Third Space
23 May – 12 Jul 2025 at HAUNT
Anna Ehrenstein, Jannis Julien Grimm & Timo Herbst, Theemetra Harizani, Runa Ikeda, Matteo Lorusso, Anzhelika Palyvoda, Minh Duc Pham, Rebecca Pokua Korang, Jakub Šimčik, Selassie, Bahaa Talis, Sofiia Yesakova
curated by the collective
The exhibition Third Space invites viewers to delve into the fluid and evolving nature of identity through the lens of migration. It brings together Berlin-based artists whose works examine the complexities of existing between cultures, navigating shifting landscapes of belonging, and grappling with the ever-changing nature of identity in transit.
At its core, the exhibition is shaped by Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of the Third Space—a transformative realm where cultures intersect, identities blur, and hybridity emerges. Here, migration is not just about crossing borders, but also about the internal landscapes that shift along the way. The self, exposed to multiple cultural currents, becomes fluid, continuously reshaped by encounters, losses, and reinventions.
Through a dialogue between personal experience and research, the exhibition weaves together individual and collective narratives—stories of displacement and belonging, rupture and adaptation, alienation and joy. It explores how migration disrupts traditional notions of home, how identities are negotiated in unfamiliar contexts, and how art becomes a vessel for resilience, reinvention, and self-preservation.
Beyond the artworks on display, Third Space extends into areas of shared reflection and dialogue in the exhibitions and through accompanying performances, talks and panels. The gallery transforms into a space of exchange, where questions about personal and collective sanctuary and expression are examined: How do we create space to simply exist? What does it mean to belong? What is lost—and gained—through migration? The journey unfolds as one of paradox—between longing and discovery, between integration and the fear of erasure. In dismantling fixed hierarchies, the exhibition reimagines the gallery as a dynamic environment of solidarity and conversation.
By centering these artists’ voices, the exhibition reclaims agency over personal narratives, a kind of Anzaldúan Autohistoria, a form of storytelling where blending personal histories becomes a form of resistance. It immerses viewers in the complex, deeply personal experience of displacement, adaptation, and resilience. Through collective storytelling and artistic expression, it invites viewers to challenge dominant narratives while fostering a shared space for reflection and solidarity.
photos: Alice Stella and sofiia Yesakova
Empty set — Runa Ikeda and Shinichiro Ikeda at Mommsen35 gallary, Berlin,DE
Empty set — art and sound installation
The collaboration project "Empty Set" by Runa Ikeda and Shinichiro Ikeda explores the themes of circulation and loops.
Runa, in her pursuit of the concepts of t temporality and eternity, presents the flow and rhythm of stillness and movement within cycles of life and circulation. She showcases this in her main works, which include drawings and canvas pieces, along with clay works, speaker stands made from straw, cement, and wood, and installation pieces. Some of her works also feature a collaboration with Erina Mori, using tatami and iron frames, while experimental elements arising from collaborations with musicians and designers are also explored.
Shinichiro, on the other hand, presents "Empty Set -zero-", a continuation of the Empty Set series, as a sound installation. In addition to an immersive sound experience with Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 channels, he focuses on exploring the concept of "sound that exists here and now," without being aware of the concept of time in music.He also took charge of mixing in Dolby Atmos himself.
iYi performance during CharlottenWeek at Mommsen35 Gallery
- Empty set - Performance from iyi
Performers and artworks: Runa Ikeda, Performers: Frida Eun Ae Yngvesson, Soundscape and music: Shinichiro Ikeda
In the performance - Empty set - iyi delves into the themes of repetition, cycles and the interplay of being and nothingness. Through seemingly random patterns and movements, something is brought into being, only to disintegrate again almost as quickly.
Despite the apparent repetition in the work, each cycle carries subtle variations that show that even in repetition, transformation takes place. The idea that a repeated action always carries a slight difference is a reminder of the transience and fluidity of time and existence.
In this sense, - Empty set - becomes a meditation on how we constantly oscillate between being and nothingness, creation and dissolution, and how each moment, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is an expression of the eternal cycle of being.
iYi Performance video:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HV4HubdMB8JP48giOk4zcWJy33XtBpoH?usp=sharing
Photos by Musashi Shimamura https://www.instagram.com/musashi_snappin
The Lights
Opening: 21.02.2025, 16:00 - 18:00
at Bar Schwips
Eichendorffstraße 1 Berlin
After 18:00, their operates as usual until 23:00
Exhibition: 21.02 - around June.2025
Wednesday and Thursday : 16:00 - 22:00
Friday and Saturday : 16:00 - 23:00
I present paintings from my new series “The Lights” and related drawings.
The drawings will be collaborated with Erina Mori’s tatami frames.
GENG XUE und RUNA IKEDA
"ONEIROI"
WELTEN WANDLERINNEN N°4 & N°5
Geng Xue and Runa Ikeda: Oneiroi
event images: Geng Xue 海公⼦ – Mr. Sea, 2014 – 2023 (still), stop–motion video, Single-Kanal video, 13’15” min, courtesy the artist and gallery Migrant Bird Space, Berlin
In Greco-Roman mythology, the Oneiroi (dreams) are the many children of Nyx (night) and Hypnos (sleep). Led by the brothers Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasos, they are the mutable and many-headed family of dreams who create and direct the images of our sleep and imagination. In this role, they provide the appropriate title and theme for the final edition of our exhibition series WELTEN WANDELN on contemporary forms of magical realism and surrealism at the Kunstverein Göttingen.
This final presentation of the exhibition series in 2024 is dedicated entirely to the multimedia installations of the two artists Geng Xue and Runa Ikeda. In their individual groups of works, the artists from China and Japan both combine the aesthetics and narratives of their diverse home cultures with personal content in a unique, somnambulistic expressiveness. Geng Xue’s works are dominated by the finest porcelain sculptures, while Runa Ikeda’s are colourful paintings on large fabric banners. In this way, both artists create an inspiring, artistic world between reality, dream and narrative. The finale in the exhibition rooms of the Altes Rathaus Göttingen brings the two artists’ world drafts together in the rooms for the first time worldwide, reveals new references and expands the fantastic potential of their works.
location:
Kunstverein Göttingen
at Alten Rathaus / 2. OG
Markt 9
37073 Göttingen
exhibition duration:
20 October – 15 December 2024
regular opening times:
Tuesday – Sunday
11 am – 5 pm
more information
https://www.kunstvereingoettingen.de/events/ausstellung-geng-xue-und-runa-ikeda/?lang=en
Ancestral eavesdropping
performance created and performed by iyi https://iyicollective.com
iyi are:
Runa Ikeda: Performer and installation Frida Eun Ae Yngvesson: Performer Shinichiro Ikeda: Sound and music
“Ancestral eavesdropping” is a new work created by the interdisciplinary performance collective iyi. It is a performance and installation aimed to reconnect audiences with the lost sounds and practices of their past. The three artists behind iyi—all originally from Japan and South Korea—have each left their home countries at different points in their lives. Through this performance, they reflect on their shared experiences of migration and cultural memory. The piece explores the hypothetical question: What might we hear if we could listen in on our ancestors?
The performance will occur within the installation made by Runa Ikeda and will alter the appearance of it, so that after the performance has taken place the installation will have changed and evolved to something distinctly different from it’s original form, a visual expression of the passage of time. The performance is a reference to old rituals and practices. The work cleanses the space, honoring the past while creating room for transformation. Sounds and field recordings have been collected and recorded from places of personal significance, like Tokyo, Okinawa and Ishikawa and make up the fundament of the soundscape throughout the performance.
