women artists in residence 2023

Women are underrepresented in art. Sculptor Franziska Seifert wants to change this and, together with her husband Tim Cordts, she established a charitable foundation to support female artists through a residency programme. In the house on Schwanenwerder at the Wannsee lake in Berlin female artists from all over the world can work undisturbed and rent-free for two to ten months and carry out projects dear to their hearts. What a fantastic opportunity …

What do you do with a house in a very exclusive location that you don't want to use yourself? Sculptor Franziska Seifert (55) set up a residence for female artists in the house of her late mother.

What makes the house special is not only its new use but also its location: Schwanenwerder – Berlin's expensive island with a dark past. Industrialists, merchants and bankers lived here, many of them were of Jewish origin and were expelled after 1933. Thereafter, the island was firmly in the hands of the Nazi leadership. After 1945 American military men and the German publisher Axel Springer resided here.