The Sophiensæle opens its 23/24 season with the motto, Trust the Process, and presents new and familiar artists, all of whom offer a unique perspective on the new realities of a world in upheaval.

To us, Trust the Process means to give yourself over to the act of creating art, to submit to its mysteries and its many twists and turns.

The word “process” in English is not only a noun, but a verb. In verb form, it can mean to work through something, to digest it—to transfer it from one state to another. Process, then, is transformation, and transformation means learning from one another. What defines art and distinguishes it from, say, politics, is the centrality of process, with its attention to constant and continual change. Process is complexity, and art has the incredible ability to accommodate change and uncertainty. Whereas other disciplines might see these qualities as disruptive and try to eliminate them, art embraces them. Art does not have to produce truths, but can endure and depict complex processes.

“To trust” means to engage with what is in front of us. It means to continuously re-locate oneself in the process and to have faith that this attention will make us alive to new developments—an essential aspect of making art.

In a world of ubiquitous backlash, the vastly different works in our opening program tell individually and collectively of practices of resistance and processes of self-empowerment. They can also be understood as processes in their own right; they are unfinished, shifting and mutable. Our featured artists delight in crossing genre boundaries and, as Leyla Yenirce puts it, develop a “polyamorous relationship” to the various art disciplines in order to meet their audience in the here and now.

Trusting the process will be our guiding principle for the entire first season and we cordially invite you to accompany us in this process.

We look forward to seeing you and sharing an evening filled with art, conversation, drinks, and maybe even a bowl of soup in the canteen.

Jens Hillje and Andrea Niederbuchner
Artistic direction Sophiensæle

• Speech by Jens Hillje at the opening on December 07, 2023
• Opening program for download

Media partners: Arts of the Working Class, Berlin Art Link, Das Wetter, Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.