kotti = no ponyhof

what: exhibition and booklet design
where: berlin, germany
when: september 2019

an exhibition and booklet in the context of the “berlin bleibt” festival at HAU / hebbel am ufer / in collaboration with our friends from kotti-shop

der kotti ist kein ponyhof / creating in the social scuffle at kottbusser tor

“the wallpaper installation is a reflection by sandy kaltenborn (image-shift, kotti & co, kotti-coop) and stefan endewardt & julia brunner (kotti-shop, superfuture) about their creative practices and strategies in and with the socio-spatial fabric at kottbusser tor – and beyond – up to and including the housing question in berlin. “der kotti ist kein ponyhof” [something like “kotti is not a bed of roses”] develops a visual narrative about what connects it, namely both the connection to urban space, to its themes and neighbourhoods, while also examining the question of how and with what approach one acts and would like to act creatively in it. documentary elements are interwoven with essayistic-narrative reflections and insights into the current situation at kottbusser tor. they overlap like the urban space itself – between participatory art practice, communication design, neighbourhood and communal work as well as between renters’ demos, contract negotiations and a timeless loitering on the steps in front of the buildings. the project “der kotti ist kein ponyhof” is translated as din a5, and continues on, back into urban space as well, but also into the discussion about creative practice in urban spaces.”

download the booklet

more on “berlin bleibt” festival at HAU / hebbel am ufer

kotti-shop

Haus der Statistik

what: banner design
where: berlin, germany
when: september 2019

in collaboration with steffen schuhmann (anschlage.de) // quote from announcement / statistia festival: “ever since the 1960s, walter womacka has marked alexanderplatz like no other artist. womacka authored the brunnen der völkerfreundschaft (“fountain of friendship”, 1970) and the copper relief mensch und raum (“man and space”, 1971), as well as unser leben (“our life”, 1964), a gigantic frieze marking the “house of teaching” facing the hds – still the largest artwork in europe. unser leben 2020, by sandy kaltenborn (image-shift.net) ; steffen schuhmann (anschlaege.de), is a reference to womacka’s gdr frieze: a vision of the future as monumental display. the new rendition is based, however, on a prolonged engagement with the wider hds network of neighbors, organizers, cultural workers. an attempt at a collective position on neighborhood developments such as the kollhoff plan for alexanderplatz, perhaps the most controversial example of city development in berlin. the plan is already being sporadically implemented. can a new city center realistically be based on the sheer logic of property development, urban competition and skyline aesthetics, without any thought for access, content, sustainability and the common good?”

more on statista

more on haus der statistik

#unteilbar

what: signet/logo design, posters, flyer, …
where: berlin, germany
when: october 2018 / ongoing …

for the large #unteilbar demonstration in berlin we designed the poster and its main image, – which was then also applied onto other various media formats.
from the call: „ a dramatic political shift is taking place: racism and discrimination are becoming socially acceptable. what yesterday was considered unthinkable and unutterable has today become a reality. humanity and human rights, religious freedom, and the rule of law are being openly attacked. this is an attack on all of us. we will not allow the welfare state to be played off against asylum and migration. we will stand in resistance when fundamental rights and freedoms are in danger of being further restricted.
we are expected to accept the deaths of those seeking refuge in europe as ‘normal’. europe is in the grip of an atmosphere of nationalistic antagonism and exclusion. however, any criticism of these inhumane conditions is dismissed as unrealistic. (…)“

more on #unteilbar

some impressions of the demonstration in 2018:

re-municipalisation plus

what: broschure design, graphics
where: berlin, germany
when: 2018

the tenant initiative kotti & co has long been calling for the (re-)municipalisation of the private social housing complexes around kottbusser tor in berlin kreuzberg and also demands the transfer of genuine co-administration rights to the tenants. but how strongly is this demand anchored in the neighborhood? what and how do the inhabitants want to have a say in? in 2018, on behalf of the state of berlin, the association kotti-coop e.v. has conducted a large-scale study to answer these and further (housing) questions.

