Get to know the Gaswerk Art Days
From the 28th through the 30th of July, an ever-curious audience is invited to explore the creative spaces and corners of Gaswerksiedlung. The first-ever edition of Gaswerk Art Days hosts an extensive number of music acts, experimental performances & dance pieces, art exhibitions & installations, film & video screenings. Our motivation lies in promoting what we believe in, trusting in a program that doesn’t apply a specific “genre logic”, but reflects the multiplicity of influences and tastes of the creative community.
Since its inception at the beginning of 2018, Gaswerksiedlung Berlin has grown exponentially into an ever more satisfying music and arts hub; converting 105 former apartments into creative studios and hosting the work of over 500 creative professionals, primarily active in the field of music and sound.
With this summer celebration and showcase, we intend to activate the potential of Gaswerksiedlung as an influential space for music and art in Berlin, whilst taking the opportunity to define the artistic signature of the studio community.
With this year’s program, we move from African contemporary art to Berlin's experimental electronics, touching all possible shades, genres, and interpretations, bridging the line that stretches between these two points.
Who We Are
The Gaswerk Art Days’ team is composed of artists, musicians and cultural operators who are residents or close collaborators of Gaswerksiedlung.
The team has emerged and grown also thanks to connective experiences such as art and music residencies abroad and to the cultural program and initiatives taking place in the community over the past years.
Besides the curators, a large number of residents take part in the works of production and construction of the event, as well as in its very artistic program.
Graphic and Visual Theme
This year’s graphic theme is inspired by the work of ELHADJI MAMADOU FAYE (JOEART) and the whole website is enriched by his paintings. Joe is a Leboux, a community of fishermen that is said to live not more than a hundred meters from the Atlantic shoreline. His paintings and installations talk about the loss of the community’s traditional habitat by international overfishing of their local waters, causing many fishermen to engage in the risky business of carrying people to the Canaries Islands these days. His paintings are complex histories but also playful visions of a different future.
Curators
Since 2017, Gaswerksiedlung Berlin has been managed by STEPHAN KUNZE, who has been at both the forefront of Gaswerk’s restoration and launch as a creative community. He is the main promoter and co-director of the Gaswerk Art Days.
LETIZIA TRUSSI co-directs and coordinates the event. The singer and curator is the founder of Rooms of Kairos, a studio and interdisciplinary platform dedicated to music and to the arts located in Gaswerksiedlung. Since 2022, she covers the role of creative director for the community, initiating a process that aims at building its aesthetic identity and drawing its signature and presence in Berlin’s cultural life.
ROMAIN AZZARO, who goes by the artist name, Rouge Mecanique, has been a stable in the Berlin music scene for years and is one of the lead curators of this year’s program. He has been involved in the event series “African Acid is the Future”, of which he was co-founder, and is currently planning a new party series called “Bardo”, in which, starting this month of July, he will be able to introduce us to his concept of “hard lounge”.
ELHADJI MAMADOU FAYE (JOEART), Berlin-based Senegalese visual artist, has been invited to co-curate the visual art and installation program. Besides, he contributed to the music program by suggesting different music artists from his land. His work will inspire the graphic theme of the program and is featured throughout the website.
ANDREAS VÖLK contributes to the music curation. His artistic endeavours revolve around improvised, experimental music and video art. In addition to his solo project, Völk actively participates as a guitarist, singer, and producer in various projects such as "Das Ende der Liebe," "Center for Mind and Brain," "Blue Cosmic," "Dave Berlin," and numerous other collaborations. At Cafe Muschkebart in Gaswerksiedlung Berlin, he collaborates with his studio partners from "Sauna Studio Berlin" to curate the "Sauna Studio Concerts," a monthly concert series dedicated to experimental music.
For years now, DAN SU is a stable presence in Gaswerksiedlung and a point of reference when it comes to experimental performance. Dan Su is the curator of this year’s Gaswerk Art Days performance program - transdisciplinary artist, composer, musician and choreographer working with sound and movement through experiments, compositions, conceptual improvisations, performances, experimental music, contemporary dance, installations, and media art.
Gaswerksiedlung Berlin - History and Community
Gaswerksiedlung was built between 1925-26 by Ernst Engelmann and Emil Fangmeyer for the workers and staff of the coal-to-gas plant that was located nearby.
Operations of the industrial site have been discontinued in the 1980s and the former grounds have since been cleaned thoroughly. The current scrub land awaits its future use as a new thermal power plant but will also partly be kept as a protected area.
The development plan for south-Rummelsburg launched in 2011 provided for Gaswerksiedlung to convert from residential to commercial usage. Due to its status of “protected monument” and small-scale floor layout, its conversion into a studio house for all kinds of creative “industries” was just logical.
Currently, Gaswerksiedlung offers a home to numerous musicians and sound engineers, visual artists of all kinds, stage builders, filmmakers, architects…
It is owned by Vattenfall Wärme AG and operated by Gaswerksiedlung Berlin GmbH.
gART.n and MUSCHKEBART
Gaswerksiedlung hosts a café and cantine called Muschkebart, which also functions as a meeting spot for the residents, a gallery space, and a concert location. Here Rooms of Kairos curates regular exhibitions, and Sauna Studio organises monthly experimental concerts.
Right behind the corner, the charming gART.n event space is home to numerous open-air events. Every weekend, all summer long, here you can find some fine electronic music, cinema nights, live concerts, and more…