Auszeichnung
künstlerischer Projekträume
und -initiativen

COVEN BERLIN

2013
Initiative

Kiona Hagen Niehaus, Dr. Self, video work in the frame of PROBAND WERDEN, Foto: Billie Sara Clarken

future babies, performance in the frame of the exhibition LUCKY, 2018, Foto: Judy Landkammer

Art should first and foremost raise questions that are important for present and future societies. In the last decade, art has moved closer to science, technology, and society. It has become less commercialized and more diverse. We would like art to become not only illustrative and speculative, but also functional, embedding even more science and technologies within itself. This would encourage the audience to be even closer to art, perhaps more critical, diverse, ­tolerant, and creative.… Still nowadays, the more and more international “g-local” Berliner independent cultural scene has been able to grow, interconnect, and continue to establish strategies to be a political protagonist of this long debate, also representing an impressive cultural resource to profit from.… But definitely key words such as “project space”, “artist-run”, “grassroots”, “laboratory”, etc. are still good key words (to be constantly re-discussed) that underline the spirit and intention of such open experiments that somehow can only function as open experiments! A free interactive and inclusive format to create, express, and ex­change interdisciplinary ideas with spontaneous, playful, DIY approaches; having access to and exchanging various physical spaces to manifest all facets of what independent cultural production can unfold – also in the sense of creating social awareness and responsi­bility due to the fact that every single participant, no matter the “role” or “title” is deeply aware & involved in the process of making things happen, sharing responsibilities and profits (if there are any 🙂 … Investors and businesses assumed the form of faceless international partnerships with enormous capital and devouring public resources deciding on the future of all citizens, delivering less and less social protection and consideration for cultural and social diversity.