Kunst im Untergrund 2020/2021 – as above, so below

»click the stars«

Cass — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 15:05:14 +0000

Video clips on »Berliner Fenster«

Audio essay, 14 and 15 August, 18 September
Meeting location:
on 14 August: U8 station Franz-Neumann-Platz
on 15 August: U8 station Leinestrasse
on 18 September: U8 station Leinestrasse

Please rsvp to: kunst-im-untergrund[at]ngbk.de

PHILINE PUFFER’S work is shown on the »Berliner Fenster« screens in the form of video clips made using online comments and ratings of Berlin underground stations collected from Google. The users express themselves very differently: casual, humorous, dissatisfied. The short clips are intended to blend inconspicuously with the advertising, event announcements, weather forecasts and local news that form the usual content of the in-train info-screens on Berlin’s underground network.

Fig..: Still of Philine Puffer’s video installation »click the stars« on the underground line U8, as part of Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below by nGbK, Photo: Meike Kenn

The work highlights the way our physical experience of reality has become inextricably intertwined with virtual reality. It comes as no surprise that physically accessible places can also be found online, where they are monetized as part of the Big Data economy. For every review or rating posted online, as well as for photos and videos shared, Google awards points. As so-called »Local Guides« those with a Google account can reach several different levels, collecting points that can then be converted into various benefits.

Fig..: View of Philine Puffer’s audio essay tour, as part of Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below by nGbK, Photo: Meike Kenn

Stations are often viewed as neutral, functional places or even as non-places – spaces of transit created to be used for a limited time of passage only. The absence of organic social relationships and a shared history constitutes the nature of such spaces. In view of this supposed neutrality, a personal rating appears absurd and bizarre. If someone thought a specific station was bad, based on such reviews, would they choose a different station, even if it was less convenient for them? Probably not – unless they felt extremely unsafe or very uncomfortable.

As a result, there is more to these seemingly insignificant reviews than immediately meets the eye. The sometimes surprising comments reflect current social, political and economic trends: Who feels they belong where? Who is allowed to do what where? Who feels how where? For some people, the fact that drugs can be bought at a given underground station is worth a five-star review, while others object and give just one star. In the same way, certain hygienic conditions strike one reviewer as intolerable, while others see them as »typically Berlin«.

These subjective opinions, methodically collected and catalogued by Puffer, reveal tensions in relation to class, gender and accessibility. Which possibilities and scope for action would be opened up if such utterances had the potential to change our city?

PHILINE PUFFER (born 1985 in Berlin) studied architecture and lives and works in Berlin. Her artistic practice currently focuses on the interrelatedness of digital and urban spaces.

»Attractive Sites for Dream Investments.«

Cass — Sat, 10 Aug 2019 14:24:02 +0000

2 billboards and a standing poster at Franz-Neumann-Platz underground station (U8)

Audio tour (60–90 min)
Starting point: U Franz-Neumann-Platz

www.2021.trauminvestitionen.de

For »Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below« the artist and architect FLORINE SCHÜSCHKE continued the research she has been conducting since 2018 on the sale of municipally owned real estate, focussing on the districts of Reinickendorf and Wedding. Since 1989, Berlin has privatised almost 8000 state-owned plots, corresponding to an area the size of the entire district of Friedrichshain- Kreuzberg. The properties selected by Schüschke exemplify the various reasons that motivated for their sale: privatisation of social welfare facilities, merging of municipal housing associations, sales of land due to administrative reforms and the Berlin banking scandal, vacant lots, the sale of houses to real estate funds and leaseholds.

In Franz-Neumann-Platz underground station (U8) part of Schüschke’s research is presented on billboards, while an audio walk with texts and interviews guides listeners to selected properties nearby. The recordings feature the voices of municipal officials, urban development experts, and local residents. With a great deal of background knowledge, Schüschke highlights the consequences of the neo-liberal politics of the 1990s and 2000s that facilitated speculation with residential properties and pursued a policy of shifting debts (as with the housing association mergers). At the same time, the artist presents alternative strategies for dealing with municipally owned land and shows how current plans can guard against speculation. Based on a survey of the current situation, the project looks at ways of fostering alternative ways of dealing with such pieces of land and fairer land ownership policies, e.g. via systems like leasehold and community land trusts.

The audio walk starts at Franz-Neumann-Platz subway station and takes in ten exemplary properties on its way to the PA58 housing cooperative on Prinzenallee in the Gesundbrunnen neighbourhood. The locations along the route are marked by flags and the individual sections of the walk are triggered by QR codes scanned in passing.

FLORINE SCHÜSCHKE (born 1992) is an artist and architect who lives in Berlin. She studied architecture at Berlin’s University of the Arts, University of Illinois, Chicago, and l’École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon. Her work deals with public space and the imaginary notion of a non-profit-oriented city. She works with film and audio, installations and publications, as well as printing. Her work has been shown among others in: »The Economy of Borders«, a group show on the façade of Rathaus Tiergarten, Berlin (2020); »1989–2019: Politik des Raums im Neuen Berlin«, a group show at n.b.k. – Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (2019); and the film festival »Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin« (2020).

