Catholic Guilt, Artist Residency 2025
by Exe Archive
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Catholic Guilt, Artist Residency 2025
October–November 2025
.exe archive, Berlin-Neukölln
In autumn 2025, .exe hosted Australian multidisciplinary artist Ella Jackson / Catholic Guilt for the first edition of our artist residency programme.
Working across chainmail, clothing, sound, text and sculptural structures, Catholic Guilt’s practice draws on histories of religion, ritual and dress alongside ideas of decay, transformation and rebirth. Her objects often sit somewhere between garment, armour and artefact, pieces that could belong equally to the past or to an imagined future.
During her time at .exe, Ella took over the studio to continue developing a body of chainmail work, including large-scale garments and gowns. The residency gave space for an intensive period of making following Catholic Guilt’s presentation around Paris Fashion Week, while also opening the process to the wider .exe community.
HALLOWEEN POP-UP
The residency ended publicly over Halloween with a Catholic Guilt pop-up at .exe.
For the weekend, the space became an installation and temporary store bringing together Catholic Guilt garments, objects and editions within a darker scenography built around costume, ritual and the atmosphere of the work.
The opening brought the residency out of the studio and into the public programme, with a Halloween gathering and costume contest, including a custom Catholic Guilt piece as a prize.
CHAINMAIL WORKSHOP
Towards the end of the residency, Catholic Guilt hosted a two-day chainmail workshop at .exe on 22–23 November 2025.
Participants were introduced to the basic techniques used within Ella’s practice and worked directly with chainmail construction to begin making their own pieces.
The workshop extended the residency beyond the production of new work, creating an opportunity for the methods behind Catholic Guilt to be shared through collective making.
RESIDENCY
The Catholic Guilt residency became the first pilot for what would develop into the .exe Artist Residency Programme: a flexible studio-based format centred around giving artists time and space to work while creating opportunities for workshops, exhibitions, events and other forms of public exchange.
Rather than separating the studio process from its presentation, the residency moved between making, teaching, installation and gathering — from the chainmail gowns being constructed downstairs to the Halloween pop-up and public workshops that followed.
Artist: Ella Jackson / Catholic Guilt
Residency: Autumn 2025
Location: .exe archive, Berlin
Programme: Artist Residency / Pop-up / Workshop
Photography: @beyzaagim