ACTIVISM
INTRO
As an artist, I have always addressed political and social issues in my work. Using various artistic forms of expression and media—from drawings and paintings to video and performance—I have commented on the current political situation in Poland, often employing irony and humor. These artworks have been exhibited in various galleries in Berlin, Poland, and around the world for art-loving audience.
However, since late 2015, when the right-wing conservative party Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) gained the majority in the Polish government, things have taken a serious turn. For 8 years PiS had been steering Poland towards dictatorship, paralysing the Constitutional Tribunal, dismantling free media, attempting to ban abortion, promoting nationalism and hate speech, destroying the Polish economy, ignoring the European Commission, and distancing Poland from the EU, among other issues. Polish society was, and still is, deeply divided along political lines. Public media became nationalist and manipulate reality for the benefit of the government. Many people have lost their jobs due to political decisions.
In response, thousands of Poles have formed grassroots movements and taken to the streets to protest and demonstrate against government policies. Fortunately, the parliamentary elections in October 2023 changed the political course in Poland. Progressive and pro-democratic parties are rebuilding democracy in Poland. It is thanks to thousands of activists in Poland and abroad that society mobilised and voted in the elections for freedom and democracy. Poland is an example of how ultra-conservative governments can change reality, destroy what is important in the free world. But Poland is also an example of how to fight for freedom and pursue goals relentlessly. Women played a huge role in this fight.
In April 2016, out of anger towards conservative policies, I founded a feminist collective - Dziewuchy Berlin. Since then, I have been co-/ organising demonstrations, political actions, taking part in political discussions, holding lectures and writing articles and manifestos, but also networking and making written content and graphic works for Dziewuchy Berlin. I have also been creating artistic banners for actions and demonstrations, each with a different visual concept. Some were "designed" around a specific theme, while others were directly inspired by my previous artworks. I developed a concept of the Instant Theatre - performative political forms of protest. Since 2017, I have been exhibiting my activist artworks and artifacts in various galleries and informal places, developing a theory on the definition of art.
>> EXHIBITIONS
>> GLOBAL Scream
>> INSTANT Theatre:
> Dziady / All Saints
#globalSCREAM
Artistic action, a powerful minute, community experience that changes perception and empowers.
How was Global Scream created and why? The true story of Global Scream.
Photo: Michał Żak, 2017
Photo: Camilla Lobo
Recent Lectures and Discussions
Choice
Book Release „Der Bewegungsraum der sozialen Frage“ des AK Stadt/Raum. Podium discussion with Mouna Maaroufi (Universität Hamburg), Anna Krenz (Dziewuchy Berlin) und Nikolai Huke (Universität Hamburg), Moderation: Gisela Mackenroth (Universität Jena) and Jenny Künkel (Universität Duisburg Essen). 28.10.2024, Aquarium, Berlin
W cieniu drzew: Kobiety i historie Puszczykowa
Discussion with Prof. Iwona Chmura-Rutkowska, UAM, Prof. Grażyna Gajewska, UAM, und Anna Schmidt-Fiedler, Muzeum Arkadego Fiedlera, 19.5.2024, Puszczykowo
Global Scream! Kunst und Aktivismus der polnischen Migrant:innen in Berlin,
Lecture. Mapping Gender Struggles, 23.–25.11.2023 // München
https://mappinggenderstruggles.com/die-tagung/programm/#panel3
How to Organize Migrant Power through Feminist Artivism, Urban Movements & Workers’ Collectives
Lecture: Feminist Artivism & the Polish Dziewuchy Berlin, ACADEMY OF MIGRANT ORGANIZING, European Alternatives, 29.1.2022
Die Kunst des Protests
Interactive Lecture: Anna Krenz
Theater Junge Generation/Probebühne Studiobühne, Die Kunst der Begegnung, Konferenz, 23.–26. Juni 2022, Dresden
https://konferenz-2022.dramaturgische-gesellschaft.de/#pg
Frauenrechte und die Lage von LGBTQI* in Polen
Discussion mit: Joanna Maria Stolarek, Büroleiterin Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Warschau, Aleksandra Magryta, NGO Federa, Anna Krenz, Aktivistin und Künstlerin. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, July 2021,
Online-VA: Die Istanbul-Konvention betrifft uns alle
Discussion with Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit (HDP), Britta Schlichting (ZIF) und Anna Krenz (Dziewuchy Berlin). Organised by Frauenbüro Cenî, 3. Juni 2021
https://civaka-azad.org/online-va-die-istanbul-konvention-betrifft-uns-alle/
Proteste gegen das Abtreibungsverbot und Verteidigung von Grundrechten und Demokratie in Polen / online discussion
Discussion moderated by Gaby Bischoff with: Marek Dyduch, Sejm deputy and SLD regional chairman from Lower Silesia), Anna Krenz, artist and women’s rights activist, founder of the initiative Dziewuchy Berlin, Klementyna Suchanow, activist and one of the leaders of the Polish Women’s Strike (OSK). 10.11.2020
"Nationalism and Feminism in Eastern Europe"
Panel Discussion with Anna Krenz, Elżbieta Korolczuk, Dora Kaprálová, Agnieszka Wierzcholska (EN), In Feminis Veritas: The Eastern European Women's Festival. 25.6.2020
Talking Europe? Shaping Europe! Why and how to vote for a European Future in Berlin
Discussion with: Sergey Lagodinsky (EU-candidate), Jon Worth (Author and Activist) and Anna Krenz (Artist and author). Organised by Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Pankow and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg,
Galerie Kremers, 17.4.2019 https://gruene-pankow.de/archiv/terminarchiv-2019/
RESPECT. PROTECT. PROMOTE.
70 Jahre Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte (#AEMR70) - Conference
Panel “My body, my rights – weil Frauenrechte Menschenrechte sind” with Anna Krenz (Dziewuchy Berlin) und Monika Hauser (medica mondiale e.V.), moderation Ulle Schauws.
Deutscher Bundestag; Paul Löbe Haus, 7.12.2018
Feministische Perspektiven auf Frauenrechte in Polen
Lecture: Joanna M. Stolarek and Anna Krenz
Paula Panke, Berlin, 7.8.2018
Photo: Camilla Lobo, 8.3.2019
Photo: Maciej Soja
#INSTANTtheatre
Street spectacles created for protests and demonstrations, where the streets are the stage, activists are actors and participants are the audience. Scripts written and drawn quickly, acts performed without rehearsals, by activists.
Photo: Maciej Soja / Soja Photography, Performance VOICES, 28.9.2020
Photo: Oliver Feldhaus, 3.10.2016
Dziewuchy Berlin
I am founder and member of Dziewuchy Berlin collective of Polish activists who stand in solidarity with women* and LGBT+ community in Poland, Germany and around the world, as due to the alarming rise of right-wing populism, women’s rights are being limited, ignored or endangered. Dziewuchy Berlin stand for equal rights, social and reproductive justice, for human rights; and work against discrimination, religious fanatism, racism, nationalism and patriarchy.
Since the foundation (2.4.2016), Dziewuchy Berlin have organised many demonstrations and actions, for example the Black Protest in Berlin (3.10.2016) which was the first demonstration under the rule of Law and Justice party (PiS), in defense of the right to abortion in Poland. Based in Berlin, Dziewuchy are also fighting for women*s rights in Germany - we are fighting to remove paragraph 218 from the Penal Code and make abortion accessible to all.
AWARDS:
2018 – The feminist Green Pussyhat / awarded by BÜNDNIS90 / DIE GRÜNEN
2021 – Clara Zetkin – Frauenpreis / awarded by die Linke
