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.Wir halten gesellschaftlichen Wandel im Sinne permanenter und emanzipatorischer Weiterentwicklung für elementar. In diesem Prozess bedarf es insbesondere der unkonventionellen und der kritischen Stimmen. Daher sehen wir unsere Aufgabe und Möglichkeit darin, gerade diesen oft wenig gehörten und minoritären Stimmen Raum zu bieten. Kunst interagiert mit der Gesellschaft oder sie findet nicht statt − insofern streiten wir für die Idee, die ästhetischen mit den sozialen Fragen zusammenzudenken und zu reflektieren. Es gibt keine wirkliche Freiheit ohne Schönheit und genauso wenig gibt es echte Schönheit ohne gesellschaftliche Freiheit.The pandemic gave us a pause and became a forced hiatus.
For us, it didn’t make sense to organize events or to move into the digital space during the last year.
A willingness to think outside the box, to implement short-term funding, and to listen to the needs of the community. Not everyone requires long term investments; others would like to apply for EUR 500 to develop a project for next month. These quick, low-cost funding opportunities are not clearly available yet. When implementing initiatives, first think about the places and the people you are trying to serve. Requiring project spaces to have a program mapped out six months in advance, or ask for only German-language applications is not responding to the community.