wigand. During part of its history, the group was a loose network, with solo exhibitions held in Germany and abroad. In 2012-13, Chris Werner curated the exhibition “RETRAKTUELL” in the Frauenmuseum Bonn, which she also co-founded. This show featured an overview of Schwarze Schokolade’s artistic oeuvre that spans 30 years. BS
artists' website: www.schwarzeschokolade.de
Die Nebelwanderung (Fog Walk) was first performed at Mariannenplatz in Kreuzberg in Berlin as part of a three-month event for female artists called Berliner Frauensommer 82 (based on an idea by Chris Werner). In the dream-like sequences of this work, the female performers, equipped with machetes and colourful kimonos, enacted a female awakening on a huge transparent cushion (20 x 20 meters) that was illuminated and filled with artificial fog. This marked the birth of the group of women artists known as Schwarze Schokolade (Dark Chocolate), which was formed by many of the participating artists who from that point on kept working for the label schoko prod. © in different line ups. The sequel Die Nebelwanderung Teil II was created as a Gesamtkunstwerk for the Group Art exhibition in Kassel, which ran parallel to “documenta 8” in 1987.
Courtesy Chris Werner – schoko prod. ©
Format
super-8, colour, sound, 13:20 min
Issue date
1982