Perspectives on Curating and Writing: Jurriaan Benschop - Huffington Post

19. Juli 2016 | Huffington Post

Jurriaan Benschop. Courtesy Van Oorschot Publishers, Amsterdam.

Jurriaan Benschop is a writer, art critic, and curator based in Berlin. He is a frequent contributor to Artforum International and his recent exhibitions include As If, At Home at Box Freiraum (Berlin, Germany, 2016), The Appearance at Galerie Born (Berlin, Germany, 2016) and A Painter’s Hand at Donopoulos IFA gallery (Thessaloniki, Greece, 2015). Our conversation centered around two key themes (1) the importance of the local environment on the artist’s work and (b) his approach to curating and writing. Below are selected excerpts of this conversation.

On Writing Essays

When writing essays I am interested in the artist’s perspective, what his/her motives are, and what the meaning of the work is. I am interested in how the artist thinks. Reality is very complex, so it is important to be precise and also to understand it. I think, as a writer, it is important to get as much information as possible then step back and reflect on that. It is through my essays, that I try to expose the reader into the realities I see. The essays provide the readers with material to think about and then decide what is important.

I also believe that the context where the work has been developed and created is very important, the local texture, what I call local environment. When you meet artists where they work, it adds to your understanding of the work and where it comes from. It may not be necessary for the reader to know about the local environment to enjoy the work, but for me as a writer it is important. My interest in the local environment has developed through the years. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I moved from the Netherlands to Berlin and I have been here for ten years now. In Berlin, you meet people from all over the world. Since I moved, I have also been traveling to Eastern Europe quite often. So I started thinking more and more about the importance of the local environment. I realized that wherever you go you hear stories that reflect history. We often talk about a global world, but I believe that there is also another reality. People have a background and they are somehow connected to that.

Recent Projects

My interest in the local environment is captured in my new book “Zout in de Wond” (“Salt in the Wound” in Dutch) that has been published in April. It is a collection of essays on the work of fifteen artists working in Europe. It is about their work but also about the origins of the works and the artists’ background. I was then invited to curate a show, As If, At Home at Box Freiraum, in Berlin. The exhibition (on view through October 30, 2016) includes artists working in different parts of Europe and reflects the current situation in Europe with all the changes in the political climate and the idea that any place can feel like home.

On Writing Exhibition Reviews

When writing reviews the starting point is always the encounter with the work, the reaction to the work. I may think the work is good, or that I don’t understand it or it may irritate me. I get curious to know more. Sometimes it’s very clear, that the work is all about materials or about color or about the concept for example. The encounter with the work will inform my approach when writing. In art criticism, there’s a great deal of description, on how the work looks. This is to some extent necessary, but it is not always possible to capture visual details in writing. A description is of course needed, but I’m more interested in asking, what is the work about? Where does it lead? In what way does it relate to what has already been made? Is this a unique approach or have we seen this before? What does it add to what we already have? These are of course difficult questions, but I believe they are necessary.

On Curating

Curating implies a very physical relationship with the works. You have them in your hands, you put them on the wall, on the floor, and you place them based on how they relate to each other. An exhibition is curated within a space defined by walls, and in this space, I am interested in creating a different kind of experience that is separated from other areas of life. In contrast, writing is like an imaginary space. You create the space through words, an imagined space for the reader. It’s not physical. Curating implies a physical space. It is very different.

When curating an exhibition there are always practical aspects to take into consideration such as the budget or the space itself and the most interesting one, especially in the case of a group show, the connection among the works; how do you place the works to create new meanings but also give each work the space it deserves. Intuition plays an important role. Curators don’t usually talk about it because all is conceptually motivated nowadays. But I think the way I understand the work and how the works relate to each other in an exhibition context is a matter of intuition. An exhibition can’t be designed behind a desk by saying I have a topic and I am looking for work to illustrate it. My approach is rather organic. I start with one or two artists and then I ask myself how I could develop this further.

On Public Conversations with Artists

Artists’ talks are important. People have a chance to see the artist and hear the artist talking about the work. In my public conversations with artists, we focus on what people cannot see. For example, how the artist thinks, where s/he comes from, or what the work means for the artist. Artist talks can also give access to how the artist perceives the world and what is happening today and the implications for his/her work. I think oral tradition, conversations with each other about art are very important. Having a direct dialogue is critical. It creates a ‘free space’ for discovery but also for criticism and this is what I am interested in exploring. 

Norbert Bisky im BOX Freiraum - von Christiane Meixner, Der Tagesspiegel

16. Juli 2016 | Der Tagesspiegel

Von Christiane Meixner

Fliehkräfte. Was immer im Zentrum des Gemädes "2014" von Norbert Bisky (Öl auf Leinwand, 300 X 250 cm) wirkt: Es scheint das Bild - vielleicht eine strandstzene - auseinanderdriften zu lassen.

As if, at Home – ist das Europa? - von Helena Davenport, ArtBerlin

12. Juli 2016 | ArtBerlin

Im Friedrichshainer Box Freiraum präsentieren derzeit elf Künstler aus verschiedenen Teilen Europas ihre Antworten auf die Frage: Woraus entwickelt sich Identität?
Ein Plädoyer für die Freiheit von Helena Davenport.

Europa – was genau bedeutet das noch?

Die Ausstellung „As if, at Home“ möchte Europa zeigen, aber diese Fragen stehen nicht im Vordergrund – und das tut so gut. Ein Wenn und ein Aber gibt es hier nicht. Der niederländische Kurator Jurriaan Benschop möchte zeigen, was Europa ist und was es kostbar macht.

"Das hier ist Europa, vielseitig und vielschichtig"

HIER kann der ganze Artikel gelesen werden...

