New professors for Gender & Space / Design as of 1.10.: Petra Hlaváčková and Nicole Sabella

Nicole Sabella is an artist, cultural scientist and art and architecture mediator. They work with artistic research methods and performative strategies that are based in queer-feminist, intersectional, anti-discriminatory, participatory policies and collaborative practices. They explore the socio-political connections between body, language, voice, sound and (political) space in dynamic "choreo:spheres": artistic constellations that often form into performative installations and site-specific interventions. Rhythm, humour and failure aka glitch are their central driving forces. After studying Art history, Bohemian studies and Central and Eastern European history at the Universities of Regensburg and Brno, they obtained a diploma in fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT) in 2016. They have worked as university assistant and lecturer in Performance art at the University of Art and Design Linz and as a lecturer in Digital Media and Communication Worlds at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Their artistic and curatorial work advocates for poeto-political co-creation and "vibrational communication" as a tool for social transformation and has been shown worldwide. 

https://choreospheres.jimdofree.com/

Petra Hlaváčková is an architecture theoretician, curator, and publicist who has long been involved in the topic of gender in art and architecture, feminist approaches in urbanism, and gender politics during Czechoslovak state socialism. Her interdisciplinary approach combines theoretical research (architectural history, gender studies) with curatorial and activist strategies. She has been awarded international fellowships such as Jan Patočka Fellowship (2024) at the Institute for the Humanities (IWM) in Vienna. Petra is the author of the Brno Architectural Manual (www.bam.brno.cz) and co-founder of the 4AM Forum for Architecture and Media (CZ), where she curated the laboratory of movement in public space Move the City and several exhibitions, e. g. Kill Your Idol exhibition involved in the exposition of the Czech and Slovak Pavilion at 13th International Architecture Biennale di Venezia 2012. The topics of gender and architecture in the context of Czechoslovak state socialism were central to her PhD research at the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague. She was also a member of the research team for the Women in Architecture project (www.zenyvarchitekture.cz). She is the co-author of the documentary film Once You Have a Job, You Have Everything (2016) and author of the experimental movie The House (2021). In 2023 she curated, together with Nicole Sabella, the international exhibition Liberated Space: Care - Architecture - Feminism at the Bratislava City Gallery.

https://petrahlavackova.wordpress.com/

Space, Queer-Feminism and Democracy.

Embodying Social Polyphonics

How can contemporary fourth-wave queer-feminist thought contribute to rethinking democratic concepts of society? How do space and solidarity relate? The recent intellectual Central-European space has been overloaded with discussions about the functioning  and non-functioning of democracy at a time when we are confronted with the real danger and power of far-right political positions. Left-wing fourth-wave feminism has intersectional solidarity as a central theme, yet these ideas are still not invited into ongoing official discussions.

The theme of Gender and Space has long been a central motif of our joint curatorial, theoretical, and artistic activities which include forging links between the cultural environments of Bratislava, Brno, and Vienna. This geographical cross-border unit has been of interest to both of us for a long time from different perspectives. Recently, we co-curated the exhibition Liberated Space: Care - Architecture - Feminism, which took place from autumn 2023 to spring 2024 at the Bratislava City Gallery. During the next four semesters we want to continue building this transnational solidarity network. 

We are interested in collective activities based on transdisciplinary artistic approaches, research, and community work. We aim to challenge culturally experienced divisions of North-South, East-West, urban-rural, or digital-physical counterpoints and we focus on acknowledging and educating ourselves about other feminist her* and their*stories and practices of care across Europe and beyond, through lived experiences, tacit knowledge, and the translation and discussion of specific texts.

Every semester, a specific project will be developed (zine, spatial interventions) in collaboration with partners from Brno (CZ) and Bratislava (SK). Our work during the semester will be divided into seminars, discussions and excursions.