In view of our 10th anniversary, we look into the future as well as the past through this year‘s corresponding exhibitions.
We started with the exhibition verträumt in cooperation with Studierendenwerk Berlin and now continue with the exhibition (Re)producing memories at the Kiezraum of the Dragonerareal. The exhibition partly takes place in cooperation with artists with whom we have already worked in the past, and is thus also a retrospection of ten years of the association’s work.

Memories are initially based on subjective experiences. They are fleeting, fragmentary, always interwoven with the memories of other people and never an exact reproduction of past events. Only by processing, by actively remembering, we can give memory itself a structure, as it is directly bound to language and concepts. It is interlaced with a certain context, it consolidates and finds expression in images, texts, monuments, architecture and rituals. By means of materialisation the reconstruction of lived experiences and events is made possible. At the same time, what remains are transfigured, distorted memories, where any attempt at order fails.

Memories, like dreams, exist on an individual level, but also as a collective phenomenon. We construct the image of our own iden- tity from personal memories. In the same way, a community can form a collective memory and a common identity from shared experiences. In dealing with the past, forgetting always plays a decisive role. Not only on an individual, but above all on a collective level. But who decides which memories are preserved and which are forgotten?

Louisa Boeszoermeny‘s series The Nearness of Things explores, but never quite fathoms, our subconscious . She thereby examines how repressed memories affect our present. In Weißes Rauschen in diskreter Zeit Léni Chons addresses the inevitable fading and changing of memories over time. Her prints thereby form an analogy to our fragmentary memory. Marta Djourina also examines and questions the documentary character of photographs. In her work Von: Mir /An: Mich II the time between two moments is captured on photographic paper in an abstract form. In #wearefamily Kaddi:H reflects on childhood memories from an adult perspective. Childish perceptions are questioned and connections to today‘s family relationships are revealed. In Minh Phuong Nguyen‘s work, memories are visualised in their transience. Endlessknot type beat II zeigt den Prozess des Verschwimmens verschiedener Erinnerungen miteinander, wobei Erinnerungsfetzen und -lücken gleichermaßen dargestellt werden. Dabei rücken besonders identitätsstiftende Fragen und Verflechtungen, die ihre Herkunft und ihr Aufwachsen betreffen, in den Fokus. Fragen um Herkunft tun sich auch in Saša Tatićs The Bedrock are highlighted and one‘s own family history is examined. Daniela Villalobos La casa en la que habito III is equally dedicated to holding on to memories, while they also hold on to us. The mnemonic reconstruction of her grandparents‘ house raises the question of the relation between reality and memories. With Rozafa was never here Agrina Vllasaliu creates a discussion about cultural heritage and collective memories. Using the Albanian saga of Rozafa, she reflects on the writing of history, the customs and traditions with which we identify, and the extent to which these are shaped by female narratives.