The Black Ferk Manifesto
Black Ferk Studio addresses societal upheaval, blind spots, and taboos, and tries to give marginalised groups in particular a voice. It advocates for the visibility and recognition of chronic illnesses and neurodiverse people, who are “othered” by society.
The artistic work at Black Ferk Studio highlights the dark side of human existence and lays bare what is usually hidden, ignored, or refuted.
The studio faces the rejection and trivialisation of chronic illnesses by re-dramatising and unveiling a stark reality. It places a particular emphasis on severe, multi-systemic and/or complex diseases.
Art, science, and society all meet here at Black Ferk Studio. The Studio endeavours to be a place of exchange for artists, researchers, chronically ill people, people with limited abilities, lovers of art, patrons, and “others”. In this sense, it’s a space of discourse and comfort, because it is both provocative and raising awareness.
The Black Ferk Studio also addresses potential solutions to situations of (global and individual) crises, such as the power of communities and related activism.
The Black Ferk Studio is research and fact-friendly, and opposes conspiracy theories and anti-scientific worldviews.
Black Ferk isn’t a dark space, precisely because it deals with such serious, existential topics — it’s quite the opposite. Dark humour and the absurd are methods as well as weapons in the fight against madness and the unspeakable.
Black Ferk Studio is vehemently against forms of toxic positivity, and problematises the prevailing dogma of being motivated and achieving (staying healthy by working hard on yourself). It criticises the philosophy that illness and disability can always be avoided by working hard, or are the fault or failure of individuals. Black Ferk Studio acknowledges the unpredictable: It can happen to anyone, no one is invincible.
The physical body and its relationship to space form the starting point of the artistic works. Personal and collective living situations and traumas are made visible as a result.
The studio works with multimedia forms of representation: Objects, drawings, images, installations, photographs, videos, performances. Black Ferk Studios’ methods are transdisciplinary and, among other things, focus on documenting human abysses, as well as overcoming them.