Berlin Art Week x KW Institute for Contemporary Art: LABOUR ((Farahnaz Hatam & Colin Hacklander) Performance 'soft thought'

Open format (drop-in/drop-out).

During the closing weekend of the Kyiv Biennial, the Berlin-based artist duo LABOUR—Farahnaz Hatam (born in Tehran) and Colin Hacklander (born in Minneapolis)—will present*soft thought*, a performance developed specifically for the Kyiv Biennial. Rooted in Berlin’s electronic and experimental music scene, their interdisciplinary practice operates at the intersection of sound, performance, and spatial composition.

The title*soft thought*refers both to the colloquial expression for an intuitive and gentle approach to a thought and to the essay of the same name (2011) by scholars Luciana Parisi and Stamatia Portanova. The work explores a form of thinking that emphasizes openness, possibilities, and relational flexibility. In our present-day world, where shared realities appear increasingly fragmented by recurring political and social tensions,“soft thought”proposes listening as a way to experience uncertainty together with others. The four-hour performance, featuring multiple performers, has no fixed beginning or clear end. Instead, it remains in constant motion: percussion, spatial sound, ecstatic dance, intimate conversations, moving images, and live performance emerge over the course of the evening, dissolve again, and reassemble in ever-changing ways.

The large-scale performance spans the entire KW building—from the attic through the stairwells to the exhibition spaces—and unfolds in various locations. The work navigates between the spatial motifs of the line and the circle: events taking place simultaneously unfold in the hall before dispersing throughout the building once more. This recurring dramaturgy invites the audience to move through the work rather than view it from a fixed vantage point.