»Neophytes«

Cass — Sat, 10 Aug 2019 14:19:19 +0000

3 billboards and 1 standing poster at Franz-Neumann-Platz underground station
100 packages of seeds at local vendors, with an essay by the artist

www.neophytes.cargo.site

In »Neophytes« SASHA AMAYA turns an eye to observing plant life and understanding the different strategies plants pursue when arriving in a new land. From assimilation to dominance to subversion, »Neophytes« reflects on the ways that we — as humans and as plants — take up strategies in our homemaking processes. Through collage, writing, and seeding, the piece asks questions about the relationship between plants, migration, homemaking, and acceptance.

A neophyte is a plant species which is not considered native to a geographical region, having been introduced in recent times. The word was rarely used until the 19th century, when Western Europe was gripped by a passion for categorization and hierarchization. Exploring the strikingly divisive language that is used to think about and frame plant life and migration in some contexts, the project aims to provoke a conversation about the words and concepts we use to classify each other and the world around us. Through the metaphor of plants, the project invites the public to consider the trajectories of transplantation, change, and accommodation within their own lives and communities, as well as the interwoven, but not straightforward, relationship between human and plant migration, survival, and success.

Exhibited in Franz-Neumann-Platz underground station, the three digital collages build on the juxtaposition of what is considered common and familiar with that which is foreign and strange. Employing popular idioms, as well as images from pop culture and of plant life, the work plays on cultural references and tensions to unpick what it is we mean by belonging to a certain place or being at home.

The first poster centers the common willow tree. Spread from East Asia along ancient trade routes, it was only in the last several centuries that Western Europeans became acquainted with the now famous Weeping Willow. For hundreds of years it has been used for wood and shelterbelts, as well as, more recently, water purification projects. The central collage features rye, a banner declaring REFUGEES WELCOME, and several German shepherd dogs. An established staple in north-eastern Europe, rye is a crop that can grow throughout much of Europe and Eurasia and that has a long history of sustaining many cultures and many peoples. The third poster focuses on the drought- and pollution-resistant Turkish Hazel, which is found commonly in Berlin. While Turkey remains the main producer and Germany the main consumer of hazelnuts, most of the Turkish Hazel trees of Berlin perform a less agricultural role.

A QR code invites visitors to read Amaya’s essay, as well as pick up seed packets placed at different points throughout the neighborhood, provoking an action of planting, promoting plant life and community development, and reflecting on human and non-human migration patterns.

SASHA AMAYA is an artist working in dance, choreography, installation, and spatial design. Using the media of music, movement, dance, art history, collage, text, and architectural surroundings, Amaya is particularly interested in understanding how we frame, utilize, reject, and repurpose historical narratives and techniques in contemporary art work. She holds an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Studies from the University of Cambridge and a Post-Masters certificate from the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm. Most recently, Amaya’s work as a performer and creator has been exhibited at: Sophiensaele, Berlin (2020); LAKE Studios, Berlin (2020, 2019, 2018); L’Abbaye du Royaumont, Asnières sur Oise (2020); fabrik, Potsdam (2020, 2017); Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2020); Somerset House, London, (2020, 2016); Birkbeck College, London (2020); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2018); Uferstudios, Berlin (2017). Interested in the relationship between artistic and public-making interventions, Amaya founded and edits MVT, an online platform showcasing work at the intersection of landscape, art, and architecture (2015).

»Urban Heat Island Living: Berlin Neukölln«

Cass — Sat, 10 Aug 2019 14:11:27 +0000

Floor stickers in Leinestrasse underground station (U8)

Posters around Leinestrasse:
Rollbergstr. 67
Boddinstr./Hermannstr. 222
Thomasstr./Selkestraße
Herrnhuter Weg 6
Donaustr. 102/Rathaus Neukölln
Hertastr. 1-1a
Hermannstraße 122

Workshop: »Urban Climate Futuring: Berlin-Neukölln 2039«
Date: Saturday, 18 September, 2-6 pm
Duration: 30 min
Location: Prinzessinnengärten Kollektiv, Neukölln, St.-Jacobi-Friedhof, Hermannstr. 99–105, 12051 Berlin

www.urbanheatislandliving.com

In the near future, climate change will lead to extended hot periods, days with extreme temperatures, and heavy rainfall in cities. What impact will these climatic changes have on the health of human and non-human actors? »Urban Heat Island Living« is a speculative study that uses sci-fi ideas, future prototyping and modelling to analyse links to nature in urban centres, to examine increasing climate change in cities, and to imagine a sustainable future for the Berlin district of Neukölln.

