SomoS Arts

SomoS Arts is a non-commercial, artist run art space founded in Berlin in 2012, occupying the first floor of a mixed residential and commercial building from the 1890s at Kottbusser Damm, in the vibrant creative area connecting the Kreuzberg and Neukolln neighbourhoods. The historic space carries a layered past of its own, having served over the decades as an early twentieth century Konzertcafe, an erotic cinema, a pool hall and a studio, before architect Tiago Oudman of Studio Kunchi reimagined its ruinous interiors into an art hub in 2012. At this location, SomoS also continues the curatorial legacy of the earlier art space Kunstraum Richard Sorge, which operated from 2008 to 2011, embedding its own programme within this longer local history of independent artistic initiative.

With an emphasis on interdisciplinary projects, intergenerational community and diversity, SomoS works closely with emerging and mid career artists, providing space, knowledge and resources for the production, presentation and reflection of contemporary art. Its stated mission is to build an international, open framework for innovative artistic practice, curatorial projects, education and creative cooperation, and its exhibitions, performances, seminars and artist talks remain free to the public, reflecting a conviction in art's capacity to spark discussion, cooperation and mutual understanding across different backgrounds and generations. The institution has been recognised by Artslant Magazine as one of Berlin's most interesting alternative art spaces.

The institution's contemporary importance rests substantially on its Artist in Residence programme, which has grown to include several distinct formats, an on site Berlin residency, a curatorial residency, a virtual artist residency and an embedded artist residency, allowing SomoS to support a wide range of practitioners at different stages of their careers and working in different modes of engagement with the city. Recent residents have worked across painting, video, textile art, filmmaking and hybrid documentary practice, often researching Berlin specific subjects, from the city's printing history to its techno culture, in dialogue with their own artistic backgrounds.

Curatorially, SomoS has built a consistent trajectory around interdisciplinary exhibitions, workshops, peer to peer critique sessions and public programming that brings together international and Berlin based practitioners, complemented by its own publication, the SomoS Journal, and an active programme of studio visits and portfolio reviews for its resident artists.

The organisation's core pillars are its exhibition programme, its residency initiatives, and its educational and community building activities, all sustained by a small dedicated team working within a non-commercial, artist led structure. SomoS is funded through a broad international network of cultural foundations, arts councils and governmental cultural bodies from across Europe, North America and Asia, together with support from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, a diversified funding model that reflects the institution's genuinely international scope and its enduring role as a platform for cross-cultural artistic exchange in Berlin.