“What Matters” was the question andtatement of 2022 presentation of works by the JUNGE AKADEMIE, the interdisciplinary and international artist-in-residence programme of the Akademie der Künste. In an exhibition and a multifaceted programme including screenings, concerts and readings, 29 fellows from all of the Akademie’s art sections presented sound and video installations, photographs, sculptures, paintings and performances they developed during their studio residencies in the Hansaviertel in Berlin and at Villa Serpentara in Olevano, Italy.

“What Matters” is not to be understood as the title of a thematic exhibition but rather indicates the diversity of questions, perspectives and realities that are interlaced in an artist residency, while emphasising their urgency. The exhibition focused on the artists’ individual approaches that encompass a broad spectrum of themes: from questions about the transformation of societies and their expression in relation to the urban space and landscape, to interrelations between the individual and social systems such as state, religion and the economy, to reflections on body images and conceptions of history, personal archives and the intertwining of nature, technology and culture.

What matters is artistic testimony, poetic resistance and the imagining of sustainable futures in the face of global tipping points – whether climatic or political in nature. Two years into the pandemic and the associated restrictions, “What Matters” was the most comprehensive presentation of works to date by the JUNGE AKADEMIE.

To quote one of the fellows: “What matters? Make them see…”

News from Home 

Short films from the American Continent – Cerro Saturno (2022)

What do we call home? News from Home is named after a film by Chantal Akerman, in which the observation of the foreign city of New York is underpinned by her mother’s letters from far off Europe. The programme shows films from the American continent, contemporary indigenous works and older films from Latin American cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus is on language and landscape as well as the representation of home linked with the idea of a different reality. In viewpoints and fragments, the short films span an arc of several decades and various regions. To this extent, the film programme stands against common, simplified images of indigenous films and their marketing.

A mountain range in fog and snow.

Human absence, ancient sacred places.

Traces appear: dirt roads, antennas, transmission lines.

Human faces behind windows and rain.

A city.

Film, 13 min

Directed by and camera: Miguel Hilari

Sound design: Miguel Llanque

Sound operator: Marcelo Guzmán

Editing: Miguel Hilari, Gilmar Gonzales

Colour: Pablo Paniagua

Sound postproduction: Miguel Jara

Comissioned by Cousin Collective