Fresh A.I.R. #9 | Scholarship Exhibition

On 01 November, 20204, we celebrated the opening of the final exhibition of our 9th Fresh A.I.R. class. Twelve artists from eight European countries have dedicated themselves for ten months to this year’s topic “UNSUPERVISED: Childhood Dreams & Fantasy Rebels”. Our artists celebrate play and imagination as creative forces and culture forming factors and explore the theme with diverse artistic approaches. They emphasise childhood and being a child in all its facets and show the light-hearted side as well as the darker episodes. Be excited for an inspiring exchange of ideas! You are cordially invited to experience the final project results during the public exhibition.

Curator: Janine Arndt, Artistic director at Fresh A.I.R.

Exhibition period: November 02, 2024 – March 30, 2025

Location: Project space of the URBAN NATION Museum, Bülowstraße 97, 10783 Berlin

Opening hours:
Tuesday + Wednesday 10 am – 6 pm
Thursday – Sunday 12 pm – 8 pm
Closed on Mondays.

“Dear visitors,

Welcome to UNSUPERVISED: Childhood Dreams & Fantasy Rebels, our 9th Fresh A.I.R. exhibition that takes you into the untamed world of childhood and play. In this unsupervised space, far removed from fixed rules and guidelines, boundless imagination unfolds, inviting you to encounter childhood dreams where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, making everything seem possible. Yet amid these dreams, we also celebrate the rebels who challenge societal norms in their performances, courageously creating new narratives. They embody the spirit of unconventional play, reminding us that creativity and resistance can go hand in hand.

Children’s play is more than a pastime; it is a creative act—a kind of rebellious act—that allows us to explore alternative paths and reinvent ourselves in a normative world. In this exhibition, we celebrate not only the joy of play but also its subversive potential: to question boundaries, create alternative realities, and open new perspectives.

The 12 artists from 8 countries explore play as a tool for cultural and societal discourse, weaving together fantasy and reality to open new perspectives and show us new ways of thinking and acting. Childhood is also used as a source of inspiration to question and redesign artistic freedom and societal utopias. The exhibition presents artistic projects that connect childlike imagination with societal themes in diverse ways.

To learn more about the works presented here, take a look at the statements from the artists. I hope you enjoy exploring the exhibits, which will be on display until March 30, 2025.”

Janine Arndt
Artistic Director, Fresh A.I.R.

“Working with the theme «childhood dreams« it was only natural to revisit my own thoughts and dreams from childhood, of what being an adult would be like and what I would do for work. This made me reflect a lot on how far I’ve gotten and also helped me realized that I have already accomplished many of the big dreams I hoped for, like becoming an artist.

It made me think; when did I start to doubt myself? Why do I often feel like there’s more failure than success in my professional life, when I’ve already gotten farther than I dreamed of as a kid? Sure things happen in a different way than you expect as a child, but why is my adult life so filled with not feeling good enough or accomplished? I looked through old and new work and noticed this character that has been present for many years. Having this inner demon, in the form of a black, shapeless, blob with one eye and long hands, that reaches out and tries to pull me down made me come to terms with many of the struggles that I’ve been through and accepting that this character will always be a part of me and my work in different forms. I chose to therefore celebrate what good things this terrible, negative voice has brought to life in me and my art practice. The installation is open for audience to touch, feel, listen and walk into. Interactive installations often draw people in and I find joy in this visually dark piece being played with by kids trying to have fun with the hands and running around. More often it’s the adults that are reading into the theme of the installation and finding it dark or even scary.

Being a textile artist it’s also important to me to focus on recycling materials and not create too much waste, which is why all the textile and filling is sourced from Kunst-Stoffe-Berlin, Materialmarkt Pankow, a recycling center here in Berlin. The soundscape is by Anders Filtenborg, whom has created this piece with recordings he took from the making of the textile installation and objects in my studio.”

