Crystal Ball Berlin – Gegenwartskunst und Performance

MOTHER – Laurina Preckel

Sa. 5. September, ab 19 Uhr

With a Performance on Saturday, 5. September, at 7pm starting at the Urban Krankenhaus Berlin, Main Entrance

until Sunday, 13. September, Open: 6.-13. September, 4 to 7 pm, despite Mon. 7. Sept./closed

Idealized representations of motherhood are deeply ingrained in our cultural memory. The image of the saint as the “good mother,” developed in Christian iconography, continues to shape expectations of the maternal body to this day. It is expected to appear quiet, devoted, controlled, and unblemished. Added to this is a modern image of women that makes sexiness a prerequisite for social participation. The reality of the postpartum body during the “recovery” phase following childbirth is viewed as deficient—as something that needs to be repaired. The profound physical and emotional upheavals that regularly accompany motherhood are generally ignored, as is the possibility or necessity of developing a new sense of self within a changed body.

In Laurina Preckel’s work, imperfection is not a deviation buta starting point. It points to the intensity of the transition—to passing through constriction, pressure, fluid, and blood. The bodies in the “Baby Girls” series demand space. They defy the expectation of being pleasing or invisible. They insist on being seen for what they are—bearers of existential experience, sites of transformation and growth, and guardians of a care that bears decidedly ambivalent traits. The newborns from “Baby Born” also bear traces of
mutilation: their bodies fleshy, their skin grayish, in places marked by a warm, almost tinged with orange tones—marked by the immediate experience of birth. In the raw, vulnerable physicality of the newborns, birth reveals itself as an event that always involves both bodies. Here, the newborn does not appear as a symbol of innocence, but as part of a process that shapes both the child and the mother. One incarnation of the modern ideal of womanhood is the world of Barbie dolls. As a miniature model of an idealized home for an idealized physical condition, Barbie’s Dream House depicts image of a life that is as flawless, adaptable, and indestructible as the body of the accompanying plastic doll. In the performance and accompanying photo series “Dream House, ”Laurina Preckel re-enters this space of childhood memory
and grapples with a millennial’s girlhood dream. Flesh meets plastic. As a maternal container, the Dream House once offered protection and guidance. Now it stands in opposition to the vulnerable mother’s body as the “steel-hard shell” of a social order in which bodies are domesticated, standardized, and
assigned to specific roles.

In her first solo exhibition, artist Laurina Preckel offers a perspective on the female body that is both unflinching and process-oriented. Her images powerfully convey the experiences and contradictions of motherhood. In light of her work, long-standing, subtle restrictions are called into question, opening up space for a transformation and redefinition of the image of women and mothers.

How Does Passion Smell?

curated by Claudia Christoffel

The exhibition “How Does Passion Smell?” offers a wide range of sensory experiences. After all, it’s all about the scent of passion. The participating artists provide conceptual answers to the question posed by the title—answers that are olfactory, literary, and gustatory—which visitors can smell, read, and taste in the exhibition.

Claudia Christoffel (Bremen), Renée Cassidy (New York), Tanja Dückers (Berlin), Lydia Karstadt (Berlin)

Opening reception on July 11 at 7:00 p.m.

featuring an essay reading by Littopia— Kathrin Assauer (Dresden) and Silke Tobeler (Hamburg)

a cooking performance by Lydia Karstadt, the first publication of the artist’s book: HOW DOES PASSION SMELL? by Claudia Christoffel & the presentation of selected artist’s book publications from Argobooks Verlag by Vanessa Adler (Berlin)

The exhibition is open from Tuesday, July 14, 2026, through Friday, July 17, 2026, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, and by appointment (call 0174/3795167).

The Myth of a Myth

48h Neukölln – 3. bis 5. Juli 2026

Aoutch!, Erifyli Theofilou, 45 x 110 x 2 cm, 2026

Artists: Erifyli Theofilou, Valia Lolidou

Performers: Konstantina Kapnopoulou, Sara Mitouali , Yiota Chamamtzoglou

Fri, 3. Jul 2026, 19:00 – 24:00
Sat, 4. Jul 2026, 14:00 – 21:00, 20:00 Performance by Sara Mitouali
Sun, 5. Jul 2026, 12:00 -19:00, “108 +1 Reasons to Unweave” Performance by Kapno & Yiota

