Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Berl-Berl (2021). Live simulation (stills). Courtesy of the artist.

Berghain Transformed

Written by Lina Aastrup

Jakob Kudsk Steensen
“Berl-Berl” at Halle am Berghain
July 10-Sept 26, 2021

Artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s immersive installation Berl-Berl has transformed Halle am Berghain into a virtual wetland. Even though clubbing in one of the world’s most famous clubs might have felt like a liminal, sticky and wet experience for some, as art installations go, this is a first as far as we know. This is an experience you do not want to miss – catch it before it closes on Sep 26.

Nine large scale LED screens and multiple channel sound mediate the live stream footage and sound from the virtual landscape constructed by Kudsk Steensen and his team. The impressive work, commissioned by LAS Foundation and curated by Emma Enderby, has been two years in the making with extensive research carried out in the wetlands surrounding Berlin.

Kudsk Steensen is known for his work mixing storytelling and science with avant garde gaming and virtual reality tools to reinterpret landscapes. The near hypnotising site-specific soundscape has been created in collaboration with musician Arca and sound artist Matt McCorkle combining archival recordings of wetlands accessed at the Museum für Naturkunde—with samples of Arca’s voice and spoken examples of the various names by which Berlin has been called over the centuries.

Berl-Berl is a song and an organ for swamps, mourning the lost and embracing the new (being in the moment of transition), reviving wetland sensibilities and perspectives, making people appreciate the complexities and beauties of swamps around Berlin” - Jakob Kudsk Steensen.

Check out Berl-Berl World for further information.

Jakob Kudsk Steensen, 'Berl-Berl', Halle am Berghain, 2021. © Timo Ohler