Simona Andrioletti, Text me when you get home <3 at DG Kunstraum, Munich

“Text me when you get home <3” by Simona Andrioletti, curated by Benita Meißner, at DG Kunstraum, Munich, 22/02/2024.

Text me when you get home <3 is a sentence we feel the need to write to our loved ones when they come home after a night out.

Text me when you get home <3 is an installation consisting of twelve merino wool blankets arranged on an aluminium frame with motifs that visitors can wrap themselves in and sit on the specially designed seating areas.

The woven motifs on the blankets clearly contrast with the feeling of warmth and security of the merino wool.

Andrioletti spans a wide range from Greek mythology to the present day and takes up well known sexual assaults from history, such as Apollo and Daphne. The most recent example shows Italians in Bologna joining the Argentine demonstrations that have been taking to the streets against femicide in their country since 2015 under the call “Non una di meno”.

Each blanket features phrases related to mental health, violence and gender-based violence.

The graphics are reminiscent of the style of fanzines: amateur magazines that emerged in the mid-1950s in the United States, low-cost and with a limited circulation, created for fans of specific fields such as underground music, independent literature and subcultures.

Texts and images were cut out of newspapers and glued onto a sheet of paper, which was then scanned and photocopied countless times until it lost definition. As it was expensive to print in color, people chose to print in black on colored paper to make the messages stand out.The appeal of fanzines lies in their need to spread a message to a wide audience using a cheap medium (the photocopier) that allowed mass production. Just like a flyer or a fanzine, these objects aim to convey messages with immediacy.

Although the texts may be unpleasant and uncomfortable, visitors can find temporary shelter, a safe space for their mind in the wool softness, and become a symbolic barrier between us and the outside world.

There is a CD player in the space, from which the visitors can listen to the album “Canti delle Donne in Lotta” (Songs of Women in Struggle), an album published in 1975 by the Roman section of the feminist movement, which contains a series of ballads with powerful lyrics written by the women of the movement.

Visitors can choose a song of their choice while they unfold, touch, read and perhaps use the blankets to cover themselves while lying on the soft seats specially designed for the exhibition.

Andrioletti addresses complex social dynamics and phenomena in her artistic work. She uses language and art as a means of documentation and communication to immerse herself in current debates and raise awareness of these topics among a broad audience. She engages with society on several levels, including organizing workshops to deal with the situation of young people from disadvantaged social backgrounds.

Her focus is on the subcultures of the Internet and social media. Due to the constant media coverage, be it in the news or on social media, there are many “opportunities,” as Susan Sontag says, “to be confronted with the pain of others.”

When the pain of many is present everywhere and always, it diminishes the importance of individual events. What effect does it have on us? Is it really something alien that doesn’t concern us? Can we empathize with the pain of others or have we even become addicted to it?

At the opening and closing there will be a performance with FLINTA performers who activate the artistic installation.

The movement repertoire will include both interaction with the blankets themselves and the choreographic representation of movements and grips for self-defense and defense against violence.

The performances will be accompanied by a live concert with the singer and activist Gündalein.