"Young People, Big Dreams" is a dark comedy following a day in the lives of characters bound by their mutual discontent with work. Set in a bustling, nameless American city, the film explores their strained relationships with their jobs, which leave them feeling alienated, uninspired, and lost. Through their unwittingly philosophical, humorous, and sometimes melancholic dialogues, the characters reflect the frustrations of a workforce grappling with meaning and identity within the modern employment landscape.

More than a social critique, the film holds up a mirror to the timeless struggle of finding purpose in a system that often feels soulless. Tapping into the current climate of debates around minimum wage, healthcare, and student debt, it resonates deeply in an era where endless job options and social media amplify both opportunity and comparison. With Young People, Big Dreams, the filmmaker invites audiences to witness the absurdity of everyday existence and hints at a larger narrative to come in a series under development.

Vanessa Schefke, the writer, director, and producer of Young People, Big Dreams, is a Berlin and Miami-based creative force. Known for her versatile storytelling, she gained attention with a viral short film in 2020, created to support Berlin's club scene during the pandemic lockdown, and later directed a music video for a German-Iranian artist in 2022.

Currently, Schefke channels her creativity at the ad agency Anomaly, crafting campaigns for brands such as Sony, Hinge, Zalando, and Rimowa. Her work spans from socially conscious narratives to brand storytelling, showcasing her distinct ability to connect audiences with both compelling stories and innovative visuals.

VJ Open Lab 38 showcases Berlin-based audiovisual artists Katharina Bévand & Sanja Star, alongside Anja Malec & Fangarm, each presenting unique performances that fuse digital and analog aesthetics through animation and modular synth soundscapes. GOULDUST takes over the night with a VJ set of vivid, playful visuals, weaving retro warmth and abstract forms into a cosmic live experience at STUDIO IIII.

The opposite of déjà vu, jamais vu occurs when something familiar – something you’ve seen or experienced many times – suddenly feels unfamiliar or odd. The brain's familiarity with the object breaks down temporarily, creating a sense of eerie strangeness.

With his 22 Anchors installation, Heiner Franzen invites us to experience this sensation by observing the faces of major TV news anchors, figures we think we know intimately but, upon closer inspection, appear alien – distant, foreign, otherworldly, as they are supposed to appear in the first place. These faces, meticulously sculpted to project an aura of intimacy and engineered to generate a sense of trust, unravel into something disconcertingly weird the moment we pause to scrutinize them. Their perfect postures, tailored outfits, impeccable hair, overall glossiness, and facial expressions, polished over countless broadcasts, feel unnatural in their unwavering calm and rehearsed sincerity. They are framed in non-verbal pauses, stuck in a liminal state between action and inaction. They must be waiting for the next cue, hanging there like puppets whose strings haven’t been pulled yet, suspended in a moment of non-life. The deeper we delve into these personas, the more distant and unfamiliar they become, as if the humanity behind the mask has been hollowed out by ceaseless performance and artifice.

Heiner Franzen is a draughtsman and video artist who lives and works in Berlin and teaches at ETH Zürich. Versions of his video installation ANCHORS were first exhibited in Linda Peitz’s kiosk project I Came in Here for a Special Offer, at the Seegarten exhibition in Kirchmöser, at Ebensperger for Gallery Weekend Berlin 2024, and are currently on view at Kunsthalle Barmen in Wuppertal. 22 Anchors at Studio IIII is the most comprehensive installation of this project, showing all 22 mute protagonists in their preliminary entirety. It is a lesson on mass media confusion and embroilment.

STUDIO IIII / Thursday 24 October / 6PM

Ah, yes! Nothing quite stirs the soul — or perhaps more accurately, the body — like Radical Disco. One might say it "turns you on more than your actual boyfriend" when Sir Boyfriend himself graces us with yet another live episode, positively dripping with unreleased gems and freshly polished jewels. This time, he also parades a glittering arsenal of glam electro covers, spinning the melancholy of Wicked Game, Love Will Tear Us Apart, and Tainted Love into something... so exquisitely tragic as a love letter never sent, sealed with a sigh and forgotten in a dusty drawer.

Ah, the audacity of it all. But then again, what’s life without a bit of irony, a touch of sparkle, and a dash of heartbreak, darlings? Shall we dance? Or cry? Perhaps both.


