Caring as a Practice: Building sustainable Strategies for cultural workers
mit Ale Zapata & Ema Benčíková
© ROAD Design
Caring as a Practice: Building sustainable Strategies for cultural workers mit Ale Zapata & Ema Benčíková (EN)
15:30–18:30 Uhr
This workshop explores the concept of care within the context of cultural work, inviting participants to reflect on how care can be integrated into their professional lives in sustainable ways. Through collective thinking and sharing, the session will examine different dimensions of care—self-care, care for others, and systemic approaches—while considering how these practices can support the well-being of individuals and communities in creative and cultural fields. The aim is to generate ideas and strategies for fostering a more caring, resilient, and supportive work culture.
Ale Zapata, a Mexican curator and cultural advocate, currently based in Vienna, is committed to fostering discussions on gender discourse and exploration of cultural identity. With a background in Art History and Applied Arts, Ale serves as a curator at Improper Walls, a dynamic alternative cultural platform located in Vienna’s vibrant 15th district. Ale’s journey into curating has been largely self-taught, evolving through a decade of immersive experience at Improper Walls, challenging traditional art institutions and fostering experimentation.
Ema Benčíková explores the critical phenomenology of trans and crip embodiment, mutual aid initiatives, and performativity of disability, through the lens of gender studies and queer theory. Her theater work is focused on community building and empowering marginalized people. As an activist, they were primarily engaged in organizing for the climate justice movement. They work as a personal assistant for people with disabilities, doing care work but also social and artistic assistance. Currently, she is curating an exhibition about support structures in their becoming between queer and crip communities at Kunsthalle Exnergasse.
Registration at office@d-arts.at