2019 • Berlin, Germany
An interactive media exhibition (sound, light, video, performance) reflecting on gentrification, place memory, and free spaces in changing cities. From concept to strike in just 3 weeks.
Guiding questions:
• Do physical spaces have souls? Memories?
• How can we keep the memories of places that no longer exist alive?
Connecting the dots of gentrification and "forgotten places" in both San Francisco and Berlin, we created an interactive exhibit encouraging people to keep their favorite places alive through love and memory. Our research took us all around Berlin to spaces that have been built over, transformed, or simply closed down.
We transformed PremArts gallery in Kreuzberg into a memorial to loved-and-not-forgotten places, filling the room with old photos, construction materials, and audio from 20 interviews we conducted with Berlin and SF about their favorite places that no longer exist. Rather than simply mourn, we encouraged guests to maintain their love.
Through a darkened tunnel in the back, guests could crawl into a secret bar and share more stories and drinks. At the end, we deconstructed the exhibit into a mobile, which we carried to lay at the entrance to the newly constructed East Side Mall in Friedrichshain.
This was our first “non-party” exhibition and was important in that we learned how to tie together themes and narratives from two cities 10,000km apart that resonated with people of all ages in our Kiez (neighborhood.)
We spent the majority of our limited budget for materials at businesses in the Kiez, including the neighborhood flower shop, copy shop, and cafes.
Our co-collaborator on concept and set design was Nele Faust.
