During our one-month stay in Berlin, we had the opportunity to reconnect threads with concepts and projects we had previously explored.
Through our practice, some thematic axes have emerged as we delve into the formation of Counterpublics. Our aim is to address and question the foundational elements of this formation—the subjects, the protocols, and the terrain.
Who are the potential subjects, and what are the relationships between them—antagonistic, agonistic, or simply symbiotic? The recognition of subjects increasingly involves accepting confluences with species beyond the human, which are steadily claiming their place in spaces once exclusively human.
What practices and rituals are established to connect these subjects as a liminal group? What bonds them together in a formation that is more structured than a mere swarm?
Where, on what terrain, does this formation occur? Is it there where existing laws are contested, beyond the formal law, in a terrain where counterpublics can thrive? The unregulated space is shaped by our actions, our performative presence institutes protocols that may clash with others’. The counter-space is not free of antagonisms; its ecology is one of curated indulgence to wilderness.
One-month residency at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, July 2024
With warm thanks to Marius Babias and the NBK team who made this residency possible.
Diary of the days.
When we arrived it felt like landing on another continent. From the exhaustion of the endless heatwave in Athens, with daily temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, day after day, to the breeze of a rainy Berlin afternoon, at just 15 degrees.
The weather offers some healing from the tension and the headache of a constantly ariconditioned atmosphere. It seemed that the topic would be the heat, the weather, far more penetrating than any artistic or other experience.
But through the days and looking back at the photos and notes, other issues began to surface.
Weather is a blessing
The wide pavements, an invitation to run
Don’t get fooled by the deep forest- their deep roots hide deep wounds.
[…..]
soil
….
I find here a totally different conception of the ground and the soil. The construction of the terrain begins from the soil. In Greece, the soil, as such, is not as important, as the treasures it may hide or the fruits it may bear. Here the soil is the object of design as much as the ground. It is a different kind of design, one that goes beyond the geometric characteristics. The soil is synthetic, it is totally urbanized.
…..
——– natureculture
….
It is a word and a pattern that is omnipresent everywhere in Berlin. As a temporary resident of the city it strikes me how many times I have heard about it in official or unofficial discussions in just one month. It seems that Berlin is more about the construction of the nature than the construction of the urban.
. – ..
symbiosis
The terrain dictates the terms of coexistence with the various others. Wide pavements are for everyone to run, no cables, no pigeons, the artificial swamps bear the sweetest berries.
…..
—/
[…]
[…..] Lawmaking
Do rivers and lagoons have rights?
Can I attribute myself the right to the sky, the right to breathable air?
Let the rivers live their riverly life
Lawmaking as/is the subtle background of every experience.
counterpublics.org 