“The myth of a myth” is a project about Penelope, Odyssea’s wife. Penelope stands as a timeless symbol of devotion and perseverance among the years. She is traditionally depicted as the ideal wife, hence to her faithfulness, an intelligent woman who employs her intellect solely to uphold her husband’s reputation. During Odysseus’s prolonged absence, she skillfully evades the suitors’ pressure for remarriage. Viewed through a contemporary feminist perspective, it becomes evident that Penelope’s myth has always been depicted through a male-centered lens. Whether identified as her father’s daughter, her husband’s wife, or suitors’ prize, Penelope’s identity and qualities were to be defined for or by others. Her well-known routine of weaving by day and unraveling her work at night has long been characterized as the epitome of feminist symbolism. However, in the Penelope exhibition, we question whether weaving should truly stand at the center of Penelope’s feminist identity. By challenging established interpretations and revisiting the story from a new perspective, we place at the core of her feminist existence the idea that weaving was, above all, a clever strategy for letting time pass. In our interpretation, Penelope has already reached a sense of peace and relief in accepting that her husband will never return. What matters to her now is using this tactic to make time work in her favor. As time goes by, she breaks free from the role of the ever-waiting wife even as her aging makes her a less enticing prize for the suitors. Yet what if, at the exact moment she reaches for her freedom, Odysseus returns? Through the curatorial concept of Penelope, her story is retold, this time set against the complex, multilayered backdrop of Neukölln. The exhibition brings together different media and materials. The project spans installation pieces, textile art, extending to mixed media creations, photographic works, video installations, and performance art. Materials with a skin-like quality, such as latex, silicone, as well as stitched textiles, and hair will be used to highlight the transformation and freedom she gains through the passage of time. In particular, latex and silicone are chosen for their resemblance to human skin; although her ‘skin’ remains resilient, it is far from unchanging, it ages, shifts, and evolves. This very alteration lies at the core of her feminist experience, exposing the passage of time on her body; a passage she actively welcomes. As she ages, she distances herself from the men who once defined her, becoming
undesirable to those who valued only youthful skin and beauty. The project will feature artworks by individual artists alongside collaborative pieces, focusing on new creations. The creation period will end collaboratively with one work ‘Penelope’ in which all involved artists will participate. This piece will consist of one large sheet of silicone. During production, each participating artist will carry the piece with them for a day, integrating it into their daily routines and moving through the Neukölln neighborhood, gradually altering it permanently. The artwork will interact with everyday life in Neukölln, whether used as a shower mat, brought to the local Änderungsschneiderei, or caught between the U-Bahn doors at Hermannplatz, embedding the texture of the area into the work. This evolving process, along with the new identity the artwork gains, will be documented through Polaroid photographs. Its traces on the “skin” will also be captured in a video installation, highlighting the sounds of everyday moments in Neukölln. The project will culminate in a final performance during the festival’s finissage, where the skin will be exhibited in a ritualistic context. The Myth of a Myth project revisits the myth of Penelope, retelling a well-known story from a different angle, a feminist perspective that reframes what we already know. It is not about returning to a memory of a long-lost husband, but about the rebirth of a self-defined Penelope. She no longer needs Odysseus’s return; she no longer seeks a savior. She is prepared to continue living on her own, ready to tear down the walls built around her and step alone into the unknown of the outside world, allowing it to reshape her.

No Future Future!

Thematical groupshow with salon and performances

Claudia Christoffel, Stefan Demming, Veronika Dobers, Brezel Göring, Manfred Kirschner, Kirsty Kross, Gabriele Regiert and Ole Wulfers

Exhibition opening with performance on saturday, May 30, at 7pm

with a performance by Brezel Göring: Feier für eine sehr schmutzige und demolierte Zukunft

further performances at Sa. 6. June at 7pm, Kirsty Kross: Greige Rage

and Sa. 20. Juni at 7pm, Veronika Dobers: Gesang des Großen Enttäuschten.

Duration: until Sunday, June 28, 2026

open: thursdays 2-7pm and after Appointment and to the events (see announcement)
Curator: Lydia Karstadt

“No Future Future!

The exhibition examines, in a field study, artistic reflections on current fears and moods about the future in a discursive form in an exhibition salon. The personal and artistic effects associated with the New Wave/Punk slogan “No Future” in the present day.

