Experimental Film
Suspended Time
“‘Suspended Time’ proposes an utopian moment of shared time, solidarity and collectivity through an aesthetic of care.”
concept, research, direction, texts, performance, voices, camera, sound, costumes and props: MATERNAL FANTASIES
script / conceptual lead: Isabell Spengler
& Maicyra Leao
editor, sound design: Isabell Spengler
supported by:
M1. Arthur-Boskamp Advancement
Award 2019/20
“Suspended Time, on Caring” (2020) is currently part of the Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood touring exhibition curated by Hettie Judah.
Arnolfini, Bristol: March 9–May 26, 2024
Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham: June 22–September 29, 2024
Millennium Gallery, Sheffield: October 24, 2024–January 19, 2025
Dundee Contemporary Arts: February–June 2025
The film is available in both medium-length and short versions.
Suspended Time, essay film, 53 min, UHD, GER 2020
Suspended Time, on Caring, film, short essay, UHD, 12 min. GER 2020
installation view, “Our Voices” Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany 2025
photo: Isabell Spengler (MATERNAL FANTASIES)
“The film proposes new vocabularies and visual performative translations of the maternal experience to integrate intergenerational knowledge. Through its production process and its form, it stretches tensions between social
invisibility and fantastical visibility.”
Collectively staged tableaux vivants and reenactments of art historical references are woven together with conversations among the collective’s members and performative interventions in outdoor spaces, alongside the children of the collective. Research into the work and life of some feminist predecessors - female artists and authors from the second wave of feminism (such as Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Hélène Cixous, Marguerite Duras, Clarice Lispector, Valie Export and Valerie Solanas) flows into the film through quotes in sound and image and is reflected in conversations about the structural conditions of female artists then and now.
exhibitions / screenings (selection):
MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Los Angeles, 2020 / M1. Arthur-Boskamp-
Förderpreis Ausstellung, Hohenlockstedt,
DE 2020 / Spill Festival of Performance,
Ipswich, GB 2021/ LA-Artcore,
Los Angeles, USA, 2022/ Pleasure Dome,
Toronto, CAN 2022 / Museum Ludwig,
Budapest, HUN 2023 / Arnolfini, Bristol,
UK 2024, Wilhelm-Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen 2025.
installation view, “Handle With Care”, Ludwig Muzeum, Budapest, Hungary, 2024
photo: Isabell Spengler (MATERNAL FANTASIES)