Amanda Vesthardt

Fitness for unlikely Species: The Extinction Edition
Fitness event and workout video

“My arrival in Berlin coincided with the fall of the Ribbek meteorite. My mother took it as a sign of good luck. My father cautioned me to watch out for my head. Luckily, it was just a small piece. But what if this cosmic event had been more devastating? We already live in a world full of troubles, threatened by wars, nuclear radiation and climate collapse. The last thing we need is a meteorite falling on us! The real question is, what should we do? Sit back and wait for the end, or practise and prepare for it?

So, have you ever wondered how it feels to ripple like radiation or erupt like a volcano? Do you know how to fall like a meteorite and stand still like a stuffed dodo? Well, here’s your unique chance to learn all about it, by enrolling in our newly developed ‘Fitness for Unlikely Species: the Extinction edition’. I will guide you through a fitness exercise and an illustrative lesson all rolled into one by mimicking entities whose shapes, and movements are a threat to our existence. For example, we will practise how to fall like a meteorite and erupt like a volcano; how to crack as a melting glacier and stand still as a stuffed dodo. Reeling with anxiety about the massive loss of biodiversity or that a meteorite could hit us and threaten all of our very existence? Worry not! Because, these shape shifting exercises are also here to help you cope with eco-anxiety and prepare you for our future troubles!”

Andrea Palášti

 

Fitness instructor: Andrea Palášti
Original Music: Fredrik Stjernqvist
Mascot Coordinator: Daniel Popovic
Headwear print is made with a Ribbeck meteorite photo taken by Andreas Möller.
Background videos und images courtesy of: Marcin Cimala, Manjezazaz, Shoaib Hassan, Martin Sanchez, Gylfi Gylfason, Zsolti Tamasi, Olenchic and Emily Willoughby
Special thanks to the Bern Academy of Arts (HKB) for providing the  Green Screen studio.

In his artistic work, Etienne Dietzel connects scientific discourses with essential aspects of technical image production. He works interdisciplinarily, utilizing various media.

As part of the Fresh A.I.R. program, Dietzel explored systemic images of artificial neural networks (so-called AI). Central to this was the discourse surrounding the representational significance of the symbols produced by these systems, as well as the challenges of largely automated imaging processes.

To address this, images generated by (so-called) AI were transferred into oil painting using the simple game principle of »paint-by-numbers«. In the original sense of a clear set of instructions, this method corresponds to the definition of an algorithm: the numbered areas are filled with the corresponding colors until all fields are painted (for (int i=0; i<=totalFields; i=i+1) {fields [i]= color[i]};). The individual color areas of the images are abstract shapes without meaning, which only form recognizable objects or figures when viewed together. This makes the process of image production mechanical and, in a way, unconscious. Similarly, the model of the so-called AI on which the images are based only establishes a statistical relationship between the color values of adjacent pixels on a formal level. The system itself has no semantic understanding of the pattern it creates, which resembles the subject of the image.

“About the loss of control and the attempt to regain it. In a world characterized by urban complexity and human dominance, animal protagonists struggle to find their place; they are acrobats of adaptation, but their possibilities are also limited. So they embark on a search.

In my pictures, the innocent world of the nursery meets existential questions. Who am I and where is my place in this world? Building blocks, books, cars. I create pictorial worlds that could actually be found in children’s rooms. Small models of reality. But what initially appears to be a harmonious idyll falls apart on closer inspection. Like fine threads, little stories run through my pictures, a web of riddles and unspoken elements. The eye loses itself in the pictures. Finds no foothold, no peace to linger.”

Felix Lies

 

Displayed artworks:

Flying lesson

A collection of toys, between which a mouse stares lost in thought at a screen. It stretches out its arms, seems to be getting ready to fly. Perhaps it is about to fly away.

 

Viewing

Boxes stacked on top of each other in which a giraffe seems to have become entangled. A cuddly bear looks at the viewer indifferently. A city made for strangers. Only one thing is certain, the giraffe has to bend quite a bit to somehow find a place here.

“My artistic journey weaves together my passions for visual anthropology, traditional cultures, and urban identities. Through a blend of illustration, ceramics, and music, I explore how cultural heritage and historical events shape personal and collective memories. As a Polish illustrator and ceramic artist based in Leipzig, I draw inspiration from my studies in philosophy, aesthetics, and ethnomusicology, alongside my fascination with folklore.

