LIGHT
UNIVERSAL INSPIRATION

Mischa Kuball
August 30th - September 19th
SearchLight - a process for the uncompleted Kulturforum in Berlin

There is a sad piece of fallow land in the middle of Berlin that no-one likes to enter: swamped by motorway-like noise during the day, dominated by the clavilux of Potsdamer Platz at night, windy and desolate, with an underground car park underneath it that has never seen a single car. Although it is actually a public area, it seems more like an empty space - one that happens to be the entrance to the most famous collection of monuments in Berlin: the Kulturforum with the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Central Library, the Picture Gallery, the New National Gallery and the Church of St. Matthew. The area was planned and built by many famous architects, including Hans Scharoun, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, August Stüler and the landscape architect Hermann Mattern.

People who visit this prominently situated public space are overcome by feelings of bewilderment and confusion. SearchLight therefore plans to open a laboratory right in this public space: What would a collective reappropriation look like? What sort of fakelore can be discovered for this centrally located field?

SearchLight will attempt to use the medium of light to make the uncompleted Kulturforum into a stage. This no man's land provides the perfect location for interventions and guerrilla lighting. Deeper investigation will also unearth the site's artistic potential. Local residents, visitors, and people involved and affected will also get their say.
All conceivable resources can be incorporated into the project without material being added to the location. The goal is to bring about a public process of sensitisation during the duration of the project.

The course is aimed at light designers, lighting technicians and directors, as well as architects, town planners and conceptual artists who are interested in light as a medium.