48 h Neukölln
4 July 2026 – 5 July 2026
Prinzessinnengarten at the New St. Jacobi Cemetery
Hermannstraße 99–105, 12051 Berlin
Opening hours:
Saturday and Sunday 12:00 – 19:00
OUT/SIDE/IN – Taking a seat
This weekend, 1,400 artists from all over the world will be taking part in 48h Neukölln. CAROLA THIELECKE AND THILO SEIBT WILL BE THERE!!! The festival, which has been showcasing vibrant art in this Berlin district for 28 years, spans 370 venues. Carola Thielecke and Thilo Seibt are part of the official festival programme. Their interactive event will take place in the Prinzessinnengärten. If you take a look at the programme, you’ll see that there are lots of other events happening all around. So come along… So do come along and enjoy an artistic tour through the depths of Neukölln.
This photographic project explores Berlin as a political space of belonging, where identity is negotiated not solely through origin, but through social, cultural and emotional attributions. In a temporary photo studio, visitors are invited to take a seat on a sofa – a place of arrival and positioning. The seating arrangement marks a symbolic boundary: the left-hand side represents those who see themselves as Berliners, the right-hand side those who see themselves as non-Berliners.
This spatial configuration points to Berlin as a city of constant negotiation: who belongs, who is excluded – and who decides? The boundary is deliberately kept simple and highlights that political belonging is often linked to seemingly trivial gestures and self-attributions. After the portrait, participants note down their place of birth and the length of their stay in Berlin. This information serves not as proof, but as a contrast to their chosen self-positioning.
The project highlights Berlin as a place where the ‘outside’ is constantly inscribed within the ‘inside’. Belonging appears as a fluid process that takes shape between migration, everyday life and self-image. The boundary is not understood as a separation, but as a productive space of possibility in which urban identity is continually reimagined.
Thilo Seibt was born in Berlin and has lived here for almost his entire life. Carola Thielecke moved here as an adult. The question of self-identification is therefore relevant to the artists in different ways.
The project highlights Berlin as a place where the ‘outside’ is constantly inscribed within the ‘inside’. A sense of belonging emerges as a fluid process that takes shape amidst migration, everyday life and self-image. The boundary is not understood as a division, but as a productive space of possibility in which urban identity is continually reimagined.