you can view the whole study as a website here (in german)

kotti-coop e.v.

kotti & co

we are the kotti kids

what: exhibition, workshop
where: berlin, germany
when: 2018

kottbusser tor is usually seen in the public media and by many berliners only as a transit point or more often as a “problem location”. the drugs, tourism and security issues are in the foreground. a significant deficit in this context is the fact that there is little representation of the residents, that it is barely noticed that more than 2000 people have their homes at kottbusser tor, go to sleep, get up, raise children, go to school, … – live a life.

the exhibition “wir sind der kinder kotti” (“we are the children of kotti”) would like to oppose the negative images and make it clear that kottbusser tor also has many children with very different stories. – how do children see kottbusser tor and what are their wishes? with these questions we went to the 5b class’s art course of the jens nydahl elementary school. the result is a wonderful exhibition of drawings that thanks to the support of the bvg has been presented on the outdoor side of the subway station kottbusser tor (u1).

more images / info and all children pictures here

and here

urbanize!

what: poster design, programm layout
where: berlin, germany
when: october 2018

info: “urbanize! international festival for urban explorations / berlin 2018 / social movements, political power and the right to the city

the urbanize! international festival for urban explorations in berlin for 10 days opens up a networking, theory and practice platform for people who are interested in and committed to the “right to the city”. how can the city be shaped together in an emancipatory and democratic way? about thirty urban actors from berlin together with dérive – magazine for urban research (vienna) invite you to lectures, discussions, workshops, guided tours and urban explorations. together with berliners and international guests, they want to explore existing paths and break new grounds: for a pluralistic and collaborative, solidarity-based and common good-oriented urban development and (re)production of space.

in berlin – as in many other cities – one recently can observe how a new urban citizenship prevents privatizations aimed at maximizing profits, topples top-down development plans, draws up its own urban development concepts or wins local referendums. normal political and administrative action is put into creative unrest. examples are the persistent criticism of the sell-out of the city, also known as “real estate policy”, the social tenants’ protest “kotti & co”, the prevention of the planned privatization of former “dragoner areal” by “stadt von unten” (city from below) and other activists, the refugee occupations of oranienplatz and the gerhard-hauptmann school, the “bizim kiez” resistance against the gentrification and touristification of the wrangelkiez, the insistence on the stubborn greenery of the “prinzessinnengarten” or the rebellious pensioners of “stille straße”. they all demonstrate, how cities can be shaped in an emancipatory and democratic way by what are often neighbourhood-related movements.

urbanize! organizers and actors: Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik | Urbanitiez | suburban | Station urbaner Kulturen | Stadt AG Interventionistische Linke Berlin | ps wedding | Netzwerk Steuergerechtigkeit | Netzwerk Solidarity City Berlin | Netzwerk kommunal und selbstverwaltet Wohnen | metroZones | Kotti & Co | Institut für Strategien partizipativer Architektur und räumliche Aneignung | International Journal of Urban and Regional Research | Initiative Stadtneudenken | Initiative Stadt von Unten | Initiative Haus der Statistik | id22: In- stitut für kreative Nachhaltigkeit | Hidden Institute | Gebietsvertretung südliche Friedrichstadt | ExRotaprint | Experimentdays.18 | Dissertationsseminar an der AKBild Wien | Die Quelle | Critical Mapping in Municipalist Movements | Common Grounds | Prinzessinnengarten | Campus Cosmopolis | Bündnis Otto-Suhr-Siedlung & Umgebung | Bezirksamt Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg | AmMa 65 | …

