Heike Tosun

by 
Portrait Heike Tosun, Courtesy of Soy Capitan, Berlin Photo: Roman Maerz

Heike Tosun and her gallery Soy Capitán have been shortlisted for the VBKI-Preis Berliner Galerien. Here she answers our questionnaire.

What are you working on at the moment?
Right now we’re working on a number of different projects at once. We’re very excited to be putting together our first exhibition with artist Caroline Wong, set to open on 16 SEP. Caroline’s work responds to the traditional, often very reductive way in which East Asian women are portrayed. Her exhibition, titled ›Cats and Girls‹, will explore women’s distorted and uneasy relationship with food. We’re also very much looking forward to ›K60‹, a group exhibition at Wilhelmhallen in Berlin (10—18 SEP 2022) where we’ll be presenting works by Klara Hobza, Grace Weaver and Rachel Youn.

What are you reading or listening to right now?
I read children’s books to my son every day, an activity that unfortunately leaves little time for my own interests. We’re currently in the Harry Potter universe.

What would you do if you didn’t work in the arts?
Bouncer.

Do you have a favourite building?
I love the Shell-Haus, a building by architect Emil Fahrenkamp on Landwehrkanal in Berlin’s Tiergarten district—a flowing, streamlined modernist office building completed in 1932. The soothing elegance, dynamism, and perfection of its gently curved façade never fail to impress me.

What animal would you like to be?
A sloth. That’s envy talking.

Who would you like to meet?
The opera singer whose rehearsing I’ve heard for years while sitting comfortably on my balcony. There is nothing more beautiful than those lovely sounds mingling with noise from cars and rabble-rousers on the street.

Do you have a daily ritual?
In the evenings, when I notice another day has passed, I try to consciously focus attention on the ritual passage of time. That conscious awareness helps ground me in the present for a moment.

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve had to admit to yourself?
Not admitting to the countless mistakes one makes all the time.

What accessory or object could you not be without?
My in-ear headphones with active noise cancellation. They really help me tune out and calm down.

What do you do when the work is done?
Fall asleep watching TV and never find out who committed the crime in ›Tatort‹ for the umpteenth time.

SOY CAPITÁN
Caroline Wong: Cats and Girls
16 SEP—29 OKT 2022

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