Our entire living reality is determined by a large number of economic, ecological, political, and social structures. When we order these often irrefutable-seeming givens and the objects surrounding us, we construct systems of interpretation to organize and make intelligible the complex conditions in which we live. These systems are thus both orientation and security, in that resorting to familiar patterns of thought and perception is always an act of self-reassurance. 

But what happens when this familiarity with the seemingly everyday things surrounding us suddenly eludes us, when semantics shift, overlap, and create new orders, when we begin to doubt our customary mechanisms of interpretation and classification? 

The exhibition »Intimate Matter« with the artists Marlene Zoë Burz, Lisa Premke, and David Reiber Otálora hovers imperceptibly on the borders of perception, creates intimate moments of discomfiture, and seeks to make visible the delicate boundary between what we know and don’t know. The exhibited works play with the destabilization and recontextualization of objects and materials.

The mutability and negotiability of the meanings we create becomes apparent when matter – the objects in space – cast off their intended mode of functioning and lay claim to a new, individual form of reality. Familiar relationships between individual objects and their viewers are reconsidered and brought into a different context. And if we allow it, this harbors the potential to rethink our relationship to our surroundings and our supposed certainty over what we believe we know – and to see it in a new way. 

Exhibition & events curated by
Ulrike Riebel and Nandita Vasanta
Jan Tappe and Hauke Zießler

Graphic Design: Viktor Schmidt
Translation: Andrea Scrima
Production: Carolina Redondo
Production Assistance: Felipe Monroy

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Marlene Zoë Burz, geboren 1990 in Stuttgart, studierte von 2010-2015 an der Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee bei Prof. Hanns Schimansky. 2016 war sie Meisterschülerin bei Prof. Friederike Feldmann. Seit 2016 organisiert und kuratiert sie zusammen mit Manuel Kirsch und Björn Streeck den Projektraum SOX auf der Oranienstraße 175 in Berlin. Ihre Arbeiten wurden u.a. in Toronto, Bregenz, Bern, Bonn und Berlin gezeigt. Sie lebt und arbeitet in Berlin.

Als geradezu fremdvertrautes Schriftbild muten die Formen an, die die Künstlerin Marlene Zoë Burz auf das den Hauptraum des Bärenzwingers umlaufende Banner gezeichnet hat. Doch so sehr wir auch versuchen, die Zeichen unseren Sehgewohnheiten entsprechend in eine uns bekannte Lesbarkeit zu überführen, bleibt diese uns doch weitestgehend verschlossen. Erst auf den zweiten Blick lassen sich die zufällig angeordneten Formen als schablonenhafte Abstraktionen von Knochen erahnen. Knochen sind fundamentaler Bestandteil jedes Wirbeltiers, jedes menschlichen Körpers und doch stets unter der Oberfläche verborgen – ein unsichtbarer, geradezu intimer Bereich, der erst durch massive Eingriffe in die körperliche Materie Sichtbarkeit erlangt. Und doch ist ihre Funktion selbst eine schützende, Struktur und Halt gebende. Rekontextualisiert wird diese Ambivalenz in den kapuzenförmigen Objekten im Raum, die auf geradezu surreale Weise in Interaktion mit der Formsprache der Zeichnung treten. Während die Knochen als Form auf Papier überführt werden, beruhen die plastischen Kapuzenobjekte auf zweidimensionalen Schnittmustern. Doch auch in den Kapuzen selbst, zunächst einmal alltägliche Kleidungsstücke, spiegelt sich das doppeldeutige Verhältnis von Form und Oberfläche, Innen und Außen. In ihrer Vergrößerung erwecken sie den Eindruck einer schützenden Verhüllung und werfen dabei doch zugleich zwangsläufig die Frage nach einem Inneren, einer verborgenen Körperlichkeit auf.

Lisa Premke, geboren 1981, studierte zuerst Architektur und anschließend Bildende Kunst an der Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam bevor sie ihren Master of Sound for the Moving Image an der Glasgow School of Art machte. In ihren Arbeiten sucht Premke nach Spuren kollektiver Systeme in Objekten und Materialien und gibt ihnen eine eigenständige Stimme und Narration. Für ihre ortspezifischen Projekte wurde sie wiederholt zu internationalen Aufenthaltsstipendien, wie der Bangalore Goethe Residency Kochi in Indien, der Košice Artist in Residence (Slowakei) und der Binaural Nodar in Portugal eingeladen. Ihre Arbeiten wurden in zahlreichen Ausstellungen gezeigt, unter anderem in der Kochi Muziris Biennale Pepperhouse Residency in Indien, der Berliner galerie weisser elefant, im Studio 1 Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin und im Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam. Als Sound- und Raumdesignerin arbeitet Lisa Premke seit Jahren in Kooperationen mit verschiedenen Künstlern, Filmemachern und Choreographen. 2019 ist die Künstlerin Preisträgerin des Neuköllner Kunstpreises sowie Stipendiatin des Kulturaustauschstipendiums Global des Berliner Senats.

