Our collaboration with artist Mia Florentine Weiss at the Reichstag
In occasion of the recent German federal election, women's magazine Emotion has launched the survey #wasfrauenfordern, in an effort to understand and favour women's needs in politics, the economy and society. To crown this campaign, conceptual artist Mia Florentine Weiss has devised a neon reading NOW / WON that was realized in collaboration with Sygns.
Over 10.000 women partook in the survey and on Saturday October 21st the results were released, in parallel to the unveiling of Mia's neon installation, which took place no less than in front of the German Parliament Building.
Mia has dedicated a lot of her work to questions revolving around the theme of protection, often in contexts in which there is none. This has brought her to focus widely on the refugee crisis, on women and on the body as a source of protection, rather than weakness.
Playing with the ambigram nature of the word and of each of its letters, we created a double metal structure of the letters, and placed neons on both sides, allowing the installation to read a different word depending which side it is seen from.
NOW/WON reminds us of the immediacy and urgency of working towards a society that favours the needs of contemporary women, at the same time as emphasizing how much women already have achieved.
Starting from Mia's atelier on the Rummelsbucht in East-Berlin, we drove the lit 6 meter-long work on an open truck through the whole city, made a little pit-stop in front of the Brandenburger Tor, where it was assaulted by selfie stick-waving tourists, and placed it in front of the German Parliament Building: the Reichstag.
In the presence of the press and public, Emotion communicated the results of the survey, with Equal Pay being in the absolute lead among German women's hope for equality, followed by ending sexual harassment and improving childcare.
Find the complete results here (in German).
The neon is now on view at Urban Nation, Berlin's new street art museum.
Photographs by Deniz Saylan and Sygns.
