With Becoming B, Antje Weitzel, the new artistic director, initiates a long-term transformation process that reimagines Künstlerhaus Bethanien as a dynamic space for exchange, creation, and presentation. Over the course of a year, we will explore in five chapters—together with artists, cultural practitioners, and the Berlin public—how the name and identity of the institution might evolve.
The exhibition A stage she’s going through marks the start of the Becoming B project and presents an installation by Melanie Jame Wolf, who was a fellow at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in 2020-21. The artist creates an installation of textile ‘thresholds’ that invite the audience to move through them.
Like the double-headed Janus figure from Roman mythology, the textile sculptures have a double face. However, only one face can be viewed at a time. The audience must cross the threshold to see the other. In times of an increasingly divided society, these sculptures challenge us to reflect on the significance of our own positioning. At the same time, they show that the way we stage ourselves in the world can be both playful and momentous.
Spatially, Melanie Jame Wolf’s sculptures take up forms of the proscenium, the decorative arch that often frames traditional theater stages, referring to her experiences in the performing arts. The exhibition provides space for contemplation, giving a stage to feelings of uncertainty. On the opening evening, it becomes a performative stage: together with Ania Nowak and MINQ, Melanie Jame Wolf presents the performance Janus! Janus! Door! Door! .
The curators Kira Dell and Laura Seidel already showed works by Melanie Jame Wolf in their project space Neun Kelche in 2024 and are now continuing the collaboration at the invitation of the artistic director of Künstlerhaus Bethanien: For the exhibition, they are working on the joint text A Staircase. A Threshold. A Door. which will be presented during a reading. A reading by Fatma Aydemir from her novel Dschinns with a focus on threshold states rounds off the program. This will be followed by a discussion with the artist and the curators.
Events
10.04.2025 19 h
A stage she’s going through
Opening of the exhibition
10.04.2025 20 h
Janus! Janus! Door! Door! , Performance with MINQ, Ania Nowak, Melanie Jame Wolf
22.05.2025 19 h
Reading by Fatma Aydemir from Dschinns followed by a discussion
04.06.2025 19 h
A Staircase. A Threshold. A Door.
Reading sample with Kira Dell, Laura Seidel, Melanie Jame Wolf
