LAS Art Foundation

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
THE SOUL STATION

12 July – 13 October 2024

Halle am Berghain, Berlin

Episode 1

YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYTHING
12 July – 1 September 2024

Episode 2

ARE YOU SOULLESS, TOO?
13 September – 13 October 2024

In the artist’s game-based installation, you are the player in a speculative universe. Facing choices that contend with biases and exclusions, you gain insights into an archive of voices past and present.

THE SOUL STATION is Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s first solo presentation in Germany, featuring a newly commissioned work and a survey of earlier video games. Through game-based installations and fictional universes, THE SOUL STATION invites you to explore your ethical, political and moral decision-making, and considers the broader structures and histories of marginalisation. A newly commissioned work is presented in two episodes; a second episode is revealed on 13 September 2024, during Berlin Art Week.

Offering a comprehensive survey of Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s oeuvre, THE SOUL STATION includes key works from the past five years. Together they trace the artist's practice, which combines lived experience with speculative fiction in order to shed light on positions and histories that are often simplified or disregarded. The newly-commissioned game, played collaboratively in an installation reminiscent of a public arena, is the culmination of a journey through the exhibition space, which invites you to contend with your own experience, choices and biases. The first episode, YOU CAN'T HIDE ANYTHING, tells the story of a cataclysmic event in a parallel society, where a revolution has been waged against globalised slavery and the enslavers have been overthrown. In the second episode, ARE YOU SOULLESS, TOO?, the audience witnesses the conversations of a new group of characters who have migrated from one universe to another, while also providing a behind-the-scenes look at the real people and conversations that brought the first episode to life.

THE SOUL STATION is complemented by a public programme that includes youth workshops, in-site performances and a thematic library at Halle am Berghain.

THE SOUL STATION: Extended Guide

This guide offers the opportunity to delve deeper into the artist’s game-based installation.

Your soul may be dirty. Would you like to clean it?

SOUL STATIONS are available online and throughout the installation at Halle am Berghain. They accompany you on your journey through Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s games. To register, simply enter your name. You will then receive your personal code, which will allow you to embark on an introspective journey to cleanse your soul. You may access any SOUL STATION in the installation at Halle am Berghain and online before or after your visit by entering your five-digit code. Keep your eyes open for clues, as they will help you to decipher the codes and symbols you are looking for.

As the artist states:

YOU ARE ENTERING A SPACE

THIS SPACE WILL SHOW YOU YOUR SOUL

ALLOWING YOU TO

REFLECT ON YOUR PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU SEE

YOU MAY FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE

YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO HOLD YOURSELF TOGETHER

BUT THAT IS WHERE THE REAL WORK IS DONE RIGHT?

NONE OF YOU ARE PERFECT

ALL OF YOU CAN DO BETTER

BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR FAILURES

BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR REGRETS

BE HONEST ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE

BRING YOUR DESPAIR, FEAR, HOPES, DEPRESSION, EXCITEMENT, TEARS, INTOLERANCE, JOY, DESPERATION, UTOPIA, MISTAKES, ANGER, PAIN, PLEASURE

JUST BRING YOURSELF

Biographies

02

Artist

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Guest Co-Curator

Mawena Yehouessi

Press

03

Credits

Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation

THE SOUL STATION © Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Danielle brathwaite-shirley team

Artist
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
Guest Curator
Mawena Yehouessi
Co-Writer, Voice Actor
Ebun Sodipo
Movement Director
Malik Nashad Sharpe
Virtual Architecture Consultant
Joel Simpson
Coder
Florian Brückner
Music and Sound
wavesovspace
Virtual Camera Assistant
Johannes Krell
Co-Director and Producer
Valerie-Malin Schmid
Voice Actor
Madison Moore
Voice Actor
Robin Rutenberg
Voice Actor
Blu Bone
Voice Actor
Newroz Çelik
Voice Actor
Jayden Rahatoka

Exhibition team

Scenography and Production
Celeste Burlina
Spatial Sound Design
Lugh O'Neill
Public Programme Production
Pierre Renard

Organised for LAS by

Senior Curator
Dr Boris Magrini
Assistant Curator
Agnessa Schmudke
Project Manager
Flinder Zuyderhoff-Gray
Operations
Alina Fichtner
External Relations and Communications
Sophie Furse
Communications Manager
Selin Şahin
Marketing Manager
Felix Thon
Communications Assistant
Moritz Weber
Social Media Manager
Veronica Jonsson
Partnerships and Development
Coraly von Bismarck
Strategy and Development Manager
Alice Lamperti
Development and Production Assistant
Jordan Komlangan


With thanks to:

LAS team, Connecting the Dots, Norbert Thormann, André Jürgens, Krischan Makswitat, ostgut-Team, Studio Karhard, X:hibit Projects and the visitor service team, Ode, Lifta, Jennifer Brathwaite, Christoph Lehner, Angharad Probert, Vigour Li, Janine Armin, Harriet von Froreich, Aaron Levin Zielinski, Moïse Youmba, Joaquín Villarroel Echaiz, Van at Short Notice, Wisag, Robert Müller-Grünow, SCENTCOMMUNICATION

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