STATES OF UNCERTAIN DOMESTICITIES — eine <performative> Ausstellung: Führung und Film

In the organizer's words:

Program on 20 February 2025, Thursday / Part of the exhibition STATES OF UNCERTAIN DOMESTICITIES / Free admission

4 p.m. * CURATOR'S GUIDED TOUR

6 p.m. * SCREENING: Chantal Ackermann / Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles / 1975

On the occasion of the exhibition STATES OF UNCERTAIN DOMESTICITIES:

As part of STATES OF UNCERTAIN DOMESTICITIES, the exhibition spaces in Haus Kunst Mitte will be designed through performative and installative interventions in such a way that they recall their original function as living spaces. Built in 1870, the Berlin apartment building is the ideal place to artistically stage themes such as living and the home in a variety of ways.

Transforming old industrial complexes into white cubes and opening them up to the world of culture has been common practice in the art world for decades. But what about an apartment building at a time and in an urban context where there is a housing shortage? Haus Kunst Mitte offers a space to reflect on this question through artistic contributions.

The house or apartment is more than a place, it is home and home, symbol and metaphor. What happens to people when their living spaces become precarious? What is the significance of losing one's home? What psychosocial tensions, what power relations become effective within the living space? How is action in the private sphere gendered? The content of the works ranges from the external to the private sphere of the home and deals with their interactions. The central themes of the exhibition are care work, domestic violence, homelessness, gentrification, migration and physical integrity.

Works have been selected from international artists who approach the topic in a multi-layered way using painting, film, video, audio, photography, installations, performances and sculptures. Further venues for the show, which is planned as a traveling exhibition, are the House of Art in Brno in April 2025 and the Museo Bilotti in Rome in 2026. The extensive accompanying program includes, among other things, performative interventions in the rooms that change the exhibition over time, similar to the processes in real living spaces. Performances and actions in the neighborhood extend the radius of the exhibition. A film program deepens the theme of house and living.

Admission to the exhibition:

Regular 8 euros | Reduced 5 euros | Free up to 18 years