AS IF, AT HOME – ARTISTS IN EUROPE

25. Juni bis 31. Oktober 2016

Gruppenschau mit Mirosław Bałka, Norbert Bisky, Michaël Borremans, Irina Bucan Botea, Valérie Favre, Ali Kaaf, Lia Kazakou, Marie Lund, Šejla Kamerić, Flo Kasearu und Sean Scully

Box Freiraum
Boxhagener Straße 96
im Hof der 93
10245 Berlin-Friedrichshain

Artists in Europe Present BOX Freiraum - by Nadia Herzog, WideWalls

29. Juni 2016 | WideWalls

by Nadia Herzog

Group exhibition entitled As If, At Home – Artists in Europe is about to begin in Berlin’s BOX Freiraum presenting the work of artists from all around the continent. The exhibition is curated by Jurriaan Benschop, and it has been created out of the wish to rethink Europe. Because, as the Hungarian writer Zsófia Bán asked in her essay for Der Tagesspiegel in February 2016 – ‘How many Europes are there, and how many should there be?’ It is a question all Europeans must ask themselves, especially in the context of the current migration situation. There is a need for the ‘change of mind and a change of heart’, as Zsófia Bán stated. And we ask – is there a better way to reflect the reality and provoke critical thinking than art? That was also what the BOX Freiraum officials thought, so they’ve gathered the artists in Europe, and organized the upcoming show. Some of the featured European artists are Mirosław Bałka, Norbert Bisky, Michaël Borremans, Irina Botea, Valérie Favre, Lia Kazakou, Marie Lund, Šejla Kamerić, Flo Kasearu, and Sean Scully, among others.

Norbert Bisky – 2014, 2014 (detail) – Courtesy: the artist

Personal Memories as an Inspiration

Mirosław Bałka (b. 1958) is a sculptor and a filmmaker from Warsaw, Poland, whose work is deeply related to the Polish scenery of the Holocaust. Everything he uses for his art depicts history in a way. For this exhibition he is bringing The Fall, his silent movie from 2001, showing grains of sand or some other material running from the top of the screen down to the bottom, while landscaping the concrete forms out of abstractions.

History plays an important role in the artworks of a painter Norbert Bisky, too. Born in 1970, in the former GDR, and now living in Berlin, his personal memories are influenced by an enormous desire for borderless and open Europe. ‘I grew up in a country with a wall around it’, says Norbert Bisky, which tells us all about his wish to make a perception of cultural or political identity through his paintings.

Šejla Kamerić, who was born in 1976 in the former Yugoslavia, and lives in Sarajevo, also searches for an identity in a poetic and suggestive way. By bringing back the wartime memories, Šejla is searching for the possibilities of the memory transformation through the medium of film. This is especially present in her movies Glück (2010) and 1395 Days without Red (2011).

Irina Botea – Stereotypical Conversations, 2006 (videostill) – Courtesy: the artist

Exploring the Stereotypes

A filmmaker from Romania, Irina Botea, who currently resides in Bucharest and London, will also show the exploration of the historical events in different settings through her films. Stereotypes are the big part of her inspiration, which is depicted in her 2006 movie Stereotypical Conversations, where a group of people adopts the perspective of ‘the other’ to talk about themselves in a stereotypical form.

From Thessaloniki, Greece, a 36-year old artist Lia Kazakou is coming to the Berlin group show. Her work is inspired by unconventional moments, and her paintings are very precise. They are showing, for example, details that shadows produced by a fold in a jacket, or the ornamental abundance of a flower pattern on a dress. The human figure is central to her work, but it appears in an unclear way. The body is represented partially, as a glimpse of a skin, or a hand coming out of a sleeve, with a larger focus on the clothes.

The upcoming exhibition will present the work of the artist Sean Scully, as well. He was born in 1945 in Ireland, but he lives in New York, Barcelona, and near Munich, so to him, the world is a home. His paintings are truly emotional, yet minimalistic, with reduced forms and expressive gestures pointed out through horizontal lines.

Marie Lund – Torso, 2014 – Courtesy: the artist

Connection with Old Masters

In a series of paper drawings, Michaël Borremans (b. 1963) from Ghent, Belgium, bring up the question of the way authoritarian systems threaten individuals. As he explains himself, those works hit ’like a knife in the eye’. The audience of the Berlin’s show will get the chance to see Michaël’s other paintings as well, where he uses an old master technique and mixes it with an imagination to criticize the world today.

Knowing that Swiss-born and Berlin-based artist Valérie Favre started in 2012 a series of paintings called Ghost, based on Goya’s Witches Flight, we can say that part of her work also tend to make a connection with European old masters. Another part of her art is based mainly on Valérie’s fascination with the awareness of mortality. But, here painting don’t appear dark or shadowy, they are rather rich in detail and somehow festive. Some other motives that inspire her are suicide, fragments, and ’balls and tunnels’. With a diverse range of interests, Valérie Favre creates a great diversity of artworks, both figurative and abstract.

Marie Lund is an artist with an intention to incorporate a piece of herself in every sculpture she makes. If the piece is not about her, then her tendency rises above the individuality and includes a human presence in an abstract way. That may be seen in her sculpture Torso from 2014, where the impression of a pullover is obvious. Even though the piece is made out of concrete, there is some textile visible referring to the original piece of clothes. Marie Lund, who was born in 1976 in Denmark, and now lives in London, is currently working on a series of artworks entitled Hand Full that is more personal. The sculpture represents the interiors of her jeans pockets cast in bronze, although the overall look of the sculptures, because of the quality of material and the patina, appears as something archaic and much older than it really is.

Sean Scully – Landline Inwards, 2015 – Courtesy: the artist/caption]

Artists in Europe – Group Show in Berlin

The group exhibition entitled As If, At Home – Artists in Europe will open on June 25 at the BOX Freiraum in Berlin, and it will be on view through October 31, 2016. The Artist Talk is scheduled for Sunday, June 26, 2016, at noon. The artists who are going to be present for a discussion are Norbert Bisky, Lia Kazakou, and Sean Scully. So, the audience will get the chance to talk to them about their art, techniques, artistic approaches, inspiration, and much more. As the organizers say, to reflect on the beliefs and values of Europe, the perspective has to be broadened. Indeed, as they conclude, if one wants to know what European culture is, one should look at the arts.

