To all supporters of ABA, we extend our thanks for your encouragement and contributions to our work. We wish you a healthy, joyful, and hopeful New Year!
ABA thrives on the collective efforts of individuals and institutions, both from Berlin and internationally. It has always served as a bridge through its international residency program, connecting ideas, fostering knowledge-sharing, and facilitating mutual learning. Institutional support from the Berlin Senate – Department of Culture is among the most significant recognitions of our work. This, together with the trust and long standing cooperation of organizations such as Mondriaan Fonds (The Netherlands), Pro Helvetia (Switzerland), and Flanders State of the Art (Belgium), is vital to the Berlin arts community.
We are excited about new collaborations and projects, including partnerships with The Goethe-Institut in Exile, STRÜKTÜR—a Berlin-based association focused on supporting arts and artists from Turkey—and the S. Fischer Foundation, which promotes international cultural exchanges in literature, including hosting Belarusian writers and publishers. These partnerships, along with many individuals, have been instrumental in helping ABA remain a space for free experimentation and research—a true testing ground for ideas and learning.
We are also grateful to Simon Fraser University in Vancouver for their continued cooperation. Every year, we host an inspiring group of students accompanied by professors, supported by the dedicated ABA team—a collective of committed individuals.
We invite you to explore selected highlights from this year and stay updated on our current and upcoming events. Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive all the latest information. Visit our website if you would like to become a member of ABA or contribute to supporting this initiative.
Finally, a special thank you to all visitors who have participated in our salons, presentations, and readings. Without you, none of this would be possible (or even writable)!
Warm, ABA Team
Looking back at 2024
Resident Events
A heartfelt thank you to all our residents who collaborated with us at ABA this year! From labs and picnics to poetry workshops, public installations, and, of course, final presentations, this year has been filled with an incredible wealth of art, research, and creativity. We are especially grateful for their sensitivity to ABA’s values, their commitment to sustainable practices, and their contributions to making this year so meaningful. We look forward to continuing to support them in their future artistic endeavors!
Images 1. Resident Research Picnic, 2024 2. Eloise Sweetman, however uncertainly, across space, AIR Salon accompanied by video installation of Damon Zucconi’ s work in Haus der Statistik, 2024 3. Onur Karaoğlu, In Vain, participatory performance, 2024 4. Lysann König at our resident LAB presentations, 2024
ABA BOOKSTOP
This year, we expanded our BOOKSTOP space using sustainable materials from the House of Materialization and had many accidental and non-accidental collaborations.
At our bi-monthly ko-Market events we ran a screen printing workshop and used our book scanner to share our archive.
The Accidental Interest exhibition and publication series, in partnership with Accidental Interest Books, is now on display facing Otto-Braun-Straße. We’re also excited for upcoming projects with Accidental Advice and Paula Buškevica.
Thanks to all the wonderful encounters, and we look forward to an exciting year ahead.
uqbar
It was an exciting year at ABA’s Projectspace uqbar. Here, ABA created space and time for research and experimentation for Berlin-based artists and for our resident artists. All these projects led to wonderful exhibitions, salons, events or workshops to which we invited the public to. We are thanking everybody involved!
Images 1. response*able drawing – DRAWING DEMOCRACY, a project by Sarah Hegenbart & Kaj Osteroth 2. running stitch,Tsolak Topchyan
Berlin Field School in the Contemporary Arts
This year marked the 8th iteration of the Berlin Field School in the Contemporary Arts – a collaboration between Simon Fraser University (SFU) School for the Contemporary Arts, Vancouver, and ABA (Air Berlin Alexanderplatz) [removed], Berlin. Each year fifteen students spend six weeks in Berlin. The program, guided by ABA in collaboration with Judy Radul, offers a broad introduction to the contemporary arts in Berlin.
Guided by Prof. Judy Radul (SFU School for Contemporary Arts), Prof. Susanne Kriemann (Code & Image HfG Karlsruhe, ABA co-founder) and Aleksander Komarov (visiting lecturer at NYU Berlin, ABA co-founder and director), Judith Milz (artist, program coordinator)
Too Hot to Read Book Fair
ABA was an exhibitor at the Too Hot to Read Book Fair – an outdoor art book fair & festival taking place in July and organized by Cabinet magazine, Haubrok Foundation & K. Verlag. We presented Tolle Knolle | Quirky Carrots, a collaborative project by Annette Behrens and Carina [removed];
MISS READ
ABA took part in MISS READ: The Berlin Art Book Fair & Festival 2024 which took place from October 11–13 at HKW (Haus der Kulturen der Welt) With publications by Eloise Sweetman, Onur Karaoğlu , Susanne Kriemann, Annette Behrens and a poster edition by residence [removed];
ABA AIR Salons
however uncertainly, across space was a radio broadcast streamed on 19 November and hosted by Eloise Sweetman, featuring audio from artist Damon Zucconi’s work Jailbreak accompanied by Eloise’s text Not [removed] A Door A Jar.
Every third Tuesday of the month from 16:00 to 17:00 you can listen to ABA Air Salon produced by artists in residence and other collaborators. Broadcasted through Colaboradio via Freies Radio Berlin/Brandenburg 88,4 MHz in Berlin 90,7 MHz in Potsdam or listen online at [removed]
Upcoming
Forest Fire Planetarium Bárbara Acevedo Strange
FRIZZ Gallery | 20–26 December
Image: Bárbara Acevedo Strange
We invite you to the final event of this year, as the Fog exhibition continues at Frizz [removed];
Bárbara Acevedo Strange’s work Forest Fire Planetarium draws inspiration from the relational quality of fire as a starting point for creating a repository of narrative tools for post-apocalyptic worldbuilding. Developed during a residency in Bosque Pehuén (CL), the collection evolved through the observation of post-fire responses within the Araucanía Andina territory. The language used to describe such phenomena resonates through the collection, which takes the shape of a [removed] game proposes an arena for cosmopolitan storytelling. Each component can be stacked and layered, creating new entanglements. Fire here plays the role of a vector; it mobilizes material and possesses transformative faculties. While looking at the shadows, the players are asked to set themselves in relation to the world they find in front of them. The game poses the question of the aftermath of the catastrophe using a non anthropocentric vocabulary.
A selection of soot drawings from this collection will be featured in the installation at Frizz Gallery. As the light changes, the shifting shadows of the drawings invite viewers to explore new interpretations of the aftermath of the disaster. The Forest Fire as Planetarium was conceived during the Bosque Pehuén residency program by Fundación Mar Adentro.
20–26 December Frizz Gallery Friedrichstraße 23A 10969, Berlin
This work is presented as part of the exhibition Fog, curated by Eloise Sweetman and Aleksander Komarov. The exhibition unfolds in sequences, with each work manifesting the transformation of the space. Participating artists include: Onur Karaoğlu, In Vain (2024), Bárbara Acevedo Strange, Forest Fire Planetarium (2024), Damon Zucconi, My Attraction May Fade, But I Will Not (2020), Gwenneth Boelens, The Very Thing We Don’t Know Is Always Trying to Expand (2016), digitized 16mm films, 11 and 14 minutes. Jason Hendrik Hansma, Untitled (Patios) renamed to Córdoba (2016), silver print on baryta-based paper, ink, and custom frame, [removed] cm x 25 cm. Aleksander Komarov, Plant (2024), video on monitor and Jeroen Jacobs, Untitled (2024), 190 x 140 x 90 cm, PET foil, wood, and acrylic [removed];