Building Strength
Post-Post: Queer Caucasus. Curated by Giorgi Rodinov
Exhibition: February 12–26, Th, Fr & Sa 14:00-18:00 (except Feb 12)
Commencement: Saturday, February 12, 19:00-21:00
Online Discussion: Friday, February 18, 19:00 Berlin/CET (use this link to join)
What happens when empires collapse? What happens to all the plans and utopias? To the legends that are carried as a burden through generations of nations?
This year it is exactly three decades since the Soviet Union collapsed and its regions were granted the weight of independence. Since then, the South Caucasus has been going through an immense political and social mutation. Chaotic attempts to plan the future without any means to it doomed losses, poverty, and conflicts. To this day people of the post-soviet world carry this trauma.
Queer children of this mutation period were left marginalized by the system. To this day, they have to hide their real identities from the public. However, with the advent of informational progress, new realities and scenes became available for their self-expression.
Post-Post showcases young queer artists from Tbilisi, Yerevan, Baku and Sukhumi. It gives them a safe space to reflect on what the South Caucasus is now, 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
An online discussion with the artists, moderated by Giorgi Rodionov, will take place Friday, February 18 at 19:00 Berlin/CET. Use this link to join: https://meet.jit.si/
Hygiene concept: 2G-Plus. Be vaccinated or recovered, with a negative test from the same day or after your booster jab, with a valid EU Digital COVID Certificate presented in the CovPass or Corona-Warn app (if printed, it must include a valid QR code). Please remember to bring your FFP2 mask and wear it at all times inside the space.
David Apakidze is a visual artist, curator and art researcher. They graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts with a BA in Art History and Theory. They co-created Fungus Project, a Caucasia-based queer art platform. In their research, they explore themselves through the lens of contemporary culture.
Salina Abaza was born in Damascus, Syria, in 1986. She is a graphic designer and interdisciplinary artist based in Sukhumi, Abkhazia.
Salina’s works are driven by her interest in personal narratives and their relationship to larger socio-political frameworks. She questions personal and political depths by looking at such concepts as identity, memory, violence and authority.
With this abstract and vast interest came diversified practice. She allows the concept to dictate the method, so her work acquires different mediums: from graphic design, videography and drawing to interdisciplinary performance, sculpture and installation. In the past two years she has taken interest in using creative coding platforms for art.
Nailə Dadaş-zadə & Ani Paitjan
Naila is a visual artist who works with different types of mediums including photography, video, installation, and archival materials. She was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1998, but lived in different places. Her works consider such topics as space, time, and our relations to it, as well as identity in today’s world and activism through artistic expression.
Ani studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium and has a Master Degree in Journalism. After working with multiple Belgian media outlets (press and radio), she moved to Armenia.
Vusala Hajiyeva is a Baku based poet, musician and filmmaker. She writes poetry on queer themes and social issues, composes music in neoclassical and indie styles. She made a documentary “Noise Symphony” and is working on a new script which is a self-portrait.
Giorgi Rodionov, born in 1990, is a Tbilisi-based artist and a curator focused on social and political stories that change eras.
Having grown up in a post-Soviet country, his interest in social structures and identities grew a lot. After graduating in journalism in one of the universities in the capital of Georgia, he moved to Europe and continued studies in contemporary arts for his MA.
Most of Giorgi’s works are based on his researches that are later transformed into installation, performance, participative art, books or other different media. As for the journalistic practice, he is very much interested in bringing science, art and the rest of the society together to deal with the issues as a joint power.
His artistic activity list includes many exhibitions in different European countries and Georgia, as well as personal projects published in different media. Giorgi lives and works in Tbilisi where he founded an art space called “Untitled Gallery Tbilisi”, which aims to bring artists from South Caucasus together to talk about social and political issues in the region.
Series of performative encounters:
Somatic Charting. The House is the Body
October 8 – December 1, 2021
Curated by: Elena Basteri and TIER (Lorenzo Sandoval & Benjamin Busch)
With: Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Valentina Desideri & Denise Ferreira da Silva, Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir, Island Songs (Silvia Ploner & Nicolas Perret) with César E. Giraldo Herrera, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Susan Ploetz, Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Isabelle Schad, Melanie Jame Wolf, and Sergio Zevallos
In cooperation with: Freie Universität Berlin – Institut für Tanzwissenschaft, and Tanzhalle Wiesenburg
Venues: Tanzhalle Wiesenburg, Wiesenstraße 55, 13357 Berlin-Wedding, and The Institute for Endotic Research (TIER), Donaustraße 84, 12043 Berlin-Neukölln
Somatic Charting. The House is the Body is a transdisciplinary project initiated by The Institute for Endotic Research (TIER) and dance curator Elena Basteri, which presents a series of performative encounters and workshops around the theme of somatics. The aim is to trace a cartography of contemporary artistic practices from choreography, performance, visual and sound art, in which the soma (the body perceived from within through self-perception) plays a central role.
