Meridian / Urban

Haus der Kulturen der Welt has announced the five projects that have been selected for the Meridian I Urban project in 2011. For the first time a call for entries has been organized within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Weeks, which will take place throughout Berlin in September 2011.

The Haus der Kulturen der Welt invited up-and-coming curators to submit proposals for site-specific projects in Berlin’s public spaces during the next Asia-Pacific Weeks. A total of 42 projects, and their curators and artists from 29 countries, mainly from European and Asian regions, submitted their applications and have been juried during the first week of October 2010.

Members of the international jury: Dr. Katja Blomberg, director, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin Dr. Adele Tan, art historian and critic, Singapore Yu Yeon Kim, independent curator (New York / Seoul) Osvaldo Sánchez, curator, director, Museo de Arte Moderno de México, Mexico-City

The projects will be shown during the 8th Asia-Pacific Weeks 2011, from September 6 to September 17, in Berlin. A map illustrating and indicating all the projects will be published and on display in various places across the city where the projects are to be seen.

List of projects:

Meridians, as imaginary lines run from pole to pole and map the world, they are indispensable instruments that we use to orient ourselves in space. At the same time meridians define in traditional Asian medicine a system that is like an invisible network that supports the body and gives it vital energy.

Berlin Laughter Project Curator: Orlando Britto-Jinorio (born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, lives in Santander, Spain) Artists: Norbert Francis Attard (Living and working in Malta and Berlin) Simone Eisler (Living and working in Australia)

The project proposes the creation of a network of laughter-meridians dealing with the urban scheme of Berlin as if it were a human body. The jury: “An interesting project in terms of participation. You get meridian lines of humour, that are simultaneously communicated and communicating. Laughter by its nature is very contagious.”

Metrotopie Curator: Keumhwa Kim (born in Korea, lives in Berlin) Artists: Shira Wachsmann (born in Tel Aviv, lives in Berlin) and Anne Dukhee Jordan (born in Korea, lives in Berlin)

”Metrotopie” takes as its focal point the Chinese concept of “Qi”, or “life force”, which is constantly flowing between human beings and their environment. In the tradition of Chinese acupuncture, the two artists examine the changing relationships between urbanity, humanity and nature by transforming a subway carriage from Berlin’s public transport system into a biotope. The biotope’s travels across Berlin symbolize the city’s supply of primeval energy. At the same time, it represents a process in which the artists investigate people’s relationships with urban life and nature. Jury: “The train as transport mode and the accompanying train tracks and maps fulfill the urban sense of connectivity and flow, and the plants convey an organic environment that has affinity with health-giving properties without plugging into the more usual sense of Chinese medicine and meridians.

An Elixir realigning Curator: Deeksha Nath (lives in New Delhi, India) Artists: Sharon Chin (lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Varsha Nair (India / lives in Bangkok, Thailand), Karla Sachse (lives in Berlin)

An elixir realigning – Performance – traces by 7 people in 7 locations along a „meridian“ conjunction between West & East dotted by significant places – an elixir is offered and applied to touch both the human, architecture and nature bodies to challenge, rethink & activate connections among all. The jury: “A project that maps the city through meridians and interacts with the public, inciting them to taste the elixir and to put it onto their skin, and to talk about health. Intellectually it is one of the most interesting projects and has been densely researched.”

Invisible twinning Curator: Francesca Mila Nemni (Born in Boston, USA, lives in Milan, Italy) Artists: Giulia Giannola (Born in Napoli, lives in Berlin), Gayle Chong Kwan (London)

Focusing on health in terms of balance on a societal and personal level and how people share resources within a city, the project explores the specificity of Berlin’s allotments whereby immigrants would be given access to grow vegetables and fruit on a KGA, culminating in a large-scale shared meal. The jury: “A project that focuses on important aspects of immigration. How does the shape of a garden relate to a given cultural background? The project will include a publication that illustrates the processes of picturing gardens of different immigrants.”

Untitled Curator: Manuela Lietti (born in Italy, lives in Beijing, China) Artist: Marike Schuurman (born in Netherlands, lives in Berlin)

The project departs from the basic principle of Chinese culture according to which an individual’s health depends on his relation to the cosmos. Cinese fitness equipments will be installed in Berlin, being used by passers-by as fitness tools and as benches, They will be centred around the artist’s videos and photos portraying Chinese people practicing what is nourishment for their bodies but mostly their souls. The jury: “A project that is interactive but not dealing specifically with the installation of a work. It produces and wants direct experience, provokes contacts, and engages conversation in the best possible way.”

Meridian I Urban. Curatorial Projects on Health takes place in the framework of the 8th Asia-Pacific Weeks Berlin 2011, which focus on "Water, Food, Health.” Haus der Kulturen der Welt plans and coordinates the cultural section of the Asia-Pacific Weeks Berlin in cooperation with the Berlin Senate Chancellery and local and international partners.

Synapse In 2011 Haus der Kulturen der Welt will launch the curators' network Synapse. Synapse will link and facilitate exchange between newly emerging curators who are active in the visual arts. The local and international curators will be selected by a jury and will meet in Berlin in September 2011 to take part in a workshop on the subject "Art and Science." Alongside this and further planned workshops, an interactive project-based website will provide Synapse participants with a forum for the exchange of ideas, and the public with information on the curators.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at meridian.urban@hkw.de.

Asien-Pazifik-Wochen Berlin The Asia-Pacific Weeks Berlin are an initiative of the Governing Mayor of Berlin.

Meridian / Urban
Curatorial Projects on Health
Jury: Katja Blomberg, Adele Tan, Yu Yeon Kim, Osvaldo Sanchez, Kuratoren: Orlando Britto-Jinorio, Keumhwa Kim, Deeksha Nath, Francesca Mila Nemni, Manuela Lietti

Künstler: Norbert Francis Attard, Simone Eisler, Shira Wachsmann, Anne Dukhee Jordan, Sharon Chin, Varsha Nair, Karla Sachse, Giulia Giannola, Gayle Chong Kwan, Marike Schuurman