Dear all, friends, comrades, colleagues, collaborators and art-enthusiasts,

I hope you’re all well!

I'm excited to announce that at the upcoming general meeting of the berufsverband bildender künstler*innen (bbk berlin e.V.) this Wednesday, I'll be running for election alongside fellow colleagues Justina Los, Benjamin Zuber, Seda Mimaroğlu and Maximilian Thiel among others.

I hope to reach fellow bbk members through this newsletter with a gentle reminder: Please try to attend the upcoming assembly if you can. Your presence is essential to ensure inclusive representation. If you cannot make it — or if you aren't a member (yet) — please pass this message along to your artist friends and encourage them to come.

For all who dont’t know: The bbk-berlin (DE/EN) is a professional association of visual artists in Berlin with over 3000 members. It is composed of the bbk e.V and its two daughter companies: the Bildungswerk, and the Kulturwerk which receive public funding.

bbk-berlin e.V., the overarching organization and political lobbying body, is representing it’s members’ interests in state-level politics. The board makes public statements, meets with politicians in the cultural sector, represents visual artists in the Berlin Kulturkonferenz, and advocating to the Berlin Senate Department for Culture for better working conditions, artists' fees, studio space and the development of funding structures for artists.

Since 2022, I have been a member of bbk berlin and, through the association’s structures, I have not only benefited from a subsidised studio but also received support in various workshops at the Kulturwerk, and I actively participate at the AG Art Worker Solidarity working group. I regard bbk berlin as an organisation worthy of care and safeguarding, which represents artists and gives them a collective voice in the political discourse.

Since the CDU-led government took office, Berlin's cultural policy has been marked by budget cuts, legal controversy, and administrative failures. Culture Senator Joe Chialo faced criticism for accepting deep cuts to the cultural budget, attempting to introduce the legally contested IHRA definition as a funding requirement, and presiding over the Fördermittelaffäre, in which €2.6 million was unlawfully awarded without proper procedures. The scandal led to Chialo's resignation and also to the resignation of his successor, Sarah Wedl-Wilson, amid pressure to approve the disputed payments. Combined with a months-long freeze of millions in cultural funding, the affair disrupted legitimate projects across Berlin. During this period, numerous artists and cultural workers who expressed solidarity with Palestine also reported funding cuts or exclusions, public campaigns against them, heightened scrutiny, and pressures that critics described as having a chilling effect on artistic freedom. Together, these developments have significantly eroded confidence in Berlin's cultural governance.

Berlin's experience illustrates how quickly political intervention can reshape the cultural sector. If these dynamics can emerge under the current coalition, they offer a troubling indication of what could follow under governments pursuing even more restrictive and conservative right-wing cultural policies. The growing lack of transparency, political interference in funding decisions, and pressures on artistic expression threaten the autonomy of cultural production while public investment increasingly shifts towards security, policing and military priorities at the expense of social and cultural infrastructure.

In light of this, I believe it is essential to strengthen independent, transparent and non-discriminatory funding structures and to defend spaces where artistic practice is not constrained by political, administrative or economic expectations. It is precisely this moment — where these dynamics reach a critical point — that makes active engagement within the bbk berlin necessary. This is also why I am standing for the board once again.

It is equally necessary to support marginalised artistic voices and to expand collective and solidarity-based networks within the art scene and with external organisations. As a board member, I wish to contribute to securing and further developing artistic autonomy as a concrete practice to be collectively defended under increasingly challenging conditions. My aim is to strengthen structures that enable independent, critical and diverse artistic practice in the long term, because it is precisely these spaces that make social cohesion, dissent, critical discourse, and democratic negotiation possible.

A series of otherworldy critters has arrived on my website.
The series and title, is inspired by my affection to the underworld and deep sea online research videos. ROV Hercules, a Remote Operated Vehicle named — you guessed right — “Hercules” is visiting the deep sea and opens a small window to what we usually can not see. The crew members of the Exploration Vessel Nautilus are commenting the video from the off.

Shimmers are imagined creatures that echo real deep-sea life. They mimic familiar forms while remaining slightly uncanny, their metallic bodies resonate, as if they belong to a branch of evolution hidden far below the surface. The deep sea has long been a place where familiar categories begin to dissolve. Bodies merge with their environments, reproduction takes unexpected forms, and survival depends on symbiosis, transformation, and constant adaptation. Thinking with queer ecologies, these shimmers celebrate life that exceeds binaries and fixed identities. They inhabit a space where becoming matters more than belonging, and where kinship extends beyond resemblance.

I'm grateful to my friend Suza for reminding me of this beautiful poem by Etel Adnan.
It couldn't feel more fitting:

To learn more about ROV Hercules visiting benthic shimmers, feel free to visit my website.

Throughout the last decade I had the pleasure to become friends with Zabriskie Bookshop, this is why I want to dedicate this section of my newsletter to them.

They’ve been a safe haven for me and a great place to visit, whenever in need for new literature, research material or just to hang out with them. In their latest newsletter they write:

How to support Zabriskie

First and foremost: You can purchase books directly from them or through their store.
They offer a wide range of titles from their own repertoire — specialties, so to say — as well as novels, non-fiction, children’s books, classics, and current bestsellers. They can order anything that isn't out of print, with most items arriving quickly (within a few days). You can do this online, via e-mail or in person at their shop in Reichenberger Straße 150, Kreuzberg.

Gift vouchers are available for your friends, redeemable both in-store and online. Customers can choose the voucher value themselves, and the credit applies to any book in their collection or special orders. View gift vouchers here.

Other ways to help include:

Thank you for reading and I’m hoping to see you all soon

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