more info here

shrapnel

what: photo, text, layout
where: kabul, afghanistan / berlin, germany
when: 2016

it always hits you abruptly. a call from a friend: “hey, your mother is from afghanistan – right?, we’re looking for someone who can do farsi – translation for refugees – can you?” i can not. a week later: “bahnhof zoo, my train is coming in, i’m getting out to be back”. it´s been a while now. the train from bonn stops at berlin central station, which did not even exist at ideal times. whatever – moving on with the subway. from the u8,  up the stairs, hello kotti again! in front of the houses, at cafe südblock, a crowd of people – seems to be a long shift for the employees, i still think, while the elevator opens its door and i drive up to heaven and leave the kotti ground behind me. upstairs i stare at a picture on my smartphone and feel more lost than smart. the photo on my phone shows a shrapnel, a shrapnel fragment my mother brought from kabul. it had landed in my cousin’s garden. 1 km from the explosion. 6 hours flight from kotti. with or without trolley. it was a big pickup truck loaded with grapes. below an explosive device. and stones. an metal. when the bomb went off, my mother was shopping with 2 of my cousin’s children in the bazaar. the sweet gnomes are four and five years old. 3 meters further, death would have reached them. luckily she had just turned into an alley which had stable walls on the right and on the left. everything broke in the bomb blast. everything that was not nailed down. slices, mud walls, everything. she pressed the two kids with her body protectively against the wall. smoke and dust everywhere. the little one of the two dwarves does not stop crying. “it’s all good – i’m here – you do not have to be scared.” my mother said – “no aunt, i’m not scared – a bee stabbed me when you hit me against the wall.” she still hears the bang of the bomb, as she told me during tea in bonn on the river rhein. for tea we ate grapes. dried. they are the best in the world. so sweet.

design in urban conflicts

what: seminar, newspaper design
where: berlin, germany
when: 2017

together with “ca ira” we organized this seminar with students from the htw berlin. the subject was kottbusser tor (“kotti”), a famous square in berlin kreuzberg. the squares’s neighborhood is torn apart between a bad reputation and a heavy gentrification process happening since years. beyond the stereotypes and the myths, the students asked tourists passing by, the local residents as well as local engaged persons, their perspective and hopes for the neighborhood. more than the summary of those discussions, the newspaper produced on this occasion raises questions and open the debate on city politics and the future of this neighborhood and the city of berlin. with: adrienne, anna, chiara, claude, elena, franziska, hannah, judith, leo, mara, melanie, ulrike, pierre, htw berlin, …

the newspaper was realized in the context of the project “wir sind der kotti” from the association kotti-coop e.v.

view & download newspaper

the fine art of living

what: book design
where: berlin, germany
when: 2018

from the cover / blurb: „gentrification is not a law of nature, it is a war against the poor. it is a carefully planned development in cities, where it is welcomed and supported by political actors who prefer wealthy citizens. from 2008 until 2018, berlin artist ina wudtke’s works focused on the displacement of low income tenants from their apartments in the city center, through massive rent hikes and with the help of judicial instruments like the so-called “moder­nisierungsklage”, a tool used by landlords to revamp apartments for future high income tenants, or the so- called “eigenbedarfsklage”, whereby the new owners of former public housing claim occupancy against long-term tenants. the fine art of living shows the political historical aspects behind the reality, the downside of the process by which both former east german state-owned buildings and west german public housing were turned into a profit-seeking real estate business. with contributions by andrej holm, elke krasny, dieter lesage, ursula maria probst and florian wüst.“

more on ina wudtke

housing illustrations

what: illustrations for booklet
where: berlin, germany
when: october 2017

an information booklet on capitalist housing marked written by andrej holm and published by the rosa luxemburg stiftung

download booklet here

urban citizenship revisited

what: conference leaflet, poster series, text work
where: berlin, tel aviv
when: 2011

for the international symposium “urban citizenship revisited. rights, recognition and distribution” in berlin and tel aviv we designed a program leaflet – including 4 posters. info text from the organizers: “the symposium will survey the field of urban citizenship practices in berlin and tel aviv and theorize urban citizenship from a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective. scholars from israel, germany, and other european countries will discuss current forms of inclusion and exclusion into the political, civic, economic, and cultural spheres of both cities, as well as theoretical questions concerning the analytical and normative framework of the urban citizenship concept. (…) the goal of this symposium is to survey and theorize current practices of urban citizenship through a comparative and multidisciplinary survey of two cities: berlin and tel aviv. during the symposium, we will discuss current forms of inclusion and exclusion into the political, civic, economic and cultural spheres of both cities, as well as more theoretical questions concerning the analytical and normative framework of the “local citizenship” concept.”

