Talks on Curatorial Practice

09 OCTOBER 2026 / 17:00

ZK/U BerlinSiemensstr. 27, 10551, Berlin, Germany

Drawing on projects ranging from Haus der Statistik to Documenta 15's Raise the Roof! and the Kochi Muziris Biennale — how do roles within a collective evolve from organic collaboration toward more defined structures as an institution professionalizes? How do curatorial and artistic work increasingly blur, with infrastructure-building and the creation of platforms for other artists becoming an artistic practice in its own right?

The talk digs into the realities of sustaining an independent art space: a four-pillar funding model balancing public and private income, the pressures of funding cuts and the cultural lobbying required to counter them, and a deliberate refusal to let financial logic override social and cultural capital. It also turns to ZK/U's engagement with local governance bodies (Quartiersrat, Rat der Künste) as a way of grounding artistic work in the actual needs of a neighborhood, and to public space as a site of contradiction, marginalization, and juxtaposition — one that functions differently across cultural contexts. Throughout, working at increasing scale, especially on long-term urban development projects, shifts an artist's sense of responsibility from producing individual works toward shaping the conditions people will live in.