Deutlich sicht- und hörbar hingegen erstreckt sich Lisa Premkes Soundinstallation als symmetrisch angeordnetes Muster über die rechte Außenterrasse des Bärenzwingers. Eine Vielzahl verschiedener Ketten spannt sich über den begrünten Bereich, die Bodenflächen entlang über das Wasserbecken. Die Ketten bewegen sich, angetrieben durch mehrere Motoren, in unregelmäßigen Rhythmen, erzeugen in der Berührung miteinander wie auch mit ihrem Untergrund und dem sie partiell umhüllenden Wasser unterschiedliche Klänge. Im Prozess des Spannens und Entspannens verändern die Ketten ihren Zustand, ihre Dynamik und werden zu bewegten Körpern. Dabei erzeugen die verschiedenen Materialitäten und Stärken der Ketten eine Pluralität an Stimmen, jeweils eigene Narrationen, die sich im Laufe der Zeit durch Reibung und Korrosion verändern. Die akustischen Unregelmäßigkeiten und Variationen im Klang vermitteln den Eindruck eines intentionalen, bewussten Agierens, der Fähigkeit eigenständig zu handeln. Fast scheint es, als wären die zu vernehmenden Klänge ein Akt der Selbstermächtigung, individuelle Stimmen die sich formieren, um den ihnen zugewiesenen Objektstatus ein für alle Mal abzulegen. Die Ketten treten mit ihrer Umgebung, den sie berührenden Materialien in Interaktion, sind aktiver Teil eines Wechselverhältnisses, in dem sie gleichermaßen verändert werden wie auch selbst die umliegende Substanz verändern.

David Reiber Otálora, geboren 1992 in Münster (Westfalen), wuchs in Kolumbien auf und studiert derzeitig bildende Kunst mit Schwerpunkt Film und Zeitbezogene Medien an der Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. Dort schloß er im Juli 2016 seinen Bachelor ab und begann ab Oktober desselben Jahres sein Masterstudium in den Klassen von Robert Bramkamp, Matt Mullican und Angela Schanelec. In seinen Filmen und bildhauerischen Arbeiten (gelegentlich auch Bühnenbilder) beschäftigt sich David Reiber Otátora mit Exotismen und kolonialen Repräsentationen des Anderen und forscht nach Möglichkeiten, diese als Grundlage fantastischer und doppeldeutiger Narrationen zu affirmieren. Seine Arbeiten wurden bereits in unterschiedlichen nationalen und internationalen Institutionen, Ausstellungsräume und Festivals gezeigt (u.a. in Frankfurt, London, Paris, Bogota, Shanghai).

David Reiber Otáloras Installationen erinnern auf den ersten Blick an allgegenwärtige und gerade deshalb oft unbemerkte Elemente in fast jedem Innenraum. Die gefalteten metallenen Objekte sind mit schwarzen, schattenhaften Konturen von Heizkörpern bemalt und erweitern als vermeintlich alltägliche Wärmespender die Räume des Bärenzwingers. Doch werden dabei nicht nur unsere Sehgewohnheiten durch die Übersetzung dreidimensionaler Körper in eine Zweidimensionalität ad absurdum geführt. Auch die uns bekannten Funktionsweisen von Gegenständen werden verkehrt, produzieren die Arbeiten doch nicht selber Wärme, sondern werden vielmehr durch externe Licht- und Wärmequellen erhitzt. Zugleich scheint es fast, als erhielten die gezeichneten Umrisse durch ihre Wärmeempfindlichkeit eine fiktive Körperlichkeit zurück. Ihre punktuelle Erhitzung führt zu einer Veränderung der Oberfläche, lässt die Heizkörperkonturen unsichtbar werden. Zum Vorschein treten versteckte Zeichnungen, die an Höhlenmalereien erinnern. Wie in der Chauvet-Höhle, deren berühmte Höhlenmalereien aufgrund ihrer Lichtempfindlichkeit nur für wenige Sekunden durch den Strahl einer Taschenlampe visuell wahrnehmbar werden, ist auch hier die Sichtbarkeit eine temporäre, die sich mit der Abkühlung der Installation verflüchtigt.

