Locations:

Nollendorfplatz, Bülowstraße, and Schönhauser Allee subway stations (U2)

From:

June – September 2025

Artists:

Adrian Marie Blount, İpek Burçak, Lola von der Gracht, Franziska Pierwoss & Siska, Nadin Reschke

Online-Magazine with contributions by:

Sara Ahmed, Gürsoy Doğtaş, Mia Göhring, Audre Lorde, Poligonal, Paul B. Preciado, Anh Trieu u.a.

Event program curated by:

Marenka Krasomil, Sandra Teitge und Franziska Zahl mit Bella Bram und Letícia Oehlgardt

nGbK working group:

Yeşim Duman, Lorena Juan, Marenka Krasomil, Sandra Teitge, Franziska Zahl

This year, the nGbK is once again presenting the results of its biennial art competition, „Art in the Underground,“ this year under the title „flexen, flirren, fantasieren – mapping the queer city.“ Five artistic projects will engage the Nollendorfplatz, Bülowstraße, and Schönhauser Allee subway stations along the U2 line with large-scale posters on the platforms behind the tracks, as well as with performances. A concurrent online magazine combines artistic contributions with historical and socio-political analyses.

The Western European metropolis was essentially conceived by white, cisgender, upper-class men. In Eastern Europe, urban planning took a different form, but was ultimately also patriarchal. However, cities and their inhabitants are multifaceted and diverse. People have different needs and strategies for using public space. flexen, flirren, fantasieren therefore develops strategies for the use of public space by women, People of Color (PoC), queer and post-migrant individuals, workers, children, retirees, and people with disabilities.

The selected works will be displayed above and below ground at the Nollendorfplatz, Bülowstraße, and Schönhauser Allee subway stations along the U2 line from June to September 2025. Works on the platforms behind the subway stations will be regularly activated through performances. To kick things off on June 28, Franziska Pierwoss & Siska will revive the vibrant legacy of the Turkish Bazaar at the Bülowstraße subway station with a live concert. In July, Lola von der Gracht and Adrian Marie Blount will activate their works at all three stations. Finally, in September, works by İpek Burçak and Nadin Reschke will be on display at Bülowstraße and Schönhauser Allee.

Then, in September, works by İpek Burçak and Nadin Reschke will be on display at Bülowstraße and Schönhauser Allee. For this year’s edition of Art in the Underground, an online magazine has been published for the first time, bringing together diverse perspectives and a multifaceted exploration of urban space. The magazine unites new and existing texts, video and audio works, and invites artists, writers, and activists to contribute their perspectives throughout the project. In addition to artistic contributions, historical and socio-political analyses are also published, underscoring the intersectional nature of the project. Thematically, the magazine connects historical perspectives from East and West Berlin with current issues—particularly in the context of the three subway stations along the U2 line, which was interrupted during the division of Berlin.

For more information go to: https://flexen-flirren-fantasieren.ngbk.de

ABOUT ART IN THE UNDERGROUND

The art competition, originally titled „Art Instead of Advertising,“ was first held in East Berlin in 1958 and called upon artists to design posters for peace. The submitted works were exhibited on the platforms behind the tracks at the Alexanderplatz subway station. While most of the former GDR institutions were dissolved or renamed after 1989, the competition survived. Since the early 1990s, the nGbK (New Society for Fine Arts Berlin) has been realizing artistic projects in or near Berlin subway stations under the project title „Art in the Underground,“ in cooperation with the relevant Senate departments.

Supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and financed from city-wide funds for „Artistic Design in Urban Space“ upon the recommendation of the Advisory Committee for Art (BAK).

EVENTS PROGRAM

Soundtrax for a Bazaar (Franziska Pierwoss & Siska)

Sat, 28.6.25, 5.00–10.00 pm

Opening with concerts and DJ sets

Location: Bülowstraße subway station

Soundtrax for a Bazaar by Franziska Pierwoss & Siska is a tribute to the Turkish Bazaar live music restaurant that flourished at Bülowstraße subway station between 1978 and 1991 and shaped the dynamic music scene on Potsdamer Straße. On the occasion of the opening of Art in the Underground 2024/25: flexen, flirren, fantasieren – mapping the queer city a live concert transforms the area beneath the station into a communal celebration.

Program:

17:00 Greeting

17:30 Performances & Street Music

17:45 NIA 2161

18:15 EYCK / Queen DGS

18:30 NAN

19:30 EYCK / Queen DGS

19:45 Poetry with Emanuele Queen

20:00 Emrah Gökmen

21:00 DJ Wahid

22:00 End

22:00 – Open End

After Hour at Bar Voyage

Nollendorfstraße 1

10783 Berlin

Further program details at flexen-flirren-fantasieren.ngbk.de

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Basics of Care (Adrian Marie Blount)

Sun, 6.7.25, 5.00–8.00 pm

Performance Location: U Nollendorfplatz (upstairs)

Performance by Adrian Marie Blount

During the spatial activations Basics of Care, a small group of Black queer performers activate the U Nollendorfplatz with quiet, tender gestures of love, intimacy and care. In everyday clothes - from drag to business casual - they move improvised through the space, visible and yet embedded in Berlin’s commuting rhythm. The performance creates a space for fantasy, closeness and resistance - beyond spectacle, against erasure, for lived presence.

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Artist Talk with Adrian Marie Blount and Mandhla Ndubiwa

Sun, 6.7.25, 8.30 pm

Talk

Location: Bar Voyage, Nollendorfstraße 1, 10783 Berlin

Artist Talk with Adrian Marie Blount and Mandhla Ndubiwa

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We Are Everywhere (Lola von der Gracht)

Sat, 12.7.25, 2.00–5.00 pm

Performance by Lola von der Gracht

Location: Bülowstraße subway station

The project brings trans-historical perspectives into public space. The performance by trans-identical, partly BiPoC performers combines artistic posters, floor foils and physical presence to create a lively dialogue between past and present.