Can organs, tissue, cells and bones be triggers of movement, sensing, affect, healing processes and empowerment? Can we (re)appropriate and make experiential knowledge of those parts of the body that remain hidden and ungraspable, thus challenging what Foucault called “the medical gaze”?
The invited artists will explore the potential of somatics in our present, from heterogeneous and multiple perspectives, and make references to issues related to migration, post-colonialism, gender and ecology. The series is inspired by the idea of a studio visit and proposes formats that combine practice, theory and aesthetic experience.
All events are free of charge. Limited places are available. Registration is required for most (see below): somaticcharting@gmail.com
For the workshop of Sergio Zevallos, register at: lecodeblanc@protonmail.com
Please observe the current COVID-19 regulations in Berlin. At time of release, participation is possible following the “3G” (vaccinated, recovered or tested) and “AHA” (distance, hygiene and mask) rules in Germany.
–> Download the full schedule and press release here
–> View photos from the encounters
Supported by:
Online from Tuesday, June 29, 19:00 Berlin/CET
TIER.cast hosted by Aouefa Amoussouvi, Olivia Berkowicz and Sasha Engelmann. Sound design by Sara Pereira
The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Part 3
Listen at http://
TIER.cast is a long-term series of sonic encounters creating a platform for interdisciplinary intimate, process rather than goal-oriented conversations and listening sessions beginning in February 2021. In each session, the guests are invited to discuss and present with voices and sounds their past and current projects, intellectual and personal inspirations, works-in-progress, work/production methodologies, and practices.
The aim is also to address and challenge the capitalistically and individualistically driven practices of knowledge and art production, as well as the myth of the isolated genius. The interdisciplinary encounter itself is an exercise of collective knowledge-based and practical exchange, and becomes an act of collective production itself.
The sonic and non-visual format is envisioned as a soft intrusion that infiltrates into the domestic spheres, forces self-imagination for the lacking esthetics and focuses on audio imprint of the conversations/speakers. It is a journey through voices, music, noise, sound and silence.
The Castle of Crossed Destinies – is 3-part sonic project with geographer Sasha Engelmann, curator Olivia Berkowicz and artistic co-director of TIER, curator and biophysicist Aouefa Amoussouvi. They initiated the project whilst being fellows at the residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude in 2020-2021. In a 3-part series they discuss tarot, radio, rituals, technologies, feminist narratives in science and art, as well as personal experiences and reflections on transgenerational memories & migrations. Each encounter focuses on one practice, Part 3 focuses on Amoussouvi’s practice with raw cacao and her research on the science, rituality and the entanglements with imperialism of this food commodity.
This 3-part sonic project departs from the writer Italo Calvino’s book The Castle of Crossed Destinies (1973). In the tale, a group of travellers meet each other in a tavern in the woods. Afflicted by a strange predicament that affects their capacity to speak, they turn to a stack of tarot cards to tell stories about one another. From a secluded room in Schloss Solitude, Amoussouvi, Berkowicz and Engelmann extend the invitation of Calvino’s story to reflect upon the use of divinatory tools, creative props and experimental techniques for collective knowledge making. Situated in pandemic times, the conversation conjures vocabularies, glossaries and sounds. Moving in a circular motion, three fellow travellers explore stories within stories within stories.
Sound production & mix by Sara Pereira (and a thanks to Rosa & Altes Finanzamt)
Episode 3 is made with support from Akademie Schloss Solitude
Aouefa Amoussouvi is a French-Beninese research scientist based in Berlin, Germany and holds a PhD in Theoretical Molecular Biophysics from the Berlin Humboldt University, Germany. Outside the lab, she researches and develops curatorial projects on history and alternative narratives of science in the context of intersectional feminism and de-coloniality. She is also interested in the endotic exploration of the human psyche, body-mind relationship, group dynamics and transgenerational trauma and is training as a coach of process-oriented psychology. Between 2014 and 2019, she collaborated on several interdisciplinary projects at SAVVY Contemporary – Laboratory of Form-Ideas. She is a former fellow of the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany.
Olivia Berkowicz is a curator, writer and editor. Her practice explores the intersection of critical visuality studies and contemporary art theory. She is interested in vocabularies and practices which challenge modernist-colonial principles of exhibition histories, art production, and collaborations. Together with Marianna Feher, she organises Tentative Transmits (2020-2022), a discursive radio project investigating the ”former East”, supported by the artistic research funding of the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. She is a current fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.
