SWIM
Kristin Wenzel, Helena Doppelbauer
23 Jan–27 Apr 25
Opening: 22. Jan 25, 6-10 pm
SWIM – SWEAT – FIGHT – Searching for Artificial Paradise*
*Spaces, Bodies, and Politics of Leisure in the Sport- und Erholungszentrum (SEZ) Berlin-Friedrichshain
Surrounded by construction fences, the Sport- und Erholungszentrum (SEZ) lies on the edge of Volkspark Friedrichshain. Once one of the most significant projects of the GDR, it attracted millions of visitors. Now, it’s planned to be demolished. With the SEZ, a place will disappear that is deeply intertwined with countless memories, desires, and passions. A human-made, artificial paradise for people, described by visitors as both a spectacle and a gem. Particularly striking was its swimming and bathing landscape: large, organically shaped pools interconnected by cascades, forming a scene that imitated distant shorelines of the South Seas.
SWIM dives into this world of swimming, (body) movement, and water. It explores not only the architectural forms of the building but also the emotional and metaphorical associations tied to them: the sensation of being in water, of weightlessness and fluidity, and the connection to the diverse practices and feelings of the SEZ’s visitors, as well as the blurring and forgetting that come with losing it.
*The multi-part exhibition series `swim, sweat, fight – the Search for Paradises` explores traces of the past and present across three central spaces of the former SEZ: the water and swimming landscape (swim), the sauna (sweat), and the martial arts studio (fight). Metaphorically, it draws connections to constructed, imagined, and contested artificial paradises, evolving into a broader search for social infrastructures and open spaces for collective leisure in the city.
The accompanying program will evolve alongside the exhibition. Numerous additional collaborations with the Friedrichshain district center ‘Pauline’, screening evenings, artistic performances, and dialogue sessions with various guests are planned. Feel free to visit our website and Instagram for updates on the current program.
About the artist
Kristin Wenzel’s multidisciplinary practice involves large-scale installations, sculptures and interventions in public space, often created as site-specific and site-sensitive social environments. Drawn to micro-architecture such as public squares, kiosks, vitrines and fountains, the visual scanning and mapping of places and buildings is an ongoing process undertaken by the artist. She tackles the implications of public architecture as both ‘memory foam’ – inscribed with its particular history – and open structure – allowing it to be strayed from its original design. The notion of transformation, be it conceptual or material, permeates her entire practice and connects the past and present through processes of collecting and reinterpreting. Her projects embed the production of temporary spaces and identities through playful environments that people are invited to inhabit.
Kristin Wenzel, born in 1983 in Gotha, East Germany, lives and works in Bucharest and Gotha. She received an MA from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 2013. Recent solo exhibitions include: Tausend Melodien, ACC Galerie Weimar (2022), LOVERS IN THE NIGHT, Goethe-Institut, Bucharest (2021), The Coin, Ducal Museum, Gotha (2021), wild orchids (2020), SOX Berlin and The Near and the Elsewhere (2020), Suprainfinit Gallery, Bucharest, Romania. In 2018, together with the artists Vlad Brateanu, Alice Gancevici & Remus Puscariu, she co-founded Template, an artists’ initiative and exhibition project in Bucharest. Her recent curatorial projects include Protect Your Heart at Work, Rezidenta BRD Scena9 (2022) in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Bucharest and MEANS OF ESCAPE, curated for Kunsthaus Erfurt (2021).
Helena Doppelbauer works with various media, including video, sound, photography, and performance, to create new perspectives through formal and thematic overlays. She is particularly drawn to moments of disruption and ambiguity, which serve as a key focus in her artistic exploration. In her video installations, she often aims to capture a reality beyond subjective perception.
Helena Doppelbauer, born in 1992 in Wels, Austria, lives and works in Berlin. She studied Fine Arts at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Most recently, she exhibited at the Stadtbad Luckenwalde in collaboration with E-Werk Luckenwalde and Bauhaus Earth, as well as at the annual conference of the German Ethics Council, which focused on the theme of loneliness.
Team
Curator: Melina Gentner
Assistent: Estela Braun Carrasco
Head of production: Carolina Redondo
Gallery invigilators: Daniela Schoepe
Illustrations: Dani Hasrouni
Galerie im Turm is a facility of the municipality department of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
