Online Course WITCH HUNT AESTHETICS: The Creation of the Female Body as Monstrous by Jasmine Reimer 

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Online Course WITCH HUNT AESTHETICS: The Creation of the Female Body as Monstrous by Jasmine Reimer

Wellcome Collection / Licence: Public Domain Mark: https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/pdm/ | A witch in the moonlight, opening her hand to a mandrake plant dressed in a white veil. Drawing by or after H. Fuseli 1741-1825. Reference: 562687i | Permalink: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/zr9vstv8

Enroll now as seats are limited:
Min. seats: 5 | Max. seats: 30 | Language: English

  • Learn about pre-capitalist European societies and economy
  • Discover how the development of capitalism impacted the female body
  • Learn about the creation of the witch in western culture
  • Learn about the regulation and control of the female body, sexuality, labor, reproduction and gender formation
  • Study witch hunt aesthetics and symbolism, and the representation of the female body as monstrous
  • Explore the lineage between ancient and contemporary representations of witch-monster bodies
  • Read and discuss prominent feminist and queer theories, particular those of Silvia Federici, and selected fiction 
  • Integrate existing interests, ideas and techniques into coursework via writing, drawing and 3D exercises
  • Work independently while gaining insight into fellow classmates’ ideas and creative approaches
  • Create new visual artworks and written work, collect new research sources

Online Course WITCH HUNT AESTHETICS: The Creation of the Female Body as Monstrous by Jasmine Reimer

“Through four weekly sessions, Reimer will trace witch hunt aesthetics and symbolism from 15th to 17thcentury Europe, to contemporary Western culture. Historic witch hunt imagery served as a powerful, strategic tool used not only in the creation of women-as-witches, but also in the formation and development of capitalism.  

 
The witch hunt in Europe remains one the most understudied, if not also misunderstood, political events in European and world history (Silvia Federici). The threat of female “devil worship” was used by missionaries and conquistadors in the “new world” to control, persecute, and displace local populations. While in Europe, the victims were mostly widowed or unmarried peasant women and/or women without children. These women lived alone and practiced midwifery and/or natural plant remedies, and other alternative medicines learned via generations of female practioners. “Witches” were also those who practiced astrology, cosmology or other rituals seen as unscientific or of the “dark religions” such as  Spiritualism – all of which were believed to weaken (patriarchal) economic and theological systems. But this in and of itself was not the reason why thousands of women were executed. Independent women, “witches”, posed a challenge to the then-beginning power structure of capitalism.

This course will examine the two-century long witch hunt in Europe, and its relationship to the development of capitalism. Guided by contemporary texts and documentaries, participants will study the key events of the period with a focus on its imagery, symbolism and aesthetics – visual tools such as “witch pamphlets”, which were distributed with the aim of degrading and disempowering women. The ruling class, the church and the state, were able to persecute and execute women a.k.a., witches, through misogynistic images and texts depicting women as “over-sexed, child-killing, devil worshippers” – as monsters. 
 
Participants will explore the above-mentioned subjects through historical and contemporary readings, podcasts and videos, in addition to group and individual research, presentations and discussion. We will investigate witch aesthetics via in-class and assigned writing, reading and drawing exercises. In addition to examining historical images, participants will also have the opportunity to analyze how witch aesthetics have changed since over time via examination of witches in contemporary media such as film, fashion and music. The curriculum is based on a feminist understanding of the strategic creation of the female body as monstrous and how this supported the making of our current colonial, capitalist, patriarchal, socio-economic structure.   
 
This online course encourages new research, writing and drawing methods and supports diverse forms of individual and collaborative creative practices. Bridging research and artistic practice, art history, literary and pop-culture sources, experimental creation methods and critical discussion, each session builds upon the former. The overall goal of the class is to explore the power of aesthetics and symbolism in the creation of misogynistic social classifications, strategic prejudice and assumptions, and its consequences on ideologies and systems. Via the exploration of diverse knowledge sources, this course works to examine historical contemporary narratives related to female bodies and identities, and those purposely hidden or violently misconstrued by dominant patriarchal culture. These observations can be applied to writing, visual art and/or other creative and research projects.” (Text & image by courtesy of Jasmine Reimer)

Your BAI Online Course Instructor

Online Course by international lecturer Jasmine Reimer
Photo credit: Ayala Gazit

Jasmine Reimer is a Canadian artist, writer, researcher and art educator based in Berlin. Working in sculpture, drawing, non-fiction and poetry, her work uses symbolism, myth and abstraction to investigate physical and non-physical states of transformation. Specifically, Reimer explores the ever-changing hybrid-monster body and its role in maintaining the complexity of our identities.

Reimer exhibits internationally with her most recent exhibition at the plumb in Toronto and Khota Kunsthalle in Helsinki. In addition, Reimer writes art criticism, which can be found in ArtReview, Border Crossings, Peripheral Review and Mousse. In 2024 she was invited to a reading residency at Kunstal Gent where she hosted two reading sessions on the topic of Silvia Federici, and witch and monster aesthetics. Currently, Reimer teaches at Berlin Art Institute, with past classes held at The University of Guelph, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Sheridan College and The University of Toronto. She is currently working on a series of Leporello books and preparing for a collective research residency on posthumanism hosted by The Betty Goodman Foundation in Italy.

https://www.jasminereimer.com

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Save the dates in your calendar

The live sessions for this course will be given on Tuesday May 27, June 03, 10 and 17, 2025, each day from 4 – 6 pm (Berlin time). You will also receive an email reminder for each video conference before it takes place.

Recording of Live Sessions

We record the live sessions so that they remain available for a logged in course participant until one week after the last session. Please check before booking a course the technical requirements as listed below.

Access to content

You will get access to the course content and lessons in our learning management system once you are enrolled.

Technical requirements

We will use the Zoom Meeting application for the live sessions. You need a stable internet connection. There are two ways to access the live meeting:

1. Via the Zoom app
Before joining a Zoom meeting on a computer or mobile device, you can download the Zoom app here: https://zoom.us/download
or on: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/zoom-cloud-meetings/id546505307
Otherwise, you will be prompted to download and install Zoom when you click our join the zoom meeting link.

2. Via Google Chrome Browser on https://zoom.us/join
If you are using Google Chrome to join a meeting, you will see a dialog box to launch the Zoom application.
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362593-Launching-Zoom-from-a-web-browser

Here you find more info: https://youtu.be/hIkCmbvAHQQ 

We will provide the Zoom Meeting ID before each meeting. BAI will record the live sessions.

For Windows, macOS, and Linux:
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-requirements-for-Windows-macOS-and-Linux 

In addition to the Online Program, the Berlin Art Institute offers an international Studio Program, a Residency Program, Portfolio Courses, a Spring Academy, a Summer School, an Arts Incubator, a Friends Program, and the presentation and exhibition display 404 | BAI.

If you have any questions, please contact us at ecourses@berlinartinstitute.com

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