2017,

Donau Ecke Ganghofer

2017,

2011–2019

donaugang.wordpress.com

Foto: Stephanie Hanna, 2016

Foto: Stephanie Hanna, 2016

Es gibt keinen Prototypen, von dem aus verbindliche Aussagen gemacht werden können. Das zeigen auch immer wieder die Selbstverständnisdebatten. Die Projekträume haben sich mit der Stadt und ihrer Gentrifizierung geändert, aber ebenso mit dem Kunstsystem und der Kunst bzw. der künstlerischen Praxis in der Stadt. Die Szene ist konstant im Fluss. Manche Projekträume haben sich institutionalisiert, andere lehnen das kontinuierlich ab und befinden sich eher außerhalb des Radars. Ich sehe darin eine Stärke und würde nicht von einem „idealen Projektraum zur jeweiligen Zeit“ sprechen. So unterschiedlich die Räume physisch sind, so unterschiedlich ist teilweise die Art, wie sie gemacht werden, und an wen sie sich wenden.The commercialization of the contemporary art scene in the last decade has created alienation and dissociation from the audience. The social filters at the established exhibition spaces, the sterilization of methods of presentation, and over-professionalism have created an image and perception of inaccessibility. In that respect, project spaces and art initiatives that resist these dynamics and strive for keeping direct social contact maintain the political potential of artistic practice. We don’t promote the conventional star system in selecting the artists we are collaborating with; we don’t pursue a hierarchical method by employing an omnipotent curator; we value the critical content and formal experimentalism of the artworks rather than the conditions of their presentation, and we don’t sell any artworks in our space; we don’t invest our energy in commercial speculation. We put an emphasis on the collective and on the social. We keep contact with our immediate neighborhood (in Neukölln), and we prioritize the knowledge about and the cultural accumulation of a particular geography. Hence, we engage in a counter-position against the dominant dynamics that have shaped the field of the contemporary art scene in the last decade. The pandemic condition has also been a drastic element that forced actors in the field to reconsider methods of presentation and social contact.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.