On October 31, 2025, we had the opportunity to visit Catherine Sanke in her studio in Leipzig—an encounter that moved and inspired us and confirmed in many ways that care work is political. And it can be experienced artistically.
As soon as we entered the studio, it became clear how comprehensively Catherine works:
Amongst porcelain, clay, fabric, books, tea, coffee, and chocolate balls lay fragments of stories—and at the same time the beginnings of new narratives.
We immediately started talking about the interviews with mothers from Altenburg who had children during the GDR era. About their everyday lives between work norms, social expectations, and family networks.
About what repeats itself. And what has changed—or hasn't changed to this day.
Our exchange was a joint search for language for something that so often remains invisible:
How can we talk about care work without romanticizing it?
How do we describe stress and resistance at the same time?
How do we weave together intergenerational experiences, political material, and personal life realities?
Catherine showed us how these questions take shape in her artistic work:
How experience becomes form. And how form becomes history again.
How material becomes language.
How an installation creates spaces for dialogue, remembrance, and a change of perspective.
We are grateful for this open, warm, intense visit—and for the bonds that are formed in such conversations.
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exhibition recommendation
If you would like to experience the work for yourself:
The installation „Forms of Care“ – developed by Anne Reiter and Catherine Sanke – will remain on display in the exhibition until December 12, 2025.
„Say it's love“
Art Space B, c/o ALTE MU, Kiel
November 4–December 12, 2025
to see.
A powerful, fragile, and at the same time resistant work for anyone interested in care work, GDR history, feminist perspectives, and contemporary material research.