Sir Boyfriend is a singer-songwriter and pop artist from Sweden who gained worldwide recognition with his viral track Poem for Mahsa Amini in 2022, supporting the female revolution in Iran. Having recorded two albums in pop and rock groups, most recently with VISITEUR, the maestro left Stockholm for Berlin in pursuit of his dreams, freedom, and a solo career in music. Things are looking peachy on his path. They taste so promising, in fact, that sir is already rehearsing his acceptance speeches for both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Pop Palace of Planetary Prestige.

“This is what good drawings look like…” It was some two decades ago when Prof. Georg Baselitz issued this statement, applauding the exceptional talent of his student, Danja Akulin.

Renowned for its meditative precision and striking monochromatic palette, Akulin's art draws on black and white to probe the boundaries of form, space, and perception. His meticulous drawings – rendered in pencil on paper and charcoal on canvas – hover between abstraction and figuration, reflecting recurring themes of nature and existential contemplation.

His minimalist approach often focuses on large-scale drawings that evoke a sense of atmospheric vastness. While his art may appear simple at first glance, it reveals layers of complexity as light, texture, and movement are slowly uncovered through close observation. His compositions tend to convey a quiet intensity, with a focus on the subtleties of line, gradient, and density.

Akulin's work often plays with the notion of emptiness and fullness, where negative space becomes as important as the drawn elements, giving his art a contemplative, almost spiritual quality. The tension between meticulous control and the organic, uncontrollable aspects of nature is a central motif in his practice.

Over the last decade, Danja Akulin has held numerous solo exhibitions at prestigious galleries and museums across Germany, throughout Europe, and in the United States, alongside participating in a wide array of group exhibitions. His work has continued to gain international recognition, reflecting both the depth and breadth of his artistic contributions on the global stage.

Following the opening of his solo exhibition at Galerie Mond earlier this evening, STUDIO IIII presents key works by the artist spanning a decade, reimagined as a large-scale multimedia installation. This immersive experience invites viewers to engage deeply with his artistic vision and as much with his techniques, revealing the intricacies of his drawings that often remain hidden in their smaller original formats.

STUDIO IIII / Saturday 12 October / 9PM

Clemens Porikys is a Berlin-based society, fashion and nature photographer, renowned for his striking international celebrity portraits and editorial work for prestigious magazines. His new video work quell is an exploration of the dynamics of transformation and identity, a narration about the constant flow and inseparability of humans from the forces that surround them – filmed during the day and at night in a lake in Brandenburg. After the exhibition, the female collective G3, who was part of the artwork production, takes over the dance floors with a great lineup of D/VJs.

On this Radical Disco night, the Tegel Boys present a special in-the-round live show to commemorate the release of their new single That’s Enough – a joyful, percussive, sample-laden acid-disco romp, now complete with remixes from PBR Streetgang and SIRS, turning the energy of the original track into an entirely new nocturnal journey. Local club wizards Shimanski (Disco Bizarre) and SIRS himself join the party with elite disco mechanics.

The four Tegel Boys: Joel, Jeremy, Alican, and Antonio – the pilots. The flight is fancy and it’s a foolhardy insistence that a parallel world still exists. First-class dreams, tacky and louche, vinyl seats, sticky cocktails, giddy highs, and lusty stomp. Polymath rock ‘n’ roll electronics that work a little less obviously, but feel a whole lot better. The group came together to bring you there. The Tegel Boys make modern disco body music, in- flight acid house, airport-blues-boogie, hi-fi dada-rap for those tuned-in psychic travelers. A locomotive and leaden groove onboard, a wink to the frequent flyers, a fountain of sample-delic digger knowledge and circus hijinks spill out on the active runway where the boys navigate it to cruising altitude. They are an amalgamation of talent bubbling forth from the Berlin underground channeling parallel lives in NYC-Loft Manchester-Hacienda Southside-Philly Berghain-Berlin Konono-Kinshasa Acid-Istanbul and every other boogie-scorched molecule of human hip-shake. Obstinate, modern, deeply soulful and playful dance music from the family.

Moretz is a club kid. Known as the prodigy girl of Belo Horizonte (Brazil) underground scene, she grew influenced by her father, a lover of house music and has been going to clubs since she was 8. Combining her charisma and energy while playing, Moretz presents her lifetime research of House Music – and every possibility inside the genre, combining Old School gems with new grooves. She has taken her sound to the main parties throughout Brazil – Gop Tun, Dekmantel Showcase, Mamba Negra are some of them – and in 2020 she performed for the first time at Boiler Room. Now, with Berlin as her base, a resident at Fandango and host at her show at Refugee Worldwide Dykes on Decks, she has been performing at some local parties and clubs – Buttons, Club Oxi, Renate and Sysiphos as well as around Europe: London (Boat Live) Paris (Le Mazette) and Lyon (Le Sucre).