Featured image: Lia Kazakou – Untitled, 2015 (detail) – Courtesy: Donopoulos IFA, Thessaloniki

Exhibition // ‘As If, At Home’ at BOX Freiraum - by Julianne Cordray, BERLIN ART LINK

1. Juli 2016 | BERLIN ART LINK

by Julianne Cordray in Berlin

raversing the social, political, and economic shifts within Europe’s landscape, the group exhibition ‘As If, At Home: Artists in Europe’ curated by Jurriaan Benschop at BOX Freiraum takes the arts as a filter through which changing and diverse perspectives manifest and coalesce into a more comprehensive view of the present. Situated in the open, brick building of the former late 19th century stables, the works are also anchored in memory, history, and a layered and varied present of abstract underpinnings and personal impressions. Though common themes run through the exhibition and weave it together, the individual works and artists have been provided the space and flexible scope to articulate their diverse positions.

Lia Kazakou: ‘Untitled’, 2015 & 2014, oil on canvas // Photo by Berlin Art Link

As an exploration of Europe’s diversity through its varied artistic production, the exhibition functions to both assemble and individualize works, alternately allowing disjunctions to emerge and links to form. The works reference identity, immigration, oscillations between presence and absence, and feelings of isolation, ambivalence and uncertainty, in the current political climate and in the wake of recent events and their effects on processes of transformation.

Flo Kasearu: ‘Estonian Dream’, 2011, videostill

Underlying a pervasive element of humor and lightheartedness, pertinent considerations about the nature of home and both national and personal identity surface in two video works displayed opposite each other. Flo Kasearu‘s ‘Estonian Dream’ is pieced together from the existing footage of a YouTube video blogger, as a retelling of a personal story. The young Estonian woman posts videos under the username ‘Texasgirly1979′, and narrates the mundane aspects of her American life, while following and relaying reports from the home country with which she still feels a deep connection. Beyond the playfulness of segments documenting activities of her cat and dog, as well as those that reveal an enthusiastic embracement of an American lifestyle and its traditions, there lurks a nostalgic and idealized vision of a remote and unattainable homeland. Alternations between sequences, such as that of the young woman adorned with American flag accessories and another in which an emotional response is triggered while listening to Estonian music in her car, reveal the complexities of identity in relation to place and a sense of belonging.

Irina Botea: ‘Stereotypical Conversations’, 2006, videostill

Situated across from the display of Kasearu’s work, a video by Romanian artist Irina Bucan Botea similarly employs an element of humor and extracts from commentary found online to consider questions of origin, modes of storytelling, and the nature of stereotypes. Her video, ‘Stereotypical Conversations’, stages a reenactment of quotes from online threads, in which Romanians discuss characteristics and cultural peculiarities of American identity. Though based on actual conversations, the dialogue unfolding in the video is a performance. The conversation could appear to be taking place between Romanian’s living abroad and contemplating a ‘general American character’, but the four participants are Americans describing themselves from another’s perspective. This repositioning of self and other produces a conflation of identities through which the pre-conceived notions illuminated by the dialogue are destabilized in the process of its articulation.

Marie Lund: ‘Torso’, 2014, concrete and textile,  and ‘Hand Full’, 2014, bronze // Photo by Berlin Art Link

Existing only as material traces (artifactual recordings) of presence and identity, Danish artist Marie Lund‘s sculptural casts of garments inhabit the boundary between interior and exterior, as the outermost covering of the body and a surface projection of individuality and personal identity. Complicating the relationship between inside and out, body and clothing, ‘Hand Full’ comprises bronze casts taken from the inside of the artist’s jeans pockets. As a space meant to hold personal belongings, the pocket, turned inside-out, is supposed to reveal something hidden, however its emptiness is necessary in order to procure a cast and record its form. In her adjacent work, ‘Torso’, a pullover is imprinted in a block of concrete. The material contrasts between concrete and textile—permeability and flexibility versus impenetrable solidity—emerge to dissolve distinctions between the two, as small fibers extracted in the concrete give color to the imprinted texture of the garment’s amorphous form, frozen within hard-edged geometry. While in the bronze work the inside is transposed to the outside, the concrete pullover cast repositions the exterior as interior. In the process, abstract renderings of tactile objects are imbued with a greater sense of tangibility and presence through their own absence and that of the body that wears them.

Mirosław Bałka: ‘The Fall’, 2001, videostill // Courtesy: Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin

Unfolding an uncertain and unstable presence before the camera, Miroslaw Balka‘s ‘The Fall’ conveys a sense of unease and ambivalence, as well as a quality of existing outside of time—appearing as either material debris from the past or the mutations of a mysterious, otherworldly substance. Time itself forms the material and subject of the black-and-white silent film, as granules of unknown origin fall from the top of the screen, trickling down as though through an hourglass, to construct an uneven landscape below. The granules are a tangible record of time passing, an ever-changing representation of the present and encapsulate the broader sense of shifting, instability and dislocation of perspective and position that pervades the exhibition. It is a presence that manifests as absence, a space that is both emptying and being filled in—the unidentifiable, changing terrain of a placeless landscape as a screen for countless projections.

Exhibition

BOX FREIRAUM
Group Show: ‘As If, At Home’
Curated by Jurriaan Benschop
Exhibition: Jun. 25–Oct.31, 2016
Boxhagener Straße 96, 10245 Berlin, click here for map

5 Questions with Jurriaan Benschop - by Emily Steer, Elephant Magazine

27. July 2016 |  Elephant Magazine

by Emily Steer

As If, At Home – Artists in Europe is currently showing at Berlin’s BOX Freiraum; a show which explores the many voices of Europe via the work of 11 artists, including Mirosław Bałka, Norbert Bisky and Michaël Borremans. ‘I was interested in the richness and diversity that you find in Europe,’ show curator Jurriaan Benschop says, ‘beyond the headlines about economy and austerity.’

