MHAS Berlin, Kaiserdamm 109, Berlin (2026)

09/03/2026

We are so excited and proud to share with you our "Caring Histories: Asian Caregivers in Berlin - Migration, Memory and Social Change (1950-present)" project at Mental Health Arts Space (MHAS) Berlin.

Gallery opening hours in March and April:
Thursdays - Saturdays, 4pm - 7pm
(closed on public holidays and Saturdays with events/workshops - see www.mhasberlin.com for more details)

Kaiserdamm 109, 14057 Berlin-Charlottenburg

This interdisciplinary project focuses on the experiences and life stories of Asian caregivers—particularly those from Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines —who came to Berlin from the 1950s onwards, their contributions to the German healthcare system, and how they have helped shape the city's collective memory.

Berlin is more than just a geographical setting for this project: over decades, the metropolis became a “second home” for generations of Asian caregivers whose stories are exemplary of Germany's history of migration.

Through immersive, participatory, and collaborative events such as an evolving exhibition, artistic activations, workshops, community events & discussions, film screenings, zine & podcast/sound piece documentation and a living archive, the project “Caring Histories” aims to reflect on how the voices of Asian caregivers – and more broadly speaking, acts of caring and care-giving, – form part of a larger diasporic culture of memory that can help us move away from a “Western” model of diagnosis and therapy toward a model of alternative community, solidarity, and care. Overall, the project aims to strengthen cultures of remembrance as they are anchored in migrant histories and post-migrant present day realities. The desired outcome is to provide a space of encounter, sharing and reflection that brings together transdisciplinary approaches, so that the dialogue already taking place at the civil society level can continue in a process-oriented manner through artistic research, reflection and exchanges in Mental Health Arts Space and online.

Funded by the Förderung zeitgeschichtlicher und erinnerungskultureller Projekte 2026, Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt.

Poster: Meikey To

21/04/2025

Saturday Listening Sessions
Old skool with a lovingly curated selection of LPs!
All are welcome, no registration necessary!
Bring your own records that you want to share! :)

record:

noun
/ˈrɛkɔːd/

a thing constiruting a piece of evidence about the past, especially an account kept in writing or some other permanent form.

storyteller mmakgosi kgabi a.k.a mma Kgosi talks us through a moment in time through a collection of records.

Mmakgosi Kgabi ((s)he / they, a.k.a. Ouma) is an actor and a founding member of the artist-led, non-profit Motherbox Organisation for Co-Operation in the Arts. They are also a member of the PSR Collective which curates Heizhaus performance space at Uferstudios, Berlin Germany. They completed their MA in Solo Dance and Authorship at HZT, Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch (HfS) in co-operation with TanzRaumBerlin in 2019. Their research proposal was to approach language as a choreography / dance opening up the possibility to move closer to the ‘dance’ which is ‘language.’ They have a broad portfolio as a dramaturg and voice artist. They are a DJ, performance facilitator, and physical theatre and improvisation practitioner. They trained with Causing a Scene (JHB), Performance of a Lifetime (POAL-NYC), and Clowns Without Borders South Africa (CWBSA). They studied for a BA double major of Economics, and Theatre at Rhodes University with Choreography, Dance Repertoire, and Acting as their electives. They have developed their skills in South Africa and internationally as an onscreen and stage actor. They have worked closely with HAU in Berlin and Tanz im August festival as a production associate and currently host Homegrown, a radio show at www.refugeworldwide.com

Website:
www.mmakgosikgabi.com
www.motherbox.org

25/09/2023

Don't miss Curaçaoan artist and activist Quinsy Gario's talk on Friday 29 Sept 2023 at 7pm at MHAS! It'll be a great opportunity to catch the exhibition "Marronage" before it ends! Quinsy will talk about overlapping histories of anti-capitalist organizing, ecological solidarity and living defiantly in the face of continuous colonial terror and control in the Caribbean.
All are welcome!

