Elisa Jule Braun CALIBRATION MUM: I PREFER NOT TO

Videostill from Elisa Jule Braun, CALIBRATION MUM: I PREFER NOT TO, 2023, Video, 34:25 min., color, sound. Courtesy of the artist, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2025

"In her work, Braun translates the technology of the motion tracking suit, which was originally used to optimize workers' bodies on the assemply line, into the domestic space and not only makes the daily, robotic, repetitive movement of unpaid care work visible, but also questions the idealized archetype of motherhood." (Jury Statement Honorable Mention Golden Cube, 41. Kasseler Dokfest 2024, Kassel)

For the experimental documentary CALIBRATION MUM: I PREFER NOT TO, Elisa Jule Braun uses motion capture techniques to transfer the daily chores of a mother - such as breastfeeding, changing nappies, playing, or putting to bed - to her digital avatar. This results in scenes that concentrate exclusively on the physical dimension of care-work, isolating and abstracting the movements of her body without exposing the details of her private life.

In the montage, actions are fragmented and arranged sequentially, with multiple copies of the mother figure gradually joining to form a collective choreography. This approach playfully disrupts the linear flow of time, compressing the execution of tasks while maintaining real-time activity. As the workload grows, more avatars appear, prompting questions about the duration of a mother’s daily labor and the number of bodies required to complete all tasks.

Throughout the process of documentation and data collection, there’s a continual need to recalibrate the mother figure. The resistance to this calibration process is reflected in the (mal)functionality of the avatars’ body parts —a struggle echoed in the digital realm. The work challenges conventional distinctions between production and reproduction, private and public, encouraging a re-evaluation and aestheticization of mundane activities. – proposed by Inke Arns (HMKV)

Elisa Jule Braun

Elisa Jule Braun is a Berlin-based artist and filmmaker. She studied Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths College London and Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Berlin in the Lens-Based class of Hito Steyerl, as well as at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2022, she won the Vulnerable Art Prize from the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart for her work “Depressed Animals” and was a participant in the Goldrausch Artists Project. She also received a scholarship from the Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg and the Karl Hofer Scholarship.In 2024, she was awarded an Honorable Mention at the Golden Cube Media Art Prize for her work “Calibration Mum: I Prefer Not To” and was part of the Artists Inside Fellowship. She is currently a recipient of the Elsa-Neumann Scholarship. Braun’s works have been exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art Sofia, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Silent Green Berlin, Museum im Kleihues-Bau, and RASA Seoul, among others.