The counterculture slogan popular in the early 1980s, “No Future!”, was a provocative statement by the punk movement. Its prophetic warning has now, in the first years of the new millennium, come to pass. The complex problems identified in scientific predictions: environmental pollution, progressive species extinction, overpopulation, and aggressive exploitation of the planet remain unchanged
or have reached a drastic urgency due to climate change and the feedback of dynamic processes
such as the ice-albedo effect. New governments and autocratic rulers seem to simply ignore the knowledge and awareness of these threatening problems. In addition, we are threatened by numerous conflicts and wars. The belief in a change of thinking, a united concession by a cooperating global community to save our biosphere seems increasingly unrealistic in the face of wars and other conflicts.
The associations evoked by the phrase “No Future” conjure up a variety of scenarios of doom, through wars and/or the collapse of ecosystems, which will end the future of humanity. The words suddenly seem
completely realistic in a frightening and unexpected way.
In the exhibition salon of the same name, we would like to examine the ideas and strategies with which
artists are currently responding to and working with these images of the future.
What ideas do we have about our future? What can we do in art? How does the desire for change manifest itself? How can artistic work address this issue? Through actions and interactive performances, visitors’ ideas become a reflexive part of the exhibition.

Fundet by Projektfonds Kulturförderung Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin

Make Wool not War!

Vernissage, Sat. April 18th, 2026, 6pm

open: fridays, 3 – 7 pm and by appointment

8th of May: 6pm, “The Karl Liebknecht Performance”, Lecture by Manfred Kirschner and “Revolutionaries—then and now. Loud and visible! FEMINIS-MUSS!” Lecture by BeaF.

May 17th, Finissage with “Torte und Musik”

with: Julianne Cordray, Zoe la Mar, artists of the Gretl.Wand project, Manfred Kirschner, Jürgen Rudy, Erifyli Theofilou, Chris Zschaber and others

Over the years, the Crystal Ball exhibition space has provided a venue for numerous presentations and related performances showcasing wool as a material and its low-threshold design aspects. Examples include the fashion show developed by Monika Müller Kroll, in which she sewed couture from her grandmother’s woolen works recycled from industrial threads. Or Astrid Küver’s seemingly endless series of crochet pictures, Francoise Cactus’ wonderful three-dimensional crochet portraits of famous pop stars, or Elke Graalfs’ expansive knitted paintings on the walls of the exhibition space.
Wool is an inexpensive basic material whose low-threshold, diverse design possibilities attract professionals and amateurs alike. The great wool wave may seem to be over, but political wool work nevertheless stands out as a new personal and social impulse. And documenta-participant Jürgen Rudy’s abstract, organically conceived works also hold a special place.

The concept includes the exhibition series “Gretl-Wand” (Gretl Wall), curated by Zoe la Mar over many years, which brings together works by almost 39 artists in three wool friezes and is to be reinstalled on the three walls of the exhibition space.
The tenderly political wool space is completed by the “Kunsttheorieuntersetzer” (Art Theory Kettleholder), an oversized pot holder made of wool in progress by Manfred Kirschner, which serves as a give space to groups of people, i.e., humans, and bring them together.
The Art Theory Kettleholders are a series of crocheted works whose purpose is to offer space for interpretations, meanings, and theories as an artistic ‘product’ and thus to refer to art and its social and commercial function as a “self-aware” work of art.
This constructed, colorful, pop-art “crochet room” of opinions, slogans, and calls for peace becomes a pacifist and cozy relaxation space with pillows, blankets, and books. The wool-filled space is complemented by the extraordinary, fascinating works of Jürgen Rudy, who, with uninhibited freedom, has created crocheted and knitted pictures, capes, dresses, and objects that are truly one-of-a-kind. The artist’s works emerge from his powerful intuition, which already imbues them with a diverse adaptability within the organic creative process, thus transforming them into cross-media works of art. In a video, the artist will be seen in a performance featuring his works.

Jürgen Rudy: Untitled, Foto: Tobias Hübel

However, in addition to this function as a contemplation, reading room, and safe space, the aforementioned crocheted slogans also reflect, in historical comparison, slogans from the verbal and visual contributions of the planned lectures for May 1, which we bring together in lecture performances. For example, Karl Liebknecht’s cries on Potsdamer Platz on May 1, 1916: “Down with the war!”, for which he was arrested, take on a temporal, current dimension with the threat of war and territorial appropriation in the current political world situation. The preceding quote is part of the “Karl Liebknecht Performance,” a lecture by Manfred Kirschner about that very historical demonstration and the later planned Liebknecht monument and its only realized and historically contested monument pedestal and his only realized and historically contested monument pedestal at Potsdamer Platz. Also BeaF. Will hold a lecture about FeminisMuss.

