Soft Commons

Installations, material experiments, archives, interventions and performances explore how materials can forge relationships, foster community and revitalise public spaces.

At the heart of the exhibition lies ‘commoning’ – the collective generation of knowledge, care and opportunities for action through textile practice.

At the intersection of material experimentation, artistic research and social practice, ‘Soft Commons’ opens up new perspectives on contemporary textile design and allows visitors to experience textiles as active agents in processes of social transformation.

The exhibition takes place alongside Berlin Art Week and forms part of the ‘CURRENTS. Design in Berlin’ festival, as well as the weißensee kunsthochschule berlin’s 80th-anniversary programme, ‘80 Years’.

Exhibitors

Sophia Engel, Victoria Fechtner, Gahner Holm, Marina Luding, Rosalie Ponn, Larissa Schieberl, Sonja Schön, Davida Skarp, Dalma Stift, Cylène Stock, Dana Westerhoff, Mara Wild, Kaho Yabiku

Curatorial team

The exhibition is curated by Essi Johanna Glomb and Katrin Steiger.

Design: Larissa Starke

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, 10 September 2026, from 5 pm to 10 pm

Supporting programme

A varied programme of events: performances by the participating artists will take place throughout the duration of the exhibition. Curated guided tours will be held on Fridays and Saturdays at 4 pm and on Sundays at 2 pm.

Closing event with a gustatory performance

The supporting programme concludes with the closing event on Sunday, 13 September 2026, from 5 pm to 7 pm, featuring ‘What’s the Matter…? Experiencing Taste Through a Collective Performance’. Together with the participating artists, the curators invite you to experience taste in a collective performance and to explore the interplay of flavours, textures and memory.

To attend the performative closing dinner, please register by emailing essi.glomb@kh-berlin.de.

A special exhibition organised by the Dahlem Research Campus of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with the Department of Textile and Material Design at the weißensee kunsthochschule berlin