Norbert Bisky, 2014, 2014, oil on canvas, 300x250cm

Can you tell me a bit about the work in As If, At Home – Artists in Europe?

Marie Lund, Torso, 2014, concrete and cotton, 70x15x40cm

We have 11 artists participating in this exhibition. They work in different places in Europe, have different cultural backgrounds and the type of work they make is diverse, ranging from narrative to abstract, and from movie to sculpture or painting. For instance in the video Stereotypical Conversations by Irina Botea, you see four people discussing cultural differences between Romanians and Americans. It seems to be a documentary about people having left their home country, but then you find out it is actually a staged conversation and it becomes a reflection on how history is told. On the other end of the spectrum we have a painting by Sean Scully. It’s an abstract painting, with horizontal color bands, you cannot really say what it is about, but when you stand in front of it, you feel it is a generous work, it has a strong human presence and brings you ‘home’ in another way. So the exhibition moves between concrete stories about identity or ‘home’ to works that are harder to define.

What was it about these artists that interested you? Did a particular artist spark the whole project?

Ali_Kaaf, Helmet No.4, 2012, blown glass, 27x17x17cm

There is in each of the works a combination of visual attraction and a deeper layer or interest. I have been traveling through Europe over the past years and have visited a lot of artists. I was interested in the richness and diversity that you find in Europe, beyond the headlines about economy and austerity. There are many perspectives on history, and a lot of artists have an interest to relate to that in a personal way.

Ali Kaaf is a Syrian artist who has been working in Berlin for a long time. His works in the exhibition are called ‘Helmets’, and indeed they have the form of a helmet and they make you think about war. But they are glass sculptures, delicate, fragile and beautiful. Quite the opposite of what you expect of a helmets. These kinds of contradictions, you find in several works.

How do you feel contemporary artists’ approach to the current issues faced by Europe differ from their predecessors?

Flo Kasearu, Estonian Dream, 2011, videostill

While several 20th century art movements found their inspiration in the idea of avant-garde–proclaiming a new style and breaking with tradition–currently I see a generation of artists who are very much interested in their past. Many Eastern European countries went through big changes, after 1989. Allies changed, the connection with West European countries was intensified, and the free market conquered their countries. This brought enormous changes in daily life, and the artists want to know more about the time before they were born, or they delve into the circumstances of their childhood. The question of origin is important to them, to understand the present.

Lia Kazakou, Untitled, 2015, oil on canvas, 50x60 cm, courtesy: Donopoulos IFA, Thessaloniki

Do you think the arts can shape events as much as take inspiration from them? Could this group of artists, perhaps, bring a positive impact to the topics discussed that extends wider than their direct viewers?

Sean Scully, Landline Inwards, 2015, oil on aluminium, 216x191cm

Looking at this show makes you realize how complex and rich Europe is. The artists don’t have simple answers to the challenges of our time, but they look at things with curiosity. They are trained in questioning the visual reality around us. Since we live in a world where images have a huge impact, also in politics and journalism, we need people with an unconventional and independent view on things. I don’t see artists as activists or politicians, but they can warn us, they can create distance from a certain discussion, they can broaden the perspective and they can lift the spirit. For artists the personal experience is important, they don’t just believe what they see, they want to find out for themselves if something is true or valid. We can find inspiration in that.

Do you feel there is a sense of ‘European art’ as a whole, that can be categorised in that way, or do these artists come from a strictly global movement?

The artworks in this exhibition are made by artists who have a certain amount of freedom in thinking and acting, and who have the opportunity to develop themselves as human beings. Sovereignty, and respect for the individual are at the heart of their imagination. I see these as European values. But this does not mean that you can see a European school or style, or that the art works look alike. On the contrary. It is a continent that brings forth very diverse approaches. It matters where you are based; there is always a local context that informs the work. Think about the landscape, the beliefs, the political climate, the welfare, the religious attitudes, the (lack of) tolerance that surrounds you. The artists in this show have their own specific artistic researches as a starting point, but then, through that, they relate to bigger stories and they show their work on global platforms.

Michael Borremans, The German, 2003, pencil and gouache on cardboard, 17,5x13cm, courtesy: Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp

‘As If, At Home – Artists in Europe’ is showing until 31 October 2016 at BOX Freiraum, Berlin.

As If, At Home - Artists in Europe Exhibition, Box Freiraum, Berlin, Germany. - DAMN° Magazine

22. Juni 2016 | DAMN° Magazine

From June 24, 2016 until October 31, 2016

As If, At Home evokes Europe in its diversity through the perspective of the arts. An exhibition and talks collect various voices – personal and abstract, rooted in memory and the present – of 11 artists throughout the continent. Together they build a forum to contemplate the current changes in Europe, working in painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and video.

An exhibition with Mirosław Bałka, Norbert Bisky, Michaël Borremans, Irina Botea, Valérie Favre, Ali Kaaf, Lia Kazakou, Marie Lund, Šejla Kamerić, Flo Kasearu, Sean Scully, curated by Jurriaan Benschop.

NORBERT BISKY IM BOX FREIRAUM - von Michael Rädel, blu media

15. Juni 2016 |  blu media

von Michael Rädel

In schöner Regelmäßigkeit bekommen wir die farbintensiven, mitunter auch mal aufwühlenden Werke Norbert Biskys zu sehen. Jedes Mal ein Fest, und was besonders auffällt: Er steht nicht still. Norbert Bisky findet immer wieder Motive und Themen, die er verarbeiten will und dies dann auch mit viel Farbe und schnellem Strich tut.

Zusammen mit u. a. Marie Lund, Šejla Kamerić, Flo Kasearu and Sean Scully nimmt Bisky sich in der Ausstellung „AS IF, AT HOME – Artists in Europe“ den Fragen zum Thema Europa an.

