2023,

Centrum

2019, 2023,

2009

Reuterstraße

7

Berlin

12053

centrumberlin.com

Centrum ist ein Projektraum für zeitgenössische Kunst in Neukölln. In einem Laden-
geschäft und ehemaligen Bordell zu Hause ist der Ausstellungsraum kein reiner White Cube, sondern erhält seinen Charakter vor allem durch seinen gefliesten Boden und seine bodenlangen Fenster. Centrum bietet Möglichkeiten zum Diskurs über zeitgenössische Kunst sowie Gelegenheit zum Kennenlernen, Vernetzen und Experimentieren. Centrum wurde 2009 gegründet. Seitdem wird das Programm und der Schwerpunkt von einem wechselnden Team beeinflusst. Derzeit wird Centrum von Rachel Monosov & Jorgina Stamogianni ko-kuratiert.

Centrum, Innenansicht, Foto: Ute Klein

Emily Perry, Woman with Salad, Performance, 2016, Foto: Stefanie Dietzel & Alexander Gehlsdorf

We are very happy with the network. Whenever we had questions or doubts, the Network had an answer or guided us. Being a project space, we can see how lucky we are to have the support of this organization that has allowed us to be where we are now. We are very grateful to your organization and wish you all the best for the future.Answering this question seems to be the most difficult and an endless process for me because I have to ruminate on the past decade or so in which I have gone through Berlin as a female artist, a Korean artist, the founder and chief of an Asian contemporary art platform, and a mother. Since the very beginning, I have been interested in seeking a kind of universal identity, spanning the various backgrounds of Berlin-based contemporary artists in order to examine the question of identity as it is often perceived from the outside: according to gender, nationality, and cultural milieu. So I have created a space where the dichotomous logics about those issues could be discussed, proceeding with many projects. Above all, I had dreamt of creating a self-supporting space, based on an independent profit model. Recognizing limitations in workforce, culture, and the market of the art scene, however, I have experienced some moments of great suffering. But what has enabled me to endure those moments of suffering was not money but people, so that I would answer sincerely that a project space no longer means a physical space for me. It is a non-physical space, comprising people like artists, users and agents, or sometimes a network.Funding and access to funding is a key element in sustaining project spaces. There are many funding tools that project spaces can use to cover the costs of labor, materials, and rent. But the options are competitive and usually involve a lot of effort and paperwork. In our opinion, there needs to be a change in the funding system that includes simplifying the application process and shortening the waiting time between submission and announcement of the result. Only like this can the project space keep the momentum and focus on artistic and curatorial projects.