My recent project, »We Are Not Playing War!«, delves into the complex emotions tied to childhood memories, particularly the intersection of play, trauma, and cultural storytelling. By capturing children’s games and folklore through doll-like ceramic sculptures, I aim to evoke both nostalgia and reflection. These sculptures—hidden throughout the exhibition space—represent imaginary characters that tell new tales of Berlin, blending the personal stories of its inhabitants with broader collective myths.

This work is deeply rooted in the research conversations I had with people from Berlin, where each sculpture embodies a unique and personal fragment of their childhood. The project also reflects my ongoing interest in creating modern myths and new symbols, where the innocence of play intertwines with the weight of historical trauma. I invite viewers to engage with these memories, reconstruct the stories, and in doing so, create their own urban mythology.”

Kasia Dudziak

 

Displayed artworks:

UNSTOPPABLE (Modern Girl Sisyphus)

This sculpture portrays a young girl dragging a large boulder with a golden jump rope. Inspired by the myth of Sisyphus, who was condemned to push a boulder uphill for eternity, the piece symbolizes the burden of childhood trauma. The girl, though dynamic and modern, is weighed down by the inescapable heaviness of her past. The work reflects the persistence of early emotional struggles and the impact they have throughout life.

 

UNITED (Modern Narcissus Myth)

In this piece, two elderly men stand back-to-back, linked by a golden ribbon in the shape of a children’s string game. The sculpture explores the themes of unresolved conflict and the lingering ties of a broken friendship from childhood. Drawing on the myth of Narcissus, it reflects on the  tension between individual ego and the human desire for connection, showing how personal relationships can be shaped by early memories.

 

UNBELIEVABLE (The Whale Holding Berlin)

This sculpture is inspired by a Russian folktale about a whale punished for swallowing ships. Here, the whale carries the city of Berlin on its back, symbolizing the weight of both personal and collective histories. The piece comments on the struggles faced by Russian individuals living in Berlin, many of whom feel that revealing their nationality might expose them to prejudice. This work blends folklore with contemporary issues, emphasizing the burden of identity and trauma.

 

WEIGHT OF THE MEMORY (Series of 9 Illustrations)

This series of 9 screenprints explores the emotional weight of memory, represented through recurring motifs of cobblestones. Each illustration presents a unique metaphor for the impact of trauma and unresolved experiences:

  1. Single Cobblestone – A lone black cobblestone, symbolizing a deeply traumatic memory that feels insurmountable.
  2. Stacked Cobblestones – A duo or trio of cobblestones stacked upon one another, crushing under their collective weight, highlighting the overwhelming burden of layered memories.
  3. 3 Golden Cobblestones – Scattered golden cobblestones emerge throughout the series, symbolizing moments of healing, growth, and They represent the possibility of change, resilience, and the gradual lightening of emotional burdens.

Each piece in the series reflects on how personal experiences accumulate over time, shaping both individual and collective identities. The black cobblestones serve as a powerful metaphor for the invisible yet ever-present weight of memory, while the golden cobblestones hint at recovery and renewal.

»Paper Playground« highlights the importance of free access to natural outdoor public spaces and offline forms of self-expression in the context of growing mental and physical health issues related to the extensive use of technology. Developed from a visual charting of Berlin’s parks, playgrounds, gardens and other community spaces through in situ drawing and photography, the works focus on the opportunity for encounters and interactions between people of many different backgrounds, ages and cultures that these spaces offer.

Along with interpersonal connections the process entails exploring the natural environment with a focus on observing and depicting natural elements at a micro level, their variation of patterns and textures. Paper is used as a construction material due to its versatility in techniques such as cutting, folding and pop-up. Creating works inspired by natural elements, especially trees, has led to a process of reversed transformation and symbolically returning the material to its origin.

These threads converge in the shadow garden, an interactive installation designed as meeting point between a shadow theater and a sand playground. The paper cut elements create a small habitat replicating the positive qualities of Berlin’s generous natural public spaces. In this environment various characters are resting or interacting with each other.

