2008 |
old berliners to new berliners

mixmedia, installation,

Artevent in the frame of the New Life Festival Berlin 2008 by Laboratorio Berlin, Concha Argüeso, Silvina Der-Meguerditchian, Chus López Vidal.

On this project the artists invited to two collaborative projects:

The family recycling tree: In the 1970s and 80s a very unique societal system developed and took hold in (West) Berlin. The city attracted many young people living without other immediate family members - many of whom who had previously lived "behind the wall". This context created a fertile ground on which the structure of the traditional family was replaced by new networks of emotionally supportive ties. Those who came at the beginning of the 1990s (as is the case with the members of Laboratorio Berlin) inherited this new ‘tradition’. As is well known, through the decade and into the aughties Berlin’s attraction as a cultural center of Europe has continued to grow, and particularly in the last 3 years, a new wave of artists and creative minds have populated the city, in particular in the ex. East districts of Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain and Mitte. This new population represents yet another new and interesting habitat – which is in many instances disarticulated, disconnected, from the old one. In the project Family Recycling Tree Laboratorio Berlin invites NEW and OLD BERLINERS to create a common narrative and to build together a tree of the emotional relationships and connections they both construct and deconstruct in this city. To contribute towards building this tree, participants are asked to bring photos of people that are special to them, little objects that represent important relationships, or thoughts and words related to the idea “new family”.

(2) La Santa famila: the members of Laboratorio Berlin – who are all originally from Spain and Argentina - would like to introduce an old Spanish tradition that is still alive today: the SANTA FAMILIA. A wooden altar box with the image of the holy family passes through different parishioners' houses - always remaining in each house for a few days - to collect donations for the parish. At the OLD BERLINERS / NEW BERLINERS evening, Laboratorio Berlin will collect names and addresses of people who would like to share their houses for a few days with the new SANTA FAMILIA. In the place of a donation, we will ask participants to instead contribute thoughts and critical reflections about the issue of our complex web of ‘family’ relationships, creating in this way new ties and new understandings between OLD BERLINERS and NEW BERLINERS.

La Santa famila




Family recycling tree