As part the exhibition "Roaming Winters," Bärenzwinger, Berlin, Germany
organized by an• other here residency in collaboration with Bärenzwinger. December 2022 - February 2023.
The Roam House came to be in the framework of Stephanie Imbeau's 3-Month residency at the Bärenzwinger. Located In the left-side garden, she developed a site-specific large-scale fabric draped house, inspired by the architectural specificities of the historic Berlin "bear pit."
Weekly Sewing circles were held, in which the audience was invited to participate in creating a fabric skin, for dressing the Roam House. The collaborative way of its creation is resembled in its modularity. Consisting of panels of fabrics, that can be taken off, and moved around. Patterns on the pale white fabric echo the ones that can be found inside of the Bärenzwinger. The Roam House reacts to its climatic surroundings, speaks to the wind like it could set sail. The public trial and error of its creation served to offer a reflection on the symbolism inherent to the building's past history, with existence being presented as a passive spectacle.
The project was assisted by TPL.
A special Thanks goes out to Bence Szalay and Livia Tarsia in Curia.
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On the Roam House
a poem by Cleo Wächter
Outside of the Bärenzwinger (a building that is not lived in anymore), now lies another dwelling, (one that is in a state of becoming).
The Roam house is a frame, wanting to be dressed, waiting to set sail. Like a dog it howls in the wind, it pulls its strings, reminding the Zwinger that it is there. Like a ghost, it is pale, but patterns echo the warmth inside, of ceremonies of gold.
Do not be mistaken, for the Roam house is not cold. It is meant to hold many. Like all the hands that carried its fabric, fabrication. That cared for it, sat in a circle as it was thought of, tried out and made. And made again, and made more, and then, was marked by a red line. Not as an ending, but as a door.
Outside of the Bärenzwinger, now lies a house. Neither walls nor windows, no entrance and no exit. Yet, it is lived in, by itself.