LABA Berlin

Final exhibition at the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien.

Mar’a’yeh is an artists fellowship by Laba Berlin, inviting Berlin-based artists who identify as Jewish and/or Muslim to participate in a year-long process of exchange, conversation, and co-creation.

13/10/2026

A few more impressions from our last Open Studio during Berlin Artweek. Preparations for our exhibition in November are in full swing, and we’re already getting so excited! ✨

📸 Marcel

16/09/2026

Still thinking about this evening. ✨
A few highlights from our Open Studio — so happy we got to share it with you. 🤍

14/09/2026

Art in progress. Familiar faces. New beginnings. ✨
Last Friday, we opened our doors for our LABA Open Studio at Künstlerhaus Bethanien during Berlin Art Week

Our LABA artists shared works in progress and finished pieces with a wonderful crowd. We were especially happy to welcome back some of our alumni — familiar faces, new encounters, and so many inspiring conversations. 💜

And as the evening coincided with Rosh Hashanah, we also celebrated the Jewish New Year together.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and made this evening so special.

And many thanks to our Fellows Olivia Kassaei, Billie Clarken, Simay Keles, Jeremy Steinberger, Hamza Mohammed Beg, (A)Viv Maoz Haggiag & Alexandru Gavriel Ganea for showing their work in progress.

Shana Tova — to art, community & new beginnings. 🍎🍯✨

Photo Credits: Marcel

10/09/2026

Something is taking shape — and we can’t wait to share it with you. 👀

Yesterday at our LABA session, we got a first glimpse into the works our fellows are currently developing for their exhibition at the end of November.

It was an inspiring exchange of ideas, processes, and works in progress — and it made us even more excited for what’s to come.

Curious to see more? Tomorrow evening, we’re opening the doors for a little sneak peek during Berlin Art Week at Künstlerhaus Bethanien.

Come by, meet the fellows, and discover what’s currently taking shape in their studios.

Open Studio
Tomorrow from 6 PM
Studio 101 · Künstlerhaus Bethanien

26/08/2026

Berlin Art Week is around the corner ✨

As part of Künstlerhaus Bethanien Open Studios during Berlin Art Week, our LABA Berlin Fellows are opening their studio doors on September 11.

Starting at 6 PM, come by to meet the artists, discover their current work, and get a closer look at their practices and creative processes.

📍 Künstlerhaus Bethanien
🗓 September 11, 2026
🕕 From 6 PM
🚪 101

Come say hi — we’d love to see you there! ✨

11/08/2026

In our recent Beit Madrasa session we explored the theme of Naming and Calling through the story of Maryam in the Qur’an and Jacob and Esau in the Torah.

We began with Maryam, the only woman named in the Qur’an, looking at her not only as the mother of Jesus, but as a figure with her own relationship to God. She is called by God to pray in the Temple, an environment closed to women. When she is turned away, one reading suggests that the miracle of the immaculate conception follows as a sign of her holiness. God’s statement that no male could do what she has done can be read as pointing not only to birth, but to her struggle to enter a sacred space and claim her place within it. Maryam becomes someone who pushes against human made distinctions of gender and power.

We then turned to the story of Jacob and Esau. Here, naming shapes destiny and reveals different forms of power. Esau represents physical strength, while Jacob relies on voice and strategy. As the younger son, Jacob is not given power and must find alternative ways to claim it. This raises the question of who decides what is morally correct. The story can be read as a tension between the voice of the vulnerable and the force of those who hold power.

Together, these texts show naming as something active and contested, shaped through struggle, faith, and the effort to claim a place in the world.

Please send your portfolio todenalisa@laba.berlin ✨

04/08/2026

Please send your portfolio to
[email protected] ✨

29/07/2026

This week’s LABA session was dedicated to exploring Muslim life in Germany together.

Our Fellows explored the histories and realities of Muslim life in Germany—from centuries of exchange and coexistence to migration, belonging, exclusion, and remembrance.

Together, we visited the Bosnian mosque in Berlin, reflecting on how places and communities carry histories that continue to shape the present.

Our Fellows Sessions are an opportunity to learn from one another, ask difficult questions, and deepen our understanding of each other’s histories and lived experiences.

24/07/2026

Our last Biet Madrassa session with Ufuk Topkara and Yael Attia.

With Ufuk, we continued our exploration of the power of names, asking how much a name can express who you are, what authority it carries, and how it can become a form of violence when current or historical realities go unnamed. Refusing to name can silence truth, while naming brings ethical responsibility.

With Yael, we turned to Jewish thought and the names of God. We traced how divine attributes shape our concept of God, and how this develops from the biblical covenant to modern crises of faith. We also considered how rational approaches shaped by German Jewish assimilation encounter limits after the Holocaust, raising difficult questions of abandonment and doubt. Engaging with Gershom Scholem and Hans Jonas, we explored how reintroducing mysticism and rethinking the nature of God might offer ways of responding to the problem of God after Auschwitz.

How does naming shape reality and responsibility?

14/07/2026

In our last seminar with Yael Attia and Ufuk Topkara, we examined naming across two traditions. With Annemarie Schimmel’s text, we looked at the structure of the Islamic name as both protection and exposure. How does a name situate us within lineage, reputation, and responsibility, while also rendering us vulnerable to recognition.

With Derrida’s Animal That Therefore I Am, naming shifts from relation to categorization. It is not only a way of addressing the other, but also a way of ordering and fixing. Naming can reduce singular beings to categories and shape who is recognized.

We connected this to death and the archive. Naming allows a life to be recorded, remembered, and mourned. What is not named does not enter this shared space in the same way. It passes without recognition, without being held in memory. Naming, then, shapes how we relate to others, to history, and to loss.

Adresse

Exhibition Space: Kottbusser Str. 10 / Offices And Studios: Kohlfurter Str. 41-4
Berlin
10999

Website

http://www.laba.berlin/

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