You need to see gome playing one of their live or DJ sets and experience the energy these two guys have behind the decks. The duo from Hamburg has been entertaining house heads worldwide for a few years now, but it was in 2022 that gome had their breakthrough with some outstanding releases on Toy Tonics.

gome add that very special raw energy to their sets; their sound would best be described as honest and rough 90s-influenced House, infused with elements of Funk, Disco and Soul. As a live act, they play with an all-hardware /no-computer setup. Deliberately moving away from clean computerized music, the two musicians are not afraid to pull out their instruments and play live in front of a club audience. It is this instant connection and uniqueness that regularly fills dance floors in top destinations worldwide, such as Mexico City, Berlin, Tbilisi, London, Milan and Rome.

After only three years, they have gained unprecedented support in Germany and beyond: their debut EP under their previous alias volker.live came out on RSS Disco’s Mireia Records and features remixes of Erobique and Lucky Charmz.

Celebrated EPs on the hyped Toy Tonics imprint followed, which have received incredibly great support from top DJs all around the world.

She is not your typical DJ. Originally from Athens, Hara Katsiki is a true shapeshifter. With a chameleon-like affinity for transformation and illusion, her petite frame and gentle demeanor conceal a bold, adventurous spirit that has led her through many opulent escapades.

Hara started as a model before moving into styling and art direction, yet her relentless drive for creativity remained unfulfilled. Restless in her pursuit of artistic fulfillment, she let wanderlust lead the way, pulling her into uncharted realms, where she hoped the unknown would fan her creative spark into a raging flame. Before long, her hopes blazed into existence.

She calls Berlin her home, and since moving here from Greece, has built a reputation for her artistry and become a highly sought-after talent across multiple realms, swiftly establishing herself as one of the foremost Berlin city DJs and prominent fashion personality. With a universal and intuitive grasp of music, her cosmic and exotic sounds have been described to combine a joie de vivre and whimsy, with an eclectic and dreamy approach, shaping her wildly fascinating inner world.

Her dance sets revamp the relationship between electronica and disco as she zigzags through time and space. With layered synthetic textures, acoustic percussion, and analog synths, they catapult our senses into a shimmering, endless universe – seamlessly shifting between the pulse of the club and ethereal realms, offering a wild ride through cosmic and Balearic sounds, lost downtempo gems, and oddball obscurities.

Her mesmerizing mixes offer a fleeting escape into a daydream, a soothing contrast to our unsettled world. Irresistibly entrancing, they are pulling you in with an almost iron-clutch magnetic force.

Always a mystery by night, Hara is also a quantum healer and hypnotherapist by day.

A multifaceted DJ and producer, a true connoisseur of sound in his relentless pursuit of musical excellence, Franz Scala thrives in the studio when not gracing the stage with his electrifying live performances. With a keen focus on production while savoring the moments of respite from gigs around the world, he dedicates himself to cutting and polishing sonic gems, each reflecting his distinctive artistry and remarkable versatility across various genres, styles, and techniques. Spanning over two decades, his impressive repertoire of remixes further reveals his imaginative flair while manifesting his collaborative spirit and commitment to fostering musical dialogue.

His passion for music drives Franz to tirelessly seek out fresh, exciting sounds, ensuring he stays at the forefront of the ever-evolving music scene. As a result, many of his discoveries find a home on his label, Slow Motion Records. And vice versa: His own tracks are highly sought after and have been released widely on renowned labels such as World Unknown, Bordello a Parigi, Bahnsteig 23, Tusk Wax, Mechatronica, Correspondant and Discodromo's Cocktail d'Amore Music.

Franz Scala is involved in numerous projects, including the monthly Wrong Era stunt, Italian Dance Wave affair, and the infamous Italorama night at Berghain/Panorama Bar. Alongside his long-time collaboration with Sameheads, he regularly takes the decks at Griessmühle and Renate.

Franz’s DJ sets mirror the eclecticism of Slow Motion paradigm, seamlessly blending Italian Dance, Proto House, Cosmic, and Psychedelic Disco House. His mastery at the controls along these lines in clubs transform the dance floor into a retro nostalgia rave, driven by a vivid musical narrative.