Ab dem 24.6.: Gruppenausstellung „AS IF, AT HOME – Artists in Europe", BOX Freiraum, Boxhagenerstr. 96 / Hof 93, kuratiert von Jurriaan Benschop, www.box-freiraum.berlin

Schauplatz Berlin: Ich wollte bleiben, ich ging - von Gustav Seibt, Süddeutsche Zeitung

19. Mai 2016 | Süddeutsche Zeitung

Von Gustav Seibt

In der "Box Freiraum" in Friedrichshain trugen junge Flüchtlinge ihre Erfahrungen als Gedichte vor: uncool, berührend, erhellend.

Dass männliche Jugendliche von vierzehn, siebzehn und achtzehn Jahren sich vor ein erwachsenes Publikum stellen und selbstgeschriebene Gedichte vortragen, gefühlvolle, ernste Gedichte, das wäre unter Deutschen ungewöhnlich. Coolness sieht anders aus, sie müsste über den Umweg der Form erarbeitet werden, beispielsweise als Rap. Allerdings hat Martin Mosebach vor ein paar Jahren in einer Rede im Münchner Lyrik-Kabinett darauf hingewiesen, dass das mit der Dichtung und der Männlichkeit im Orient etwas anders funktioniert. Er zitierte aus Briefen von türkischen Strafgefangenen, darunter Gewaltverbrechern, an ihre Mütter, in denen ganz unbefangen von Rosen und Mondlicht, Nachtigallen und Perlen die Rede war - so zierlich, ja überschmückt, wie kein Dichter der westlichen Welt mehr sprechen könnte.

In dieser Woche konnte man in der "Box Freiraum" in Friedrichshain minderjährigen unbegleiteten Flüchtlingen zuhören, die ihre schrecklichen Erfahrungen, den Schmerz von Heimatverlust, Trennung, Gefahr und Tod, ihre Gefühle von Verlorenheit und Zärtlichkeit in Gedichte gefasst haben. Die "Box" ist ein Begegnungsort, der nach seiner Adresse in der Boxhagener Straße benannt ist und der aus elegant rau sanierten ehemaligen Stallungen in einem geräumigen Innenhof besteht. Dort treffen sich unter der Leitung von Carolina Mojto seit vielen Monaten Geflüchtete, Helfer, Künstler, Musiker, oft nur zum gemeinsamen Kochen und Musizieren, daneben aber auch zu Ausstellungen, Filmen, Performances und Diskussionen. Hier ist nichts zu spüren von der elenden Langeweile der Herumwarterei auf die Berliner Ämter, nichts auch vom Gerede über "kippende Stimmung" und moralischen Katzenjammer.

Denn den "Rausch", gar "Kitsch", den Kritiker der Helferszene unterstellen, die wahrscheinlich noch nie ein Heim von innen gesehen haben, hat es ohnehin nie gegeben, also folgt bei denen, die Tag für Tag eine nüchterne, hingebungsvolle Arbeit leisten, nun auch kein Kater. Da ist bis heute nichts "gekippt". Das war auch das Resultat einer Podiumsdiskussion mit Journalisten, darunter Ulrich Wilhelm vom Bayerischen Rundfunk, Stephan Detjen vom Deutschlandfunk und Susanne Koelbl vom Spiegel, in der "Box". Sie beschloss nach dem Gedichtvortrag der Jugendlichen einen intensiven halbtägigen Kongress mit dem Titel "Thinking beyond ,crisis'". Der Stimmungswechsel mag ein Umfrage- und Talkshow-Phänomen sein, die Helfer betrifft er nicht, denn sie haben es mit Bedürftigen zu tun, die auch dann nicht verschwinden, wenn Wolfgang Streeck und Alice Schwarzer wieder einmal recht haben wollen. Dass es die Aufgabe der Medien bleibt, die Stimmungen nicht nur mit Talkshows hochzupeitschen, sondern auch über den stabil steinigen Alltag der Flüchtlinge und ihrer meist ganz bürgerlichen Unterstützer zu berichten oder auch über die allein schon bürokratische Mühsal, ein großes Wohnungsbauprogramm in Gang zu setzen, das mag banal klingen, ist es aber nicht, wenn man auf die Sender schaut.

Dass in der "Box" am Ende leiser, nachdenklicher diskutiert wurde, lag auch an Kahel Kaschmiri, Mohamad Mashghdost und Samiullah Rassouli, um ein paar Namen der von Susanne Koelbl betreuten jugendlichen Dichter zu nennen. Was sie vortrugen, war nicht orientalisch-blumig, aber auch nicht westlich-cool. Es war erschütternd, weil es Erfahrungen zur Sprache brachte, an denen andere zerbrechen: "Ein Toter lag auf dem Weg./ Sein Kopf war mit einem Tuch bedeckt./ Ein kleiner Junge wollte nicht weitergehen./ Der Schmuggler sagte, ich zeige dir etwas,/ danach wirst du schon laufen./ Und er führte ihn zu dem Toten."

Oder: "Ich liebte die Mutter. Sie starb. Ich wollte gehen, und ich blieb./ Ich wollte bleiben, ich ging."

Ach, Kitsch. Man hätte sich einen der Kitsch-Kritiker im Saal gewünscht. Sie wären übrigens in anregende Gesellschaft geraten, denn unter den Zuhörern saßen nicht nur Helfer und Journalisten, sondern auch kühle Beobachter wie der Kapitalismus-Theoretiker Joseph Vogl. Der Dokumentar-Veteran Rosa von Praunheim zeichnete den zweisprachigen Auftritt auf, von dem man heute schon weiß, dass er einmal ins Deutsche Historische Museum gehört, als eines unter vielen Zeugnissen. Was wird dann aus den Dichtern geworden sein?

"Heute bin ich noch da" - DER SPIEGEL

13.05.2016 | DER SPIEGEL

Kunst-Ort BOX Freiraum - Von Freya Reiß, rbb Abendschau

25.04.2016 | rbb Abendschau

Von Freya Reiß

In der Boxhagener Straße in Friedrichshain liegen, versteckt in einem Hinterhof, die ehemaligen Stallungen von Otto Pohl, dem "Kutschenkönig von Berlin". In dem Backsteingebäude, das 1893 erbaut wurde, finden heute Konzerte und Ausstellungen statt.

