MONIKA ENTERPRISE

Werkstatt Artists:

AGF, Barbara Morgenstern, Beate Bartel, Danielle de Picciotto, Gudrun Gut, Islaja, Lucrecia Dalt, Pilocka Krach, Sonae

Special Werkstatt Guest on Air:

Natalie Beridze

Creative Director and Driver:

Gudrun Gut

Technical Director:

Antye Greie / AGF

Cooking:

Mo Loschelder

Helping Heart and Hand:

Manon Pepita

Helping Hand and Filming:

Lupe Carranza

Recorded

June 2016 at Stern Studio Uckermark

Mastering

Mike Grinser @ Manmade Mastering Berlin

Publishing:

AGF, Gudrun Gut, Islaja, Natalie Beridze, Sonae are published by Golden Good/Budde
Barbara Morgenstern is published by Maobeat/Budde
Lucrecia Dalt is published by Secretly Canadian Publishing
Pilocka Krach is published by Random Noize/Budde
Danielle de Picciotto is published by Freibank

Production

by Artist

Cover artwork

Ian Anderson miTDR thedesignersrepublic.com

Are you for real? Does anyone out there really think that artists could be involved in a project that bestows total freedom in 2017? Isn’t today’s reality that society and what is left of creativity are being forced to bow to the pressures of neoliberalism and are being undermined by politicians with their largely awful agendas? Hasn’t creativity been reduced to wages and money versus time and art?

However, it’s too easy to just peek out of our caverns at a world overshadowed by dark clouds and leave it at that. Because at the same time, don’t we still believe that, against all odds, anything is still possible if you’re surrounded by an exemplary group of like-minded people?

Gudrun Gut, the artistic powerhouse behind labels Monika Enterprises and Moabit Musik is a musician with an extraordinary legacy – be it as a member of Berlin’s legendary act Malaria, OceanClub, her acclaimed solo projects or recently a collaboration with Faust’s Hans Joachim Irmler. Gudrun Gut has a proven track record of successfully connecting with like-minded artists on unusual paths of creativity. She´s an outstanding example of someone who refuses to compromise their artistic vision.

And now she is ready to present one of her most ambitious projects ever: Monika Werkstatt – a loose collective of female artists set up to enable each of them to achieve new goals through collaboration. Monika Werkstatt will ensure that their artistic output gains visibility in an art context still too dominated by men.

Monika Werkstatt has its origins in collective workshops and in shared interactions. By sharing their own challenges and achievements later on with an audience, this opened a gateway to a further feedback and creative dialogue. Every moment, every gesture, every communication has been about empowerment, both individually and as a group.

History has a weakness for coincidences, and the release of “Monika Werkstatt” happily falls on the 20th anniversary of Monika Enterprises. A fantastic landmark and a means of celebrating such a tremendously talented collective that Gudrun Gut has orchestrated.

So what is this release really about? Gudrun’s fellow Monika members – AGF, Beate Bartel, Lucrecia Dalt, Danielle De Picciotto, Islaja, Barbara Morgenstern, Sonae, Pilocka Krach – travelled from Berlin and assembled in the creative oasis of Uckermark. The goal was to create and record without any of the usual pressures and distractions that you’d anticipate in a group context. To keep the focus, Mo Loscheider cooked, Manon Pepita assisted with the day to day and Lupe was filming.

Uckermark became a kind of utopia for them. Between recording and jamming, their days were filled with music, eating, short walks in the fields and forests resounding with inspiring talks and discussions. Without any restraint or rules, they opened up new forms of interaction and creative dialogue which found themselves falling into a process without any clear beginnings or ends. The result? Hours and hours of new from this uplifting gathering.

Once the recordings were completed, representatives of the group were delegated roles for a finished production – some sequenced and mixed the recordings into their own tracks, while others built their own from the material recorded. The results succeed in showcasing the community as a group, as well as portraying singular pieces of art derived from a collective process.

CD

1. B.Morgenstern + Werkstatt: Grow
2. Natalie Beridze + Werkstatt: Doodle
3. Gudrun Gut + Werkstatt: Green Rain
4. Lucrecia Dalt + Werkstatt: Blindholes
5. Beate Bartel + Werkstatt: Feuerland
6. Sonae + Werkstatt: Between Two Worlds
7. Danielle de Picciotto + Werkstatt: Ikarus
8. Gudrun Gut + Werkstatt: Repetition
9. Beate Bartel + Werkstatt: M.B.T.
10. Pilocka Krach + Werkstatt: Who's Afraid of Justin Biber
11. Islaja + Werkstatt: Sappho's Gifts
12. Pilocka Krach + Werkstatt: Sternhagen
13. Natalie Beridze + Werkstatt: Hit Bottom
14. AGF + Werkstatt: Ninjaness
15. Danielle de Picciotto + Werkstatt: Desert Fruit
16. Islaja + Werkstatt: Lainaa Lause
17. Sonae + Werkstatt: Witchcraft

DIGITAL