We are happy to present the video work Calle 22 by Julius von Bismarck at Studio IIII. The exhibition opens on Thursday, September 12, 2024, during the Berlin Art Week festivities, and continues through Saturday 21, marking the first edition of Flipping The Coin's residency at STUDIO IIII.

Von Bismarck's 2015 video work captures the varied nightlife phenomena proliferating along the southern side of the notorious Calle 22 street in Bogotá. The artist is using a high-speed camera to document its landscape in a single uninterrupted shot. The intense contrasts and raw realities portrayed in Calle 22 find a powerful echo in Berlin’s Potsdamer Straße, where Studio IIII is located and the very place where Bismarck grew up. Both Calle 22 and Potsdamer Straße serve as urban arteries where nightlife thrives and social margins converge, known for the presence of $es w0rk work and other precarious forms of labor. Von Bismarck’s work not only highlights these often-overlooked aspects of urban life but also draws a direct connection to the environment surrounding the fully immersive exhibition space, inviting viewers to reflect on the social complexities that shape such spaces.

This part of Bülowkiez in Berlin was once acknowledged as one of the main red-light districts of the city. Sex workers paved the way for other people who experienced stigma as a consequence of being sexually non-normative—such as the gay community—to call this neighborhood home. Now, sex workers are being explicitly excised from this neighborhood as property values rise and gentrification intensifies. But what is the current situation in this neighborhood, so highly frequented by an international art scene as well as sex workers and other locals who have been around for ages? A reasonable question! As well as an open one...

Originally from France, Eva Crystaltips has crafted a distinctive career in DJing, starting in Edinburgh, where she became known for her thoughtfully curated sets and residencies at some of the city's most respected venues. Immersing herself in the UK House and Disco scene, she has shared the stage with renowned names like Horse Meat Disco and Greg Wilson, earning a reputation for her ability to blend classic and modern sounds effortlessly.

Now based in Berlin, Eva continues to refine her style, blending 70s Soul, Disco, and House into an immersive musical experience. Her sets, featuring a mix of original tracks, edits, and remixes, take listeners on a journey through both timeless and contemporary grooves, bringing an infectious energy on the dance floor that leaves audiences smiling, dancing, and wanting more.

Hanzo Tono is a music collector for over eighteen years collecting from Disco, Balearic, Synthwave, to House and Techno. Hanzo made his way onto the global scene by taking his music to clubs such as Sisyphos (Berlin), Womb (Tokyo) Silencio (Paris), Katerblau (Berlin), and Razzmatazz (Barcelona). Other international destinations where Hanzo has worked include Osaka, Ibiza, New York, Madrid, Amsterdam, Marseille, Turkey... He has worked for brands like Jean Paul Gaultier and Hugo Boss, among others. He's current music ventures include Querico Tokyo and Mambo Diablo Records.

In the years since their inception WhoMadeWho have established themselves as one of the definitive underground bands of their generation, renowned for their exceptional grasp of emotional depth, heartrending melody and inspired songwriting. The Danish group, comprised Tomas Høffding, Tomas Barfod and Jeppe Kjellberg, inject their boundless energy into standout performances all over the globe, from Roskilde to Sonar and Melt! to Burning Man. They have produced seven albums and a plethora of EPs, singles and remixes on labels like Kompakt, Innervisions, Life & Death. With Barfod’s penchant for electronic music poetically juxtaposed with Høffding and Kjellberg’s respective backgrounds in rock and jazz, their music is an electrifying combination of sounds, merging a variety of influences to produce a unique sonic fingerprint that is emotive, irresistible and immensely satisfying. Their captivating hybrid DJ/live performances have become a key aspect of the group’s huge global appeal, alongside their powerful live shows.

With a foot in both New York and Paris, Harry Nuriev crafts his unique vision as a groundbreaking artist, designer, architect, founder and creative director of Crosby Studios. His Berlin Art Week exhibition, The Foam Room, will open on Wednesday, September 11 at Dittrich&Schlechtriem gallery, followed by an after-hours bash at STUDIO IIII, featuring a special sidekick installation by the artist and night-long sets by surprise guest DJs incognito, whose identities we are sworn to keep secret due to their sky-high status and exclusive nature of the event.

