Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley: THE SOUL STATION
12th July, 2024 — 13th October, 2024
LAS Art Foundation
HALLE AM BERGHAIN
BERLIN
THE SOUL STATION will feature a newly commissioned work and a survey of video games made by Brathwaite-Shirley over the past five years. Through game-based installations and fictional universes, visitors will be invited to explore their ethical, political and moral decision-making, and consider the broader structures and histories of marginalisation. A newly commissioned work, entitled YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYTHING, will be presented in two episodes; the second episode will be revealed on 12 September 2024 during Berlin Art Week.
NO SPACE FOR REDEMPTION, 2024, courtesy the artist
At Halle am Berghain, YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYTHING will be presented at the centre of an immersive, haunting environment created by the artist. Its architecture will evoke ‘low poly PlayStation 2’ aesthetics and allude to uncanny beings that appear throughout the course of the game. The work tells the story of a cataclysmic event in a society parallel to ours, where a revolution has been led against globalised slavery and overthrown the enslavers. Played using a voting system, it features a central gamer’s chair and circle of player-spectators who, together, define the story’s final outcome.
YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYTHING builds on the artist’s work with the audience-as-medium and is the culmination of a journey visitors will take through the space. On arrival, each visitor will receive a ‘SOUL CARD’, a token enabling them to track their progress and choices throughout the games. This can be done by accessing ‘SOUL STATIONS’ – functioning similarly to video game checkpoints – which will be available throughout the presentation as well as online. The journey will invite visitors to contend with their own experiences, choices and biases.
RESURRECTION LANDS, 2020, courtesy the artist
The artist states: you are entering a space / this space will show you your soul / allowing you to / reflect on your past, present and future / you may not like what you see / you may feel uncomfortable / you may not be able to hold yourself together / but that is where the real work is done right? / none of you are perfect / all of you can do better / be honest about your failures / be honest about your regrets / be honest about where you are/ bring your despair, fear, hopes, depression, excitement, tears, intolerance, joy, desperation, utopia, mistakes, anger, pain, pleasure / just bring yourself Offering a comprehensive survey of Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s oeuvre, THE SOUL STATION will include key works from the past five years.
I CAN’T FOLLOW YOU ANYMORE, 2023
courtesy the artist
Together they will trace the artist’s practice, which combines lived experience with speculative fiction in order to shed light on positions and histories that are often simplified or disregarded. Highlights will include Into the Storm (2021), Invasion Pride (2022), and THE REBIRTHING ROOM (2024). Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley: THE SOUL STATION is co-curated by Boris Magrini, Senior Curator at LAS Art Foundation and Mawena Yehouessi, with Agnessa Schmudke, Assistant Curator at LAS Art Foundation. The presentation will be accompanied by a public programme of workshops and performances at Halle am Berghain.
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley: THE SOUL STATION opens on the 12th of July, 2024 until the 13th of October, 2024 at LAS Art Foundation
©2024 LAS Art Foundation
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