Graphic design: Nora Keilig
Sediment
Qusay Awad
16.10.2026 – 14.03.2027
Opening: 15.10.2026, from 6 pm
The word ‘sediment’ refers to material that is deposited over a long period of time and accumulates layer by layer, such as sand, soil, rock or organic remains.
In Sediment artist Qusay Awad considers the material, social and historical layers that accumulate and make the Bärenzwinger what it is today. Through archival research and close investigation of the site, the project traces its history through the changing architectures, uses, and bodies that have shaped it over time.
The Bärenzwinger opened in 1939 and was constructed out of a Straßenreinigungsdepot [street cleaning depot] – a public toilet and storage space for street cleaning tools. From the time it was opened until it closed in 2015, several generations of bears called the Bärenzwinger their home. During this time, the site was also a place of work for the bear keepers and custodians as well as a place of leisure for visitors. Constructed during the Nazi regime, the Bärenzwinger also served an ideological function. In 2015, the last bear housed in the Bärenzwinger passed away. Subsequently, the building was placed under heritage protection and converted into a municipal art gallery in 2017. The site became a place for contemporary art and once again a place of leisure and of work – however this time for artists, custodians, exhibitions guides, art handlers, curators, musicians, audio technicians etc. During its lifetime, the Bärenzwinger has been a gathering place – and those who have gathered here have left subtle traces behind that accumulate like sediment.
Bringing together site-specific structures, sound, 3D reconstruction, and archival material, Sediment asks: What happens when architecture outlives the bodies and relationships it was designed for? How can our relationship with it change when the architecture itself remains? How can absent bodies, architectures and relationships become perceptible again without being restored?
Rather than reconstructing a single history of the site, the works move between what has disappeared and what remains: an earlier building, animal bodies, architectural fragments, sounds, construction processes, and the Bärenzwinger itself. Together, they approach architecture not as a fixed object, but as a living archive that continues to accumulate new meanings and relationships.
Curated by Alin Daghestani and Hannah van der Est
Concept, Research & Artistic Direction: Qusay Awad
Production Assistance: Lucía López García-Montejo
Additional Sound: Marina Cyrino
Bio
Qusay Awad (b. As-Suwayda, Syria) is a Berlin-based architect and multidisciplinary artist. Working across spatial design, sound, film, and performance, Awad develops environments that speculate on the relationship between place, memory, and power. His work has been presented internationally across exhibitions and institutional contexts.