The participants are invited to share a creative moment by playing with the paper elements and their shadows using mobile light sources. Each interaction creates a unique ephemeral pattern, its complexity increasing with the number of participants.

»Paper Playground« is an invitation to wander, explore and discover natural sanctuaries within our busy environments, as well as to connect with others under the shadows of mighty trees.

»The Lava Trails’ Atlas« is an exploratory research project by artist and architect Nerea Ferrer that envisions speculative cities, radically inclusive for all beings—both human and non-human— beyond our future reliance on fossil fuels. Combining experimental drawing and textile techniques, the project reimagines urban public spaces rooted in social justice and symbiosis with nature. Drawing inspiration from Ferrer’s years of experience working at the intersection of architecture and art, with some co-creating works with children, the project delves into the imaginative and playful design desires of young city dwellers.

At the heart of the project is the relationship between Berlin’s children and their everyday public spaces. Through workshops, observation, and research, Ferrer captures how children interact with these spaces through play, aiming to create maps of future Berlin. The project’s primary message advocates for urban spaces where nature and communal, playful environments take precedence over today’s capitalistic infrastructure. By reimagining Berlin’s future through the eyes of children, the project hopes to inspire a more inclusive, community-centered urban landscape that empowers all voices equally.

The artistic approach— a direct blink to our first maps as kids: the urban playmats— emerge from a non-expectations, playful mindset, echoing the pure creativity implied by the ‘no fear-to-fail’ motto typical in kids processes. In terms of materials and techniques, Ferrer experiments with textile art, including tufting, sewing, and embroidery, to recreate a childlike sense of discovery and self-expression. Working with these materials for the first time was challenging, particularly in relinquishing control over the outcome and allowing the creative process to be free from expectations. This shift mirrors the project’s overarching goal: to explore uncharted territory and embrace mistakes as part of the creative process, as a kid would. Ferrer uses this childlike lens to create dynamic and whimsical artworks rejecting perfectionism.

»The Lava Trails’ Atlas« explore two specific urban sites in Berlin, both materialized in a first topographical and architectural layer and a second experimental tapestry combining kids’ contributions and thoughts:

  • Future Forest focuses on the road network around Westkreuz and the ICC, which is currently dominated by highways and car-centric infrastructure. Ferrer envisions a transformation of this area into a walkable green space where urban and natural landscapes coexist in symbiosis.
  • Anti-Monument Playground reimagines the iconic Gasometer in Schöneberg. Ferrer proposes an alternative future where the Gasometer is repurposed as a multi-dimensional public and ludic space for people of all ages. This transformation reclaims the structure from its capitalistic origins, turning it into a vibrant space for recreation and play. The project draws inspiration from architects and thinkers such as Izaskun Chinchilla and Constant Nieuwenhuys (New Babylon), as well as from Ferrer’s six years of experience working as part of the Spanish art and architecture collective Basurama.

Through »The Lava Trails’ Atlas«, Ferrer seeks to challenge conventional notions of urban design, encouraging a vision of cities that prioritize play, inclusion, and environmental symbiosis. By channeling the imagination and desires of children, the project offers a blueprint for a more just and ecologically balanced future.

“I created a postal museum. In Grünau, just outside Berlin. It is called Kulturpostamt Grünau and it is situated in a renovated old post office. It hosts exhibitions, performances, workshops, and occasionally even Tango nights. Although Kulturpostamt Grünau is very much embedded in Grünau’s local cultural scene, it is ready to reach out to new horizons.

So Diana Pfeiffer, Kulturpostamt Grünau’s head curator and artistic director sends an email to 20 other postal museums in Europe inviting them to take part in an international collaboration.

It turns out, a significant number of these museums are already closed, or are currently undergoing radical transformation, usually being merged into a more high-tech museum, or getting shut down altogether.

9 of the museums answer, and 5 of them maintain stable email communication with Diana in the past year, including sharing their knowledge and memories of the past of letter communication.

On October the 3rd, 2024, I sent out 5 hand-written letters to my »partner institutes« in which I revealed my identity and asked for their forgiveness for having misled them. I have not received any answers so far.