Sasha Engelmann is a London-based geographer exploring interdisciplinary, feminist and creative approaches to environmental knowledge making. Her new book Sensing Art in the Atmosphere: Elemental Lures and Aerosolar Practices (Routledge, 2020) traces the potential of artistic, community-driven experiments to amplify our sensing of atmosphere, marrying attentions to atmospheric affect with visceral awareness of the materials, institutions and processes hovering in the air. Together with Sophie Dyer she leads the feminist radio project open-weather. She is Lecturer in GeoHumanities at Royal Holloway University of London and a former fellow of Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.
Sara Pereira is a visual and sound artist, working primordially in collaborative intermedia forms. Regular enrolment with group Discoteca Flaming Star, with whom Sara is performing and collaborating since 2010, engaging currently in the research project Hospital(y)tis. Since 2016 playing with Sofia Lomba, as AVA. Previously developing sound work within duo Gentileza and solo as Napa. Co-founder and former member of Altes Finanzamt Project-space (Berlin), Marvellous Tone CD-r collective (Porto) and PISO collective (Porto-Berlin). Sara is dealing with questions of self-organisation, through drawing and in musical improvisation.
Online – Friday, March 19, 17:00 Berlin/CET
TIER.cast hosted by Aouefa Amoussouvi, Olivia Berkowicz and Sasha Engelmann with Sound Design by Sara Pereira
The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Part 2
Stream live at https://vimeo.com/526170611
Listen after at http://theinstituteforendoticresearch.org/wp/projects-current/tier-cast/
TIER.cast is a long-term series of sonic encounters creating a platform for interdisciplinary intimate, process rather than goal-oriented conversations and listening sessions beginning in February 2021. In each session, the guests are invited to discuss and present with voices and sounds their past and current projects, intellectual and personal inspirations, works-in-progress, work/production methodologies, and practices.
The aim is also to address and challenge the capitalistically and individualistically driven practices of knowledge and art production, as well as the myth of the isolated genius. The interdisciplinary encounter itself is an exercise of collective knowledge-based and practical exchange, and becomes an act of collective production itself.
The sonic and non-visual format is envisioned as a soft intrusion that infiltrates into the domestic spheres, forces self-imagination for the lacking esthetics and focuses on audio imprint of the conversations/speakers. It is a journey through voices, music, noise, sound and silence.
The Castle of Crossed Destinies – is 3-part sonic project with geographer Sasha Engelmann, curator Olivia Berkowicz and new artistic co-director of TIER, curator and biophysicist Aouefa Amoussouvi. They are currently fellows in residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude, and will discuss tarot, radio, rituals, technologies, feminist narratives in science and art, as well as personal experiences and reflections on transgenerational memories & migrations. Each encounter focuses on one practice, Part 2 focuses on Engelmann’s project Open Weather and how it deals with earth sensing radio technologies and the histories of feminist divination practices.
This 3-part sonic project departs from the writer Italo Calvino’s book The Castle of Crossed Destinies (1973). In the tale, a group of travellers meet each other in a tavern in the woods. Afflicted by a strange predicament that affects their capacity to speak, they turn to a stack of tarot cards to tell stories about one another. From a secluded room in Schloss Solitude, Amoussouvi, Berkowicz and Engelmann extend the invitation of Calvino’s story to reflect upon the use of divinatory tools, creative props and experimental techniques for collective knowledge making. Situated in pandemic times, the conversation conjures vocabularies, glossaries and sounds. Moving in a circular motion, three fellow travellers explore stories within stories within stories.
This episode of TIER.cast is made in collaboration with the Akademie Schloss Solitude and will be launched within the “Magical Cohabitations” – Live Online Event:
https://www.akademie-solitude.
Sound Design by Sara Pereira
Olivia Berkowicz is a curator, writer and editor. Her practice explores the intersection of critical visuality studies and contemporary art theory. She is interested in vocabularies and practices which challenge modernist-colonial principles of exhibition histories, art production, and collaborations. Together with Marianna Feher, she organises Tentative Transmits (2020-2022), a discursive radio project investigating the ”former East”, supported by the artistic research funding of the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. She is a current fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.
Sasha Engelmann explores interdisciplinary, feminist and creative approaches to environmental knowledge making. Her new book Sensing Art in the Atmosphere: Elemental Lures and Aerosolar Practices (Routledge, 2020) traces the potential of artistic, community-driven experiments to amplify our sensing of air and atmosphere. Together with Sophie Dyer she leads the feminist radio project open-weather. She is Lecturer in GeoHumanities at Royal Holloway University of London and a current fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.
