HOLOBIONT

Each exhibition stands on its own. A shared infrastructure, space, and audience temporarily allow them to be perceived as a larger whole: a clustered group exhibition.

For one week, seven exhibitions will unfold at the RWK Studios, a 16,000-square-meter art and production site in Berlin-Zehlendorf where approximately sixty artists work. The exhibitions will take place in halls and rooms throughout the entire complex, while studios and workspaces will become part of the expanded program.

Each of the seven exhibitions has its own curatorial approach, its own artists, and its own internal logic. Conceived independently of one another, they relate to one another through a shared location, a shared infrastructure, a shared audience, and a shared timeframe. Together, they form what we call a “grouped group show.”

The exhibitions were selected through an open call organized by HOLOBIONT. The jury consisted of Jan Gustav Fiedler (curator), Billy Jacob (director, Kollektion888), Pola van den Hövel (director and curator, Villa Schöningen), and Jennifer Braun (art historian, critic, and author, The Gen Z Art Critic).

During the jury process, the thematic dialogue between the submitted concepts was taken into account, as was the strength of each individual exhibition on its own. No subtopics were specified. Nevertheless, certain questions recurred in the concepts, which had been developed independently of one another: the body as a site of projection, discipline, and transformation; shifting boundaries between the organic and the synthetic, the human and the non-human; as well as questions of perception, constructed realities, and alienation. Further affinities in materials, surfaces, and atmospheres became apparent when the concepts were viewed side by side. These similarities were not part of the briefing and were not something the jury had specifically sought out.

Whether these resonances reflect a shared response to the present, to technology, to Berlin, or to a more general sense of instability remains an open question.

Complementing the open call, the exhibition NO STORIES, NO MIRRORS brings together artists working at the RWK Studios, thereby incorporating the perspectives of those who shape the space itself. The exhibition was developed in direct relation to the building, features site-specific works, and constitutes one of the seven exhibitions within HOLOBIONT.

A holobiont refers to a host together with the organisms that live in and on it. The individual organisms remain distinguishable from one another, while their relationships give rise to a larger ecological unit.

The concept is closely linked to the work of evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis and her research on symbiosis. Even the cells of complex organisms carry within them the history of earlier biological associations. Mitochondria are descended from bacteria that entered into relationships with other cells and eventually became part of their internal structure. Symbiosis does not automatically mean harmony. Cooperation, dependence, competition, and exploitation can exist simultaneously and shift depending on the conditions.

HOLOBIONT transposes this model into the exhibition space.

The expanded program opens the RWK Studios both as an exhibition space and as a site of ongoing artistic production. In addition to the seven exhibitions, visitors will encounter open studios, curatorial tours, artist talks, performances, and a concluding Open House.

3CA provides the framework through shared spaces, technical infrastructure, workshops, networks, knowledge, and collective work. The production site remains visible throughout.

For one week, seven autonomous exhibitions become part of the same organism.

PROGRAM:

Tuesday, September 8

Official Public Opening

4:00–8:00 p.m.

Wednesday, September 9

Closed

Thursday, September 10

Public Guided Tours

4:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.

Three guided tours will give visitors an insight into all seven HOLOBIONT exhibitions as a cohesive program. The tours begin at: 4:30 p.m. / 5:30 p.m. / 6:30 p.m.

Friday, September 11

Exhibitions Open

4:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 12

HOLOBIONT – Long Night of Performances

7:00 p.m.–midnight

Sunday, September 13

Open House / Open House Day

1:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.