Ecosystems of Care

Seraphina Lenz | Marisa Benjamim | Organismendemokratie e.V. & Club Real

A former gatekeeper’s house at the entrance to the Ernst Thälmann Park Kulturinsel will be transformed into a forum to meet and exchange ideas. This small booth will be used as a site by artists participating in the Ecosystems of Care exhibition series. In the park area stand the remains of a former gas plant amid East German high rises, or Plattenbauten. Artists Seraphina Lenz, Marisa Benjamim and the Club Real collective will explore the various visible and invisible ecosystems of Ernst Thälmann Park – its flora and fauna as well as connections between people and across species throughout the neighbourhood. Joint performative walks, workshops, installations and an audio walk will take visitors through the park’s habitat, whose multi-faceted past and present is seen from the perspective of the diverse range of people, animals and plants. In collaboration with local initiatives and residents, new neighbourhood ecosystems of care will be created over the course of the exhibition series that will include non-human creatures and organisms.

A Prater Galerie project, curated by Helena Doppelbauer

Seraphina Lenz
8 May – 7 June 2025
Opening: 7 May 2025, 7 pm

The gatekeeper’s house will be turned into a ‘walk-in wardrobe’ for the neighbourhood. Artist Seraphina Lenz has compiled a collection of costumes that visitors can wear during joint performative walks through Ernst Thälmann Park. This creates the possibility of meetings and interactions between walkers and their environment. In different constellations, various scenarios will be investigated amid high-rises, biotopes, playgrounds and garden-like retreats. This temporary change to the park surroundings and the role of its visitors encourages a change of perspective. Seraphina Lenz invites participants to rethink their perception of their surroundings and interpersonal relationships.

Marisa Benjamim
19 June – 19 July 2025
Opening: 18 June 2025, 7 pm

For the exhibition in the gatehouse, artist Marisa Benjamim has developed a site-specific installation and, in collaboration with the gardeners of the Stadtpflanzen collective, is creating an edible work of art for the neighbourhood. In a raised bed, she will grow plant varieties that have a detoxifying effect on the human body and the soil. Marisa Benjamim’s work makes reference to the contamination of the soil by the gas plant formerly located here. The plants that grow in the park area today are still affected and not suitable for consumption. Stemming from her research on local flora, site-specific ecological systems and the cultural significance of plants in the region, she has developed various practical techniques, which she will pass on to visitors in workshops.

Organismendemokratie (Organisms Democracy) e.V. & Club Real
31 July – 7 September 2025
Opening: 30 July 2025, 7pm

Together with neighbourhood residents, the artist collective Club Real is producing an audio walk for Ernst Thälmann Park, in which various organisms in the park will be lent a voice. For the first time, the diverse history of the area will be told from the perspective of the plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms that live here. What reports can be made by the billions of bacteria that have been working non-stop since 2004 in the groundwater purification plant to make water contaminated by the gas plant drinkable again? And how is the health of the approximately 4,000 trees that were planted for each resident in the 1980s? Indoor houseplants contribute to the well-being of residents inside the area’s 1,332 flats, while raccoons and foxes forage in rubbish containers next to the high-rises outside at night. Together with locals, the artists’ collective will explore the perspectives and experiences of these plants and creatures, bringing to life their sights and sounds.

Pförtnerhäuschen (Gatekeeper’s House)
Danziger Strasse 101/103/105
10405 Berlin

Opening hours:
Wed–Sat: 4–9 pm

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Admission to the exhibitions and events is free.

Pressematerial

Prater Galerie