Céline Berger. Dreaming Upon a White Stone

About

Céline Berger was brought up in a commune established in 1972 as a 'Christian protest against the consumer society.' Within this community, members shared a life centered around prayer and rural work, including collective ownership of property and income. Growing up in this unique environment provided her with an intimate perspective on an alternative to capitalism. Despite the preached ideals, she keenly felt the pressures, constraints, and contradictions within the group's dynamics. The commune ultimately collapsed in 1983 when she was just 10 years old. In her current series of works, "Communal Thread," Berger intertwines archive photographs from the commune with the macramé technique she learned during her childhood. These images, printed on felt and meticulously sliced into thin strips, undergo a laborious process of reconstitution through repeated knotting. While the photographs captured moments of joy, such as large gatherings, communal dances, and children playing, the strips, held together by knots, present a blurred image. Recognizable only from a distance, the scenes progressively disintegrate into fragments as one approaches. The video work, "Cutting Edges" delves into today’s visions of work flourishing in start-ups and co-working spaces. Based on images and interviews collected during a three-month residency in the Ruhr area, the German Rust Belt, the work explores the start-up ecosystem in the region. It delves into the specific vocabulary and subtexts surrounding these new economic hotspots, where bits and pieces of utopian discourses aim to shape a reality governed by very different rules.