Research Ecologies IN RELATION

Project insights from IVANA PAPIĆ, NILRA ZORALOGLU and SONYA SCHÖNBERGER. For the second equalACT session, they are joining forces with the Berlin Centre for Advanced Studies in Arts and Sciences (BAS).

The BAS is part of the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and brings together various postgraduate programmes, PhDs, habilitations and research projects. The ‘Research Ecologies’ colloquia are currently held regularly, providing a forum where academic and artistic researchers can meet to discuss their work.

Session #2 begins with the artist and scholar Dr Lisa Glauer and the curator, artist and art educator Dr Anne Kurr.

They will introduce the session and provide insights into collaborative working and artistic research. In the afternoon, participants in ‘Research Ecologies’ will offer insights into their projects.

The guests are Ivana papić, Nilra Zoraloglu and Sonya Schönberger.

DR LISA GLAUER works in the fields of painting, printmaking, installation, socially engaged art and performance. Glauer’s work focuses on a wide range of themes, from memory, materiality, pedagogy and artistic research to the absurd, which she explores in various formats such as installation, performance, painting and art in public spaces. She has exhibited her work at venues including the HKW in Berlin, the Agora, the Athens Biennale, the IMAC – Instituto Municipal de ArteCalle in Tijuana, Mexico, the Goethe-Institut in Budapest and the Experimental Drawing Studio at UC San Diego.

DR ANNE KURR is a research associate in the sub-department ‘Art as Public Practice in Societal Transformation Processes’ at the Braunschweig University of Art and conducts research into artistic practices of resistance in times of authoritarian dynamics. She holds a PhD on the distribution of wealth and works as an independent curator and art educator at the intersection of history, cultural studies and art, including for the Goethe-Institut, the Berlin State Museums, as well as for NGOs and alternative art spaces. In this role, she has conceived, organised and supervised numerous public events and projects addressing topics such as wealth, feminism and discourses on care, racism and anti-Semitism, artistic activism, the right to the city and urban interventions.

IVANA PAPIĆ is a Croatian multimedia artist and researcher, art educator and advocate for invasive plants. Using photography, sound, objects and poetry, she creates multi-layered installations designed to encourage interaction with the audience. Since 2021, Papić’s artistic research has focused on invasive or naturalised plants, with a particular emphasis on the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima). In her ongoing project series ‘The Wild Walnut’, she explores her female heritage through the five human senses, questioning the contemporary significance of the concepts of identity and belonging and examining the complex relationships between humans and nature.

NILRA ZORALOGLU is an architect, artist and researcher working at the intersection of architecture, ecology and soil research. She completed the M.Sc. Design Research Programme at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her work includes workshops such as “Trace Matter: A Slow Encounter with the Urban Soil” (Copenhagen Architecture Festival, 2025) and “Soil Chromatography” (Berlin-Weißensee School of Art, 2025), as well as participation in symposia and exhibitions on the themes of soil, brownfield sites and urban ecological change.

SONYA SCHÖNBERGER is a Berlin-based artist whose practice explores biographical ruptures against a backdrop of political or social upheaval. The starting point for her artistic enquiry is the people themselves, who recount their experiences in biographical conversations. This has given rise to archives; at the same time, existing archives – some of which she has discovered – are incorporated into her work. In 2018, in collaboration with the Stadtmuseum Berlin, she initiated the “Berliner Zimmer”, a long-term video archive based on the stories of people in Berlin. This archive now comprises over 180 interviews and is set to run for a hundred years.

ARTISTIC RESEARCH – make it feminist! equalACT is a joint project of the HfS Ernst Busch and the UdK Berlin and is funded by the Berlin Equal Opportunities Programme (BCP). equalACT supports women and tin* individuals who combine gender, diversity and anti-discrimination with artistic research.