Voices of the Unseen

A young woman looks seriously into the camera while her face is partially obscured by an organically shaped, pink grid structure. To the right, on a black background, is the text “VOICES OF THE UNSEEN – WHEN ART SPEAKS WHAT POWER TRIES TO HIDE”.
Videostill aus dem Projekt „Voices of the Unseen“ von Cornelia Es Said, Berlin, DE

Artistic research on marginalization, resilience, and creative resistance. 13 international female artists. A collective video work. Commissioned by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Voices of the Unseen – Art, Marginalization, and Political Resistance in a Socioeconomic Context

In the fall of 2023, I initiated Salon de Refusées at krautART ARTspace Berlin – an exhibition for female artists who had been rejected from juried competitions, art prizes, and residencies. 47 artists from 17 countries. The response – especially via Instagram – was unexpected and unequivocal: it wasn’t about individual rejection, but about systemic invisibility. The same patterns. Again and again.

This observation led to the commission. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), LIGHT research initiative at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), commissioned me to conduct a two-phase artistic research project.

(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) on a transparent background
ITAS-Logo (Institute for Technology assessment and systems analysis) on transparent background

Phase I: Qualitative Research

I developed a comprehensive questionnaire on biography, working conditions, political stance, gender experience, and artistic practice. Thirteen female artists from the Salon de Refusées network participated—from China, Germany, Ghana, India/Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova/Spain, Qatar/Norway, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan/Switzerland, Ukraine, and the USA.

Despite all the geographical, cultural, and social differences, the anonymized responses revealed converging patterns: precarity, institutional exclusion, gender-based violence, exile—but also resilience, poetic expression, and political force.

Phase II: Collective Composition

Based on the research findings and collaborative brainstorming via mural boards, shared drives, and asynchronous exchange, a collective video work was created. Each artist contributed self-produced material—video performance, spoken word, studio documentation, photography, digital works, and poetic montages. None of the material was instructed or curated. Each contribution reflects the artistic autonomy of the participants.

From these fragments, I assembled a 25-minute experimental video—a polyphonic, emotionally dense narrative structured into three thematic chapters:

SPACE—Studio, retreat, utopian space. The question of spaces of freedom in a world that systematically destroys them.

ROOTS—Origin, migration, uprooting. The search for anchorage when the ground shifts.

BODY—The female body as battlefield and instrument. Vulnerability, strength, political dimension in patriarchal contexts.

The video employs multilingual voiceovers (English, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, German), English subtitles, AI-generated soundscapes, and rhythmic editing that prioritizes condensation over explanation.

Watch the Video on Youtube

Methodology

My social science background—studies in social sciences, professional experience in social work and technical project management—forms the methodological basis. The questionnaires followed qualitative social research principles. The editing follows artistic logic. The result is not a documentation, but a form of knowledge: fragmentary, subjective, polyphonic – and precisely for that reason capable of capturing truths that defy quantitative measurement.

Participating Artists

Eva Alvor (Ukraine) · Laura Aranda (Mexico) · Nadja Asghar (Qatar/Norway) · Cornelia Es Said (Germany) · Zarahlena (Mexico/Spain) · Natasha Lelenco (Moldova/Spain) · Anastasia Lukomskaya (Russia/Germany) · Visithra Manikam (India/Malaysia) · Sara Owusu-Ansah (Ghana) · Gina Peyran Tan (Singapore) · Giselle Rosenthal (USA) · Xiayi Su (Taiwan/Switzerland) · Jo Tiffe (Germany) · Igigo Wu (Taiwan/Switzerland)

Commissioning Agency

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), LIGHT Research Initiative, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS)

Premiere: June 2025, YouTube

Project Management, Editing, Curation: cornelia es said