17.08.2019 19 – 22 Uhr
mit Julia Pomeranzewa und Christa Junge

Am 17. August 1939 öffnete der Bärenzwinger im Köllnischen Park seine Pforten, um den Berlinern das lebendige Wappentier ihrer Stadt zu präsentieren. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg lebten im Zwinger seit 1949 über viele Jahre hinweg immer mindestens 2 Bären, bis 2015 die letzte Stadtbärin Schnute verstarb.

Seit September 2017 ist das ehemalige Bärengehege der Berliner Stadtbären als Kulturort für ortsspezifische zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin-Mitte geöffnet und bietet den Besucher*innen neben dem wechselnden Ausstellungsprogramm auch ganz grundsätzlich die Möglichkeit, sich das ehemalige Domizil der Bären zu besichtigen.Zum Anlass des achtzigjährigen Jubiläums des Geheges veranstaltet der Bärenzwinger ein Abendprogramm, das die Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft vorstellt und bespricht. Gemeinsam mit der Kulturwissenschaftlerin Julia Pomeranzewa und Christa Junge vom Verein Berliner Bärenfreunde e.V. gibt das Team des Bärenzwingers einen Einblick in die gegenwärtige Nutzung des Bärenzwingers, persönliche Perspektiven auf und Erinnerungen an die Bären und die Bedeutung des Zwingers innerhalb der Stadtgeschichte Berlin.

06.09.2019 19 – 22 Uhr Presentation by Hopscotch Reading Room

Die Veranstaltung findet in Englischer Sprache statt.

Hopscotch Reading Room, ein nicht-kommerzieller Buchladen, Lese- und Veranstaltungsort in Berlin ist für einen Abend zu Gast im Bärenzwinger. Wir freuen uns sehr auf diesen Abend mit unserem Gastgeber Siddhartha Lokanandi, Kodwo Eshun und Moses März.

An diesem Abend werden wir mit Kodwo Eshun sprechen, einem Schriftsteller und Denker, der seit langem in die Idee des »Panafrikanismus« – ebenfalls dem Thema seines nächsten Buches – vertieft ist, und sich in diesem Zusammenhang mit der wegweisenden Verlagsreihe »African Writers Series« beschäftigt. Diese Sammlung ist auch eine der Säulen, auf denen die Idee des »Hopscotch Reading Room« ruht. Nun, was ist dieses wundersame Ding, wie sieht es aus, was lehrt es uns?

Wir werden einen Teil unserer Sammlung dieser Bücher zeigen und mit Kodwo über diese Serie, ihre Herkunft, Wirkung und Reichweite, über das Publizieren in den neuen unabhängigen Nationen Afrikas und vieles mehr sprechen. Im Anschluss daran wird Moses März einige der von ihm für die neueste Ausgabe der »Chimurenga Chronic: Die afrikanische Vorstellung von einer grenzenlosen Welt« produzierten Karten vorstellen, zusammen mit den redaktionellen Debatten und dem Forschungsprozess, der sie geprägt hat. Er wird auch darüber sprechen, wie die Gründung von Mittel & Zweck, inspiriert von seiner Zusammenarbeit mit Chimurenga und dem Wunsch, einige seiner Methoden in einen deutschsprachigen Kontext zu übersetzen, erfolgte.

Auf diese Weise versuchen wir, einen Bogen aus den Ideen der »African Writers Series« zu ziehen und wie sie sich in der Gegenwart weiterentwickeln und manifestieren.

06. + 12.10.2019 14 – 16 Uhr
Experimentelle Audiotouren mit Karl Heinz Jeron

Als Teil der aktuellen Ausstellung »Intimate Matter« wird uns Karl Heinz Jeron auf einen eWalk mitnehmen, bei dem die städtische Umgebung des Bärenzwingers erkundet wird. Die eWalks beziehen sich auf das Konzept des Dérive und Détournement. Dérive oder ›streunen‹ bedeutet spazieren gehen und dabei den eigenen emotionalen und psychologischen Bahnen der städtischen Umgebung zu folgen, sich dabei jedoch nicht auf eine geplante Infrastruktur zu verlassen (z.B. den kürzesten Weg von der Arbeit nach Hause).

Ein Dérive zu verfolgen, verlangt »… to notice the way in which certain areas, streets, or buildings resonate with states of mind, inclinations, and desires, and to seek out reasons for movement other than those for which an environment was designed«, so Sadie Plant 1992.

Während des Stadtspaziergangs kombiniert ein Mikrocontroller die GPS-Lokalisierung mit der OpenStreetMap-Software und dem gemeinfreien e-Text Archiv des Gutenberg Projects, um die Audioquelle für eine mobile Radiosendung zu erstellen. Mithilfe von GPS-Koordinaten und der OpenStreetMap werden die Straßennamen ermittelt und bei Gutenberg.org als Suchbegriffe verwendet. Auszüge der Ergebnisse werden in Audio (Text-zu-Sprache-Software) umgewandelt und an die Radios der Teilnehmer*innen gesendet. Der Mikrocontroller führt alle Schritte automatisch aus. Für die Audiotour wird ein Magnetfelddetektor zur Orientierung verwendet.

