3 November 2025  At the intersection of art, activism, and fashionOn 24 November 2025, the magdas Hotel in Vienna becomes a space of reflection and confrontation. The cultural initiative Nachbarin presents 'Salle Privée – Room Behind Violence', an interdisciplinary art and fashion event marking the start of the global campaign 16 Days Against Violence Against Women.Founded as a cultural collective and social platform, Nachbarin links creative work with social dialogue. Through projects in theatre, photography, and fashion, the group explores feminist and societal issues while building local cultural networks. The international campaign '16 Days Against Violence Against Women' runs annually from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day. The initiative, supported by the United Nations' 'Orange the World' campaign, highlights the many forms of violence faced by women and girls and calls for global solidarity and prevention efforts. Seven rooms, seven voicesAt magdas Hotel – a social enterprise operated by Caritas Austria, an organisation known for its humanitarian and social welfare work – the event unfolds across seven rooms and a chapel. Each room transforms into a temporary stage for artistic storytelling. More than a dozen artists, including Grischka Voss, Eva Petrič, Maria Stern, Gina Mattiello, Pippa Galli, and Martha Labil, address psychological, physical, social, economic, and institutional forms of violence.Through installations, performances, and readings, Salle Privée transforms personal experiences into collective awareness. Supported by initiatives such as StoP – Stadtteile ohne Partnergewalt, FEM.A, and the Wiener Frauenspaziergänge, the evening begins with a reception and continues with guided room visits in two time slots from 18:00 onwards. Art meets fashion: visual statements on social mediaAhead of the live event, Nachbarin's Instagram channel presents a series of striking fashion portraits of the participating artists, photographed by Monika Saulich. The images merge art and style, presenting each artist's message through both performance and wardrobe details — a form of visual activism.One example is Eva Petrič, who explores the female body as both vulnerable and sacred in her conceptual series 'Skin as a Shelter.' Wearing glass earrings by Sonja Bischur Jewellery and styled by Alex Moser Hairart, Petrič connects the fragility of the body with the resilience of the spirit — a symbolic reflection on how physical boundaries can become sites of both harm and protection. Another portrait features Grischka Voss in 'Das Vogelnest,' a performance about the psychological erosion of self-worth through verbal and emotional abuse. Her look, composed of a Dries van Noten silk dress, Balenciaga ankle boots, and jewellery by Sonja Bischur, underlines the tension between elegance and vulnerability. The imagery mirrors the subject's emotional disintegration, evoking the fine line between identity and loss. A multilayered approach to awareness'Salle Privée – Room Behind Violence' positions fashion as a mediator between art and activism. By inviting artists to express personal experiences through performance, sound, and clothing, Nachbarin offers a multidimensional lens on a deeply social issue. Rather than a campaign, the project serves as an artistic investigation into how creative expression can expand public discourse. It's an engaging approach to addressing violence against women — one that opens doors to understanding from multiple perspectives.Image: A woman in a white dress extends her hand towards the viewer, with a colorful, abstract painting of open doors and connected lines behind her. Photo: © Fashion.at — AI-generated with Google AI Studio |