symposium website (HU university berlin)

symposium info (pdf file)

everything can & must

what: poster series
where: berlin
when: 2015 – ongoing

a poster series inspired by the book „psychopolitics: neoliberalism and the new power techniques” by byung-chul han.

translation: orange: everything can / everything must, blue: information has no history, pink: career ladder, orange: precarity is also just a feeling which ones thinks only belongs to oneself, dark blue: the search for the self – often groundless, red: self optimize my ass. the posters have been published in the monthly program of the event place südblock.

wikipedia on han

DOX / prague

what: exhibition participation, lecture
where: prague / czech republic
when: 2014

image-shift participated in the exhibition: „the poster in the clash of ideologies 1914 – 2014”. additionally we held a small lecture in collaboration with klaus staeck at the DOX museum in prague.

mission statement from the curator: the exhibition is a reference to marshall mcluhan’s famous statement that “the medium is the message,” which appeared in his book understanding media (1964). the goal of the exhibition is to show, from the perspective of the current social situation, the link between the poster as a propaganda medium and the message of dominant ideologies over the last hundred years.

while the majority of the 20th century was characterized by competition between two dominant economic systems, capitalism and socialism, today’s situation is in this respect much less clear. the current uncertainty and instability in society is accompanied by attempts by political opportunists to resuscitate certain concepts from past ideologies, for example racism and fascism, or to the state’s tendency to suppress democratic principles, for example in its efforts to monitor its citizens. the media are the main means for communicating these messages or meta-narratives.

museums website

lecture video (klaus staeck & sandy kaltenborn)

ultra red / school of echoes

what: booklet design
where: berlin and beyond
when: 2014

as part of the trans-local school of echoes the sound art group ultra-red together with the berlin based tenant group kotti & co investigated the „co” the neighborhood and the so called „co” of the group. „there are audible emerging fields of action, demands, interest policies, languages and narratives of belonging …” we designed the booklet “the co of kotti & co – a research of organized listening”.

audiofiles and more info (in german)

ultra red

kotti & co

everything wrong

what: conference organization, slides, booklet design
where: berlin
when: november 2012

a conference on social housing in berlin organized by the tenant group kotti & co. the title („nothing runs well“ or „everything wrong“) already gives an idea how dramatic the situation in social housing for tenants is today: because if its absurd financing system, made up in the 70ies, the rent in berlin social housing flats is often more expensive than on the free marked. as our studio is located in a social housing complex at kottbusser tor (berlin kreuzberg), and as we are an active part of the tenant initiative kotti & co, we helped to organize this conference – and of course designed the booklet which came along. > one of the challenges for the conference – and for the booklet – was to find a language, (and) visual language, which would be able to speak to politicians and experts, as well as to „normal tenants”. the well attended conference took place in the parliament of berlin in november 2012.

kotti & co

conference booklet online

kotti & co

what: organization and multiple designs for posters, banners, website, stickers, …
where: berlin kreuzberg and further
when: since 2011 – ongoing

well … how to describe this „project”?  this is much more than a project – it is an extensive collaboration with the berlin based tenant initiative kotti & co, who is struggling against the risings rent in social housing. our studio is located in the same area of berlin kreuzberg (kottbusser tor) as the initiative has it´s „headquarters” and most activities from kotti & co take place. (we also have been founding members of this group).
in may 2012 the group squatted a spot at kottbusser tor and build a protest-house. more than 27 demonstrations have taken place ever since … a huge amount of other activities, such as concerts, reading sessions, discussion rounds, parties etc. took place at the protest-spot.
most of the communication and media of the group was developed and designed by image-shift. one of the most popular media formats is a sticker we designed, quoting milton glasers „I love NY“ design – which now said „i love kotti”. kotti stands for kottbusser tor / the big intersection in berlin kreuzberg. as kottbusser tor is usually seen and represented as a „problematic” area, which has to deal with drug addicts, major traffic pollution, poverty and dirt – the sticker takes a different perspective – basically the perspective of the people who live at kottbusser tor and who despite the problems love their neighborhood (but are now under huge pressure by the rising rents). the same goes for a typical tourist postcard with greetings from kottbusser tor. kotti & co is, beside being a tenant initiative, a project of diversity – bringing together a very wide rage of different people, who would usually live a typical urban life next to each other but not connecting with each other (…).
as mentioned above – it is impossible to sum up all the work we did in this context. but you will get a little impression of the activities and design-work by checking out the images above.

