Baer Witness

Opening of the
Bärenzwinger

09/01/2017, 7 pm

EASTER [Stine Omar and Max Boss]present the Video of their new Single CUPPA.

Sculptural, performative interventions by Julia König, Anne-Sophie Kneer and Alas [aka Alaa Abdullatif]

The Bärenzwinger [bear pit] opens as a new exhibition venue in Berlin-Mitte. Under the title “Baer Witness”, the two-year exhibition program begins with the launch of a new video project by EASTER [Stine Omar and Max Boss] which was shot at the Bärenzwinger grounds and sculptural, performative interventions by Berlin-based artists Anne-Sophie Kneer, Julia König and Alas [aka Alaa Abdullatif].

The Bärenzwinger accommodated several generations of Berlin’s heraldic animals for almost eight decades. After the last living bear died in 2015, the culturally and historically significant place will now become a platform for collaborative learning, research and exploration for artists and cultural practitioners.
 
Artistic and curatorial projects are now set to reflect the history and particularities of the former bear enclosure, as well as current urban-cultural themes. The interior space as well as the open space of the historical monument by Berlin architect Georg Lorenz will be open to the public for the first time

For the opening event EASTER [Stine Omar and Max Boss] present their new video project. The narrative scenes of the video for their new single CUPPA take place at the Bärenzwinger grounds. Shot by Dorian Jesper on location in the outdoor enclosures, the guard rooms and the bear cages, it includes performances by artist Alaa Abdullatif, dancer/DJ/SAD Josh Johnson, musician/yoga instructor Frankensnyder.
 
As with the video for her track THE HEAT [2013], shot in the artificial tropical ecosystem of the recreational resort “Tropical Islands” situated at the edge of the Spreewald, EASTER improvise with the site-specific conditions in CUPPA. The site, once converted to house brown bears in the center of the city, becomes the platform for the minimalistic-synthetic sound spheres of the duo and the performative collaboration.
 
The videolaunch is flanked by performative interventions by Berlin-based artists Anne-Sophie Kneer [“Traces”, 2017, installation] and Julia König [“In angereicherter Umgebung, playing”, installation, 2017 and “A Strong Grip A Soft Face”, performance, 2017] as well as by a sound piece by Alaa Abdullatif [“Rip”, 2017].

Curated by Nadia Pilchowski

Stine Omar + Max Boss

The Norwegian Stine Omar and Berliner Max Boss are EASTER. The duo met in Berlin in the mid-2000s and gradually formed a band and video project. Omar’s lyrically-stoic recitative combined with the minimalistic-synthetic soundscapes of producer Boss, EASTER oscillates between performance and sound installation.

In addition to self-released studio albums as well as shows in Europe, North and South America, they produced the internet series “Sadness is an Evil Gas inside of me” featuring Lars Eidinger and video artist Britta Thie in 2014–2015.

In 2016, EASTER performed et al. at CTM [Festival for Adventurous Music & Art] in Berlin. The duo also regularly host their own show on Berlin Community Radio.

Bärenzwinger proudly presents the new video work by EASTER [Stine Omar und Max Boss] – shot on the Bärenzwinger grounds.

Watch it here.

Julia König studied Audiovisual Media at the Berlin University of the Arts. With performances, screenings and exhibitions, she has represented HAU Berlin at the Mutek Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music in Montreal, the Art in Cologne, the Brother McNelly Gallery in Singapore, the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover, CTM in Berlin and the International Theater Festival in Damascus. 

She is the co-founder and artistic director of the team titanic exhibition collective.

Anne-Sophie Kneer, born in Basel in 1986, lives in Berlin and is a master student at the Berlin University of the Arts. She works cross-media with painting, drawing and sculptural installations as well as internet-based art.

Kneer participated in numerous group exhibitions, et al. the exhibition “PROFIT | PROPHET” [team titanic, Kirche St. Johannes-Evangelist Berlin], Berlin Artweek 2015 and at the Berlin project space A thin Place. In 2012, she performed in the theater play “TOLL DASS DUASS DU KOMMST” by Lydia Dykier and Bernadette Knoller, which showed at the Maxim Gorki Theater and the HAU Berlin, among other venues.