Kerstin Godschalk
bangaloREsident@Forager Collective
Kerstin Godschalk is a critic, curator and cultural manager based in Berlin. Since 2014 she is Artistic Director at HB55 Kunstfabrik, a 7000 sq. m. creative hub housing over 200 artists and creative producers. On 600 sq. m. she organises exhibitions and cultural events with the local tenants.
Inspired by H. Lefebvre’s vision of human space as a product of ociety always contested by interactions, she collects emerging viewpoints under the framework of “L’espace de l’espèce”. Cutting through established art disciplines, viewing habits and approaches, she opens up multimedia spaces for interdisciplinary encounter and interactions speaking to all senses. By moulding control structures, new pathways are shaped for the reflection on existing and the creation of new social realities.
During her studies in Cultural Sciences her focus lay on art sociologist approaches. Her research led her to live and study in Argentina. With Andreas Siekmann, Alice Creischer and Max Jorge Hinderer she then worked first as an intern at the House of World Cultures Berlin, before accompanying them with their exhibition “The Potosí Principle” to Bolivia and the Museo Nacional de Arte (MNA)/ Museo Nacional de Etnografia y Folclore (MUSEF) in La Paz. Since then- post-colonial studies, phenomena of globalisation and current social issues are focal points in her curatorial praxis.
As cultural manager she was Head of Production at the concert agency Handshake Booking, Berlin, and of Stattbad Wedding, Berlin. This professional experience enhanced her inter-disciplinary and multi-medial approach and led her to combine visual with performance arts and music in her future as a curator.
From 2013 until 2015 she worked as curatorial assistant to Anselm Franke and project coordinator for the exhibition series “Anthropocene Observatory #2-4” at the House of World Cultures. Throughout the past year, she published articles and gave talks in several occasions.
In the summer of 2015 Kerstin Godschalk was invited to take part in the first Berlin Food Art Week. The exhibition “LEBENSMITTELpunktKUNST” reassembled international artistic positions that in times of food courts, Global food and ethically correct healthy meals conveying sense and sensibility of nutrition in today’s society. The exhibition was accompanied by a range of interactive performances. From the moment of its inauguration until its closing event people could eat and share food on different occasions. A long table was located at the heart of the exhibition space and served as an invitation to enter a dialogue and reflect upon our consumer behaviour.
The Berlin Food Art Week will take place in a two-year circle. As Kerstin Godschalk’s personal interest lies in the articulation of emerging spaces, she is intrigued to find creative positions which instead of following the idea of escape are broadening cultural perspectives. In collaboration with Forager Collective she would like to seek local positions, which she could then integrate in the Berlin Food Art Week of 2017. Her research is driven by the question of whether life and eating on the streets of Bangalore is so different from Berlin. Which commonalities can be detected in a world of global over-shaping, and consequently which traditions resist and persist? In particular she would like to filter local motivation, demand and the social function of artistic debates on that issue. She will contribute to the Forager Magazine with an essay on her findings.