kotti & co

more photo impressions

global prayers / HKW

what: book design
where: berlin, world
when: 2012

at the end of several years reaching project “global prayers – redemption and liberation in the city” (hkw, metrozones, viadrina university of frankfurt, and others), we designed the final publication. a mix of scientific, political and artistic united positions show a complex light on the importance of new religious movements in urban contexts raises. a standard work.
information on the project by the curators:”global prayers – redemption and liberation in the city” is an interdisciplinary research project, that investigates new manifestations of the religious in urban space and the influence of urban cultures on the religious. in making use of collaborations between art and science-based researchers, global prayers takes a new approach to exploring the images and sounds, spaces and practices that the religious adopts in the age of globalization. it creates trans-regional networks and advances interdisciplinary approaches. since may 2010, over 20 academics and artists from more than ten countries have been working on case studies in eight of the world’s metropolises: lagos, rio de janeiro, mumbai, istanbul, beirut, jakarta, kinshasa, and berlin.
the project was initiated in 2009 by academics, curators and artists affiliated with the project agency metrozones e.v., the global prayers project is a joint endeavor of the haus der kulturen der welt and the europa-universität viadrina. global prayers is a project at the forum transregionale studien. the project is coproduced by the heinrich-böll-stiftung, the goethe-institute, and the ngbk.”

global prayer website

HKW website

memefest / melbourne

what: teaching, workshop and lecture
where: melbourne, australia
when: november 2014

in the context of the memefest extradisciplinary symposium workshop „radical intimacies: dialogue in our times”, which took place at the swinburne university we taught a workshop and gave a lecture. the symposium was attempted by a wide set of designers and other professionals from all over the world, such as ren fah, scott townsend, george petelin, mariano mussi, lisa gye, alana hunt, sam burch, kevin yuen kit lo, fee plumley, the brisbane aboriginal sovereign embassy, keith robertson and many more. the 3 day workshop was focussing on the struggle of aboriginal rights and was planned in cooperation with the brisbane aboriginal sovereign embassy. the images show impressions of the symposium as well as some from the workshop (part of the images here are by kevin lo)

swinburne university
memefest
review by kevin lo

seeing studies

what: book design project
where: berlin, teheran
when: 2010

in iran hergé’s „tintin“ is mirrored and reprinted. not from left to right, but from right to left is the reading direction. this goes even for the images. this has immense, and yet poorly explored implications on the view of the (western) art (- history) and the reception of eastern cultural, visual communications. florence meet’s baghdad. seeing and learning from seeing as a problem of a complex cultural history and its confrontations was the starting point in this art book project by the artist natascha sadr haghighian. which was funded by documenta 13. together with the researcher ashkan sepahvand and teheran based illustrator farhad fozouni and our intern tirza ben-porat from tel aviv this became quite some unusual book project.
a book in english and farsi: it was noted that there has been no book which treated the hierarchy of bilingualism in an equal way together in a book. most of bilingual books are two books that center meet, like magazines in airlines for instance. our design was a completely new solution. although the usability suffers a bit: by replacing the clips it is possible to book either read preferably persian or english. (some of the photos above are by tirza ben-porat)

documenta 13 on seeing studies

publisher (hatjecantz)

design critique / symposium

what: lecture
where: dornbirn / austria
when: 2014

“do designers have a specific social, and environmental responsibility? can design change things?” a lecture on design in social context and on questions of responsibility of designers.

