HAUS 209

The upcoming artist-in-residence in Istanbul of the Berlin program – Bettina Hutschek – presents HAUS 209 at uqbar in Berlin.

HAUS 209 (House 209) tells the story of a woman who is used in a dystopian experiment of travelling to the “world beyond”. The woman is a prisoner in a clinic in a crisis-torn country. Scientists research the possibility of travelling to the “other world” with the help of radioactive capsules. Test subjects are sent to the “beyond” to get advice from the “voices” of how to solve humanity’s problems.

The film is constructed of still photos from various stays at the HELIOS-clinic for radioactive iodine therapy after thyroid cancer, of found footage from the 1950s, and of microscopic images of cells and inner-body activity. Sound recordings from the interior of the clinic ward mix with electronic blips and beeps, with Geiger-counter clicks and excerpts of songs by Debussy. 
The film refers to Marker’s “La Jetée”, while the film’s title refers to the ward in the clinic Berlin Buch, where thyroid cancer patients are given their radioactive iodine therapy.

The project space uqbar is a derivation from the non-profit art association Uqbar – Society for Representation Research, founded in 2004 as platform for interdisciplinary projects and international cooperation. Uqbar e.V. aims at promoting contemporary art and culture, above all implementing, supporting and hosting projects, which dedicate themselves to the research and promotion of experimental, interdisciplinary artistic and cultural practices in the international context.

The name uqbar was taken from a short story by the writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). In Borges’ “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940) the word “uqbar” is an entry in a fictitious encyclopaedia. The word is a construct, a letter combination without meaning, used by the author in order to show how knowledge and meaning are constructed. The problem of the constitution of meaning, signification and interpretation is central to the discussion around the term of the representation.

Opening
Friday, November 24, 2017, 7 p.m.

uqbar

Schwedenstr. 16
13357 Berlin
Germany

Duration
November 25, 2017 – January 28, 2018

Opening hours
Friday, 2.30 – 6.30 p.m., and by appointment