 

»Postmuseum International« started out as a quirky performance honoring mail-art traditions,  reflecting on the dangers of online communication and the ambiguity of what we consider real in the post-internet age. However, by the inputs of the postal workers and museum professionals, it turned into a melancholic documentary of the very few remaining postal museums in Europe, a snapshot of the last moments of a fading culture based on a fading way of communication.

Excerpts of the messages I received are printed on transparent plexiglass, halfway between a screen and a sheet of paper. Names are not indicated. You can hear some of them spoken out loud, if you listen carefully.

Beside the video documentation of the months of this project, a mail carrier figure is present in the exhibition, a grotesque human-like representation of a communicational system based on human contact, much like the wax figures exhibited in postal museums. Its attire represents eight different European nation’s traditional mail carrier uniforms, which look slightly different, but essentially are quite similar. Plus a Berlin mail carrier’s hat.

The mail carrier is the embodiment of the fictional Postmuseum International, and as such, it has a motionless physical body, and a moving holographic double who endlessly walks in the void of virtuality. A pseudo postman of a pseudo institute.”

Nóra Juhász

“This installation, composed of earth, twigs, leaves, found objects, and other materials such as plaster, silicone, and latex, reflects a dark fantasy or nightmare inspired by childhood imagination. The use of everyday items like energy drink cans, a teddy bear, a poetry album, and fragments of photographs and poetry creates a nostalgic yet unsettling atmosphere. The core structure is built from cardboard or plaster, reinforced with black hot glue and other found elements, making the sculptures a fusion of natural and industrial textures. At its heart, the work addresses the complex emotional landscape of children, a space where imagination often straddles between light and darkness.

By evoking a dystopian future devoid of living nature, the installation is a meditation on the current state of our world and the consequences of human actions. It draws inspiration from today’s young rebels—teenagers marching in the streets, demanding a livable future, without environmental destruction, without the horrors of war. The concept highlights that childhood is not merely a carefree time; it’s a period of grappling with emotions as heavy as those faced by adults.

Through this work, I aim to validate children’s darker and more difficult emotions, acknowledging that they are just as natural for a child as positive ones. It’s a reminder that children, like adults, must be allowed to express their full emotional spectrum, especially in a world where many young ones face harsh realities, from war to environmental destruction, to poverty or unstable family situations. My work questions our values and moral compass, urging viewers to reflect on how our childhood experiences shape us and what kind of future we are paving for generations to come.

The contrast of playful and melancholic elements in the piece represents resilience—the capacity children have to endure hardships and still find joy and creativity. This artwork is an invitation to reflect, not only on the fragility of childhood but on the fragility of the world we are creating, and it serves as a call to action to ensure that the dystopian future depicted remains a fantasy rather than a reality. It is a reminder, that our strongest tools as humans are our imagination, playfulness and creativity, to which we have the most direct access, when we are children. Only by nurturing these qualities can we begin to build a future worth living in.”

Sarah Schmidtlein

“Children’s play often creates a space where boundaries are tested, rules are bent, and the thrill of crossing into the unsupervised and forbidden draws them in. Through their play, children like to experiment, curious to explore what lies beyond the structured, monitored world. Each era has its own unsupervised or forbidden play. In post-war Berlin, children made playgrounds in rubbles and ruins, where they roamed freely. After the Berlin Wall fell in the 1990s, new playgrounds emerged in the empty spaces where the Wall used to be, offering children the freedom to explore beyond adult control. Today, however, much of this free, unsupervised exploration has vanished.

Modern cities are filled with designed environments—parks and playgrounds that leave little room for adventure or challenge. As urbanization spreads, the wild corners of the city disappear, leaving spaces that are extensions of the city’s structure. Yet, the human desire for escape remains, and today’s children often find this escape in nature. It is in this spirit of reclaiming imaginative spaces that »Housing the Fox« was born.

