Balancing Acts

Debuting publicly for the first time, MATTER of COURSE, a new Berlin-based female design collective, opens BALANCING ACTS, a pop-up exhibition celebrating the value of collaboration and finding balance in contemporary life. The exhibition is curated by Anava Projects and will take place from 11-13 September at Friends Space in Kreuzberg.

MATTER of COURSE is a new, Berlin-based collective of 11 independent female designers. Working at the intersection of design, art, and craftsmanship, they are united by a profound respect for our ecological and social environment, a passion for creating objects of value, and the power of collaboration. The designers bundle their individual experience and collective vision to create space for creative exchange, personal and professional empowerment, and new, exciting endeavours.

Conceived as six vignettes, each playful installation includes stacked, suspended, and juxtaposed works by multiple designers from the 11-person collective. The furniture, lighting, textiles, carpets, and accessories are composed together to express the values that drew these diverse creatives together in the first place: there is strength, poetry, and joy in collaboration, offering a support structure to share ideas, struggles, and experiences.

The exhibition, at the same time, serves as a reflection of the designers’ commitment to finding balance: between the needs of individuals versus collectives; between personal and professional responsibilities, between form, color, and material; between feeling gratitude for what is given and the striving to innovate, experiment, and grow. The designers are all guided by a deep respect for our ecological and social environment, each presenting strong, individual points of view while honoring the delicate and courageous act of coming together, wherever you are, whoever you are.