✨November Notes: Being-With & What’s Coming Next
Susangela Saracino
November: Being-With, Entanglements & Ongoing Stories
Dear friends,
October was a lot! So much happened, so many things to organise, deadlines to meet, exhibitions to prepare and people to meet. It was exciting, but also pretty stressful and exhausting at times. And somehow, in the middle of all this, I ended up with even more ideas than I started with. So many, actually, that I wish I had a little more time (and perhaps a few extra versions of myself) to bring them all to life.
Between The Common Weight and Holy Shit: Totem Uno, I found myself moving through different spaces, meeting new people and opening up new possibilities for my practice. Some of these ideas are already coming to life, while others are still brewing. I'm looking forward to seeing how they unfold.
And now, November is bringing something quite different.
MITSEIN: The Art of Being-With
November 21st | FLUCC Wanne, Vienna
Details - wip
On November 21st, I'll be presenting a new participatory installation, MITSEIN, at Artattechwien's final event of the year, hosted at FLUCC Wanne. An unusual night bringing contemporary art and electronic music together in a special trance edition.
The programme:
20:00 — Vernissage
23:00–06:00 — Art Rave
Mitsein comes from the German philosophical concept developed by Martin Heidegger, often translated as Being-with. It describes something fundamental about human existence: we are never simply isolated individuals. Being in the world already means being with others. Our identities, experiences and ways of inhabiting the world are continuously shaped by the people around us.
For this installation, I start with something very intimate: a combination of clothes belonging to me and my partner. Torn apart, knotted and intertwined, these personal garments lose their original function and become an organic, expanding form.
But the work doesn't stop there.
Installed on the wall, MITSEIN will remain open to the people who encounter it. During the evening, visitors will be invited to intervene directly: knotting or sewing additional textile fragments provided on site, or introducing a small personal object of their own into the installation.
Piece by piece, the work will grow beyond its original boundaries, incorporating traces of people who might have never met before.
From the Personal to the Collective
There is an environmental dimension to working with discarded and repurposed textiles, of course, but this is not where my research begins or ends.
For years, I've been interested in the invisible lives of objects: the memories they hold, the people who have touched them, the experiences they have witnessed and the traces they continue to carry long after their original purpose has disappeared.
I started working with textiles as a way to reconnect with fragments of my own family history. Over time, this practice expanded into an investigation of the relationship between objects, bodies and the people connected to them.
With MITSEIN, this relationship takes another step.
What happens when the personal becomes collective? What remains of an individual object when it becomes part of something larger? And how much of ourselves do we leave behind in the things we share with others?
I'm interested in the idea that relationships are not simply encounters between separate individuals. They are processes of mutual transformation. We carry something of the people we meet, just as they carry something of us. Sometimes consciously, sometimes without even realising it.
In this sense, the installation becomes a living record of encounters.
Perhaps the most interesting part is that nobody will be able to claim the final form as entirely their own.
We are made, in part, of one another.
I'd love to see you there and, even more, to see what you'll add to it.
Meanwhile, in the Studio...
A small update on my wearable sculpture collection, The Dolls Collection, which I first introduced back in August.
As much as I wanted to release it this year, I've had to put the project on hold for a little while. Each wearable sculpture requires approximately two weeks of dedicated work, and with everything happening over the past months, I haven't been able to give the collection the attention it deserves.
But! Something else is quietly taking shape.
I've started experimenting with a new collection of textile amulets.
The first prototypes are already here, and I'm hoping to share a first glimpse of them in December.
I won't reveal too much just yet, but I'm very excited about this new direction.
More soon.
November Magic in Vienna
On a more personal note, November (and December) also means one of my favourite times of the year in Vienna.
The Christmas markets start opening from November 6th, and there's something about the lights, the cold evenings, the smell of spices and the general atmosphere that I find genuinely magical.
This year, my family is coming to visit, which makes it even more special. I can't wait to show them around, introduce them to my favourite corners of the city and, naturally, take them to meet the Krampus. Because what's a proper Austrian winter without a little folklore and a few terrifying creatures?
Looking forward to some family time, good food and a little seasonal magic.
Thank you for following along, for showing up, for sharing ideas and for being part of this ever-expanding network of encounters.
Lots happening, lots to look forward to. I'll keep you posted!
Love ya,
Su
(And if you feel like supporting my creative practice or buying me a virtual Melange/Coffee/Cappuccino, you can always drop some love on my Ko-fi page! It means the world to me!)
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