01/09/2023

When we re-open after our summer break, we'll have loads of goood things for you in store! Like this selection of brand new BIPOC children's and teens books, handpicked in Johannesburg while nerding in Black-owned independent bookstore, Book Circle Capital ☺️ Come by and browse MHAS' ever growing library of BIPOC- and q***r- centered literature for kids, teens and adults alike! 💚💙🩵

03/08/2023

Coming up after our summer break...! We're sooo looking forward to this group installation with artist Quinsy Gario and members of his family, including his mother, Glenda Martinus. ❤️

Marronage

Exhibition: 10 - 23 September 2023. Opening hours: Monday to Friday 2pm - 6pm, Saturday & Sunday 1pm - 5pm. Closed on 14 September.

Exhibition opening: Saturday 9 September 7pm onwards.

The artist collective Family Connection presents a group installation that reflects on slave revolts, plantations escapes and 20th century labour struggles in the Caribbean. The group is looking in particular at these struggles on islands that share Dutch occupation and colonization. The title of the installation 'Marronage' refers to the practice of escaping slavery and establishing new communities outside of the oppressive European colonial systems. Revolts, and the sabotage of plantation equipment, are seen by some critical thinkers as the first instances of labour fights and refusal to continue disfiguring the lived in environment. Maroon communities founded after fleeing slavery insisted on developing a non-extractive relation to nature. The installation proposes overlapping histories of anti-capitalist organizing, ecological solidarity and living defiantly in the face of continuous colonial terror.

Bio:
Family Connection was founded in 2005 by the artists Glenda and Gala Martinus, two sisters from Curaçao. For each presentation the group varies in which of the artist of participating artists of the various branches of the Martinus family. For this exhibition the group consists of Glenda Martinus, Rudsel Martinus, Jörgen Gario and Quinsy Gario. The group has worked together to present an show consisting of an installation, paintings, an audiowork, a videowork, a projection work.

The group has exhibited previously in Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, Netherlands), CASCO (Utrecht, Netherlands), Riga Art Space (Riga, Latvia) and Curaçao.

The group is also perfoming in Ballhaus Naunynstraße on September 7th and 8th with a performance entitled: GUTS: Glenda's Unique Travel Stories

21/07/2023

Due to popular demand: one LAST event before the summer break! (i.e. we just can't say goodbye) 😉

MHAS is happy to be collaborating with Toronto-based arts collective Gendai to bring you this event!

WRITING TAPAS: Creative Writing for Mental Health Online Workshop with Katie Jisuk Seo

***BIPOC-Only FREE Online Workshop***

Monday, 31 July 2023, 2-4pm CET

Register on our MHAS website, www.mhasberlin.com

This workshop guides you through a unique writing journey, serving both healing purposes and aiding in the creation of imaginative compositions. The workshop is facilitated by Katti, a writer and creative coach who will introduce her technique, called Writing Tapas. This is a method she developed to make writing easier and yummier by breaking it down into bite-sized chunks. Katti will provide prompts that she utilizes in her own daily writing routine both to nourish her mental health and shape her narratives. The main part of the workshop is for silent, intimate writing by yourself. Additionally, we will have the space to share our writing, feelings and thoughts, but no obligation to share.

All writing levels welcome: from absolute beginners to experienced.

12/07/2023

Issue #3 of our newsletter is out! If you haven't already subscribed to our mailing list, you can do so on our website, www.mhasberlin.com
Read a recap of some highlights from our program this season, some news we have to share with you, and take a sneak peek at some upcoming things we have in store for you in the fall/winter of 2023-2024.
Have an amazing summer break everyone! ❤️🐾

05/07/2023

Don't miss our last event before our summer break! :)

This one is going to be absolutely fabulous; register now to avoid disappointment!

For those celebrating Pride weekend, start here to fill up with good non-white/pinkwashing, non-mainstream q***r vibes. 😉

Friday 21 July 2023
6pm to 8pm
Limited to 15 participants
All are welcome; BIPoC to the front!
Register online at www.mhasberlin.com under the events section.

SOUNDS FROM A LISTENING BODY workshop with South African artist, performer and researcher Gugu aka Dumama.

