Program Highlights 2025: VATMH Berlin
by VATMH Berlin
Art in the City
Art in the City celebrated the 30th anniversary of Villa Aurora in Los Angeles in 2025 with two editions (May and October), featuring a total of twelve large-format art posters displayed in public spaces throughout Berlin. In five districts—from Kreuzberg and Neukölln to Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte—international artists presented works specifically created for the urban environment. The aim was to make art visible beyond institutional spaces and to connect it directly with the everyday life of the city.
Former Villa Aurora fellows explored urban experiences, sociopolitical issues, and the cultural dialogue between Berlin and Los Angeles in their works. The projects ranged from interactive installations to poetic, critical, or documentary positions. Artists included: Werner Amann, Edgar Arceneaux & Zora Arceneaux, Ulu Braun, Janine Eggert, Lukas Glinkowski, Erik Göngrich, Anna Haifisch, Paul Hutchinson, Wiebke Loeper, Karin Apollonia Müller, and Siska.
The selected locations—such as Kottbusser Tor, Potsdamer Straße, Alexanderplatz, and the RAW-Gelände—enhanced the conceptual impact of the works and made art accessible to a broad public.
Deutschland, höre!
For Thomas Mann’s 150th birthday, some of his BBC radio addresses were newly recorded by actress Sandra Hüller and broadcast on Deutschlandfunk. Contemporary voices from politics, science, and culture engaged in dialogue with Mann’s texts and discussed their relevance today. The episodes are now available for listening on our website.
“Hell, Germans, has come upon you.” Thomas Mann’s relentless and uncompromising message in his radio addresses, broadcast by the BBC between 1940 and 1945, was a plea for humanism and democratic renewal—and at the same time a ultimately unsuccessful wake-up call to a country that had surrendered itself to delusion and total destruction.
Contributions by: Jutta Allmendinger, Michel Friedman, Arne Friedrich, Alice Hasters, Annett Gröschner, Navid Kermani, Charlotte Knobloch, Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, Düzen Tekkal, Christian Wulff, and Feridun Zaimoglu.
To the radio episodes: Deutschland, höre!
Villa Aurora X Wasserspeicher
On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Villa Aurora not only looked back this year but also opened new spaces for contemporary sound art. For three days, the Large and Small Water Reservoirs in Prenzlauer Berg were transformed into extraordinary venues for experimental electronic music—a jubilee project connecting past, present, and future.
In the Small Water Reservoir, Tim Story’s audio installation Moebius Strips, a tribute to Dieter Moebius, celebrated its European premiere. For the Berlin presentation, a new composition commission was awarded to Hanna Hartman.
In the Large Water Reservoir, Felix Kubin, together with Josephin Böttger, developed the site-specific sound installation *Plasmatron*. Its four sold-out performances are now documented on YouTube.
