Wolkenportal

Hosted by
Marie-Therese Bruglacher
The new format ›Hosted by‹ invites curators and partners of Berlin Art Week to present performances and interventions at BAW Garten, that question and expand the site.

Chaveli Sifre. Wolkenportal
The architecture of life is filled with portals: lesser gates that lead to greater things, small corners in rooms where shadows dance while children dream. Like time traveling through the scent of an old book, in the end, aren’t we all just moving through portals?

From one moment to the next, from one place to another, we’re all seeking the right door to open, the one that will lead us to where we need to be. And somewhere, in the quiet of a morning, you may find yourself flipping through a prayer book (a „portass", they once called it)—a different kind of portal, one that leads not out into the world, but deeper within you.

In the heart of the earth, a portal opens up, hissing lava and fumes. In our bodies, our veins form a rhizomatic collection of portals, humming quietly beneath the skin, bleeding ourselves into ourselves, oxygenating, animating in beats. 

And then there are the portals in mirrors and dreams, the ones that appear out of thin air, magical or technological, a doorway to another time, another place, another life. How many times have I wished for one of those—a chance to step out of this moment, to escape the mundane for the astonishing? Sometimes a mindful shift, a redirection of our attention, is all you need. 

This portal is a cloud—a hovering circle of scented mist, much like how scent serves as a portal into our inner selves, unlocking associations and histories. This gentle mist is a a fragrant cleanse, carrying the white camphor from Madagascar and the malagueta (bay) from Barbados, woven together through the rich tapestry of Caribbean healing traditions. Malagueta, a bush native to the Antilles, releases a scent that evokes both fever and care—a dual reminder of our fragility and the power of healing hands. Camphor, long revered for its ability to ward off insects, also purifies spaces and honors ancestors. At room temperature, it sublimates, vanishing into thin air; when burned, its smoke coils upward, forming a bridge between the physical and spiritual realms. This ritual gesture transcends mere purification; it is a profound connection to material cultures, intertwining stories of travel and exchange, survival and belief.

To pass, to cut through, to make new. 

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The artist can also be seen in the exhibition ›After Images‹, which opens on 11 SEP 2024 at the Julia Stoschek Foundation as part of Berlin Art Week.