Dive deeper into the independent art scene of Berlin - the Project Space Festival rolls into its second week with the space-per-day tempo, and brings even greater variety of events into the mix. Apart from the official festival participants, keep one eye open for the equally interesting things on the side; or simply scroll through our best-of for the next two weeks. 

FRIDAY 12.08

19.00 (Para)Matters of Perception @ uqbar

WHY: In cooperation with the neighboring project spaces „Copyright“ and „Kronenboden“, uqbar shows the exhibition „(Para) Matters of Perception“ with works by Lidija Delić, Nina Ivanović, Sava Knežević, Isidora Krstić, Iva Kuzmanović, Nemanja Nikolić and Marija Ševic. With this exhibition, the artist-run space U10 from Belgrade, Serbia, presents its work to the Berlin audience, while initiating a conversation on Belgrade's cultural landscape, and the meaning of project spaces in the geopolitical context of the city. The talk will be followed by an afterparty with music from the region and barbecue.

uqbar / Schwedenstr. 16, 13357 Berlin, U Osloer Str. / more info

SUNDAY 14.08

16.00 The Many Headed Hydra @ DDR-Grenzwachturm

WHY: „The Many Headed Hydra“ is a performative and publishing creature by Emma Haugh and Suza Husse. Welcomed by a creole spirit and a witch, „The Many Headed Hydra“ surfaces from the waters of the Spree as they flow into Flutgraben. In and around the former GDR watchtower at Schlesischer Busch, the participating artists celebrate the first materialization of unruly hydra heads and contemporary seafarers tales in the magazine, „Sea Body Infrastructure Image“. Herein the North Atlantic Ocean is discussed as a territory of passage undergoing social and ecological transformations.

DDR-Grenzwachturm / Schlesischer Busch, Heckmannufer – Jordanstraße – Puschkinallee / more info

TUESDAY 16.08

19.00 Jen Liu – „Pink Detachment“ @ SomoS

WHY: American-Chinese artist Jen Liu screens her experimental film „Pink Detachment“ at SomoS as part of SomoS' Cinema Conversación series. „Pink Detachment“ is a reinterpretation of „The Red Detachment of Women“ (1970), a ballet from China's Cultural Revolution. The film fabricates continuity between the brutal fantasy of the past and the resource problems of the present. The screening is followed by an open discussion with the artist.

SomoS / Kottbusser Damm 95, 10967 Berlin, U Schonleinstr. / more info

THURSDAY 18.08

18.00 If You Fail To Cross The Rubicon @ alpha nova & galerie futura / @ Projektraum Kunstquartier Bethanien

WHY: Nathalie Aguenzo Mba Bikoro uses live art practices, film-essays and photography storytelling to create living and performative archives contesting the nature of our cultures, histories, and identity. Her research is a time-machine reacting to sense-memory and political landscapes, to create Human Monuments about spaces and peoples across all nations, to re-invent memorial post colonial gestures towards freedom. These narratives are based on true stories and meander through visual fictions. The performance is presented in the frame of the show “Welcome to Futuristan. 30 Jahre galerie futura” at Kunstquartier Bethanien.

Projektraum Kunstquartier Bethanien / Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin, U Kottbusser Tor / more info 

19.00 Rah Eleh – „Dear Sister“ @ SomoS

WHY: Canadian-Iranian artist Rah Eleh presents her documentary „Dear Sister“ at SomoS as part of SomoS' Cinema Conversación series. The documentary is about five sisters that reunite in Istanbul after 27 years. Their conversations reflect on the past and memory: war, life in exile, immigration, and activism are topics unravelled in this sensitive cinematic encounter. The screening is followed by an open discussion with the artist.

SomoS / Kottbusser Damm 95, 10967 Berlin, U Schonleinstr. / more info

FRIDAY 19.08

19.00 Remixing Illusion: Dysfunction of Space @ Scotty Enterprises

WHY: The concept is an inventory of a continuous project which deals with spaces, both in the physical and the figurative sense, in psychological understanding . Spaces, physical or emotional, are outlined by borders. Shifting borders entail new spaces, possibly to be looked at in a new way, opening new perspectives. Emotional circumstances like euphoria or depression change the perception of reality. Altered perception of a set of problems allows the appearance of new impressions and perceptions, possibly widening the range and boundaries in a society.

Scotty Enterprises / Oranienstr. 46, 10969 Berlin, U Moritzplatz / ongoing until 09.09 / more info

SUNDAY 21.08

19.00 Location Reset @ Centrum

WHY: Somewhere between a live performance and a workshop, Madeline Stillwell and actors will improvise with voice, body, and material, to create an unforeseen associative narrative together in realtime. Impulses from the “outside” of the performance activity will be given and responded to, both by the performers and the visitors itself. The aim is to raise questions about the archetypal ways in which we build and destroy social structures, while focusing on non-language-based ways in which we communicate.

Centrum / Reuterstr. 7, 12053 Berlin, U Rathaus Neukölln / more info

MONDAY 22.08

19.00 Music for Deaf People @ La Plaque Tournante

WHY: „Music for Deaf People“ is an exhibition of scores and artworks that visually conceptualise sound, and seek to activate the sonic world already present in the viewers' head. It represents and communicates sound not with the use of sound waves, but with ‘thoughtwaves’. The silent recital (performed by Loré Lixenberg) works with silence, gesture and absence of silence, including pieces by John Cage, Isou, Terry Riley, Valie Export… The evening is conducted with the dogma that all viewers and participants must be totally silent for the duration.

La Plaque Tournante / Sonnenallee 99, 12045 Berlin, U Rathaus Neukölln / more info