Dates: 24.01.-26.01.2025
Venue: DOCK 11, Saal 4
Kastanienallee 79
10435 Berlin
Free admission
Workshops: no registration required
Program:
24.01. Friday:
• Opening hours: 19:00-22:00
• Performance: 20:00
"Skin-Print Performance" is a conceptual, time-based performance art piece where the intricate stitchings of traditional garments are imprinted onto the skin, forming ephemeral patterns that gradually fade over time. This act explores the impermanence of cultural traditions and their diminishing presence in our daily lives. As the body moves slowly through space, the fading prints serve as a metaphor for the fragility of heritage, raising questions about whether traditions will vanish entirely or endure in ever-evolving forms.
25.01. Saturday:
• Opening hours: 15:00-21:00
• Participatory group cooking practice of Ukrainian Borscht Soup 15:00 - 18:00
• Traditional Ukrainian Borscht Soup Dinner 18:00-20:00
• Live Tattoo with Caro Ley from: 18:00
26.01. Sunday:
• Opening hours: 14:00-18:00
• Workshop 15:00 - 16:00 Weaving with plastic
This exhibition takes a multidisciplinary visual and performative approach to exploring the intersection of Ukrainian and German traditional clothing, tracing their evolution through generations. Once vital markers of identity, status, and belonging, these garments embodied craftsmanship and cultural memory. Over time, their roles evolved—some elements were forgotten, while others were modified, adapted, or appropriated under the influence of other cultures, reflecting changes in social and political landscapes. Today, these traditions find new meanings, balancing preservation and reinvention. While Ukrainian and German traditional clothing evolved under different historical and environmental conditions, their shared reliance on craftsmanship, symbolism, and cultural storytelling creates compelling parallels. These similarities highlight the universality of using clothing as a medium for identity and belonging. In a practice of preserving knowledge, as well as a speculative practice for the future the two artists, Véronique Langlott and Elis, take up the threads of the past to connect and link them into something new. Through this lens, the exhibition conceptually examines how heritage continues to shape modern identities and artistic expression.
Funded by: ART CONNECTS - Aid fund for projects with artists seeking protection. ART CONNECTS was initiated by the Rudolf Augstein Foundation, the Claussen Simon Foundation, the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS and the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung and is supported by many other foundations, companies and private individuals.
With the kind support of the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media.
With the kind support of DOCKdigital.
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Véronique Langlott, a dancer and choreographer based in Hamburg/Berlin, Germany, and Elis, a visual and performance artist from Kyiv, Ukraine, first met in the summer of 2019 at IZOLYATSIA Art Center in Kyiv. Véronique was developing her production Folktrance as part of an artistic residency—a collaborative project between German and Ukrainian artists focused on the cultural heritage of folk dances and their choreographic potential. For this project, Elis contributed three abstract collage artworks that became integral to the costumes for the final dance performance. This collaboration sparked a deep creative connection between the two artists.
In February 2022, amidst the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Elis relocated to Germany. Véronique organized an art residency for her at Hamburg’s LICHTHOF Theatre, where Elis created two experimental art productions, #ukrwarbody and feel my goosebumps.
Their shared experiences and complementary practices naturally led to a new collaborative endeavor: exploring the cultural and visual significance of traditional clothing in their respective cultures. Together, they launched the multidisciplinary project How to Tracht / Вбрання, blending performance, visual arts, and research to examine the evolution, preservation, and reinterpretation of Ukrainian and German traditional garments
