Meet the Curious Minds - Veronika Dräxler

Interview by Lise Ninane & Fotini Takirdiki
Photos by Veronika Hubert Natter

On March 17th, 2020, Veronika Dräxler gave a talk as part of the first edition of the ArtScience Monthly, in which she introduced us to her world: she told us about her background, her way of working, and the questions and emotions that guide her creative process. This article captures and further develops the insights that she shared with us on that evening.

Could you tell us about your work?

I’m a media artist, performer, and author currently based in the Munich countryside. My art is about how to stay aligned while being violently distracted. I grew up within a bi-cultural background - I am half German and half Ecuadorian.

And what drives you to do what you do?

What drives and inspires my work is to show how an individual accommodates in an environment of opposing world-views and truths, power struggles within a heritage of colonialism and appropriation, and strategies of self-empowerment in order to gain back internal balance. My works range from painting, drawing, video, and installation - to photography, text, and performance. The aesthetics are situated in-between post-internet and land art, opening a discourse about the influence of digitalization on our perception of nature. An example would be my project „About nature, about life“ which is a series of plant drawings, emphasizing the ever merging space of these two spheres through a bold, accurate black line.

When working with my own body in ritual performances placed in installed environments, I like to explore the realm of mystical and spiritual experiences beyond what’s describable with binary code.

What are the thinking processes and knowledge practices that guide your artistic research?

My research is based on dialogues with people who interest me. I will ask them questions about their passions and work, to learn how they see the world. Later I like to position myself throughout my artistic process to their points of view.

Very dear to me are my notebooks. I have several: analogous and digital. Some are used for journaling, some for following lectures, others for drawings. One is not even linear, and since 2011 I have filled it back and forth. I review them regularly in my studio and source my topics from this material.

I also record when I move, dance, or experiment with whatever feels good. It’s crucial for me to be surrounded by nature, to walk my whippet Trotzki, and to take photos on these walks, which are visual notes.

Studio time is mostly quiet introspection time, to begin with. I need to find my inner balance, and from this point I let my intuition take the lead of what needs to be done next.

What are you currently curious about? What would you like to explore further?

Currently, I'm curious about mental health, how to recover from codependency and enmeshment in family structures. Also, how to be aware and stay in your self-worth.

In what way does the current situation with Covid-19 encourage you to explore new ways of learning and collaborating together?

Since the lockdown, I started to explore methods of how to stabilize successfully when going through a crisis. This is a topic I would like to learn everything about and interview professionals in this area for my research. I think it’s important to focus on learning how to create safe spaces that encourage a non-judgemental way of learning and collaborating, since we already experience way too much stress because of uncertainty from outside these days.

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