The conceptual poster series Ženska kuća (Sunčane naočale) [Women's House (Sunglasses)] by Sanja Iveković unfolds a powerful intervention in public space. For her works, the artist appropriates glamorous advertising images to overwrite them with urgent feminist messages.

She collages black and white motifs of supermodels advertising sunglasses from well-known brands with brightly coloured text fields that show the reality of female experiences of violence in a patriarchal system: Here are the names, biographical data and texts of women who have experienced violence and found refuge in women's shelters. In the texts, they reflect on the confrontation with male violence in their lives. Iveković emphasises the global extent of the abuses and the indispensable role of feminist organisations worldwide: in the red field at the top of the image are the names of international institutions such as the Autonomous Women's House Zagreb or the Mor Çatı Women's Shelter Foundation Istanbul, and now an unspecified women's shelter from Saxony-Anhalt, which offer protection, advice and solidarity to those affected.

The posters have already been published in public spaces, newspapers and magazines in various cities, which emphasises the activist content of this series. The artist locates her works not only in exhibition centres, but also in places of everyday life and the consumer-oriented gaze. In doing so, she questions the function and effect of images in a media society and explores how feminist concerns can be communicated artistically and effectively to the public. Iveković's radical intervention transforms advertising images into an arena of self-empowerment and a public act of dissent against normalised patriarchal violence.

Following the exhibition Outrageously rebellious (14 April - 30 June 2024) at the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Sanja Iveković developed five new motifs in collaboration with a women's shelter in Saxony-Anhalt. Women from the region described their encounters with domestic and partner violence in anonymised form, which the artist used to design new posters. The participatory works bear witness to male violence, but also to female coping and resilience. They will be displayed in public spaces in Magdeburg for several weeks in November 2024. The localisation makes it clear that violence against women is a global problem that also affects the lives of local people.

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25.11.2024 at 5 pm, the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, together with the Volksbad Buckau c/o Frauenzentrum Courage, invites you to a public tour of the postered artworks. During the tour, actress Iris Albrecht will recite the texts of the women involved, making their voices audible.

The public billposting was realised in cooperation with Ströer Media Deutschland GmbH.