Sat. 10.06.2023 | 18:00 - 21:00
with: Edgar Calel, Alice Creischer, Jota Mombaça, Mukenge/Schellhammer, Aykan Safoğlu
curated by: Dereck Marouço Sant'Anna da Silva
Exhibition, public interventions
soft power
Teilestraße 11-13, courtyard 2, entrance C, 3rd floor
(barrier-free access via passenger lift in courtyard 2)
12099 Berlin - Tempelhof
The exhibition project Plural Perspectives aims to reveal contemporary dynamics and a diversity of perspectives on physical sites that carry a symbolic meaning in the city of Berlin. Curated by Dereck Marouço Sant'Anna da Silva, the project connects public space with artistic practices that develop new conversations with monuments, buildings or institutions to reflect and review versions of history endorsed by the state and capital.
Five artistic positions were invited to create works in relation to five sites in the city: Alice Creischer (Mall of Berlin), Aykan Safoğlu (Siegessäule), Edgar Calel (Sarotti Factory), Jota Mombaça (Haus der Berliner Konferenz), and Mukenge/Schellhammer (Humboldt Forum). Between June 10–25, the new commissions will be presented at soft power, itself located at one of the sites, the former Sarotti factory in Tempelhof, exhibiting some of the relations that arose from the dialogue between the artworks and the places they respond to. Simultaneously, each work takes a presence on the streets through posters in the direct vicinity of the respective site, mapped out on an interactive website. The critical relationship established between the works, the exhibition and the urban space aims to decentralise the experience of contemporary art by engaging the passers-by, and to insert other narratives into the social-urban fabric.
soft power is a collectively run non-profit art association and venue for artistic projects. As a conceptual framework, soft power appropriates a political term that describes and uses the influence which ”soft” assets such as culture and art can have on policies and economic spheres. The ongoing programme is guided by the question how this notion can be productively subverted, challenged and reclaimed from an artistic perspective. In addition to exhibitions and other public formats that are taking place in our space in a former factory building in Berlin-Tempelhof since 2020, soft power also acts as a venue for changing residencies and as a workspace that combines curatorial, artistic, sociological and design approaches in an ongoing engagement with the structural realities and political conditions of collective practices. Alongside on-site exhibition formats curated by soft power, as well as formats such as radio shows or text contributions for artistic and socially critical publications, soft power has also increasingly established itself as a platform that invites external curators and project initiatives to carry out artistic projects within the framework of our programme.
soft power was founded by Linnéa Bake, Eva Herrmann, Melissa Lücking and Donna Volta Newmen. The growing number of members of the art association (Kunstverein) supports our work and is encouraged to get involved in the programming.
Seating: Benches, chairs
Age groups: Suitable for all ages
Languages: German, English
Works of art in the exhibition can be experienced visually without language skills, unfortunately we can only offer the explanatory text level in two languages.
Wheelchair users | Buggies: Barrier-free access via passenger lift
Hearing impaired | deaf people: Accessible, no or only partly audio-based works, no trained staff for translation into sign language
Neurodiversity: We strive for openness and try to provide an individual experience of the exhibition for all visitors
Blind people: are welcome, please either come with an accompanying person or contact us in advance (hello@softpower.world) so that we can support the visit accordingly.
Further notes: We strive to make soft power as accessible as possible as a venue according to different needs.