Moha is an artistic collective founded by Hungarian artist Olivia Reschofsky and French artist Alice Pons. It has been operating in the public space of Amsterdam for over four years. Moha is the Hungarian name for moss. It is a familiar living element that grows almost everywhere, on everything, in any conditions and in the most unexpected places. The collective specialises in developing inclusive art projects in which innovative forms of participation and cooperation go hand in hand with artistic experiment. The context in which Moha works – the city and its different social dynamics, locality and how people make and use their living environment – are the starting points for all its initiatives. The group attempts to reach out to a non-exclusive audience of wo/men from all walks of life, including people in the margins of society.
These margins can be understood socially, geographically, culturally or ideologically, depending on one’s point of perception. By moving from one neighborhood to the other, from one street to the next, Moha carries its projects forward and welcomes anyone to take part in the organisation and in the artistic development of the project.
One example of such project was The Roof. The Roof is an object and an idea Moha builds and imagines together with many different people they encounter through their work in the streets of the city. The Roof is a public and collective artwork addressing and using the different expertise we all have in the construction of structure and identity. More than an object, The Roof exists through a collective action. It gathers and welcomes an inclusive audience. It is made to adapt to the different needs and functions given to it, in relation to the context in which it is placed. It becomes a key space to trigger a more direct encounter between art and society, a space to challenge and re-define the role of the art institute in the city.
Alice Pons and Olivia Reschofsky met each other during their studies at SNDO (School for New Dance Development) in Amsterdam. They both graduated in 2012. Since then, they have been working together, developing projects such as BlueGorilla for such festivals as Over ‘t IJ, Winters Binnen, Tweetakt and F.L.A.M. Alice completed MFA degree in the Expanded Curation Programme of DasArts, whilst Olivia received a Master’s in Art Education at the Amsterdam School of the Arts.