THE HOMEBASE PROJECT

THE HOMEBASE PROJECT

Published on Berlin Art Parasites

Take a trip outside of your ordinary Berlin perimeters and find the Homebase Project in a sleepy corner of Pankow. From the outside the building is bleak and non-descript, silent aside from the flags which hang out of its large and shabby windows. As I sit with the figure heads of the project, Adrian talks about the drive that forces people wide eyed into the world, far away from where they would once call home. Nikki and Heather sit in silent agreement, for these three expatriates home now is merely a subjective term; a post it note that gradually loses its grip the more places it is stuck. From Argentina, The Netherlands and Seattle these are three of the people that form the Homebase Project as it stands today; more than an "art community," it is three people's projection of home, complete with a fluid, hand-picked family.

The three are realistic, acknowledging that their creative haven will not always be safe as the cloud of gentrification covers more and more of the city each day. Expectant and aware, they aim to combat the negative effects that often come hand in hand with such evolution; acting as a buffer between the local and international community. Their focus falls on the improvement of a home away from home and therefore they emphasise the need to encourage integration. They offer German classes and initiate interaction with Pankow residents, embarking on building relationships not only with the district’s inhabitants, the kindergarten next door but also with the environment, revealing a collective conscience both dedicated and admirable.

Although the dishevelled appearance of the staircase and the completely derelict top floor may give off a squat-like impression, it is in fact all legit; the necessity to make rent being cause for the 1200EUR residency price tag, something which has earned them criticism from both inside and out. As a resident, the artists are awarded a fair sized room in which they both live and work as well as a spacious living area, a library and an atmosphere of social progression which seeps into the minds of artists and visitors alike.

Behind one of the doors off the red carpeted corridor we found Nathalie Lemoine, an artist adopted as a child from South Korea. As she showed us her photographs of the small gold squares, serving as a memorial of the lost Jewish community, found throughout Berlin, she drew parallels between those involved in the holocaust and the huge number of adoptees; each group dehumanized by their identification with a number as opposed to a name.

Further down the corridor we met Miami based artist Franky Cruz whose work dripped with paint and glitter on a background of tie dye and rejuvenation. He spoke to us of his concern with a regurgitation of information, recycling objects that he has either been given or he has found, describing intently that it is “more about the process than the outcome.” When I ask him how the project has affected his perceptions of home he mentions an assignment set by the project in the last few days where he was asked to write a letter home. Yet for him Homebase has not induced a state of nostalgia that I felt permeated my own visit but instead has brought a sense of relief. For him coming Berlin is “kind of running away” but once more the term becomes convoluted for he states he is home; “home is where my studio is.”