soft power is an independent art space (Kunstverein) in Berlin, co-founded by Eva Herrmann and Linnéa Bake. Its name takes up a term from political theory that describes and utilises the influence of ‘soft’ values such as culture and art on politics and economics. In addition to exhibitions and other public formats that have been taking place in soft power’s exhibition space in a former factory building since 2021, soft power also hosts changing residencies and functions as a multidisciplinary workspace.

During their residency, Eva and Linnéa aim to develop a new curatorial format that reflects on the issue of contemporary art being conditioned as an extension of state-sanctioned narratives, especially while witnessing a successive dismantling of artistic freedom and a growing number of incidents of cultural censorship. In this context, their research at Rupert will focus on the artistic employment of fiction and its narrative forms’ nuanced recognition of subjectivity as a result of, but not in direct dialog with, political control.