“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must never be afraid to do what he must choose.” Langston Hughes

Freedom is a word to which we have attached a lot of prefabricated meanings, a concept we think we know so well that we might consider it empty. It has been hijacked by the political right for the permission to do and say as one pleases, on the left, people don’t seem to believe in it anymore or trust it. The writer Maggy Nelson describes her interest in ongoing ‘practices of freedom’ by which we negotiate our interrelation with - indeed, our inseparability from - others, with all the care and constraint that relation entails, while accepting difference and conflict as integral to our communion.

A work of art, simultaneously, speaks and interacts to a public, even more so when placed directly into a public space. Thinking publicly through the knots in our culture is itself a practice of freedom, a means of forging fortitude, courage and company. (Nelson)

This theory-praxis seminar delves into some of the key components of spatial strategies. How do we navigate (public) space? What can we learn from the (urban) environment? How can we engage with feelings and emotions by meandering through and observing social spheres in the city?

Through discussions, games, readings, presentations, screenings and excursions exploring alternative (sustainable, non-extractivist and equitable) social imaginaries, we will create artistic encounters and a reimagined psychogeography of the urban sphere.

How can we find our voice and express our artistic work within the kaleidoscope of architecture, social groups, political tensions, frictions and economic realities in Berlin?

HAU has invited us to create a visual concept for their BERLIN BLEIBT #5 festival in June 2026. This visual concept, which will tie the festival together, will be developed over two semesters. Throughout the year, we will meet at the Macherei and Mehringplatz venues to discuss festival themes and engage with the architecture, people and circumstances of both locations. Our research-based work will include meetings with local groups to discuss neighbourhood developments, and we will actively engage with Mehringplatz residents.

Furthermore, we will examine and discuss various examples of social sculpture and art in public spaces throughout history, geography, and context. Public art has evolved in myriad forms depending on the concept of public freedom, constraints and the needs of the social realm within urban politics and economic realities. As artists, how can we continue to create spatial strategies that question, engage with, and reimagine Berlin's 'post-coolness'?

Literature:

Karen van den Berg, Cara M. Jordan, Philipp Kleinmichel, The Art of Direct Action, Social Sculpture and beyond, 2019, Sternberg Press

Chris Kraus, Where Art Belongs (Semiotext(e) / Intervention Series, Band 8), 2011

Suzanne McCullagh, Heterogeneous Collectivity and the Capacity to Act: Conceptualising Nonhumans in Political Space 141, 2018

Hannah Arendt, The Public Realm, 1958

Maggie Nelson, On Freedom, Four Songs of care and constraint, 2021

de Certeau, M, Walking in the City, in The Practice of Everyday Life. UC Press, 1984

Saidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, 2019