The Element of Change, 2018.

Curated by Aleksandra Roth-Belkova and Lina Theodorou.
Glass-Workshops in Obdachlosen-Wohnhaus, 2017-18.

For the second consecutive year we would like to organize an exhibition at the Obdachlosen Wohnhaus in Berlin-Moabit under the title "The element of change".
In this context, we invite artists to propose their own perspective and ideas. With glass as the main material and medium, they will make interventions and installations with works of sculpture, videos, photos, sounds and actions so that a gradual transformation of the space can take place, so that for the duration of the exhibition the building will function as a pole of creation and communication.

Last year, using mainly recycled glass, we handled various issues, such as turning the waste, useless objects and consumables into something useful either through the workshops or as the raw material for the production and creation of artistic works that we included in the exhibition.

Apart from the therapeutic value of artistic practice and handicraft in workshops, we believe that glass as a material has the qualities needed to express many other ideas on a symbolic level.
It is a material that is fragile, sensitive, supple, liquid and hard under special conditions, same as we could -in a metaphorical way- say for the human body in the modern urban environment.

Apart from excellent artistic results, the translucency of glass and its relation to light offers the ideal occasion to negotiate concepts such as the separation of public and private space, the need to illuminate traumatic aspects and issues not only at an individual psychological level, but also within sensitive social groups.

Glass can be interpreted as a shell, a "jar" as well as a space that may act as a shelter that protects but also simultaneously isolate from the outside world.
One of our main purposes is to try to change the pre-determined perceptions for the homeless and to attract the interest of the community, since through our previous experience we have seen that this was received with great enthusiasm by the public/audience. At the same time it was a very positive experience for the residents of the building, who not only took on the role of the creator/maker through during the workshops, but also participated in the proceedings of the exhibition.
What we consider essential for the project and plan to put special emphasis on, is the active encouragement of the collaboration among the artists on the one hand and the temporary or permanent residents of the building on the other, through workshops and artistic works and actions.

Exhibition: 1 until 3 Jun 2018 in Obdachlosen-Wohnhaus, Lübecker Str. 6, Berlin-Moabit.
the exhibition was part of the festival ORTSTERMIN 18
/Kunstverein Tiergarten, Galerie Nord
www.kunstverein-tiergarten.de

Participating Artists:
Matthias Fritsch, Masami Hirohata, Matilda Kästel, Fotini Kariotaki, Silvia Levenson, Ioannis Savvidis, Vassiliea Stylianidou, Lina Theodorou

https://theglassproject.net/projects