On December 2nd, 2020 the first session of Who Are We was an invitation to 16 engaged Berlin-based female practitioners to meet on-site at Haus der Statistik and to the general public to join online.

In the first part of the session, we discussed intersectional perspectives on curating with Natalie Bayer, director of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum, and read together a text on Caring Activism prepared for the session by the curator and researcher Elke Krasny. Afterwards, participants were invited to share their experiences, concerns and aspirations in small conversations. Finally, we talked about and learned how to use our bodies as tools of resistance, together with Bärbel Düsing, an instructor of self-affirmation and self-defence in Berlin. The day was accompanied by foods and drinks prepared and served by Paula Erstmann and a graphic documentation by Bea Davies.

“With a nod to artist Mierle Ukeles Laederman’s 1969 Maintenance Manifesto with the much quoted question of “After the revolution, who’s going to pick up the garbage on Monday morning?”, the following questions can be asked: Who writes e-mails over the weekend? Who is active on twitter? Who keeps the facebook account alive? Who cleans the space for the next meeting? Who organizes timelines and resources? Who writes the grant applications?” – from WHO ARE WE, Berlin, December 2, 2020: Caring Activism, Entanglements of Infrastructures, Reproduction, Exhaustion, and Recognition by Elke Krasny