Die eWalks sind in deutscher Sprache. Da die Teilnehmer*innenzahl begrenzt ist, bitten wir um Rückmeldung unter info@baerenzwinger.berlin.

23.10.2019, 19 – 22 Uhr

Unsere gesamte Lebensrealität ist bestimmt durch eine Vielzahl an wirtschaftlichen, ökologischen, politischen, gesellschaftlichen und sozialen Strukturen. Durch die Gliederung dieser oft unumstößlich wirkenden Gegebenheiten und der uns umgebenden Objekte, konstruieren wir Deutungssysteme, die die komplexen Beziehungen, in denen wir leben, ordnen und begreiflich machen sollen.

Während diese Systeme einerseits eine gewisse Form der Sicherheit geben, produzieren sie andererseits auch Momente der Ausgrenzung. Kunsträume reproduzieren, oft unbewusst, solche Strukturen des Ausschlusses, selbst wenn sie anstreben, diese zu hinterfragen oder ihnen entgegenzuwirken.

An diesem Mittwoch setzen wir uns mit den verschiedenen Ebenen dieser Ambivalenz auseinander. Welche Formen der Diskriminierung existieren in Kulturstandorten der Stadt Berlin und wie können kulturelle Orte sich öffnen, um diese Strukturen konkret zu ändern und nicht nur infrage zu stellen.

Clare Molloy, Assistenz Kuratorin im Gropius Bau, erforscht dies zusammen im Gespräch mit der Schriftsteller*in SchwarzRund und Erkan Affan, Aktivist* und Kurator*. Die Veranstaltung findet in englischer Sprache statt.

The exhibition “My Fiction and You” investigates how fiction and imagination create their own reality, to what extent they become collectivized and merge with our social surroundings. How powerfully do our imaginary notions of life overlap with reality, and how do they guide our actions and dominate us? The site-specific installations explore the relationship between fiction and the alter ego.

Is a counterpart needed to reflect us back to ourselves, or to allow us to establish a connection with them? The exhibition also questions to what degree the related concept of individual freedom might itself be an illusion.

In their various inquiries into real and imaginary identities, the artists Andy Kassier, Britta Thie, Bianca Kennedy and The Swan Collective, and Mikka Wellner refer to the transfer and transformation of analogue life into the digital present and formulate what are, at times dystopian future scenarios.

A provocative self-presentation, for instance, addresses the mode of operation and spectacular persuasive power of a profit-oriented individual and what role the viewer’s desires and expectations play. References from pop culture and film history combine with reflections on the physiological foundations of seeing to create a sculptural and site-specific installation. Processes of “gamification” become visible when elements of a digital game are transferred into an analogous environment, where game and everyday life literally overlap. In the process, issues of commercializing one’s own image and “trading,” in other words “doing business” with one’s own persona in social media, are addressed. Last but not least, virtual Kafkaesque metamorphoses question our status and our future here on earth.

Exhibition & events curated by Tanja Paskalew and Isabelle Stamm

Katja Kynast

Graphic Design: Viktor Schmidt
Translation: Andrea Scrima, Hauke Zießler
Production: Carolina Redondo

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Andy Kassier, born 1989 in Berlin, studied at the Kunsthochschule Köln, among others with Johannes Wohnseifer and Mischa Kuball. In 2018 he graduated with a diploma in media art.

The aesthetics of prosperity, concepts of self-representation and the fascination of virtual identities and possibilities of representation created and recreated by the social network shape the pictorial language of Kassier’s works. The boundaries between fiction and reality, art and life become blurred. The alter ego he creates ironically embodies the narratives of wealth and happiness in late capitalist society. The figure of Kassier is the personification of the false promise that money, power and belonging are accessible to all. Kassier works with photography, video, develops installations, sculptures and performances and has exhibited in Singapore, Cologne, London, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Winterthur and Berlin. Kassier’s digital identities and performances also manifest themselves on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

At present, the housing market situation of many major cities looks anything but relaxed. Affordable housing is in short supply, and rents are high despite rent control laws, which provide legal loopholes for judicially well-positioned real estate companies. The steady progress of gentrification is seemingly unstoppable.

