OPENHAUS & Hacking Urban Furniture
Open studios, installations and artist talks, in conjunction with the exhibition Hacking Urban Furniture.
OPENHAUS meets Hacking Urban Furniture Exhibition
22/03/2018
March’s Openhaus is a special edition in cooperation with the exhibition occupying the main hall, Hacking Urban Furniture. On one night both events will be open to the public and each will have its own programme of performances, film screenings and guided tours. March Openhaus will take the form of the more traditional open studios format, creating an intimate environment in which works can be approached on their own terms and discussion can happen in the presence of the artists and researchers themselves.
Openhaus March will be host to a variety of projects, many of them examining the nature of our relationship with the city, particularly Berlin. Two residents will debut the seventh installment of their collaborative project exploring the rituals of open water bathers in Berlin, hoping to understand what it is that compels them to get up every morning and take the plunge, even in sub zero conditions. Others will treat us to intimate studio visits, for example, sharing in a small group setting why they have been beset by failure in wanting to photograph the city, or in inviting us to peer into their sketchbook of impressions made while getting to know the city through a series of walks. Two more residents have chosen to examine the dynamics of the residency itself, constructing a meta space where previous attempts to make the bare and often intimidating studios into ‘home’ can be viewed, or in organising collective cleaning and cooking actions, criticising the ways in which the value of urban interventions are increasingly reduced to mere economic return. Finally, and on a completely unrelated notes, two residents, following on from their work on sour sweets and chocolate, will lead a chewing gum assessment lab, paying particular attention to texture, consistency, flavour impact, tack to teeth and cud size.
Programme:
19:00-22:30 Open studios, installations & food
19:00 Event 'Neu- Ordnungsamt' with Konrad Braun (open Berlin)
19:00 Workshop 'Safe&Urban' with Martin Binder (UdK)
19:15 Guided tour through the exhibition "Hacking Urban Furniture"
19:30 Performance by Lindsey Drury, Luis Krummenacher and Joel Verwimp
19:30 Workshop 'Narrating Images' by Ragip Zik
20:00 Guided tour through the studios of the residents
20:40 Perfomance by Olga Labovkina
21:00 Film screening 'Berlin Werbefrei'
21:30 Workshop 'Narrating Images' by Ragip Zik
Participating artists: Lila Athanasiadou, Jordan Cook, Anastasia Eggers, Hannah Jickling, Dejan Kaludjerovic, Lydia Karagiannaki, Stephan Klee, Olga Labovkina, Branislav Mihajlovic, Ben Nathan, Helen Reed, Jocelyn Robert, Matthew Robinson, Ottonie Roeder and Ragip Zik.
Don’t miss the opportunity to meet the artists and researchers in residence, explore ZK/U’s space and surroundings and ask questions, initiate discussion and exchange ideas about ongoing projects and artistic practices.
When:
Thursday, 22.03.2018, from 7pm to 10.30 pm
Where:
ZK/U – Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik
Siemensstraße 27
10551 Berlin
Free Entry
Ben Nathan // Artist Displacement
Ben Nathan will present the findings of his placement at a metal recycling plant nextdoor to ZK/U, in Berlin-Moabit, but also at a second site in Brandenburg. He has documented his experiences at these non traditional sites of artistic interest and will present a video of a trip he made on the barge Rita, from Berlin to Brandenburg. Artist Displacement is a project initiated by ZK/U, placing artists at public works and inviting new perspectives on the often overlooked sites of urban administration.
bnathan.co.uk
Ben Nathan and Matthew Robinson // Baden Project Berlin
Openhaus March will showcase the seventh collaborative work by the artists Matthew Robinson and Ben Nathan. Established October 2017, Baden Projekt Berlin examines the ritual of open water bathing in the lakes in Berlin. Guests will experience the morning routine of regulars at Flughafensee, a lake that borders the airport at Tegel, and what is it that compels them to take the plunge every morning, even in sub zero conditions.
badenprojektberlin.tumblr.com
@badenprojektberlin
Hannah Jickling and Helen Reed
Following on from their work on sour sweets and chocolates, Hannah Jicking and Helen Reed are turning their attention now to chewing gum. Guests will be invited to sample gum, paying particular attention to cohesion, texture, flavour impact, ‘tack to teeth’ and cud size. Hannah and Helen have been artists in residence at a school in Vancouver, Canada, taking the opportunity to investigate and appreciate the ways in which children experience and interact with the world and its many comestibles.
bigrockcandymountain.ca
Jordan Cook
Jordan Cook's research aims to dismantle everyday ways of navigating through the city. He sets himself tasks that work to disorientate the process of exploring a new city, using drawing and mapping tools to document these journeys. He has been turning his findings into a book so as to be able to take us along with him on his urban forays. Jordan hopes to encourage an environment for sharing and critical conversation in opening up his studio to exhibit works in progress.
Jocelyn Robert
Jocelyn was with us last year as well, undertaking a photography project that started from a shared memory of images widely available through search engines like Google. He completed a number of portraits and photographs of objects but failed when it came to taking pictures of the city. He hopes to explain to us his thinking about why this happened and what he has done with it in a series of intimate presentations in his studio.
Olga Labovkina
Olga Labovkina will treat us to the dance performance, Critical Distance. In it, she will share with us her methods of working with the body and some initial findings from her research into boundaries. Post performance she will facilitate a discussion, where audience members are invited to give feedback, ask questions and so on.
Lila Athanasiadou
Lila Athanasiadou criticises private-public partnerships (PPPs) and the ways in which exponential financial growth overcodes all other modes of value projection, staging a series of humourous interventions in which everyday acts of sharing are dutifully accounted for, datafied and monetised. See the results of her sharing experiments while here at ZK/U, translated into the increasingly corporatised language and aesthetic of public policy.
Lydia Karagiannaki
Lydia Karagiannaki, moving into her new studio at the beginning of the month – the generically named, ‘Studio 8’ – was struck by the emptiness of the space, the white walls, the black floor. At the same time, she was aware of how others before her had made the space into a home, perhaps for six months or more. She has contacted former residents of her studio in hoping to construct a ‘meta space’ or archive of previous spatial configurations, experiences and interactions. Ultimately, she’s interested in the ways in which spaces are appropriated by their ‘owners’ in being made into homes.