symposium website

political action theatre

what: set of postcards
where: berlin
when: 2010

an info postcard set for the political action theatre teachers harlad hahn and till baumann. political action theater is a form of public intervention with a collective theatre practice in order to help activist groups to gain attention for their issues. in opposition to a classical theatre setting on a stage political action theatre understand the streets as the stage and the audience as participators in shaping the content. this project was realized by with our intern adeline debatisse.

adeline debatisse

till baumann

halald hahn

Spaceship Yugoslavia

what: book design
where: berlin
when: 2011

exhibition project at the new society for fine art in berlin (NGBK). we designed the book which came along. (as well as some of the exhibit typography)  project description by the curators: Spaceship Yugoslavia–The Suspension of Time seeks to investigate the treatment of (post-) yugoslav history from a contemporary perspective. The exhibition presents artistic projects as well as theoretical positions that highlight political and socio-economic aspects of the post-Yugoslav reality. It aims to strengthen and establish critical viewpoints on the various politics of the former Yugoslav nation states in the so-called transition to capitalism. Since the transformation of the European socialist state systems after 1989, the political positions of the post communist era have negated almost every facet of the previous system as part of a totalitarian entity in an effort to legitimize their own claims for freedom regarding ethnic identity and/or private ownership.

NGBK

project website

reboot FM /audio

OCCUPRINT wallstreet / USA

what: poster contribution
where: new york
when: 2011

a contribution for the NYC based occuprint project: „occuprint emerged when the occupied wall street journal asked us to guest curate an issue dedicated to the poster art of the global occupy movement. (…) Like many parts of the #occupy movement, occuprint was developed in the spur of the moment, caught up in the rush and excitement and fresh air of an emerging social movement. (…)”

our poster is a remake of an older poster for a demonstration in berlin in 2009. we translated and altered the text. poster text reads:“daily, when the alarm rings, it comes over the kitchen table all the way to our work places and into the streets, right through our relationships and bodies, to our bank account, screaming for low wages, competition and mistrust. it works with our fears. this is the daily madness of competition, of capitalist culture. this is a permanent crisis. we wont pay for this crisis any more. we demand social security and free health care for all. free education and papers for the so-called illegal aliens, free public transportation, low rent . . . and tomorrow even more. for a society based on solidarity, not competition, fear, capitalism, and war. thanx for reading. you have a good day.”

occuprint website

right to the city

what: booklet, flyers and else
where: berlin
when: 2011

right to the city (henri lefebvre) is a slogan used by a coalition of tenants organizations who came together in late 2011. the members of the network represent a wide range of rent struggles in berlin – such as problems with social housing, luxury modernization, privatization of public city housing and so on. they understand their issues and problems with rising rent and gentrification as structural problems on the housing market in berlin. therefore they published a booklet (dossier) which helps politicians, the media and the wider public to have all urgent issues regarding gentrification in berlin bundled on the table. the slideshow shows impressions from some of their actions, such as protesting in the rotes rathaus (city hall) while the forming of the new city government, a discussion event in city parliament house and else. image-shift helped to produce all printed matter for this network.

network website

mayday / hamburg

what: poster series, stickers, masks and more
where: hamburg
when: 2010

“What does International Workers’ Day mean for the self-employed — for the designer or any other highly flexible working person today? Or someone unemployed? How does someone self-employed go on strike? How do you fight for better working conditions?” In much of the globe, workers of the world celebrate the first of May with demonstrations, parades, and parties led by community groups, unions, and left wing political organizations.”

