summaery2025: Projects

Project information

submitted by
Mira Musawwira Emmerling

Co-Authors
Jan Munske, Mahla Mosah

Mentors
Martin Müller

Faculty:
Art and Design

Degree programme:
Media Art and Design (Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.)),
Media Art and Design - Study programme Integrated International Media Art and Design Studies (IIMDS) (Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) and Master of Arts (M.A.))

Type of project presentation
Event

Semester
Summer semester 2024

• – Other –
  (Ilmpark Beach (Blue Bridge))

Available during summaery opening hours

Project description

Tell it to the water // Talking about shame is a collaborative performance-installation exploring the politics of shame in relation to the body, water, and ritual. It reflects on how shame is used as a cultural tool of control—especially regarding bodily identity, gender, and ideals of purity—and questions water’s role in both cleansing and reinforcing these dynamics.

At Summary, we invite participants into the heart of our process. The session will follow a structure developed through earlier research: two people sit face to face, taking turns to speak about shame without interruption, ending each turn by knocking on the floor. These intimate, unscripted exchanges are documented with microphones. Writing is also welcomed. Visitors can join the session, observe, or share feedback and reflections.

This event is part of the work process for FLUTEN, an exhibition in October at Gaswerk, Eigenheim Gallery, and E-Werk in Weimar. The final piece will include a durational group performance in a public bath-like setting and an installation built from recorded traces of these exchanges.

The project began after a course with Martin Müller on bodily fluids, where we became interested in shame's silence, embodiment, and emotional weight. Revisiting the topic, we connected it to water—as a symbol of transformation, purification, and repression—and began to ask: What if shame is not something to erase, but something to witness and transform?