Daniel Hopp – Fictional Healing

In the organizer's words:

Transit points, such as train stations or public squares, are spaces where social ruptures become particularly visible - for example at Leopoldplatz in Berlin or around the Drob Inn, a contact and advice center with drug consumption rooms not far from Hamburg's main train station. Here, addiction, homelessness and acute survival strategies meet urban mobility, consumption, art and culture. It is precisely at this crystallization point that Daniel Hopp's work begins.

At the center of his first institutional solo exhibition is the multi-part film installation Fictional Healing. In it, the artist questions stigmatizing narratives about dependency and creates images of care that open up new scope for action. The immersive installation combines humor and seriousness, creating a resonance space in which collective imagination enables self-empowerment. Based on his own experiences, Daniel Hopp developed documentary and (docu-)fictional film scenes in relationship-oriented processes together with people affected by addiction. Their personal stories, dreams and fantasies were negotiated in interviews and restaged with amateur and professional actors. In addition, a series of cinematic portraits provide insights into the realities of the protagonists' lives.

Within a monumental spatial architecture , films and AI-generated images condense into an immersive experience, carried by a soundscape that unfolds across the entire hall. In this way, the exhibition makes social hotspots visible and shows how reality, documentation, collective imagination and cinematic fiction are intertwined - to create a work that gives a voice to those affected, that touches, irritates and raises questions about responsibility, representation and participation.

Curated by Anna Nowak

Content note: The films address forms of physical and psychological violence, suicidal tendencies, death, addiction and drug use.
Age recommendation: from 16 years

The film Fictional Healing created for the exhibition was produced by Ania Kolyszko (creative producer, ania maria wanda).

With the kind support of MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung and the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung.

Price information:

Regular: 6€, Reduced: 4€, Group (from 10 persons): 2€