2012,

NOrthEurope

(the same GLEICHSCHALTUNGSMATRIX formerly known as..) WestGermany Büro für postpostmoderne Kommunikation

2021, 2012,

Skalitzer Straße

133

Berlin

KNICK-KNACK TO THE FUTURE Concept Store Performance von copy & waste, 2015 Foto: Stephan Kallage

“White Wash”, mit Astrid Busch, Alexandra Schumacher, Kym Ward, 2014
Foto: Stephan Kallage

Foto: NOrthEurope/WestGermany,
Stephan Kallage

Foto: NOrthEurope/WestGermany,
Stephan Kallage

Für viele hat die Pandemie die Wichtigkeit der künstlerischen Tätigkeit in den Vordergrund gerückt trotz der Vernachlässigung der Kultur durch die Politik. Die Wichtigkeit der Vor-Ort-Präsenz, des „analogen Sehens“, der analogen Auseinandersetzung gegenüber den digitalen Formaten ist in den Vordergrund gerückt.Even though COVEN doesn’t have our own project space (although we are thinking about getting a studio …), we make space, mainly for our queer community in Berlin and online. We make space to come together, meet each other, talk about stuff, and laugh. We try to pay as many queers as we can to make art with us. To think about art, to question art. Art for us has always been about creating community and offer alternatives to worn-out narratives. We like art for its world-making capacity.Ashley started out as a self-funded project. This allowed presenting art in a self-determined way, especially by working artists not part of the commercial art market but also those flying under the radar of larger public institutions. Of course, this model also brought up the question of sustainability. In the last few years, with rising rents and spaces closing down, this question has become more and more pressing for everyone on the free scene. Winning the project space prize in 2018 was a pivotal moment for Ashley, particularly because beyond recognizing the work done by independently-run spaces, the prize money could be spread over several years to keep our program running. However, a prize also follows the logic of exceptionality which puts a lot of pressure on project spaces to ‘perform’. Hence, the structural funding program by the Senate significantly changed the conditions of our work because by confronting us with the administrative work inherent in public funding, we evolved our own internal structure to accommodate longer-term planning while still maintaining the flexibility needed to track the subtle changes in the art communities around us. Before this program, going from project to project rather than planning two years ahead, it was difficult to apply for project funding due to the fact that application deadlines are often one year in advance and therefore difficult to meet if you are not a publicly-funded institution or commercial project with the resources to plan several months or even a year ahead. So this program does help a lot to allow project spaces to stake a claim on public art funding. At the same time, with the structural funding approved on a two-year basis, it remains unclear how this mode of operating will last a few years, or even one year into the future.