Seit 2008 setzt sich die Architektin Carolina Mojto für den Erhalt der Stallungen ein, im Juni 2014 eröffnete der BOX Freiraum dann offiziell mit einem Konzert von Meret Becker.
Für die Abendschau-Wochenserie "Kunst-Orte" haben wir uns den charmanten Ort einmal angesehen.

Hier gehts zur rbb Mediathek

War zone via smartphone: the Syria mobile film festival - von Nadia Sayej, The Guardian

08.04.2016 I The Guardian

By Nadia Sayej

Since conflict in Syria began in 2011, experiences have been documented by films shot using mobile phones. This innovative festival in Berlin brings them to a global audience

Syria film festival screening in Daraa, Syria Photograph: Courtest Syria Mobile Film festival

Since 2011, conflict has raged in Syria. And since then, thousands of locals have recorded it on their smartphones. Such firsthand footage has become a powerful expression of freedom against the regime.

Tonight marks the opening of the Syria mobile film festival in Berlin, showcasing 11 documentary shorts shot by 12 Syrian film-makers.

Syria film festival screening in Daraa, Syria Photograph: Courtesy of the festival

Its founder is Amer Matar, a 29-year-old author, journalist and documentary film-maker now exiled in Germany, arrested twice in 2011 for his work organising peace demonstrations.

“It’s important to show what life is like inside Syria right now. It’s important to document the daily life, the daily shootings,” Matar says. That the conflict dominates the cinema produced is inevitable. “Most of the films revolve in the world of war, whether it’s death, injury or exile, and the effect of war in Syria.”

The seed was sown when Matar was arrested five years ago; he noticed that those who were arrested had footage they recorded on their mobile phones documenting the revolution.

“It was the only instrument you could document with,” he says. “Civilians were documenting shelling, bombardment and demonstrations. It’s not professional, but it doesn’t have to be. The footage is shaky, but it has an endless amount of emotions and interaction between the film-maker, the citizen and the footage – and they’re filming themselves. It created a new perception.”

The idea for the film festival came two years later, as other mobile film festivals were budding in countries including Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

Matar, who runs a production company called ashar3, a non-profit media foundation defending freedom of the press in Syria, began by looking at the vast amount of footage already online. “So many people were already doing this, so why not push it in a direction, do it in a more organised way?”

In 2014, the Syrian mobile film festival took place across 20 cities in Syria. Earlier this week, the festival began in Syria, in the historic Bosra amphitheater in Daraa – held in secret and shared only through word of mouth. Events will also happen in Aleppo, Idlib and Ghouta, as well as two Turkish cities, Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa.

“Since free space is stolen in our home country, now there are an enormous number of exiled Syrians trying to recreate what was once possible in our own space in Syria,” Matar says. “This might be just a fraction of what can be, or what we could have done in our own country as well.”

While the films were shot in Syria, they were developed in a workshop held in a border town of Turkey. The festival not only supports Syrian film-makers by helping them produce their first semi-professional short films, it also offers grants, awards and training programs for Syrian directors who make low-budget, mobile documentary films.

A total of 32 films were developed over the course of one year in their workshops and the 11 chosen to screen in Berlin were selected for their innovative use of the mobile camera.

“The ones that were not chosen were the ones you could make with another camera,” says Matar. “The mobile phone plays a big role in the storytelling. They not only filmed other people, but filmed themselves as part of the story, somehow.”

Four key titles at this year’s Syria mobile film festival

A scene from Clusterd, by Hasan Kattan. Photograph: Syria mobile film festival

Clusterd
A short film shot by Hasan Kattan, an Aleppo-based correspondent for Al Jazeera and a law student at Aleppo University, Clusterd tells the story of a young boy named Hussein, who found a cluster bomb next to his home. He started playing with the bomb, as if it was a toy; after pulling its pin, it exploded. Today, his right hand is amputated, while his left hand has only three fingers. “I can’t write, my hands hurt me,” says Hussein, who has suffered learning difficulties and a poor memory since the accident.

“Many kids have suffered from the bombardment, not only the direct effect, but what comes after,” Matar says. “You see kids going and playing with anything they see and, unfortunately, accidents happen. In this case, the film-maker had a close relationship with the family and the child. It was a personal connection that shows an honest film.”

A scene from The Architect, by Mujahid Abu Aljoud. Photograph: Syria mobile film festival

The Architect
One press photographer in Aleppo, Mujahid Abu Aljoud, made a short film in his rubble-filled city. He follows a young boy with a dream of becoming an architect, and with paper, paint and a glue gun he makes a diorama of the city, including bombed buildings, barricades and the destruction around his old home. He then builds a new city with a river, an airport and buildings, based on a vision of hope.

Barbed Wire
Aktham Alwany’s short film follows a Syrian journalist as he risks his life to sneak into Turkey. The dangerous path, which starts with a moonlit car ride, continues across a barbed-wire fence, with rejections, even gunshots at the Turkish border – which have killed numerous Syrians.

Amer Matar beim "Syria Mobile Film Festival" im BOX Freiraum - von Anne Kohlick, rbb / Stilbruch

07.04.2016 I rbb

Viele Syrer dokumentieren ihr Leben und ihre Flucht mit Handyvodeos. Ihre bewegenden Filme holt jetzt Amer Matar mit dem "Syria Mobile Film Festival" in den BOX Freiraum.

Hier gehts zur rbb Mediathek

Michael Souvignier zeigt im BOX Freiraum seine Arbeiten

11.02.2016 | Berliner Zeitung & BILD

Ausstellungseröffnung: ZEITSPRUNG von Michael Souvignier

10.02.2016 | wasgehtheuteab.de

ZEITSPRUNG von Michael Souvignier Ausstellungseröffnung: 10.02.2016, 18:30 Uhr Eröffnungsrede: Walter Smerling

Donnerstag - Freitag 15 - 18 Uhr Samstag - Sonntag 12 -15 Uhr

Der BOX Freiraum freut sich während der Berlinale unter dem Titel ZEITSPRUNG Arbeiten von Michael Souvignier zu präsentieren.

