STATEMENT
Situated at the intersection of art, economy, and law, my work critically engages with the structures of contemporary capitalism. It interrogates the commodification of desire, the nuanced interplay between individual and collective aspirations, and the possibilities for envisioning transformative alternatives that transcend established systems.
I navigate the art world through a dual lens, intertwining my roles as a cultural practitioner and a producer of ideas. My projects examine how art labor is valued, exchanged, and governed, embodying the principles of the commons I advocate and organize around.
Through my curatorial initiatives, I cultivate spaces for active engagement that disrupt entrenched power dynamics and market hierarchies, fostering collective production, shared ownership of ideas, and networks rooted in equity and sustainability.
At its core, my practice reframes the artist as a catalyst for social change while aspiring to destabilize rigid frameworks and open pathways to alternative futures. It is an invitation to imagine new paradigms of collective growth—where artistic labor is not only valued but also serves as a transformative force for reimagining how we connect, create, and sustain one another in a more equitable and just world.
REFRAMING
At its core, REFRAMING critically engages with the legal and economic structures that shape cultural production, offering a visionary approach to fostering equity and collaboration within the arts.
By interrogating the intersections of art, law, and economics, this initiative aims to dismantle hierarchical systems and propose alternative frameworks that prioritize mutual support and fair resource distribution.
REFRAMING operates through an ecosystem of interwoven components:
- PPAC Art License: A groundbreaking licensing framework that empowers artists to retain control over their intellectual property while promoting economic solidarity through shared copyright principles.
- The Teaching Institute for Art & Law (TIAL): A dynamic resource hub offering education on intellectual property rights and equipping artists with tools like a "smart signature" registry system to safeguard and elevate their creative output.
- Public Engagement: Through exhibitions, performances, discussions, and educational programming, REFRAMING invites communities to actively participate in dialogues on art, ethics, and social change, fostering a deeper collective understanding of cultural equity.
- Partnerships and Collaborations: By forging interdisciplinary alliances with institutions and organizations dedicated to justice and equity, REFRAMING amplifies its reach and impact through shared action and collective innovation.
- Collaborative Projects: Artists come together to co-create works that confront social issues, challenge oppressive systems, and explore public practices, including performance art, installations, interventions, and participatory workshops.
- TIAL Web3 DAO: A decentralized cooperative platform leveraging blockchain technology to empower artists with control over their work, establish fair terms of use, and ensure equitable compensation, redefining the dynamics of cultural production in the digital age.
Through these interconnected elements, REFRAMING reimagines the art world as a space of solidarity and shared agency, cultivating an inclusive ecosystem where creativity thrives in service of justice and collective progress.
By hijacking the image of Barbie—long a symbol of idealized
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Barbie Hacked My Life Because She Wants to Be Me is a new project in which I transgress AI and make a copy of the copy of Barbie, exploring themes of feminism, identity, intellectual property, and the intersectionality of racism, gender, and technology.
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
At its core, the project uses AI-generated versions of Barbie to expose the dangers of identity profiling and the commodification of the self, all while critiquing the hyper-sexualized and often racially biased portrayal of women in media and popular culture.
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
By subverting this AI-driven Barbie, the project challenges the fetishization of women’s bodies and the stereotyping of women’s roles in society, echoing feminist critiques of mainstream representations of women.
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
The project questions the ethics of AI technology that shapes and exploits these identities, transforming them into products for mass consumption.
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
The project interrogates the implications of identity profiling in the digital age, questioning how our personal data is harvested, sold, and repurposed by AI systems that create eerily accurate and commodified versions of who we are.
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Drawing on the Situationist International's ideas of détournement and the subversion of dominant cultural symbols, Barbie Hacked My Life channels the Situationists' radical politics to resist the passive consumption of identity and agency.
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
It also critiques the systemic racism embedded in algorithms that disproportionately affect marginalized groups, as well as the reduction of women to avatars of desire or unattainable perfection.
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
By subverting and reprogramming Barbie, the work aims to destabilize entrenched narratives about femininity, race, and the control of intellectual property, pushing viewers to reconsider the boundaries between real and artificial, identity and simulation, freedom and control.
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Copy of a copy AI manipulated image
Barbie Hacked My Life brings together feminism, technology, and identity politics in a powerful act of resistance.
NO Exit: Dulaity is Overrated
SCOPE Gallery
Lübecker Str. 43
10559 Berlin, DE
NO Exit: Duality is Overrated
a project by Natalia Ivanova
January 5 – January 23, 2024
In her transmedia project, Duality is Overrated, Ivanova collaborates with artists and cultural producers in Berlin to challenge power structures and rethink the role of intellectual property in a rapidly evolving society.
Inspired by Sartre’s iconic play No Exit, Ivanova’s experiment, NO Exit: Duality is Overrated, brings intellectual property into the spotlight of a provocative drama, exploring the friction between individual aspirations and the collective will. Echoing Sartre’s famous line, “Hell is other people,” she leads audiences to confront the complexities of human relationships and societal pressures, all within the urban performance space of SCOPE.
Act 1: The Theatre of Law transforms Scope's Project Space into a stage for active participation. Here, Ivanova illuminates the inequities inherent in the capitalist system, particularly for working-class artists. She forges new connections between artist, community, and institution, transforming the space into a living dialogue that dismantles traditional hierarchies, challenges power structures, and redefines our understanding of authority and collaboration.
In Act 2: The Libidinal Economy, held in Scope's Cinema Room, the focus shifts to the commercialization of artistic labor. Ivanova dismantles the notion that success is defined by finished products, redirecting attention to the processes and labor behind creation. By reframing this perspective, she disrupts established market practices and opens a conversation about the value of intellectual labor, forcing us to question the commodification of art, power, and capital.
With NO Exit: Duality is Overrated, Ivanova invites audiences on a journey that blurs boundaries, fosters introspection, and imagines new possibilities. Her work is a call to rethink our relationships—not only with intellectual property, but with one another, sparking dialogue that leads toward collective liberation. Through her collaborative, multi-media storytelling, Ivanova disrupts the norms of the art economy, carving new paths for shared creativity and ownership.