 A symptom of misguided housing policies is the construction boom in condominiums. Luxury apartments still count among the prestigious possessions of a wealthy “elite.” A resulting scenario in the future could be that politicians no longer have control over the precarious shortage of living space. In addition to the recent problem of a housing shortage on one side of the social divide, there is also a rapidly increasing demand for residential properties among the wealthy.
The situation is escalating and there is nothing to stop investors and real estate agents from homing in on new objects: cultural spaces are expected to become luxury apartments.

 Institutions of art and culture have long become relics of our civilization’s past: this is the vision

Andy Kassierexplores in the role of a provocateur for whom everything is a means to maximizing profits. In his installation workKassier Trust, he plays a successful real estate broker. Using video and large-scale posters, he advertises the Bärenzwinger, a luxury property under construction, which one can view on site. In this work, Kassier plays with the desires and greed of a small “elite” who want everything, at any price, and are prepared to do anything to obtain it.

“[…] spectacular lies don’t need to be perfect. They rely less on the liar’s skill than on the listener’s expectations and wishes.”

(Siri Hustvedt)

Bianca Kennedy was born in Leipzig in 1989, lives, and works in Berlin. In addition to the Athens School of Fine Arts, she also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and graduated with a master’s degree from Klaus vom Bruch in 2017.

In her analytical stop-motion animations, she depicts the human abyss and regularly works on photographs and drawing series in which she stages miniatures she has created herself. Kennedy’s has presented her animations, drawings and site-specific installations in numerous exhibitions, screenings and festivals. She has had solo exhibitions at the C-Gallery in Milan and the Alte Münze in Berlin, and received numerous prizes (such as the TOY Berlin Masters Award, Loop Discover Award Barcelona) and scholarships (such as theStudienstiftung des deutschen Volkes). Artist residencies have taken her to North America, Barcelona, Athens and Tokyo, and most recently to Künstlerhaus Lukas in Ahrenshoop.

Felix Kraus *1986 born in Munich, is the founder of The Swan Collective and studied media art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, the HFG Karlsruhe and the ASFA in Athens from 2007 to 2014.
Other members of The Swan Collective are Richard Tator, Miles Macre, Coca Lloyd and Nils Sanddorn. The group mixes various techniques such as virtual & augmented reality, literature, painting and paper embossing. The collective’s has shown their worksin institutions such as the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, the CCBB Brazil, the Goethe-Institut Toronto, the Espronceda Barcelona, ZKM Karlsruhe and the Egyptian Museum Munich.

His works are represented in the following collections: Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Zabludowicz Collection London, Philara Collection, Edwin Scharff Museum, Porsche Collection, MACBA Barcelona. He has received scholarships, artist residencies at home and abroad, and numerous prizes. Most recently, Kraus and Kennedy received the 1st prize for ANIMALIA SUM at the Toronto New Wave Festival (2019).

Bianca Kennedy and The Swan Collectivepresent an immersive installation that gives visitors a new identity. Their work is experienced through two relatively new technologies, virtual reality (VR), in which reality is experienced virtually in a computer-simulated environment, and Augmented Reality (AR), a mix of VR and physical reality.

The title: “ANIMALIA SUM: I am an animal. I eat animals.” sounds like a statement and at the same time reveals a conflict. After putting on the VR glasses, one takes a big interactive step back in terrestrial ranking and is catapulted into the body of a beetle. This Kafkaesque media-induced metamorphosis illustrates how we might soon become dependent on these tiny creatures if we don’t change our ecological practices and attitude soon.

“In the AR work, looking into a digital distorting mirror causes an antenna and insect jaw to grow, while the human being is inevitably perceived as an aggressor in this scenario.”

Through the artists’ virtual interventions, the audience sees through the eyes of an insect and is given a special ability to empathize. Among other things, the insects here plead for the consumption of whale meat. “Why should a single whale be worth more than a billion friendly beetles?”(Bianca Kennedy and The Swan Collective)

Britta Thie was born in 1987 in Minden and lives in Berlin. After her studies of fine arts, which she completed as a master student with the filmmaker Prof. Hito Steyerl at the UdK Berlin, she released her video-based works mostly via the Internet. From 2010 to 2011 she studied with a DAAD scholarship in New York at the Cooper Union for Science and Art. In 2016 and 2017 she was endowed professor for time-based media and performance at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach.
Thie describes being lost between virtuality, internationality and simultaneity. Her web series Translantics (2015, co-produced by Schirn Kunsthalle and ZDF/ARTE) uses the example of three young women to illuminate a generation that moves back and forth between the analogue past and the aesthetics of modern technologies. The artist showed this work as an installation in the Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin, in the video art collection Julia Stoschek and at film festivals (Forum des Images, Series Mania). In June 2018, her solo exhibition POWERBANKS opened at the Museum Abteiberg.

