Our cooperation with artists from European sister cities of Wrocław was initiated back in 2015. Since then we have hosted artists active in the field of visual arts (Verena Blok, Svea Duwe), new media (Fabien Zocco, Mathilde Lavenne), performance (Daina Pupkevičiūtė), as well as activities related to collective memory of the city (Enrico Floriddia) or excluded communities (Klaas Burger). Our activities were based on working with the local artistic environment, often enabling the involvement of the inhabitants of our city.
As a result of this year's call for artists from European partner cities, Dresden-based artist and activist, Irène Mélix will explore the history of the Wrocław LGBTIQ community during her residency. As part of the "Amour Sur Minitel" project, Mélix will focus on researching the history of advertisements and announcements of lesbians from Wrocław, who in the course of several decades – especially during the soviet period and after the political changes, but still before the time of wide access to the Internet – were forced to look for their other half by publishing advertisements in daily press or in magazines not necessarily accessible to a wide audience.
Irène Mélix was born in 1988 and graduated in Cultural Studies from the University of Hildesheim and in Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden. Mélix works at the interface between activism, art and political commitment. The starting point for her artistic practice is historical research, actions firmly rooted in socio-political contexts, those concerning gender issues and her role, which in effect translates into the implementation of strategies based on very diverse media: the German artist draws, creates works based on screen printing and linol cut techniques, publishes zines and publishes video works.