for several years we designed the visual campaign for mayday in berlin. in 2010 we left berlin and made a trip to hamburg were we held a workshop with the organizers of euromayday in hamburg. the posters, as stickers and other printed material we developed out out this collective process. the photos above show the workshops, the demonstration and things around… – please have a look at out little history of mayday engagement though out the years 2007 – 2010 on the new york based website „social design notes”. (link below)

social design notes

global prayers / NGBK

what: bookelt an other printet matter
where: berlin, world
when: 2012

global prayers is a research and exhibition project initiated by the berlin based association metrozones. image-shift developed the design and produced several things such as books, folders, exhibition booklets and else. please check our links below for further info and more entrys on our website in relation to this project

curators text on the exhibition at ngbk: “the international art exhibition the urban cultures of global prayers offers a differentiated view of the interrelations between urban development and sacred practices, between promises of spiritual redemption and social liberation. beyond ideological debates on the “regained strength of religiosity,” it becomes evident in the works of the artists from twelve countries that big cities are also always places of religious innovation. the show particularly addresses the cultural and urban practices of globally active new religious movements, allowing viewers to experience the urban settings, strategies, and productions of meaning of religious players and communities in metropolises of the global south such as lagos, mumbai, or rio de janeiro—but also in istanbul and berlin. the main emphasis of the exhibition is on the visual and media formats of photography, video installation, and soundscape.

new religious movements are playing an increasingly important role in cities. they are transforming the urban topography, appearing as economic as well as political players, and not seldom replacing the role of the state—across all regions and religions of the world. at the same time, urban cultures are being permeated by new religious practices such as islamic hip-hop or christian nollywood movies.

metrozones

ngbk

südblock #2

what: program flyer, posters
where: berlin
when: 2012 and ongoing

südblock is a event location, cafe, restaurant (and much more) located in berlin kreuzberg – just across the big intersection kottbusser tor, where our studio is located. südblock is a unique space, run by lovely people – who care more about the social than the business. südblock hosts a very wide mix of all kind of different people: neighbors stop for a coffee, queer party-hoppers party, all kind of artists perform, political activists have events, bands play life music and so on… in january of 2012 we started to design the monthly program for südblock. for this we decided not to have a fixed design identity as the space itself is very divers in the first place. every monthly flyer has a poster in the inside.

lets talk about alternatives

what: project design, booklet
where: berlin
when: 2012

let´s talk about alternatives is a project initiated and run by the rosa luxemburg foundation (foundation of the political party „the left“). the project includes conferences, workshops and other kind of meetings. the title refers to a quote from margaret thatcher („there is no alternative“). in opposition to this the project seeks to bring together different perspectives and practices for a post-capitalist alternative. we developed the the project design and a booklet

project website

rosa luxemburg foundation

trans*_homo

what: book design
where: berlin
when: 2012

the project “trans_homo – of lesbian trans gays and other normalities”  took place at the “schwules museum berlin” in 2012. this project reflects the interplay of theory, art, and activism through an exhibition, a media centre, a companion book and a program of events. the artworks and the written texts are from trans* perspectives and aim to challenge categories of sexual and gender identity.

schwules museum berlin

südblock

what: programm flyer, posters
where: berlin
when: 2012 and ongoing

südblock is a event location, cafe, restaurant (and much more) located in berlin kreuzberg – just across the big intersection kottbusser tor, where our studio is located. südblock is a unique space, run by lovely people – who care more about the social than the business. südblock hosts a very wide mix of all kind of different people: neighbors stop for a coffee, queer party-hoppers party, all kind of artists perform, political activists have events, bands play life music and so on… in january of 2012 we started to design the monthly program for südblock. for this we decided not to have a fixed design identity as the space is very divers in the first place. every monthly program has a poster in the inside.

miete essen seele auf

what: poster design
where: berlin
when: 2012

a poster for the tenant rights movement, quoting / adapting the title of rainer werner fassbinders movie “angst essen seele auf”. the translation of the poster reads “rent is eating soul”.

backgrounds

what: book design
where: halle
when: 2011

hintergründe (backgrounds) is an info book on neonazi activities in the east german area of sachsen-anhalt. this books gives an insight of nazi strategies, cultural practices and forms of organization. if further gives explanations on how the new nazi movement managed to grow strong in the years after unification of the 2 germanys. the book was published by the association miteinander e.v..

miteinender e.v.

just flowers

what: photos
where: india
when: 2010

well… just photos of flowers. nothing more and nothing less.