„Mit der Fotografie fing mein berufliches Leben an. Dann lernten die Bilder bei mir laufen. Aus der eingefrorenen sechzigstel Sekunde wurden dann Bilder und Geschichten für die Leinwand und das Fernsehen. Erst als Kameramann und Regisseur, dann als Produzent. Jetzt schließt sich ein Kreis. Nach vielen Jahren mit großen Teams bin ich wieder bei mir angekommen.“ (Michael Souvignier)

Nach einem Zeitsprung von 20 Jahren hat Michael Souvignier seine alte, aber nie vergessene Liebe zur Fotografie ab 2007 neu belebt und schlägt auf seine aktuelle Ausstellung ZEITSPRUNG die Brücke zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Zu sehen im BOX Freiraum sind Bilder aus den 1980er Jahren, New York und Köln sowie ab 2007 Fotografien aus Marrakesch, London, New York, Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt und Beijing. Gekonnt verbindet er dabei seine Erfahrungen als Fotograf, Kameramann, Regisseur und Filmproduzent und präsentiert seine unverwechselbare Sicht.

Der Erfolgsproduzent und Gründer der Filmproduktionsfirma „Zeitsprung“ hatte schon immer den richtigen Instinkt für das Besondere. Seine Filme bekamen goldene Kameras, Bambis, Grimme-Preise, mehrfache Auszeichnung des deutschen Fernsehpreises, den Romy und viele mehr. Auch der vieldiskutierte Zweiteiler „Contergan“ zeigt seine Handschrift als Produzent.

Auf der Berlinale 2016 hat die internationale erste deutschsprachige Zeitsprung – Kinoproduktion ANNE FRANK Premiere. Der Film kommt am 03.03. in die Kinos.

Benefizkonzert im BOX Freiraum - rbb / Stilbruch

10.12.2015 I

Mit der syrischen Band RASIF und Tom Berkmann & Band sammelt der BOX Freiraum Musikinstrumente für Musiker im Exil.

Hier gehts zur rbb Mediathek

Khebez Dawle - von Hamdi Kassar & Vanessa Loewel, rbb / Stilbruch

10.12.2015 | Stilbruch

Hier gehts zur rbb Mediathek

Die Mitglieder der syrischen Band Khebez Dawle sind mit einem Schlauchboot über das Mittelmeer geflohen. Um die Schlepper zu bezahlen, mussten sie all ihre Instrumente verkaufen. Seit Kurzem sind sie in Berlin und wollen nach ihrem ersten Album auf Tournee gehen. Das Problem: Sie dürfen nicht reisen und müssen erst mal auf ihre Papiere warten.

Sie singen davon, laut und ohne Angst auf der Straße sprechen zu können, gehört zu werden, in Freiheit zu leben. Es sind die Sehnsüchte vieler junger Syrer, die die Band Khebez Dawle beschreibt.  Hier bei einem Konzert im Libanon.

Die Band ist zur Stimme ihrer Generation geworden, einer Jugend, die erst mit der Revolution Hoffnung schöpft, bevor ihnen der Krieg dann die Zukunft nimmt. Auch für unseren syrischen Kollegen, der mit uns gemeinsam diese Reportage macht, Hamdi Kassar, spiegelt die Musik seine Gefühle wider.

Vanessa, Journalistin
"Hamdi, Du kennst die Band ja schon aus Syrien. Hast du sie schon einmal in Damaskus getroffen?"

Hamdi Kassar, Journalist
"Nein, nein, ich habe sie nie getroffen. Man musste ja schon vorsichtig sein, wenn man ihre Lieder hört. Sie kritisieren ja das Regime von Assad. Ich habe sie also nie in Damaskus treffen können, deshalb freue ich mich, dass ich sie jetzt hier, in Berlin kennen lernen kann."

Hamdi Kassar hat als Treffpunkt den Kreuzberg ausgesucht, der Blick über die Stadt erinnert ihn an den Kassiun-Berg in Damaskus. Vor einem Monat ist die Band in Berlin angekommen. Um ihre Flucht zu finanzieren, die Schlepper zu bezahlen, mussten sie all ihre Instrumente verkaufen. Nur einen Stapel CDskonnten sie mitnehmen, mit ihrem ersten Album, das sie gerade aufgenommen hatten.

Wir leihen ihnen eine zweite Gitarre für ein improvisiertes Konzert.

In ihrer Musik reflektieren sie die Revolution in Syrien, den Bürgerkrieg, die Flucht. Es geht um die Suche nach Freiheit, sagt Anas.

Anas Maghrebi, Musiker
"Das haben wir bitter gelernt in Syrien: Wie wichtig die Freiheit ist, die Freiheit sich auszudrücken, über seine Hoffnungen, Gefühle, Träume, über sein Leben sprechen zu können. Das kann wichtiger sein als Essen, Brot und diese ganzen grundsätzlichen Dinge."

Für diese Freiheit mussten sie ihr Leben riskieren. Die drei Musiker sind den gleichen Weg gekommen wie unser Co-Autor Hamdi Kassar, der seit vier Monaten in Berlin ist: Von der Türkei aus, im Schlauchboot über das Mittelmeer.

Anas Maghrebi, Musiker
"Einige von uns können nicht schwimmen. Und das Gefährlichste, das du tun kannst, wenn du nicht schwimmen kannst, ist in einem kippeligen Schlauchboot über das Meer zu fahren. Aber es war der einzige Weg für uns, um weiterzukommen, um den nächsten Schritt in unserer Karriere zu gehen, um unseren Traum wahr werden zu lassen."

Nach einer Überfahrt, in der immer wieder der Motor ausfällt, landen sie an einem Urlaubsstrand auf Lesbos. Klitschnass, aber überglücklich verteilen sie unter den verdatterten Touristen ihre CDs mit dem neuen Album - als Willkommensgeschenk.