In addition to these lectures, simple readings by our readers of historical and scientific texts as well as prose are also part of our concept. The tender, political crochet room also offers books to look at and read for yourself. Electronic media are also permitted, but should not be the main focus. There is also the opportunity to actively participate in the space by crocheting, with visitors doing their own handicrafts and further developing the installation through their work. Wool and knitting and crochet needles are provided for this purpose.
Crystal Ball sees itself as a space that combines the communication and discourse of cultural history in the context of the peace and labor movements, reflects on historical scenarios of world history in their personal dimension, and creates a place of tranquility, meditation, and education to bring people together in peaceful communication and forge new connections, synergies, and perspectives.

Gretl.Wand: Künstler:innen:

@8arms2hug @amistreetart @bri_libre @caliaf_art @cherrybombs @crochetflambe @curioussleuth @ednitalandia @fasermacka @gualacrafts @fraujuleskunst @haekelbar @haitchchamp @hanikmec
@hellothemushroom @hmsartphoto @kernmyrtle @kim.laidler@la.leti__ @linlinschoen @littlenuggetworkshop @loewenzahm1luzie @maddowhousestudios @madebyelli @margaremelmonitor79 @myrjamiart @nadelhexe_sigena @naitrose @rosesagainstviolence @saramin_haekeldesign @stitch.a.smile @stricktdagegensy @tueph_li @vihiria @welshwand @yarn_vadalette @yarnagainstpatriarchy

Best before End – Manfred Kirschner

until 12th of April, 2026

opened arbitrarily and by appointment

Regenbogen, 40 x 30 cm, Acryl/ Papier auf Leinwand, 2025

“Best before End” is nearly an exhibition on its final day, consisting essentially of arbitrary views and its closing event. Manfred Kirschner presents a conceptual series of new works on canvas that combine painting and collage in a specific and minimalist way. The works also incorporate reused frame wood from a colleague, as well as secondhand paintings by other artists and amateur painters that the artist found or purchased for a small sum on Nachbarschaft.de. According to the artist, the difficulties posed by the design approaches—which stem from the sometimes clumsy creative attempts of his predecessors—yield extraordinary results through a unique challenge. Delighted by these incorporated external influences, this strategy of reuse seems extremely worthwhile, as it also establishes a sustainable practice and reinterpretation of artistic resources. Lydia Karstadt, who curated this exhibition, is therefore now also calling the Crystal Ball Gallery a “Sustainable Gallery.”

Manfred Kirschner’s current series of works explores the tension between painting and collage through a deliberately minimalist visual language. At its core is a process-oriented exploration in which gestural application of paint meets print reproductions, intertwining their visual logics.

The works address fundamental mechanisms of human perception: The sensory sense of order tends to interpret abstract color spaces as landscapes, atmospheres, or situational contexts as soon as figurative elements—people, objects, or signs—appear within them. This cognitive disposition, which is oriented toward orientation and security, forms the basis of the pictorial organization. Kirschner uses this pattern of perception as a productive source of disorientation. By deliberately juxtaposing abstract and figurative elements, he creates pictorial spaces that oscillate between legibility and ambivalence. The supposed coherence of what is seen is thereby subverted: seemingly absurd constellations take on a peculiar plausibility, while at the same time breaks and shifts remain visible.

This is exemplified in works in which an isolated vegetative detail—such as a single mushroom in the foreground—meets an apocalyptic-seeming scene structured by rough, expressive brushstrokes, in which a military vehicle appears. Random painterly arrangements thus tip into semantic legibility and are interpreted as explosions or events.

At the center lies an understanding of the image that is simultaneously constituted and destabilized within the process. Abstraction and figuration do not appear as opposites, but as states that merge into one another, operating at the boundaries of visual acceptance. In this limbo, an pictorial space unfolds that does not confirm perception, but questions it.

The works can thus be read as precise formulations within a contemporary reflection on pictorial truth: as experimental arrangements in which the conditions of seeing itself are put up for consideration.

Four Floors! Schellack Baby

Sunday, December 7, starting at 5:30 p.m.

With Gina D´Orio, Lothar Wiese, DJ MegaOhm and Lydia Karstadt

On December 7, Crystal Ball will be transformed into a unique and charming large-capacity salon disco. Various illustrious disc jockeys will use the salon, the shop window, the kitchen, and the cabinet to play special treasures, which they also know extremely well, on the turntables and gramophone. On this evening, only shellac records will be played. We look forward to a diverse historical discotheque of sound recordings. Singing along and dancing are welcome on the various floors.

Performance evening with the Zugvögel: Klappschiebetür and Evita Emersleben: Kussmundportrait- Performance

Performances on Sunday, December 14, at 7 p.m.

