Lake of the Mind. The Story of Susan Kaiser Vogel is an art-based research project covering the work and biography of American artist Susan Kaiser Vogel, forming part of my broader academic interest in the presence of women within the history of art. According to a report by "In Other Words" and "artnet News" female art accounts for only 11% of the collections of the 26 most important museums in the United States – it looks like in the sea of art female artworks sink like a stone.

The inspiration for this project came from my doctoral thesis, where I discovered the omission of women in the official narrative of the Light and Space movement. In 2020, I made contact with Susan Kaiser Vogel and started a series of conversations. Getting to know this woman, who is twice my age and living on the other side of the ocean, was like diving into the lake of her mind. Together, we have spent countless hours in her modest apartment above the Hudson River in Newburgh, New York. Susan’s short but illustrious career in the Los Angeles art scene in the late 1970s was immediately noticed. However, only a fraction of her brilliant career has been recorded in history. My research focuses on recognizing her work and documenting her biography in the form of a documentary. 

The film is based on video recordings, scans and photos collected at the artist studio. Digital media and oral testimony constitute the backbone of this project – with the latter especially important in constructing new, more inclusive narratives for those voices omitted from official history. My research also incorporates my own, personal perspectives that tie in with blue humanities and hydrofeminist theories. From this watery vantage point, we can understand reality as a fluid, relatively shapeless substance, one which takes form from the limitations that we impose on it.