Martina Jurak PASSING: RE II

Re – II is the next part of an audio–dance performative cycle titled Passing, created by Martina Jurak, that discloses urban developments intertwined with movement concepts coming from challenging personal experiences. The project started in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2022, and continues in Berlin through exploration of processes of gentrification at enormous construction sites that expand across the city.

This year, Martina presented the first part of the Re- performance at Neue Bühne Friedrichshain in collaboration with musician Golsana Shenasaei, featuring specific lights and tones produced by the moving body.

Now she is working with visual and sound artist Stefanie Loveday, with whom they are developing research focused on newly built parts of the controversial A100 highway. Both artists met at the crossroads of their interest in ecology, urbanism, and field research and placed their starting point on a building site near Neukölln, where they both reside. The outdoor area became the ground for observation of Berlin’s architectural restructuring and led to movement improvisation and gathered material in the form of video and sound recordings.

Recently, we witnessed the opening of the 16th construction phase that stretches from Grenzalle to Treptower Park, which was the most expensive highway in Germany and is already causing traffic jams and had to close shortly due to its non-functionality.

With the transformation of problematic space into a creative source, we would like to share the awareness of the inseparability of artistic production and living circumstances and direct our attention to the surrounding environment. The next phase of the highway is planned to cut through the residential area in Friedrichshain, to connect to the north-east part of the city. This is problematic from a cultural, ecological, and economical perspective, as our city is following the trend of destruction of urban space for the interest of capitalistic infrastructure.

In our creative process we are questioning the current political processes that do not offer inclusion of all residents who are sustaining the city. Join us for our performative installation with found objects, butoh influenced movement, and electro-acoustic sound, shifting from spatial challenges to altered realities.

Dance, choreography : Martina Jurak
Sound performance : Stefanie Loveday