urban interface berlin

urban interface berlin
an exhibition exploring the interspaces between private and public space
http://www.urban-interface.net

Dates
April 15 - May 6, 2007

Artists
Jussi Angesleva/Richard The
Laura Beloff
Department for Public Appearances
Niklas Goldbach
Oliver Hangl
Gustav Hellberg
Daniel Jolliffe
Jocelyn Robert
katrinem

Concept
urban interface berlin is both exhibition and artistic/curatorial
research project exploring the interspaces between public and private
urban space. In 2007 urban interface takes place in two European cities,
Berlin and Oslo.

The project deals with the changing notion of private and public space
that occurs due to, particularly, the everyday use of communication
technologies. The artworks in the context of urban interface convey the
idea of public space as an accessible and contributive sphere and call
attention to a more sensitive engagement with the private, physical and
digital spheres.

Berlin
The city of Berlin is an interface, a space for social interaction and
cultural diversity. Here the feeling of metropolitan life goes hand in
hand with the cosiness and privacy of the individual neighbourhoods.
Apparently, Berlin still offers interspaces that can be found and
inhabited - be it social spaces, which gained diversity after the
reunification and nomination as capital, or be it physical spaces whose
voids and transitory nature still offer room for artistic experiment.

Yet the localisation of mono-cultural groups can be problematic.
Berlin-Mitte for instance has rapidly changed to a rather tidy art and
shopping district where flag ship stores of renowned fashion labels are
as common as major galleries. Examples of bad architecture rose as
quickly as rents and real estate prices went up. In the neighbouring
districts of Wedding and Gesundbrunnen, which have comparably high
unemployment rates and are home to various communities of immigrants,
there are social and cultural tensions in some places. These parallel
spaces and immediate neighbourhoods are at the same time linked and
separated by the former Berlin Wall.

urban interface berlin deliberately connects the ‘art space’ Mitte with
two seemingly less fancy, northern districts. It places artworks in the
ordinary habitat of the residents and calls for their participation. The
exhibition unfolds in non-places and transitory spaces between the
private and public. These sites, formerly voids on the cultural map of
Berlin are filled with art temporarily. Hence they call the unprepared
passers-by’s attention to the changing notion of the private and public
sphere.

urban interface berlin is a project by Susanne Jaschko in cooperation
with art+com projekt fur rechnergestuetztes gestalten und darstellen e.v.
and supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds among others.