Large-scale portraits of teenagers hang on the walls. Upon entering the room, multiple pairs of eyes follow the viewer. The images’ science fiction and fantasy aesthetic is reminiscent of the so-called “trading cards games”. A well-known example of this genre is the gameMagic: The Gathering, created in 1993. Analogue card games like these are extremely popular not only because of their fixed rules, decks, quests, countless fairy-tale creatures, spells, artifacts, heroes (Planeswalkers), and “Mana”, but also because collecting, swapping, and trading in these playing cards develop their own dynamism and fascination.

In her installation, POWERBANKS, video artistBritta Thiepresents an oversized version of a playable elaborately designed complete deck of cards. For the work, Thie has drawn from the protagonists of her latest film production of the same name, which will  be screened in the exhibition’s supporting program. The individual characters have been transferred from the film directly to the card deck, i.e. from the digital to the analogue, and have taken on a new identity. The card players, in turn, collectively live out the fiction presented to them. In a reference to today’s art market, the cards allude to the handling of art goods and the practices of collecting and acquiring.

Additionally, the installation illustrates the process of gamification whereby elements typical for games (points, levels, progress bars, percentages, awards) are transferred to a new environment and game and everyday life literally overlap. Thus, the work exerts its influence on individual behavior and motivation while at the same time addressing phenomena such as the commercialization and marketing of one’s image. Thie’s work explores the potential impact of user behavior in social media: exposed in the context of fantasy symbols, the characters are endowed with skills and considered a referent for self-promotion and marketing in a so-called “trading” of their person in social media.

Mikka Wellner, born in Berlin, studied at the HfBK Dresden from 2006 to 2011.

From 2011 to 2013 he was a master student of Prof. Eberhard Bosslet. He lives and works in Berlin.

 His works combine references from history and culminate in site-specific, sculptural installations. He has received various scholarships. After solo exhibitions andexhibition participation in Istanbul, Beirut, Hamburg, Berlin, Halle, Frankfurt am Main and Amrum, among others, he recently presented his works in a solo exhibition at the Rockefeller Center in Dresden

In the work»The MacGuffin-Bloc«, references from pop culture and film history combine with the physiological process of seeing to create a sculptural and site-specific installation. The term “MacGuffin” was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock and describes an object (or person) that initiates and drives the plot of a film without itself being of any particular use. It is the unifying element that gives a story structure and credibility without having to be credible or meaningful.

In this work, it’s manifested by a mirrored block that addresses visual perception, i.e. the processing of optical stimuli. Because visual perception goes beyond merely taking in information and initiates action, extracts relevant information, recognizes elements and interprets them by comparing them to other memories, the mirrors serve as a metaphor; during the act of seeing, it becomes a matter of choosing either the object or reflections of the environment. The object itself is a MacGuffin and therefore secondary. It prompts the viewer to think about his or her own process of seeing. This process is supported by a first-person narrative printed on the mirror.

Yet the narrative doesn’t make it clear who is actually speaking; instead, it fans speculation over whether it might be written from the perspective of an animal or a person. In its hermetic appearance, the block sees itself as a shelter. In the way a house protects us from the elements, a prison supposedly protects us from those imprisoned. It remains unclear, however, who is being protected here, and from whom.

In this work, the artist Mikka Wellner criticizes the belief in knowledge through progress and advocates a radical break with our (visual) habits. What are we looking at? And why? Who looks, who looks back, or in a reference to the comic inside the block: Who watches the Watchmen

30/11/2019 3 – 4.30 pm

with Monika Gabriela Dorniak

Performance

01/08/2020 7 – 10 pm
An evening on FanFiction and with FanReality with Laura Eggert, Hannah Müller, Sonja Risse, Nele Stuhler

registration until 01/07/20

This is the day of the year. This is THE DAY of the year. This is the day of the year, when Christa Wolf has documented her day of the year for half her life. Written down to save something from the fast fading memory, to hold on, to look at oneself historically. Without pathos, without heroes. Against the loss of existence.

Nele has read them, Christa’s days. Actually, she has read everything about Christa. Well, or almost. Nele is so familiar with her that she says, Christa. Without the Wolf. And now Nele writes down her own day of the year. Christa Wolf Fanfiction. Or rather: Fanreality. No fiction. Everything that has been written is true. And the truth is that she went to the movies with Laura in the evening. She also likes Christa Wolf.