The Zugvögel at MP43 in Marzahn-Hellersdorf/ Photo: Carola Rümper, 2025

Zugvögel – Klappschiebetür

A manifesto for the fleetingness of the moment

Monsieur Szenario tells the story: No stage. One room. No fixed structure. Sounds, movements, light – everything is in motion. The folding sliding door is a thought. A rhythm. A question. The door rattles because it wants to fly. Migratory birds have no doors. Migratory birds are doors that fly.
One body enters, another exits. Open and closed. As if it were a pendulum between two dimensions. The door is an exile, it is the constant change between inside and outside. The door does not exist, it is the wind. The wind asks for directions. We say nothing. Migratory birds fly through the door. But there is no door. We are all the door. Freedom? What is freedom? A concept we carry within us without ever really knowing it. Why are we here? We are here because we hang in the air and bear the weight of the ground. The sliding door rattles like a heart that can beat for us. A moment that becomes too long. Will the door ever be closed? No. But isn’t the moment of rupture also a new beginning? Perhaps.
At this moment, we are all migratory birds in the uncertainty of the moment. There is no structure, no line—only movement. The door flows within us like a stream that never stops moving. The flow of the door—the flow of thoughts—the flow of life.

Evita Emersleben: Kussportrait Performance, Bremen 2025

Evita Emersleben – Kussmundportrait Performance

Evita Emersleben, who has already portrayed many Bremen artists in and with her kiss-mouth portrait performances, will portray a visitor on this evening. Using only her painted mouth, she places red-colored kisses on the paper, developing a portrait of the person from the impressions of her mouth using her amazing technique.

Manfred Kirschner: Berlin à Gogo – Prosaische Schublade, Buchpremiere

Friday, September, 19. at 6 pm, with friendly weather meeting up at Zickenplatz (if it´s raining we will be at the gallery) aftershowparty c/o Crystal Ball with DJ Kollagen

The long-awaited middle part of the graphic novel series about the artist Harald Baumeister and his friends Rita, Kurt, and Ytong takes us to Berlin and Lower Saxony. Kirschner’s third collage story is a queer science fiction art novel, garnished with architectural criticism, 1980s Berlin, and the question of how to travel through time with a snow globe. With great narrative joy, a turbulent story unfolds about loss, transformation, and the healing power of lightness.
Manfred Kirschner, aka Lydia Karstadt, creates collages, paintings, and
performances – and once again immerses us in his multi-layered world of words and images. With footnotes, the author adds another layer, connecting historical city history and popular knowledge with prose. We learn a lot about Berlin, about wild art production, about friendship, and about the healing lightness that shines through in human togetherness or unfolds in the joy of the present moment. In the book, the objects are mirrored by the events: because we all encounter each other at least twice. The first time, we may not know anything about each other, and the second time, we believe we know each other inside and out—without being able to say why.

The publication was promoted with funds from VG Bildkunst/ Neustart Kultur and the author got 2023 the scholarship; Künstlerische Recherche from Berliner Senat.

Boris Jöns – Tanz in die Meinung

Am Sonnabend, 3. Mai. Vor und in der Galerie Crystal Ball, Schönleinstr. 7, Beginn: 19:00 Uhr

Boris Jöns/ Lydia Karstadt: Tanz in die Meinung

Astonishingly fitting for this year’s already legendary Celery Weekend, Crystal Ball is presenting a special: artist Boris Jöns has discovered opinion as a sustainable resource. With his innovative reception converter, he can extract the energy potential contained in the comments and opinions of passers-by and visitors and transform it directly into sounds and music.

With the complex interactive sound performance and art action “Dance into Opinion”, the usable exhibition “Room With A Viewer” closes at the same time. Visitors can write text comments or speak important statements on current topics, with which music is generated, as in a jam session. A specially developed language model recognizes five speech acts that trigger different musical impulses. A team of opinion secretaries (Boris Jöns, Lydia Karstadt and Stefan Ruf) assists and fuels the transformation of opinions into music.

Boris Jöns’ delightfully ironic art action may seem inappropriate in the face of global crises, but it speaks of the critical relationship between individual, differentiated views in a social debate characterized by populism, in which individual opinions seem increasingly critical and worthless. This is precisely where the artist points to the energy contained within, which no longer fizzles out unused but develops into a social sculpture in the interplay of statements, a utilization, a new togetherness of the people involved.

The start of the event also marks the opening of the dance floor in the art hotel room. We are looking forward to many visitors!