GENTLE SPIN
2021/22
Berlin
in cooperation with:
Jan van Esch
janvanesch.com
photos © catalystas collective
artist residency
ZK/U Berlin
As part of the two-month residency at the Center for Art and Urbanism in Berlin, we dedicated ourselves to the topic of intimacy in the city. Based on our own experiences, needs and reflections on site, the questions of where intimacy can be found in the city and what role intimacy plays in the city became the central starting point of our work. During neighborhood explorations, we looked for spaces in Moabit where a private and intimate practice is shared or even shared in public. We found inspiration for our work in a laundromat in Moabit, but also in traces of things left behind or lost, such as hair ties or items of clothing on the street. Finally, it was important for us to highlight these places and especially the practices related to them, creating a moment of intimacy. Intimacy in the city as the key to community and closeness. In collaboration with Jan van Esch, the work "gentle spin" was developed, which could be experienced once at the OPENHAUS in January 2022.
"Fabric and skin, warm and cold, abandoned and accepted, fleeting moments between two strangers, between the unknown and the familiar, between negotiation and embracing, between comfort and unpredictability, between public and private. A space created to evoke connection, tenderness and to experience and allow intimacy that has been found almost exclusively in the private sphere during the pandemic. An intimate setting to reflect on the potential of sharing the private with the public through shared practices of our daily lives."
