Barbara Dévény
Barbara Dévény was born and raised in southern Germany as the child of Hungarian emigrants. Her greatest salvation was the autonomous youth center scene in Saarland. For pragmatic reasons, she studied social work in Saarbrücken before returning to her original path and studying fine art in Bremen and Hamburg.
Her artistic practice revolves around the question of what we call reality – and how it emerges. Between documentation and fiction, between everyday life and absurdity, she searches for the fractures of perception: moments in which certainties begin to waver. Her interest lies in transitions and contradictions – the interweaving of political protest and private withdrawal, of memory and imagination, of fact and imagination.
In video works, photographs, collages, and installation formats, she explores how subjective perspectives shape reality. For her, stories that blur or contradict each other are the starting point for artistic reflection: they reveal the fragility of truth – and the power of images to open up new realities. Questions are asked without being answered: reality as a construction.
#SolidarityConfused
Residency 10. - 23.11.2025
#SolidarityConfused is her first installation. In her project, she explores the paradoxical alliances that emerge in digital and political spaces between queer identities and authoritarian or religious-fundamentalist ideologies. Texts, memes, screenshots, and comments from social media posts that reveal these contradictory attitudes are documented, printed on fabric, sorted into thematic clusters, and transformed into a wearable collection. The garments serve as textile storage, as mobile archives of a disturbed present. The printed texts are complemented by theoretical references to queerness, authoritarianism, and religious fanaticism. This creates an artistic reflection on the simultaneity of progressive identity politics and regressive interpretations of the world.SolidarityConfused is her first installation. In her project, she explores the paradoxical alliances that emerge in digital and political spaces between queer identities and authoritarian or religious-fundamentalist ideologies. Texts, memes, screenshots, and comments from social media posts that reveal these contradictory attitudes are documented, printed on fabric, sorted into thematic clusters, and transformed into a wearable collection. The garments serve as textile storage, as mobile archives of a disturbed present. The printed texts are complemented by theoretical references to queerness, authoritarianism, and religious fanaticism. This creates an artistic reflection on the simultaneity of progressive identity politics and regressive interpretations of the world..
Barbara Dévény has invited Bremen-based artist ROSHAN MARGRAF to two workshops to conduct artistic research and work together.
Come along, it's sure to be exciting!
If you have any questions about the workshops, please send an email to: semmise(at)googlemail.com
Workshop
Re:Table – where are we now –
where do we want to go?
Wednesday, November 12
6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
How do we deal with the flood of information that overwhelms us every day? How can we recognize manipulation—and do we even recognize it at all? Why does the search for quick solutions so often lead to old patterns, to enemy stereotypes, to anti-Semitism? And how can the fight against racism and anti-Semitism, against patriarchal and religious oppression, be approached from a feminist perspective—instead of mutually excluding each other?
Bring texts, images, stories, or found objects that concern you—things you want to counteract. Or just come by empty-handed. Over a glass of wine and something to eat, we want to sort things out together, think outside the box, ask questions, find and create new images. Without claiming to have all the answers, but with an urgent need to work artistically and see things differently.
Workshop for children, teens, and adults
Re:Sort – Thinking Through Confusion
Saturday, November 15
2 pm – 6 pm
After it seemed in recent years that our society was moving in a more open and just direction, we are currently experiencing a backlash: tradwives, manosphere, a feminism that only applies to some – simple solutions and quick blame are gaining influence again. Manipulation and social media reinforce these tendencies. Everything is becoming louder, faster, and more confusing, especially for children and young people... That's why we invite you to rearrange things in the workshop Re:Sort – thinking outside the box. Based on experiences (either personal or observed) with bullying, discrimination, or exclusion at school, work, etc., we will develop our own artistic responses—in the form of pictures, collages, videos, prints, or clothing. The focus is on the idea of countering the bad with something positive: courage, creativity, humor, and community, turning things around and inventing something new. Bring whatever you want or leave it at home.
Saturday, November 22
3 pm to 10 pm
Final presentation
Open studio, performative presentation & collective exhalation
To conclude #SolidarityConfused, we invite you to see, hear, and wear what has been created over the past two weeks. The attitude garments we have created can be tried on and combined—textile commentaries on contradiction, solidarity, and the attempt to remain clear in the midst of confusion. And if it all becomes too much: a punching bag is available—to let off steam, against powerlessness, for movement. Perhaps there will be surprise guests, perhaps there will be a performance and videos to watch, but one thing is certain: there will be something to see! Conversations, connections, and ideas will emerge, and between anger and humor, thinking will continue.
Mehr von Barbara Dévény:
Instagram @barbaradeveny
Foto: Irina Frederich
Foto: Irina Frederich
Foto: Irina Frederich
Ob Ost ob West, nieder mit der Nazipest!
Deutschland von der Karte streichen, Frankreich muß bis Polen reichen…
Wir kriegen euch alle!!!!!!!!!
Ein Baum, ein Strick, ein Nazigenick…
Hoch die internationale Solidarität!
Hub Hub Hubschraubereinatz!
Sie Werdens nicht vermuten, wir gehören zu den Guten.
Kein Tag ohne, Autonomes Zentrum!
Gegen den Sozialabbau, organisiert den Kaufhausklau…
Autonomes Frühstück