ART IS NOT AN END IN ITSELF

In relationship with the constructivist Asja Lācis

Collage: Schmitt/Woisnitza, 2023, with a performance by Konstanze Schmitt and a film still by Karlheinz Mund | Photo: Holger Kral / Graphic Design: Studio Rada B.

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Exhibition dates: 11 April – 28 June 2026

Curated by Konstanze Schmitt and Mimmi Woisnitza

Exhibition – Discourse – Performance

Art is not an end in itself connects the avant-garde practices of Latvian theater maker, educator, and revolutionary Asja Lācis with contemporary artistic, scientific, and activistperspectives. A rich program of discoursive and performative events and workshops bringsthe exhibition to life during its course.

Artistic positions in space Chto Delat, cinéma copains, Contrafilé, Alice Creischer, Zhenya Efros, Anton Kats, Kollektiv Lauratibor, Karlheinz Mund, Mirja Reuter & Florian Gass, Elske Rosenfeld & Olia Sosnovskaya, Konstanze Schmitt, Luise Schröder, Andreas Siekmann, Zinnober/Theater o.N.

Performances Anna Stiede mit Panzerkreuzer Rotkäppchen, Bühnen zu Baustellen | Baustellen zu Bühnen, Christian Filips & Margarita Breitkreiz, Esels Alptraum, Lauratibor Kiezchor, Meckerchor

Lectures & workshops Inga Gaile, Federico Geller, Tatjana Hofmann, Susan Ingram, Ewa Majewska, Olga Martynova, Luise Meier, Simone Niehoff, Beata Paškevica, Florian Thamer & Tina Turnheim among others

Films Krista Burāne, Payal Kapadia, Yulia Lokshina, Karlheinz Mund, Erwin Piscator, Marta Popivoda

Scenography Philine Rinnert Graphic design Studio Rada B.

Event program:

April 10–12, 2026
ANTIFASCIST WORKERS’ THEATER Today

The theme of the opening weekend sets the tone for the exhibition and connects us directlywith Asja Lācis‘ voice: What is to be done, how are we to act as cultural workers in times ofcrisis and war, of increasing authoritarian and fascist tendencies worldwide? Together, wewill follow in the footsteps of Asja Lācis in a workshop with the help of a time-space machineand in lectures and performances, continuing to write her story into the present.

April 23–25, 2026
Sliktā māte/Bad Mother
A feminist retrospective on Asja Lācis

How can political, artistic, and personal self-determination be reconciled with motherhood? This question, which remains relevant today, is the subject of the play “Sliktā māte,” (2023) by Riga-based author Inga Gaile about Asja Lācis’ reputation as a „bad mother“. Based on Lācis, the workshop on revolutionary motherhood examines historical case studies of other (non)mothers and parenthood in the arts. The room installation and reading by Inga Gaile and Berlin artist Alice Creischer opens up a feminist resonance space for Lācis in the present, reinforced by musical settings by the Lauratibor Kiezchor. The performance collective Bühnen zu Baustellen | Baustellen zu Bühnen (Stages to Construction Sites | Construction Sites to Stages) will continue the search for traces of the Bad Mother and the workers‘ theater at Mariannenplatz.

June 4–5, 2026
Lācis & Co.
Female Acteurs – Transit – Narratives

The workshop explores the ways in which female authors, journalists, and artists reflect on their migratory movements in the Eastern (Central) European avantgarde, and also seeks out echoes of reception, lines of comparison, and questions in the present.

June 25–27, 2026
A Rebelião Das Crianças/The Kids are Outside

On the last weekend of the exhibition, we will bring together artistic and activist positionsfrom the exhibition and beyond for an exchange. Actors from different parts of the world will come together to learn and work together on the topics of children’s theater and interventionsin public space.

April 16–June 11, 2026
Film evenings with discussions (Thursdays)
Curated by cinéma copains

Curator tours (Thursdays):

  • April 16, May 7, May 21, 5:00 p.m. – Guided tour with curators Konstanze Schmitt and Mimmi Woisnitza (de/en)

Learn more about our research on Asja Lācis, the curatorial process, and the individual worksin the context of the exhibition.

Konstanze Schmitt, born in Mannheim, is a visual artist and theater maker. Her performances and installations, which are often documentary based, explore the utopian and subversive potential of oureveryday lives. She is part of the Lauratibor collective. Her workshave been shown at venues including Hebbel am Ufer (HAU 3), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Galerie Wedding, and after the butcher (all in Berlin), as well as at the Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid) and the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art (LCCA, Riga). Konstanze Schmitt was a fellow of the Berlin Artistic Research Program in 2024/25.

Mimmi Woisnitza, born in Dresden, is a cultural and theater studies scholar with a research focus on female practitioners in the history of revolutionary theater. Since2017, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Art Studies at LeuphanaUniversity Lüneburg, and since 2022, she has been part of the SFB1512 “Intervening Arts” in Berlin. In addition to essays on Asja Lācis, Mimmi Woisnitza is co-editing Asja Lācis’s book Revolutionär im Beruf together with Moritz Neufferand Erik Zielke, as an annotatedvolumeexpanded iwith archivalsources and the complete trans-lation of Revolutionäres Theater in Deutschland (Matthes & Seitz, 2026/27).

  • June 11, 5:00 p.m. – Guided tour with Katrina Blach & Klaus-Jörg Kaminski: Images in the Mind – Art Education for the Senses (de)

Katrina Blach, born in Heilbronn, is an artist and art educator. She develops inclusion-focused projects to enable more people to access art. In her work, she emphasizes openness, community, and the engagement of all the senses. She currently works in a self-helporganization for blind and visually impaired people in Berlin.

Klaus-Jörg Kaminski, born in Essen, is a historian, documentary filmmaker, and author ofaudio-films. As he is blind, he himself relies on audio description when consumingaudiovisual media. He has been working in the field of audio description for 12 years. He teaches at the Hörfilmakademie and is a member of Hörfilm e.V.

Participation in the workshops is free of cost and open to everyone. Please register at asjalacis@posteo.de.

Funded by the Senate Administration for Culture and Social Cohesion: The Capital Cultural Fund (HKF) and the Visual Artists’ Exhibition Fees Fund (FABIK).