The durational performance moves through the underground station, comments on infrastructures that often exclude queer people and BiPoC and makes structural discrimination visible. At the same time, it creates a vision of a safe place for queer life in public space.

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Basics of Care (Adrian Marie Blount)

Sun, 13.7.25, 5.00–8.00 pm

Performance Location: U Nollendorfplatz (upstairs)

Performance by Adrian Marie Blount

During the spatial activations Basics of Care, a small group of Black queer performers activate the U Nollendorfplatz with quiet, tender gestures of love, intimacy and care. In everyday clothes - from drag to business casual - they move improvised through the space, visible and yet embedded in Berlin’s commuting rhythm. The performance creates a space for fantasy, closeness and resistance - beyond spectacle, against erasure, for lived presence.

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We Are Everywhere (Lola von der Gracht)

Sun, 13.7.25, 2.00–5.00 pm

Performance Location: Bülowstraße subway station

Performance by Lola von der Gracht

The project brings trans-historical perspectives into public space. The performance by trans-identical, partly BiPoC performers combines artistic posters, floor foils and physical presence to create a lively dialogue between past and present.

The durational performance moves through the underground station, comments on infrastructures that often exclude queer people and BiPoC and makes structural discrimination visible. At the same time, it creates a vision of a safe place for queer life in public space.

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Artist Talk with Lola von der Gracht and Sandra Teitge

Wed, 16.7.25, 8.30 pm

Location: Bar Voyage, Nollendorfstraße 1, 10783 Berlin

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We Are Everywhere (Lola von der Gracht)

Wed, 16.7.25, 5.00–8.00 pm

Performance by Lola von der Gracht

Location: Bülowstraße subway station

The project brings trans-historical perspectives into public space. The performance by trans-identical, partly BiPoC performers combines artistic posters, floor foils and physical presence to create a lively dialogue between past and present.

The durational performance moves through the underground station, comments on infrastructures that often exclude queer people and BiPoC and makes structural discrimination visible. At the same time, it creates a vision of a safe place for queer life in public space.

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CANCELED // Basics of Care (Adrian Marie Blount)

Fri, 25.7.25, 3.00–6.00 pm

The spatical activation is unfortunately canceled due to rain.

Location: U Nollendorfplatz (upstairs)

During the spatial activations Basics of Care, a small group of Black queer performers activate the U Nollendorfplatz with quiet, tender gestures of love, intimacy and care. In everyday clothes - from drag to business casual - they move improvised through the space, visible and yet embedded in Berlin’s commuting rhythm. The performance creates a space for fantasy, closeness and resistance - beyond spectacle, against erasure, for lived presence.

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Basics of Care (Adrian Marie Blount)

Mon, 28.7.25, 1.00–4.00 pm

Performance by Adrian Marie Blount

Location: U Nollendorfplatz (upstairs)

During the spatial activations Basics of Care, a small group of Black queer performers activate the U Nollendorfplatz with quiet, tender gestures of love, intimacy and care. In everyday clothes - from drag to business casual - they move improvised through the space, visible and yet embedded in Berlin’s commuting rhythm. The performance creates a space for fantasy, closeness and resistance - beyond spectacle, against erasure, for lived presence.

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CANCELED: In Berlin Nichts Neues (Ipek Burçak)

Sat, 20.9.25, 5.00 pm

Performance

Location: U Bülowstraße

Unfortunately the performance has to be canceled.

Starting from the history of the Turkish Bazaar in the late 1980s, In Berlin Nichts Neues brings postmigrant, antifascist, and antiracist movements into public view. Through poster walls and text installations inspired by photo-novel aesthetics, the work highlights independent magazines and zines such as Antifaşist Haber Bülteni, diyalog, Köxüz, Inisiyatif, and lubunya, published by postmigrant groups in 1990s Berlin. A live reading performance with two performers and mobile sound elements activates the material—loud, mobile, and reminiscent of a demonstration.

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Lila Fetzen (Nadin Reschke)

Sat, 20.9.25, 3.00 pm

Performance by Nadin Reschke

Location: U Schönhauser Allee

A collective performance in public space commemorates queer and feminist forms of resistance in the late GDR - in particular the ‘Lila Offensive’, an East German women’s movement from Prenzlauer Berg in the 1980s. The starting point are two large-format photographs installed on the railway tracks on Schönhauser Allee. Ten FLINTA people from different communities bring historical and current feminist voices into the urban space: with texts, banners, costumes and performative gestures that make queer-feminist struggles visible and invite a critical examination of the city as a standardised space. The 60-minute performance will run from the Eberswalder Straße underground station to the Gethsemanekirche and the Sonntags-Club. It will be video-documented and can be accessed afterwards via QR code.

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CANCELED: Magazine Party

Sat, 20.9.25, 7.00 pm

Unfortunately the closing event has to be canceled.

Location: Spike Art Magazine, Goebenstr. 22, 10783 Berlin

The closing event includes conversations with the artists and authors of the magazine. Throughout the evening, various DJs will be performing.

It will be an evening of exchange, connection and a get-together.

7 pm Welcome

7.30 pm Panel Talk 1 Yassassin

with Gürsoy Doğtaş, Hải Anh Triệu moderated by Aurora Rodonò (EN + DE)

8.45 pm Performative reading, Melanie Jame Wolf

9.15 pm Panel Talk 2 Gegenöffentlichkeiten und das Recht auf Stadt, with Nora Eckert, Mia Göhring, Gabriele Stötzer moderated by Elisa Linn (DE)

10 pm DJ Set Wahid el Solh

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Further program details at flexen-flirren-fantasieren.ngbk.de