We cordially invite you to the opening of the solo exhibition Umut Azad Akkel – Holding My Drink in the Corner on Friday, June 12, 2026, at 7 pm.

Welcome Address:
Dr. Elke Neumann, art historian and board member Haus am Lützowplatz
Dr. Marc Wellmann, artistic director Haus am Lützowplatz

Introduction:
Ozan Ünlükoc, curator of the exhibition

Following the talks, there will be a live DJ set by Banu Çiçek Tülü at 8 pm.

The artist is present!

Holding My Drink in the Corner is an interdisciplinary art project by Berlin-based artist Umut Azad Akkel and Istanbul-based curator Ozan Ünlükoç, developed over an extended period to engage with social dynamics and experiences of migration. It comprises a solo exhibition at Haus am Lützowplatz featuring several works, some of which were conceived specifically for the site, as well as the installation of the large outdoor scaffold sculpture The Path in the immediate vicinity.

Holding My Drink in the Corner is an exhibition critically engaging with notions of navigation, belonging, and inclusion within queer experience. Drawing on the framework of the Cretan Labyrinth, the exhibition approaches the difference between those who have access to knowledge and rules and those who do not; it exposes how even spaces presumed to be inclusive can produce exclusionary codes.
 

As the space transforms into a labyrinth of corners, the 'corner' emerges as both a refuge and a space of invisibility. The exhibition invites viewers not only to confront experiences of exclusion, but also to reflect on how these experiences are reproduced. It also opens up a space to reconsider the individual's position within these structures through the fluid interplay between passivity and forms of agency. Following its initial presentation in Istanbul in 2024, supported by the Goethe-Institut, Holding My Drink in the Corner returns as a continuation of It/Ortada, now reinstalled in Berlin, at the heart of a city that is itself a labyrinth.

At the intersection of migration, exclusion, and transformation, Holding My Drink in the Corner, accompanied by an extensive public program, positions itself as a space for collective reflection.

Find full text and further details here.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026, 6:30 pm
Exhibition tour with artist Umut Azad Akkel and curator Ozan Ünlükoc
Language: English

Thursday, July 2, 2026, 6:30 pm
"Queer Migration, Citizenship, and Art"
Talk with Tunay Altay and Berkant Çağlar
Language: English

Thursday, July 9, 2026, 6:30 pm
"Desire for Power and the Play of Power"
Online talk with Evren Savcı and Berkant Çağlar via Zoom
Language: English

Friday, July 10, 2026, 6:30 pm
"FALLIN"
Reading Performance by İrem Aydın & Elvan Tekin
Language: English

Thursday, August 6, 2026, 6:30 pm
„Spaces of Migration – Spaces of Artists: Homing as an Artistic and Social Practice"
Online Presentation with Persefoni Myrtsou
Language: English