Fig.: Installation view of Juli Sikorska’s project »Urban Heat Island Living: Berlin Neukölln«, Thomasstr./Selkestraße, Berlin Neukölln, Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below nGbK, Photo: Adam Naparty

What if Berlin-Neukölln were to radically adapt to life with increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves? In a public workshop with Berlin actors, JULI SIKORSKA imagines possible systemic and infrastructural solutions for living and surviving in a city whose everyday life is shaped by the unstoppable climatic changes of the future.

Fig.: Installation view of Juli Sikorska’s project »Urban Heat Island Living: Berlin Neukölln«, Floor stickers at Leinestrasse underground station (U8), Berlin Neukölln, Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below nGbK, Photo: Adam Naparty

Based on the many heat islands currently emerging and growing in Europe due to human activity, JULI SIKORSKA transports Berliners to the year 2039: the city is experiencing a typical hot summer with temperatures of over 45°C. With floor sticker ads in Leinestrasse subway station and poster campaigns at Tempelhofer Feld and Thomashöhe Park, the project points to potential life-saving measures: in JULI SIKORSKA’S scenarios, »cooling centres« and »public water hoses against heatstroke« are part of the systemic changes realised by the city of Berlin between now and 2039 to preserve the urban living space. Rather than apocalyptic images of an uninhabitable city, the project presents conceivable future scenarios like the creation of a forest on Tempelhofer Feld or the planting of drought-resistant trees and succulents along Leinestrasse to create shady places for coming heatwaves, potentially making a difference in both climatic and social terms.

Fig.: Shot of Juli Sikorska’s Workshop as part of »Urban Heat Island Living: Berlin Neukölln«,Prinzessinnengärten Kollektiv, Neukölln, St.-Jacobi-Friedhof, Berlin, Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below nGbK, Photo: Meike Kenn

JULI SIKORSKA is a Polish-German designer. She studied human-computer interaction and environmental studies at Munich University and at MIT, Boston. She is a graduate of the entrepreneurship programme at Munich’s Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM). Her immersive works have been shown, among others, at the Design Museum, London (2020) and at ACUD MACHT NEU, Berlin (2017). »Urban Heat Island Living« is an ongoing multipart research project previously realised at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art x Uroboros Bites, Prague (2020, under the title »Working from Home 2026«) and at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich (2019).

»SubUrban – Berlin’s Future Lives Underground«

Cass — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 13:21:18 +0000

Billboards around Leinestrasse:
Selchower Strasse (26 14–30 August 2021), corner of Columbiadamm and Fontanestrasse (31 August–9 September 2021), Hermannstrasse 220 (10–30 September 2021), corner of Reuterstrasse and Karl-Marx-Strasse (21–30 September 2021)

Promotional items for distribution: flyers, flashlights, condoms

With performances on: Sunday, 15 August and Saturday, 18 September, 1-6 pm

www.sub-urban.de

With campaign slogans focussing on urban qualities, the fictitious construction company SubUrban promotes its new accommodation: »My new apartment is ten meters below the stress threshold« or »My new apartment is a fully air-conditioned, fully equipped low rider.« The unusual thing is that these apartments are supposed to be in disused subway stations. On billboards, the campaign shows full-length images of fashionably dressed people that suggest an urban lifestyle. As well as the posters around Leinestrasse, the project will also be promoted on the streets with giveaway items like torches and condoms. The slogans printed on these items are funny and sometimes cheeky, like the condom packets that read: »Deeper, deeper, deeper«. The project website features a fictitious profile of the company and renderings of the apartments scheduled for construction over the next few years, as well as several suggestions for layouts and furnishings.

The putative company is a project by the artist Clara Brinkmann that addresses discussions around Berlin’s accommodation market with an ironic take on the right to affordable housing. Although the artist is at pains to accurately replicate all aspects of actual real-estate sales campaigns, the aim is not to deceive prospective buyers but to stimulate dialogue. If an enquiry is received through the website, the artist will contact the interested party to discuss the difficult housing situation and to reveal the fictitious character of the project.

Utopia or dystopia? In some cities, the idea of using underground spaces for accommodation is already a reality. In this way, the imaginary company SubUrban functions within the context of Berlin as a glimpse of a possible future when there is no more room for affordable accommodation above ground, when the process of urbanization has advanced so far that as well as horizontal sprawl, there is also a vertical development in the downwards direction.

In her work, CLARA BRINKMANN (born 1997) deals with the concept of »movement«, creating spaces for debates, emotions and actual physical encounters in different ways, using walks and dance in temporary settings. She studied fine art at Braunschweig University of Art and has shown work in group exhibitions including: »Swim John«, Stadtbad Bürgerpark, Braunschweig (2019); »Losing Touch?«, Mönchehaus Museum Goslar (2019); »Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue«, Städtische Galerie Delmenhorst (2018). In 2021, Brinkmann opened the independent space »Garten 7« at the allotment Kleingartenverein Okerwiese e.V. in Braunschweig, and in 2019 she founded the action collective »Die 1ige Veranstaltung«.