The reality of the fan in the time of the fan in the life of the fan. For the history. For seeing oneself historically. For the stage. For the fans

18/01/2020 7 – 10 pm
with Britta Thie

Powerbanks Screening

Seating alcoves, sockets for mobile phones, Free WiFi:

A shopping mall is not only an attraction for a consumer-oriented audience. It is also a meeting place for young people who flaunt their free time and themselves in this synthetically styled world:

On so-called seating alcoves they hang out in cliques, charge their mobile phones, power banks and at the same time recharge themselves, use Free WiFi, to immediately post their selfies on social channels, and they move naturally through the malls – a physically essential retreat for them in the midst of the public realm.

In the current exhibition »My Fiction and You« the video artist Britta Thie presents her installation »POWERBANKS«. The young protagonists also appear in her film production of the same name »POWERBANKS«.
The artist will present her current film, share her insights into her production and answer questions through conversation.

In the last weeks, our team has been rattled by the Corona situation and it took some time until we found ourselves reunited as a split-screen.

We have been spending time observing what is happening to determine what our role is in this situation. Like many of us, we spoke more about aerosols than site-specific art. For the time being, we decided not to continue our exhibition and events as a stream, but first and foremost to use this situation to provide a space for the questions that arise and the uncertainty that comes with them. 

We are looking for continuity in terms of our collaborations, both current and planned for the year, investing in the invited artists and contributors.

The new annual programme starting with the next exhibition, now postponed indefinitely, is titled “Openings, not Openings”. The aim is to work with different opening processes and to focus less on the act of exhibition openings (frequently a one-time event). However, the idea is not “no show”, even if it seems that these are the current conditions. We ask ourselves how to deal with the theme of openings while the space is closed and what we can develop when the access to the site, with its specific architecture and history, is currently restricted. Due to the site’s current inaccessibility, we seek to develop new approaches to communication, encourage exchange and seek answers that have not yet found a space to be heard.

Wir haben uns entschlossen, Künstler*innen, Kulturschaffende und Expert*innen zu fragen, wie sie die derzeitige Situation erleben, w

We have decided to ask artists, cultural workers, and experts how they experience the current situation, how they are coping and how their methods and collaborations have changed. In the process, we also quest

ion our role and the significance of artistic engagement in the current situation and would like to open and share this conversation, to open up new routes through the crisis.

Participants:

Susanne Weiß
Karl Heinz Jeron
Erkan Affan
Monika Rinck
Citizen Art Days
Christopher Weickenmeier
Tuna Arkun
Sara Edström
Monika Gabriela Dorniak
Inga Rosa Kammerer
Shí Kollectiv
Jasmin Werner
Nadja Abt
Theres Laux
Andrea Scrima
Eunsun Ko
Katja Stoye-Cetin
Robert Günther
Heather Purcell
Hugo Rex Tibiriçá
Torben Jost
Khansa Humeidan
Mariana Nobre Vieira
Experimentelles Zukunftslabor
Diversity Arts Culture
Diana Bach
Çiğdem Inan und Katja Diefenbach
Beatrix Joyce
Encoded Earth Lover
Pirate Cinema Berlin
Ariane Müller
Florian Zeyfang
Elis Ottosson
Carolina Redondo
Heike Nowotnik
Marco Clausen
Michela Filzi & Lea Pischke
Esra Nagel und Misal Adnan Yıldız

Free curator

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She is currently curating the exhibition “Who we are and what we do – in the middle of the museum” and “David Polzin ‘The Still Chairs'” for Kultur Mitte and the Mitte Museum Berlin.

Artist

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Karl Heinz Jeron took us on experimental audio tours last year as part of the “Intimate Matter” exhibition.

Activist* and curator*

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With Erkan Affan and SchwarzRund we discussed last year in the context of a TheorieMittwoch about exclusion and opening processes. In autumn 2020 Erkan Affan will work as a guest curator in the Bärenzwinger.

Poet and essayist

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Monika Rinck can currently be seen with her installation “GOLDES WERT” in the Ruine der Franziskaner Klosterkirche. 

Artistic platform

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The artistic platform Citizen Art Days will probably be stationed in the Bärenzwinger next year.

Artistic director of the Klosterruine Berlin

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Christopher Weickenmeier was on the artistic direction team of the Bärenzwinger until 2019 and is currently artistic director of the Ruine der Franziskaner Klosterkirche. The online exhibition TIMES IN CRISIS, which he initiated, can still be seen on the YouTube channel of the Klosterruine Berlin.

Artist

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Tuna Arkun works together with children, young people and adults in art and cultural projects. Among other things he designs courses at MiK – Jugendkunstschule Mitte.

Artist

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Sara Edström is currently a resident at the Institut für Alles Mögliche. Together with two artists she runs Galleri syster in Lulea, Sweden.

