For Berlin Art Week 2024, we have decided to present a retrospective of the Swiss artist Elisabeth Masé, combining the exhibition with the release of her latest book. This will offer a panoramic view of her artistic career, with a particular focus on her ongoing “New Goddesses” series, following an initial presentation in our former gallery space in 2023.

Elisabeth Masé is a distinguished Swiss artist and writer. Her oeuvre, encompassing painting, sculpture, and multimedia installations, delves deeply into themes of spirituality, femininity, and cultural anthropology. She crafts evocative visual narratives that interrogate and reimagine society, not built on traditional gender constructs, inviting the viewers to consider the untapped potential of female energy and soul-searching. Masé’s interdisciplinary approach, blending visual art with performance and collaborative projects, highlights her commitment to fostering social bonds and cultural dialogue, while her artistic practice – in both her paintings and drawings – continues to inspire and provoke thoughtful reflection on the human condition.

Not afraid to explore the darkest recesses of the human psyche, Elisabeth Masé underscores the fundamental influence of childhood in shaping psychology.
Her work frequently illuminates the profound impact that dysfunctional early experiences can imprint on the mind, revealing how unmet fundamental needs—such as the need for protection and belonging—resonate universally across humanity. The subjects in her watercolours and drawings are suspended in void spaces, positioned within interracial, intercultural planes free from external noise and confusion, creating a setting where trauma can be unfolded and faced. Whether in projects like “Die Braut/The Bride,” dwelling into specific traumas -presented last year in our old rooms- or broader investigations like “The Evil Child” exploring darker aspects of the human psyche, or “Dark Days in Paradise” displaying dystopian landscapes of subconscious desires, Masé’s meticulous lines and the ethereal quality of her watercolours against empty backgrounds evoke in any case an oneiric atmosphere. This deliberate aesthetic mirrors the way dreams unravel conscious and subconscious complexities, infusing her works with profound introspection and emotional depth.

Flat monochromatic surfaces will also serve as background to the painting works of Elisabeth Masé, like in her notorious series “New Goddesses”, central to Masé’s artistic and philosophical inquiry. The series stands as a transformative exploration of feminine divine power, seeking to subvert patriarchal interpretations by presenting traditionally male religious descriptions to a female dimension, offering a compelling vision that challenges entrenched societal norms. The pose in which her polymorphic multitalented Goddesses are portrayed is cleverly taken by another series of work by Masè: the interdisciplinary, participative work “Das Kleid/The Dress”.  There, Elisabeth involves refugee women and local ones in a collective action, where the participants would embroider on a dress their desires while forging social bonds by sharing individual life stories.
Photographed in poses reminiscent of queens or goddesses the participants highlight the inherent divinity within each individual, reflecting Masé’s broader exploration of empowerment and identity. The reprise of such a pose in the New Goddesses series seems to indicate that human relation with divinity is firstly pushed by forms of desires, fundamental or non.
At the same time, the pose links Elisabeth Masé’s work to the history of arts, being a clear reprise of the poses adopted during the Renaissance for women’s portraiture.  The form/body of the New Goddess is at times made by an anthropomorphic combination of elements, while at times is realistically depicted. The only element Masè’s New Goddesses share, is the hiding of the face, to enhance the universality and the mystery surrounding the divine.

The colour palette of the New Goddesses alternates bright, strong, and vivid tones -fit for Warhol and the Masters of Pop Art- to dichromatic or even black-and-white compositions. These compositions evoke an oppressive, alien, and elegiac atmosphere akin to the work of Leon Spilliaert, a symbolist known for his soul-searching explorations.
Masé’s paintings have the strength of both, classic, new classics, and futuristic, she brilliantly brought together the right qualities to underline the timelessness of divinity. The brushstrokes also swing from controlled, fine, and detailed, to coarse ones, and roughly synthesised shapes. These alternations of elements, colours, style, brushstrokes, and shapes are other tools Elisabeth Masè uses to underline the complexity of existence, even in divine manifestations. If simplicity were the way, we wouldn’t have the famous 99 Names Of God, which Elisabeth turned to feminine to explore the emotional reaction to such inversion of gender while getting inspired in the creation of her own New Goddesses.

A “New Goddess” represents more than just a symbolic exchange of gender roles; it embodies a profound redefinition of cosmic and spiritual authority. Her goddesses are depicted not merely as benevolent figures of love and beauty, but as complex beings capable of embodying a range of emotions and energies, including the disruptive and transformative. By reimagining the divine as inherently feminine, Masé seeks to empower women and challenge the entrenched notions of power and hierarchy that have shaped cultural and social landscapes for centuries. She questions why the divine feminine, historically associated with creation, nurturing, and life-giving forces, has been marginalised in favour of patriarchal constructs emphasising dominance, control, and hierarchical authority. This inquiry leads Masé to advocate for a cultural paradigm shift where the feminine is celebrated as the foundational and primordial force, thereby fostering a more harmonious and equitable society.

In envisioning such a societal transformation, Masé challenges us to reconsider the narratives and structures perpetuating inequality and division. She proposes that by embracing the feminine as a central principle, societies could move towards greater balance, creativity, and holistic well-being. This perspective underscores Masé’s belief in the power of art, not only to reflect societal values, but also to provoke introspection and inspire meaningful change. Ultimately, her work invites us to imagine a world where reverence for the feminine fosters deeper connection, empathy, and a more sustainable human experience.

To give a comprehensive impression of the extensive work by this Swiss artist, some extracts from another series of hers, “LE MANTEAU / THE CLOAK / DER MANTEL”,  are also included in the exhibition. It consists of one of Masé’s multidisciplinary and collective community projects, based on the concept that regardless of skin colour or social status, we are all born under the same sky, experience similar emotions, and share the same basic biological responses. The collective projects aim to forge social connections through individual life stories, highlighting the foundations of social relationships. The interdisciplinary project “LE MANTEAU / THE CLOAK / DER MANTEL” integrates community embroidery (textile art), large-format watercolours, short films, photographs, and music, culminating in a dance theatre performance of profound human significance. This comprehensive artwork is a collaborative effort involving Berlin composer Valentin Kellein, the Voodoo percussion group Super Wétché, and the Beninese choreographer Tchekpo Dan Agbetou along with his company.

Beginning with initial draft sketches for the participatory project, a series of large-format watercolours were created, depicting small groups of individuals under a vast, tent-like cloak. These figures—ranging from children to adults and occasionally merging human and animal characteristics—engage in various interactions such as playing, comforting one another, waiting, or providing protection. Following each workshop, a commemorative photo series is produced, capturing the participants of each collective. These portraits feature individuals with closed eyes, adorned in the collaboratively embroidered cloak, infused with protective thoughts and images. The subjects, depicted standing upright, centred, and front-facing, convey an aura of exaltation and detachment, reminiscent of saintly figures. More and more Goddesses.