HomeBase developed a ground breaking residency model which is adapted to two unique HomeBase types of Homes / residencies as following;
HB Project / Nomadic Residency
HB LAB / HB Build Residency.
HB LAB / HB BUILD RESIDENCY
after five years of nomadic HomeBase Projects which took place in NYC and Berlin, we found the need to build a year round home for HomeBase called the HomeBase LAB, enabling us to take this exploration further and deeper.
The HB LAB is a home to the HomeBase team and the HomeBase BUILD artists, located at Thulestrasse 54, Pankow, Berlin. The facilities include 16 live-in art studios, a shared kitchen, a large salon, the HB stage for performances, an eco-garden and greenhouse, a think tank and conference room, a library, and the Ignatz Bier Mobile Microbrewery. It is hosted in a historic building that was built in 1905 and used to be the Engelhardt Brewery. It contains a vast history, in which the radical socio political shifts in western society in the last century left their mark, and now functions as a stimulating backdrop of the exploration of home.
The building of the HB LAB located at Thulestrasse 54, Pankow survived two world wars and went through dramatic sociopolitical shifts. Built in 1890, it housed the Engelhardt brewery from 1905 -1949. Directed by Mr. Ignatz Nacher who transformed the brewery into one of the most successful in Germany before being taken over in the 1930’s by the Third Reich in what became one of the biggest cases of Nazi expropriation. After WWII it became a communist brewery, a youth hostel of the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth) and remained deserted for nearly 20 year after the fall of the berlin wall. In 2010 HomeBase project arrived from NY to the space and inhabited the building with a diverse group of artists – turning it into the HB LAB which functions as the headquarters and research center of the
The HomeBase BUILD residency takes place at the HomeBase LAB three times a year, and includes 3 months of an artist-in-residency program in live-in studios with weekly artists dinners and LAB Learns, culminating in a weekend HB BUILD Festival. Sixteen professional artists, social entrepreneurs, architects, performers, writers and other creative thinkers live on site at the HB LAB in Berlin and work during three months on individual art projects in their live-in studios. The artists engage in creative communal living and an educational and cultural program while having a ‘hands on’ collaboration in building different aspects of the HomeBase LAB. The objective is to turn the HB LAB into an innovative cultural center, dedicated to the exploration of Home and experimenting in meaningful urban living.
For a better impression of the HomeBase BUILD residency take a look at the images of the HomeBase BUILD II festival here and here.
The program of HomeBase BUILD is built around the idea that each artist participates as both a learner, creator and teacher. The HomeBase BUILD group generates content and to the majority is self-directed, within a setting / infrastructure that HomeBase provides. Theorganic process of exploration unfolds within the following given structural form:
Weekly group meetings
- LAB Learn: co-learning, facilitated by the HomeBase team, group and guest speakers – 3 hours a week – three hour long study sessions which are devoted to a range of topics from art, public art, presentations, philosophy, urban change and public policy, with guest speakers and scholars.
- HB Salon: a cultural platform which include cultural conversations, performances, movie screenings, readings and reflections which generally focuses on the notion of home and the role of art in social change.
- Artists Dinners – The weekly communal dinner is prepared by three artists. a creative gathering with guests at our table, hosting, expanding our network and experimenting in different cultural cuisines and habits.
- BUILD project: working on communal aspects of the program – 3 hours a week.
Individual work
- Individual art work: the majority of the time, besides the two scheduled weekly group meetings (LAB Learn, Salon), will be dedicated to progressive art practice in the individual studios – ongoing.
* Artists are selected to participate in the HB BUILD program by the HB team.
**HB Build is a self paid residency
*** HB Build takes place three times a year: Summer – June, July, Aug, Fall – Oct, Nov, Dec, Spring February, March, April
Please see past HomeBase Build programs here, and upcoming HB BUILD residency here