"Sound is a vibration that travels through air, water, and solids and therefore through the human body. Sound has the capacity to shift neurochemistry and neurobiology in a profound and unprecedented way as a therapeutic tool as well as a technique to unleash human potential. It’s produced by all matter and is a fundamental part of survival for every species because our brains are wired to immediately shift in response to sound. I am a composer, vocalist, sonic practitioner and researcher inspired by music and its varying cultural texts. What does it mean to be a voice? What does it mean to have a voice? Using music as a site of play and study, I engage with a multitude of improvisational techniques. Recently, I’ve been inspired by the compositional process born of acoustemology. This is practice describing sonic knowledge which surfaces from non-musical activities and in people’s interactions with the environment. From here, I engage with ideas of memory, performance, socio-ecology, colonialism, migration, mythology and repair. This meditative 3 part workshop is a process of deep listening, slow movement and facilitated journaling, tuning into and listening with the voices cascading within." - Dumama

Gugulethu Duma, also known as Dumama, is an artist, performer and sonic researcher, born in South Africa. Her transdisciplinary practice involves consciously deconstructing and critiquing archaic modes of representation of (Southern) African sonic and performance culture. Her interests intersect as practice based performance research, and interdisciplinary, collaborative bodies of work centred around political-poetic imaginations.

20/06/2023

This Pride season, let's be aware that it's not all about celebration and visibility! QTBIPoCs are tired of having their q***rness exoticized, hijacked, co-opted, policed, sanctioned, controlled and regulated!! That's where the real struggle is, and not along the streets of the feel-good mainstream Pride or CSD. As long as this isn't addressed and acknowledged, Pride stays exclusionary at best, and violent at worst.

Whitewashing and pinkwashing is so real, as this huge banner in Berlin-Mitte so clearly illustrates. 👀

For those of you feeling somewhat fatigued and overwhelmed this Pride season, drop us a line (opening hours by appointment) and come by MHAS for some reprieve and rest, read a good book on Black Buddhism or some healing words by the likes of Dionne Brand or bell hooks, or watch a good short film by your favorite q***r BIPoC filmmaker. We see you! ❤️

05/04/2023

“When We Dare to be Powerful”*:

An Exhibition of Palesa Ndlovukazi Sibiya’s Short Films, curated by Thuli Mlambo-James

*This is a reference to Audre Lorde’s words: “When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” — Audre Lorde, Second S*x Conference, New York, 1979.

Part of Sellerie Weekend, the off-program of Gallery Weekend Berlin, 28. – 30. April 2023.

Opening hours of exhibition: Friday 28 April : 19:00 – 22:00 (opening) // Saturday 29 April: 13:00 – 18:00 // Sunday 30 April: CLOSED.

Registration not required – All are welcome!

Palesa Ndlovukazi Sibiya’s work examines constructions of race, language, desire, sexuality and identity – particularly that of black female subjectivity – as shaped by her experience in South Africa. Her work challenges audiences not merely to observe Black women’s struggles, but to feel them. As a performance artist, Palesa centered the voices and lived experiences of Black women in South Africa, openly speaking about, confronting and challenging the abuse and oppression of heteropatriarchy and gendered violence. Her work sought to destablise and reshape conventional understandings about gender, race and sexuality within South Africa’s larger socio-political context.

Video works by Palesa Ndlovukazi Sibiya:

1) R**e Is No Taboo (I will Not Be Silenced & Suffer Alone in Isolation), 14:39 min, 2017

2) Inkomo : short film, 6:50 min, 2020

3) iNKOMO YAMI??? 4:53 min, 2020

4) Broken SOLES – Broken SOULS (Part 1) 4:16 min, 2017

5) Broken SOLES – Broken SOULS (Part 2) 17:02 min, 2017

This selection of Palesa Ndlovukazi Sibiya’s work is presented in memory of the artist. It is curated by Thuli Mlambo-James, Director & Founder – Ujamaa Arts (www.ujamaaarts.co.za) in collaboration with Mental Health Arts Space Berlin (www.mhasberlin.com) as part of Sellerie Weekend, the off-program of Gallery Weekend Berlin, 28. – 30. April 2023.

MHAS Berlin

09/03/2026

21/04/2025

25/09/2023

01/09/2023

03/08/2023

21/07/2023

12/07/2023

05/07/2023

20/06/2023

05/04/2023

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