BETON Berlin makes places, spaces, and urban situations visible in new ways and sharpens our perception of them. The focus is particularly on unused or repurposed areas of public space in Berlin as a starting point for an exploration of attention.

Taking public space as a kind of stage, Berlin-based artist Olga Hohmann explores its theatrical dimensions: places appear as backdrops, transitions as scenes, and uses or repurposing as roles. Between visibility and concealment, between the everyday and the staged, a structure unfolds that eludes clear categorization.

For BETON Berlin 31 as part of the Project Space Festival 2026, Olga Hohmann combines text, voice, and physical presence with the location to create a performative setting. Through fragmentary condensations, observations emerge regarding space, architecture, the public sphere, and social choreography. The audience and neighbors become part of a spatial situation that moves between lecture, narrative, and performance.

As is customary for the BETON Berlin exhibition series, the exact venue in Berlin-Kreuzberg will not be announced until the day of the event.

BETON Berlin 31

Beton (german for concrete) is commonly associated with strength, durability, and mass. The exhibition project BETON Berlin deliberately challenges these assumptions and turns its attention to the fragile, often overlooked structures of urban space. In the context of Berlin’s urban development, inconspicuous interstitial spaces, forgotten places, and spatially charged situations become temporary stages for artistic interventions.

In collaboration with invited artists, site-specific works are created that actively intervene in public space, shift perceptions, and open up new discourses. BETON Berlin operates in a location-independent, flexible, and ephemeral manner. The projects reflect not only concrete spatial conditions but also the increasing commercialization and appropriation of the public sphere. Since its inception, 30 sites and exhibitions have been realized in Berlin’s urban space (as of April 2026).

BETON Berlin is an initiative by Christof Zwiener and builds on earlier projects such as ADN Pförtnerhaus, Statsion, Tacho, CNTRM, when the image is new, the world is new, and STRouX

Founded: 2022