Creative Community/Urban Revival - Aws Abusalah
Aws Abusalah ( Jordan )
During my residency at Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (ZK/U) in Berlin, I set out to explore one central idea – how to create immersive, thematic spaces that blend painting, lighting, narrative, and even product design.
The space itself was under construction, and that became part of the story. Every day, I found discarded materials lying around, waiting to be transformed. I started collecting them, experimenting with wood, light, color, projections, and unfinished surfaces. The process was raw, unpredictable, and completely hands-on. What excited me most was treating space as something layered — a canvas that doesn’t just hold art, but is the art. I painted directly on walls, built light installations from scratch, created compositions inspired by architecture, and even touched on fashion.
Some of the pieces worked, some didn’t, but every one of them taught me something new about how materials, light, and form can shape emotion. Being surrounded by artists from all over the world, each exploring their own themes, gave me a creative energy I had never felt before. ZK/U felt like more than just a studio — it was a lab for experimentation, for trying, failing, and starting over. I wasn’t just making work, I was building experiences.
For me, this residency was about more than individual projects. It was a turning point. It deepened my belief that art, design, and architecture don’t have to be separate. They can live together in one space, creating something people can feel, explore, and interact with. And that’s exactly the kind of work I want to continue doing.