Both a physical structure and an imaginative realm, »Housing the Fox« offers a space for creativity, stories, and games. Like the wild, unsupervised areas of the past, it invites children and adults to project their ideas and thoughts onto it. The project began with an urban exploration and a set of workshops involving children 3-18 years old. The initial research revealed that most play areas were highly structured, so in the workshops we focused on what is less controlled: discarded furniture and street objects, building materials, etc. These »ugly« objects became sources of inspiration, and were transformed into opportunities for creative play.The outcomes of these workshops led to the idea of a house for a wild animal that inhabits our surrounding, Schöneberg -the urban fox. The urban fox is a reminder of the presence of urban wildlife, and a symbol of adaptability. Above all, the urban fox is a metaphor for the homeless and marginalized, who navigate the overlooked corners of the city.

At its core, »Housing the Fox« aims to foster connections: between children and their environment, the urban and the wild, and discarded objects and their potential. The Housing is a collaborative space that blurs boundaries between public and private, human and animal. It invites reflection on the hidden lives within cities, like the elusive urban fox that inspired it. Through this project, we aim to evoke the magic of unsupervised play in an increasingly controlled world, offering a space for imagination, creativity, and exploration at the edges of urban life.”

Ivona Pelajić & Fredrik Stjernqvist (Studio Mono/mint)

»BUILT ON SAND«
FREE PLAY RESEARCH BERLIN

Many say that Berlin is the playground capital of Europe. One need only look at the number of playground guides published in recent years. Indeed, the city has a wealth of fascinating playgrounds – themed or non-themed, structured around prefabricated or natural play elements, or differing in how much they encourage risk-taking. But this variety of playgrounds can also be found in other cities. What makes Berlin special is more than just its playgrounds. Play doesn’t stop at playgrounds, and Berlin has a long legacy of built (and unbuilt) environments that support free play.

Around 1850, after Friedrich Fröbel’s pedagogical theories gained influence, large sandpiles were placed in public parks throughout Berlin—marking the first moment in history when play elements with a pedagogical purpose, free for all, were introduced into public spaces. Sand, as a freely malleable and natural material, was first recognized by Fröbel for its educational potential and later inspired generations of toy and game designers, leading to the creation of sandbox games and the »loose parts« logic in play design. The concept of »loose parts« and creating opportunities for children in urban environments to play with natural elements became the foundation for Naturerfahrungsräume (NER), or Nature Exploration Areas. Established in the 2010s, these are natural, open spaces without pre-designed play equipment, allowing children to explore, manipulate, and engage freely with nature throughout Berlin.

But Berlin is also a city that spatially reflects all eras of 20th-century Europe’s turbulent history. In 1919, children were seen playing with cobblestones on the barricades left behind. After the Second World War, countless images document moments when children played among the rubble. These highly symbolic moments of confronting decay and survival inspired an entire film genre, the Trümmerfilm (rubble film), such as Gerhard Lamprecht’s Somewhere in Berlin (Irgendwo in Berlin, 1946) or Wolfgang Staudte’s The Murderers Are Among Us (Die Mörder sind unter uns, 1946). Playing among rubble or construction sites also greatly influenced the initiator of the first adventure playground, Carl Theodor Sørensen, who dreamed of a playground built by children themselves. After his first successful experiment in designing such a playground in Copenhagen in 1943, during the years of German occupation, the idea of adventure playgrounds grew into an international movement. This was thanks in large part to the British adventure playground movement and the efforts of British landscape architect and children’s rights activist Marjory Allen (Lady Allen of Hurtwood).

The adventure playground movement reached Berlin in the revolutionary atmosphere around 1968, leading to the establishment of West Germany’s first Abenteuerspielplatz in Märkisches Viertel, a newly built neighborhood in northwest Berlin. However, these ideas did not remain only on the Western side of the Wall. The East Berlin-based group Spielwagen, founded in 1979, organized public play actions on a similar pedagogical foundation, emphasizing creativity, autonomy, and collaborative practices. The first adventure playground on former East German soil, Kolle 37, emerged from this practice in 1990.

The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, also opened up new spatial possibilities. The demolition of the Wall created vast green spaces in the heart of Berlin, transforming former dead zones into areas of opportunity. Artists, activists, and members of the underground scene quickly occupied these spaces, leading to the establishment of many adventure playgrounds and children’s farms, which today serve as lasting witnesses to that turbulent and creative era.