2020,

Kunstasphalt e. V. / Galerie MAIFOTO

2020,

2009

Dresdener Straße

18

Berlin

10999

maifoto.de

Ute Langkafel, BerlinTRANZITIstanbul, 2009, Foto: Ute Langkafel

Ute Langkafel, Oranienplatz WAS BLEIBT, 2019, Foto: Ute Langkafel

It always feels quite special when an institution catches the zeitgeist of a moment. Project spaces have a lot more freedom in this sense, and they can truly, sincerely, reflect a moment or a movement as it is happening. They are essential to a critically active arts scene. Perhaps the orientation of project spaces has been forced to shift towards something more self-sustainable – but that might not be a bad thing.In the early years, we were not thinking so much about accessibility to our exhibitions and events in a physical sense of venues without elevators or events without translation, but also in a digital sense. For many years, our online magazine hadn’t been accessible for screen-readers for people with poor vision or the blind, or keyboard navigation for people with mobility issues, for example. Getting there was a journey, and I think we would now start from a more accessible place. I would want local politicians to make their funding applications more accessible, not only in terms of able-ism, but also in terms of all forms of discrimination, e.g. proof of citizenship, applications having to be written in German. I wish that they would give a universal basic income to everyone (not just citizens), open their borders, and make healthcare free, free for everyone.Kunst kann fast alles, muss es aber nicht. Heute arbeiten wir in einem neoliberalen Turbokapitalismus, der an seine absoluten globalen Grenzen gekommen ist. Ohne künstlerische Arbeit wird es keine nachvollziehbare Übersetzung der jetzt NOTwendigen sozial-ökologischen Transformationsprozesse der westeuropäisch geprägten Industriegesellschaften geben.