Refugium – gorki arts asylum

Although the artists in the performance collective Conflict Zone Arts Asylum have all lived in Berlin for a long time, their personal experience with exile and immigration from Russia, Turkey, Israel and the Jewish Diaspora in America has strongly influenced their creative work. Convinced that the task of art is to promote exchange far beyond one’s own horizon, the performers converted the former studio of the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin into a “darkroom”. The project called for a two-year artistic residency with a focus on political art. The residency served as an international platform and development laboratory for discussions and creative processes in view of global crises, as well as certain political and religious developments which have a direct impact on artistic freedom. The programme offered the members of Conflict Zone Arts Asylum the chance to develop and stage their own projects, as well as invite other international artists to their “arts asylum”.