Sara Pereira is a visual and sound artist, working primordially in collaborative intermedia forms. Regular enrolment with group Discoteca Flaming Star, with whom Sara is performing and collaborating since 2010, engaging currently in the research project Hospital(y)tis. Since 2016 playing with Sofia Lomba, as AVA. Previously developing sound work within duo Gentileza and solo as Napa. Co-founder and former member of Altes Finanzamt Project-space (Berlin), Marvellous Tone CD-r collective (Porto) and PISO collective (Porto-Berlin). Sara is dealing with questions of self-organisation, through drawing and in musical improvisation.
Online – Wednesday, February 24, 19:00 Berlin/CET
TIER.cast hosted by Aouefa Amoussouvi, Olivia Berkowicz and Sasha Engelmann. Sound design by Sara Pereira
Listen at
TIER.cast is a long-term series of sonic encounters creating a platform for interdisciplinary intimate, process rather than goal-oriented conversations and listening session beginning in February 2021. In each session, the guests are invited to discuss and present with voices and sounds their past and current projects, intellectual and personal inspirations, works-in-progress, work/production methodologies, and practices.
The aim is also to address and challenge the capitalistically and individualistically driven practices of knowledge and art production, as well as the myth of the isolated genius.
The interdisciplinary encounter itself is an exercise of collective knowledge-based and practical exchange, and becomes an act of collective production itself.
The sonic and non-visual format is envisioned as a soft intrusion that infiltrates into the domestic spheres, forces self-imagination for the lacking esthetics and focuses on audio imprint of the conversations/speakers. It is a journey through voices, music, noise, sound and silence.
The first edition will be a three-way conversation with geographer Sasha Engelmann, curator Olivia Berkowicz and new artistic co-director of TIER, curator and biophysicist Aouefa Amoussouvi. They are currently fellows in residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude, and in a 3-part series they will discuss tarot, radio, rituals, technologies, feminist narratives in science and art, as well as personal experiences and reflections on transgenerational memories & migrations. Each encounter focuses on one practice, being tarot in this first edition.
This first series of episodes of TIER.cast is made in collaboration with the Akademie Schloss Solitude.
Olivia Berkowicz is a curator, writer and editor. Her practice explores the intersection of critical visuality studies and contemporary art theory. She is interested in vocabularies and practices which challenge modernist-colonial principles of exhibition histories, art production, and collaborations. Together with Marianna Feher, she organises Tentative Transmits (2020-2022), a discursive radio project investigating the ”former East”, supported by the artistic research funding of the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. She is a current fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.
Sasha Engelmann explores interdisciplinary, feminist and creative approaches to environmental knowledge making. Her new book Sensing Art in the Atmosphere: Elemental Lures and Aerosolar Practices (Routledge, 2020) traces the potential of artistic, community-driven experiments to amplify our sensing of air and atmosphere. Together with Sophie Dyer she leads the feminist radio project open-weather. She is Lecturer in GeoHumanities at Royal Holloway University of London and a current fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.
Aouefa Amoussouvi is a French-Beninese research scientist based in Berlin, Germany and holds a PhD in Theoretical Molecular Biophysics from the Berlin Humboldt University, Germany. Outside the lab, she researches and develops curatorial projects on history and alternative narratives of science in context of intersectional feminism and de-coloniality. Especially, she explores how the development of digital technologies creates opportunities as well as ethical challenges within western and non-Western contexts. She is also interested in the endotic exploration of the human psyche, body-mind relationship, group dynamics and transgenerational trauma and is training as a coach of process-oriented psychology. Between 2014 and 2019, she collaborated on several interdisciplinary projects at SAVVY Contemporary – Laboratory of Form-Ideas. She is currently a fellow in residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany.
Saturday, February 8, 19:00
Cartesian obscenities
An encounter with Sergio Zevallos
Sergio Zevallos’ contribution to the encounter at The Institute for Endotic Research follows his investigations of intentional language disorders. His methods include taking popular expressions and applying surgical operations to displace signifiers related to socioeconomic and racial categories, or connected to the normativity of the body and its affects. With this he creates syncopated structures by making use of the sonorities and meanings of language. He will present the development of these ideas from his drawing praxis to his recent sound compositions.
Sergio Zevallo‘s work is focused on the relation between individuals and power, and between private and public spheres. He is Co-founder of the Grupo Chaclacayo (1982-1995), a collective known for its performances denouncing the sexual and racial violence of the armed conflicts in Peru. He works with installations, drawings, writings, photography, sound and performance, often combining several of these practices. In 2018 he received the HAP Grieshaber Art Prize from the Stiftung Kunstfonds and the VG Bild-Kunst. He also participated at the documenta 14.