Nuriev’s creative practice encompasses a diverse array of forms, from immersive environments and art installations to public spaces and everyday objects. Central to his work is the notion of transformism – a concept he coined to describe his distinctive methodology and to highlight the significance of transformative experiences on our lives. The artist's passion for experimentation shines through as he reimagines what seems normal and mundane to make bold statements about contemporary society. By challenging conventional perspectives and drawing attention to what he deems important, Nuriev invites audiences to step out of their comfort zones, experience new sensations, and engage more deeply with the world around them.

The New York Times Magazine has hailed Harry Nuriev as a trailblazer in global minimalism, citing the instinctive influence of craft and architecture on his work. Aside from his numerous creative engagements with renowned artists and prominent brands, he has also delivered lectures and led educational programs at esteemed institutions such as Harvard, Pratt, and the Royal College of Art in London.

Toy Tonics first emerged as an offshoot of Gomma Records, an independent label active from 2000 to 2015 that cultivated a unique, multidimensional identity. Directed by Mathias Modica and Jonas Imbery, and collaborating with graphic designers Mirko Borsche and Thomas Kartsolis, Gomma built a reputation for its pioneering sound and striking visual aesthetic. Beyond music, Gomma extended its influence into fashion, with its own line of shirts, and ventured into publishing through posters and the zine Amore Mag. The label also curated immersive parties and underground art happenings, creating an all-encompassing cultural experience. Gomma’s avant-garde world was showcased in exhibitions such as Munich’s Haus der Kunst (curated by Chris Dercon) and Tokyo’s Heimat als Utopie exhibition in 2006 (curated by 032C magazine).

Toy Tonics, now standing on its own as an independent creative collective, channels a similar spirit of exploration while carving out its own path. This fluid group of international artists, largely based in Berlin, includes musicians, DJs, producers, graphic designers, photographers, and party visionaries. While primarily focused on pushing the boundaries of dance music, Toy Tonics branches into other realms of creativity by producing limited-edition fashion pieces, organizing exhibitions, publishing their own magazine, and hosting the vibrant Toy Tonics Jams.

The collective's ethos is all about merging diverse styles to generate something fresh and unexpected. Passion, quality, diversity, and individualism are at the heart of this DIY community, which operates as a post-digital countercultural movement, linking different scenes, sounds, and people.

The Toy Tonics sound fuses genres to create an emotionally charged (dance) experience, drawing influences from indie disco, house music, neo-soul, new wave, and funk. By blending organic sounds with electronic production, and merging DJ culture with live band elements, Toy Tonics continues to redefine the dance music landscape.

Mathias "KAPOTE" Modica, the creative force behind the musical and visual direction of Toy Tonics and its experimental sub-label Kryptox, has always been deeply rooted in both music and art. Before founding these labels alongside friends, Modica honed his craft in jazz piano and music production. His early passions for DJing, crate-digging for vinyl, and DIY graphic design shaped his eclectic approach. With a focus on collaboration, Modica seeks out like-minded artists to foster innovative projects. As a musician, he has performed under the aliases Munk and Kapote, and his production credits include work with notable artists such as Peaches, The Rammelizee, WhoMadeWho, Nick McCarthy (Franz Ferdinand), James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), Sam Ruffillo, and Cody Currie.

BERLIN ART WEEK is a cornerstone of the global art calendar, renowned for its pivotal role in showcasing contemporary art and fostering creative dialogues. Its official grand finale at STUDIO IIII promises a memorable celebration, embodying the spirit of the entire week and providing a spectacular conclusion to a series of groundbreaking exhibitions and events.

Why STUDIO IIII? An original and ambitious project, it aims to integrate the functions of typically distinct (yet sometimes needlessly partitioned) cultural institutions – art gallery, nightclub, social lounge, performance space, intellectual salon, multimedia lab – and focused on nurturing and promoting talents from a broad range of artistic spheres. As such, it stands as the perfect venue for the occasion, with its versatility reflecting the diverse and dynamic nature of BERLIN ART WEEK itself.

This closing event will showcase the fusion of music and visual artistry, with performances by Schowi, Khadija, and Sebi from behind the decks, complemented by stunning visuals from AVHS. Rather than conveying a specific narrative or sending a message, or embedding symbolic meaning, or demonstrating technicalities of the process, or being concerned with formalities such as color and shape, her art emphasizes the aesthetic experience of movement itself. The mesmerizing patterns, fluid dynamics, dissolving, transforming, and evolving forms in AVHS’s work engage viewers through their dynamic nature, echoing the sheer delight of seeing things in motion.