Muhammad Bazz, Musiker
"Wir hatten zwar kaum Geld, aber das nächste, was wir gemacht haben, war eine Gitarre zu kaufen."

Es ist das Musikmachen, das ihnen Halt gibt, auf ihrem Weg in die Ungewissheit, durch die Fremde. Ihre Flucht nennen sie ironisch ihre erste Europatournee.

Die Musik, der man ihre Wurzeln ebenso anhört wie ihre Begeisterung für Pink Floyd, berührt die Menschen, sie geben Interviews auf ihrem Weg nach Berlin, in Zagreb spielen sie zwei Konzerte auf geliehenen Instrumenten.

Hikmat Qassar, Musiker
"Aber wir vermissen Bashar, unser zweiter Gitarrist. Er ist noch in der Türkei. Wir versuchen, ihn nach Deutschland zu holen, auf dem legalen Weg, mit einem Visum. Im Winter ist es zu gefährlich übers Mittelmeer. Das ist gerade das Wichtigste für uns."

Ihr zweites Album haben sie schon geschrieben, aber keine Möglichkeit es aufzunehmen. Sie haben Angebote für Konzerte, planen eine Tour, dürfen aber nicht reisen. In Berlin müssen sie auf ihre Papiere warten.

Anas Maghrebi, Musiker
"Wir brauchen Instrumente, wir brauchen die Erlaubnis zu arbeiten, eine Tour zu machen, Konzerte zu geben - das ist unser Beruf. Wir sind nicht nur Flüchtlinge, wir sind Musiker, unser Leben ist die Musik, das ist das, was uns ausmacht."

Wir sind keine Flüchtlinge, sondern Musiker, die vor einem Krieg fliehen mussten, genauso wie unser Co-Autor Hamdi Kassar als Journalist. In den Liedern von Khebez Dawle heißt es: "Lasst uns aufstehen, lasst uns Musik machen, lasst uns ein neues Land aufbauen."

Autoren: Hamdi Kassar und Vanessa Loewel

Metrolit-Autorin Ivana Jeissing las zugunsten der Flüchtlingshilfe - BuchMarkt

23.10.2015 I BuchMarkt

Gestern Abend las Ivana Jeissing im "BOX Freiraum“ in Berlin aus ihrem Roman Wintersonnen, der in diesem Herbst bei Metrolit erschienen ist. Für die zahlreichen Zuhörer, darunter auch Jeissings Agentin Karin Graf, ging es aber nicht ausschließlich um Literatur, sondern auch um Flüchtlingshilfe.

Ivana Jeissing. Carolina Mojto Helmut Wegener, Karin Graf (© Metrolit)

BOX Freiraum, Ivana Jeissing, die Buchhandlung lesen & lesen lassen und der Metrolit Verlag, wollten an diesem Abend auf die Arbeit des Berliner Elisabethstift aufmerksam machen, das sich vor allem um die Aufnahme, Unterbringung und Unterstützung von unbegleiteten Kindern kümmert, die nach Berlin kommen.

Carolina Mojto stellte den „Box Freiraum“ unentgeltlich zur Verfügung und der Erlös aus den Eintrittsgeldern und dem Getränkeverkauf ging an Helmut Wegener, den Geschäftsführer des Elisabethstifts.

Linda-Luise Bickenbach stellt die neuesten Kunst-Hotspots der Stadt vor - Artcollector

Oktober / November 2015 | Artcollector

Exploring Korrespondenten Berichten

Berlin befindet sich im Wandel: Viele Kreativstandorte mussten Wohn- und Gewerbeflächen weichen. Doch die Stadt ist immer noch voller aufregender Kunst-Spots – es muss ja nicht immer Underground sein. Da wäre etwa die Kirche St. Agnes in Kreuzberg. Seit Mai 2015 dient sie der Galerie Johann König als permanente Residenz. Drei Millionen Euro soll der Galerist in den Umbau gesteckt haben. Mit spektakulärem Ergebnis. Auch einen Besuch wert: die 1893 errichteten Stallungen in Friedrichshain, die einst dem „Berliner Kutschenkönig“ Otto Pohl gehörten. Das 2014 eröffnete Areal „Box Freiraum“ wurde von der Architektin Carolina Mojto denkmalgerecht saniert. Es beherbergt Ateliers und zeigt Ausstellungen. Derzeit etwa Arbeiten des Künstlerduos Holger Trülzsch und Vera Lehndorff. Letztere wurde in den 1960er Jahren als Supermodel Veruschka weltberühmt.
Im August hat außerdem ein ehemaliges Krematorium in Berlin Wedding eröffnet. Es wird seit 2013 aus Privatmitteln zum Kulturquartier „Silent Green“ ausgebaut. Der Programmschwerpunkt liegt auf Bewegtbild und Musik. Kosten bislang: 3,5 Millionen Euro. Weitere 2,5 Millionen sollen ab 2016 in eine unterirdische, 2400 Quadratmeter große Ausstellungsfläche investiert werden.

Freistil Fassade der zum Kunstareal „Box Freiraum“ umgebauten Stallungen (Installation: Libia Castro und Ólafur Ólafsson)
Freestyle The facade oft the stables, reconstracted fort he art space “BOX Freiraum“ , with installations by Libia Castro und Ólafur Ólafsson

Der Mensch als Teil des Dekors - arte

23.09.2015 I ARTE

Der Körper als Leinwand und inszeniertes Fotomotiv. Nach diesem Prinzip haben Vera Lehndorff und Holger Trülzsch anfang der 1970er-Jahre ein umfassendes Werk erstellt. Ihre erste gemeinsame Foto-Serie, "Mimikry Dress Art", ist nun erstmals in Deutschland zu sehen. Die Ausstellung "Behind the Appearances" im BOX Freiraum in Berlin zeigt einen Ausschnitt ihres vielfältigen Schaffens.

Hier gehts zur ARTE Mediathek: Der Mensch als Teil des Dekors