Interdisciplinary artist

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The migration history of her family lead Monika Gabriela Dorniak to work with refugees for occasional projects. Currently she donated editions to the initiative ‘Time To Care’ of @Entkunstung, who is raising money for refugees, whose condition has again worsened in the Covid-19 crisis.

Actor, Theater teacher

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Im Visier Krawattenhut mit integrierter Maske!

Inga Rosa Kammerer works as a freelance actor for theater, film and TV, as well as in theater pedagogy for children and teenagers. She is giving different theater classes at MiK Jugendkunstschule in Berlin Mitte.

Artist Collective

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Lina Launhardt was planning a performance for 02.05. in the framework of the current exhibition at Bärenzwinger.

Artist

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A video by Jasmin Werner relating to her work ‘Schloss der Republik Burj Khalifa’.

For »Musée sentimental de l’ours de Berlin« Jasmin Werner developed two installations at the outside area of Bärenzwinger which resemble scaffolding and refer to the history around the Berlin Stadtschloss.
In the visual part of the works different reflections of windows from Stadtschloss and Palast der Republik are merged, episodically telling the story of a changing city between political systems. Transformations Bärenzwinger as a monument for this city has also witnessed, but which didn’t affect it as drastically so far.

The shape of the two towers is inspired by the worlds highest building – Burj Khalifa in Dubai – whose steel structure was partly built with steel from the Palast der Republik.

Artist and Editior

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Alternative Embassy of Brazil
project proposal for the Bärenzwinger, Berlin

Only a few meters away from the Bärenzwinger is the Brazilian Embassy of Berlin. In times when Brazil’s government is trampling on the country’s human rights and democracy, the
alternative embassy serves as a place of refuge and a space where resistance can be organised in artistic and activist ways.

Nadja Abt is an artist and works as the editor for Texte zur Kunst. From 2015-2018 she lived in São Paulo. For her collages, films, and paintings, she uses literature as a starting point to
create formal and textual layers that engage with Brazilian politics and art history, feminist discourses, and the maritime space. We want to work with her in spring 2021 within the
»Openings, not Openings« programme.

Eventkauffrau,
Museologist (MA)

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Under the synonym ArtPlanner Theres Laux is responsible for the organization of a variety of different cultural and economic events. All planned events, in which people meet face to face, had to be cancelled or postponed. By now some interesting digital alternatives were created, so that cultural education, entertainment and the information flow on products can be continued in virtual space. temporarily, only for a short time period; as it is better to see people being together, carefree, and see them smiling. 

Anna Virnich (*1984) graduated in 2013 from Braunschweig University of Art, Germany. Recent solo exhibitions took part at Schering Stiftung (2019); Arratia Beer, Berlin; Galerie Nathalie Halgand, Vienna, Art-O-Rama, Marseille (all 2017); Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City (2016). The artist furthermore recently contributed to group exhibitions at Hunt Kastner, Prague (2018), Centre d’Art Contemporaine Chanot, Clamart,France; Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City (both 2017). Anna Virnich lives and works in Berlin.

For her installation, Anna Virnich has worked with various organic materials to create an arrangement of leather, wax, and fragrance, all of which react to the physical absence of the bears. Each of these materials performs a different function. While the leather indicates the bears’ physical dimensions, the wax is the color of skin and exudes a strong sense of vulnerability. Lastly, on an olfactory level, the scent occupies the room which the bears also occupied for a long time, but whose odor has evaporated as far as the human sense of smell is concerned. The choice of fragrance is also based on the location and reflects the type of storytelling about memory that is explored throughout the entire exhibition.

Jasmin Werner (*1987 in Troisdorf) lives and works in Cologne. In 2016 she completed her studies at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Her works have been shown in solo exhibitions at Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig (2018), Gillmeier Rech, Berlin (2017), M.I / mi1glissé, Berlin (2016), and RM, Auckland (2014) as well as in group exhibitions at Braunsfelder, Cologne (2018), Saloon, Brussels (2018), and the Folkwang Museum, Essen (2017). In 2017, Jasmin Werner completed a residency at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul.

For the »Musée sentimental de l’ours de Berlin«, Jasmin Werner has developed two installations on the outdoor terraces that resemble scaffolding sections and allude to the history of the Berlin City Palace. The visual component of the works contains various reflections in the windows of the City Palace and the Palace of the Republic such that they transcend time to tell the story of a city in transition, caught between political systems, a process the Bärenzwinger also experienced as a city monument, although it was not subjected to the same type of drastic physical change. The shape of the work’s two towers frames a reference to the tallest building in the world—the Burj Khalifa in Dubai—into whose steel structure steel elements from the Palace of the Republic were also incorporated.

03/05/2020 7 – 10 pm

with Nschotschi Haslinger and Anna Virnich