For three days in late July, the Kiezsalon settles into the Wasserspeicher in Prenzlauer Berg, a historic 19th-century water reservoir. The program begins on Thursday, 24 July with Nepalese composer Jason Kunwar and Australian sound artist Jasmine Guffond. We continue with Limpe Fuchs and Maika Garnica on Friday, finishing with Başak Günak and Cerys Hafana on Saturday.
Berlin-based Australian composer Jasmine Guffond investigates the intersection of sound, technology and political infrastructures through live performance, installations, and recordings. Her work interrogates surveillance culture, using the sonification of data to reveal previously hidden digital processes such as facial recognition algorithms and internet tracking. Her 2024 album Alien Intelligence explored themes of machine autonomy through Max/MSP programming and a Serge modular synthesizer; Dusted Magazine described it as “a haunting, deeply perplexing record that rewards repeated listening”. At the Wasserspeicher, Jasmine is joined by clarinettist and composer-performer Kai Fagashinski.
Jason Kunwar is a Nepalese musician, artist and film composer. Both solo and as frontman of the contemporary folk group Night, his work draws upon folk traditions, ethnomusicological research and contemporary experimentation to highlight the challenges faced by villagers, labourers and migrant workers. Recently his work has focused on live improvisation, blending electronic soundscapes with Nepalese and Tibetan instruments. His award-winning film scores include The Black Hen, Talakjung vs Tulke and the animated short Marionettes (and the Virtue of a Lotus Flower).
Alongside our live music program, we present artworks by pioneering German sound artist Christina Kubisch and multidisciplinary Berlin-based artist Victoria Alexandrova.
Christina Kubisch, born in Bremen 1948, belongs to the first generation of sound artists. Kubisch’s practice ranges from performances, concerts, to works with video and visual art, but she is best known for her sound installations and electro-acoustic compositions. In her installations she merges audio and visual arts to create multi-sensory experiences for the participants, who are invited to become active as listeners and performers.
Born in Kamchatka, Russia, multidisciplinary artist Victoria Alexandrova led a nomadic life that took her through Argentina and Finland before eventually finding her home in Berlin. At the Wasserspeicher, she will present a piece from her series Ordnung!, produced by recovering and documenting forgotten, small-scale and often trivial artefacts and their stories. Her reimagining of these found objects encourages a focused examination of the recent German history of tyranny.
The Wasserspeicher in Prenzlauer Berg is a historic underground reservoir, built in 1877 to store and supply water to Berlin’s growing population. Now decommissioned, the site has found new life as a cultural venue, its raw, vaulted architecture boasting unique acoustics and an enigmatic atmosphere.
The Kiezsalon is a project by Digital in Berlin. Curated by Michael Rosen and funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. Presented by The Wire and taz, die tageszeitung.
