Guest Lecture I – 07.10.24 – 18h30 – free entry

Neurodiversity and Mental Health in the Arts: a talk with Maria Leon, Eliana Heredia and Kathy-Ann Tan (MHAS).​

​

MARIA LEON
Born in Mérida, Spain, María León holds a degree in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid and has been based in Berlin since 2010. Her participation in the Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt in 2017 helped shape her artistic journey, leading to exhibitions across national and international stages. María's work investigates our relationship with materials, often using objects from architectural and domestic spheres to create new connections. Her art highlights the temporality of materials, with fragments and traces playing a central role in her explorations.

ELIANA HEREDIA
Born in São Paulo, raised in Buenos Aires, and now based in Berlin, Eliana Heredia is a multidisciplinary artist with a unique approach that is both peaceful and unsettling. A graduate of IUNA (Buenos Aires) and UDK (Berlin), Eliana has received several prestigious grants, including FNA (Argentina 2008), DAAD (Germany 2009), and Kunstfond (Germany 2013). Since 2020, she has been directing and coordinating R17 Experimental Zone, an artistic project space in Berlin.

KATHY-ANN TAN
Mental Health Art Space (MHAS) founder, Kathy-Ann Tan, is a Berlin-based independent curator, writer, and scholar. She is interested in alternative models of art dissemination, exhibition-making, and institution-building that are attuned to issues of social- and transformative justice. Her practice is informed by a desire to create accessible spaces and formats of conversation and discussion outside of academia. She works tirelessly to support queer and BIPOC artists and cultural practitioners in Berlin and beyond by putting decolonial and intersectional feminist theory into practice. MHAS Berlin is the culmination of years of conversations and sharing and emerges from the belief that addressing mental health issues within the arts and culture should be a priority and not a luxury.

​

Guest Lecture II – 14.10.24 – 18h30 – free entry

Transdisciplinary Practices in Arts: a talk with Gosia Lehmann, Lena Becera and Lyndsey Walsh.

GOSIA LEHMANN
Gosia Lehmann is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the narratives that shape society. Her work spans film,
performance, and scenography, often addressing themes of technology and blurred boundaries between truth and fiction. In 2019, she co-founded Lagoon Parliament, an artist collective challenging hierarchical norms. She's also a co-founder and member of Solaris Space in Berlin.

LENA BECERRA
Lena Becerra (b. 1994) is an Italo- Argentinian artist working across multiple mediums. Her surgically arranged ecosystems summon contemplation of alternative forms of social fabric in the gestational stage, where the sinister and sublime converge as part of a cyclical call for rebirth. Her practice revolves around poetical approaches on a social web and, in particular, to the exploration of the sensitive layers of xenofeminism. She creates hybrid organisms where the border between gender, sexuality, technology and nature are not defined, as well as notions around the sublimation of imposed structures.

LYNDSEY WALSH
Lyndsey Walsh is an artist, writer, and researcher from the United States and based in Berlin, Germany. With degrees from New York University and SymbioticA at the University of Western Australia, Walsh explores technology's impact on cultural binaries using Crip, Queer, and feminist
frameworks.Their work has been featured in events and with institutions such as Frieze Art Week New York, the Humboldt Forum, the Ural Biennial, the Berlin Biennale, Athens Digital Arts Festival, Transmediale/CTM, and more.

​

Guest Lecture III – 21.10.24 – 18h30 – free entry

Contemporary Photography Practices: a talk with Boris Eldagsen, Yu Yu Myint Than and Monika Kozub (Berlin Boudoir). 

BORIS ELDAGSEN
Boris studied visual arts in Mainz, Prague, and Hyderabad, and philosophy in Cologne and Mainz. His photomedia work has appeared at EMAF Osnabrück, Edinburgh Art Festival, and Kochi-Muziris Biennale, among others. Since 2004, he has lectured internationally at institutions such as VCA Melbourne and Filmakademie Ludwigsburg. A recognized expert on Al- generated images, Boris declined a Sony World Photo Award in 2023 after submitting an Al-generated image, sparking a global debate on the nature of images.

​

MIN MA NAING

Min Ma Naing, a Myanmar exile artist based in Berlin, began her career as a press photographer before transitioning to a slow contemporary documentary practice. She co-founded Myanmar's first women photographers' collective to challenge gender inequality in the industry. Beyond image-making, she uses photobooks as art objects, inviting viewers to engage intimately with her narratives. Drawing from her experiences of exile and diaspora, her recent work intertwines personal history with themes of political upheaval, borders, and displacement.

MONIKA KOZUB (BERLIN BOUDOIR)
Monika Kozub, also known as Berlin Boudoir is a multidisciplinary artist and visual storyteller. She explores the diverse spectrum of beauty in the world, placing emphasis on themes of nature and sexuality as means of empowerment for women. Through her art, she challenges the stereotypes surrounding women's lives, highlighting the strength and happiness that emerge from this reevaluation.

​

Guest Lecture IV – 28.10.24 – 18h30 – free entry

Decolonial Practice + Art & Politics: a talk with Karen Michelsen, Deema Amr (DJ DUMTAK) and Isabel Rabee.​

​

Everyone is invited to take part in the conversations! 

​

​