DRAGONSLAYER
Soundscape by Dustin O'Halloran
July 17–August 10, 2025
Berlin 10179
Germany
With DRAGONSLAYER, US conceptual and multimedia artist Slater Bradley presents his latest immersive installation at the historical landmark Parochialkirche in Berlin-Mitte.
DRAGONSLAYER builds on Bradley’s installation SUNDOOR, exhibited at the church of Santa Maria Maddalena during the Venice Biennale in 2017, which consisted of an 888-piece rose quartz labyrinth. The title reflects on the alchemistic heritage of the church’s location and draws on the iconographies of Archangel Michael’s and St. George’s battles, symbolising inner transformation and the triumph of light over darkness.
Spanning the 800-square-metre, 17th-century space, DRAGONSLAYER features two crystal floor sculptures and thirteen artworks, including four new Royal Star Shields inspired by historical pilgrimage sites, star constellations, and archangels. The dragon lying at the heart of the installation is the walk-through, 8-meter-in-diameter crystal labyrinth made of 1,200 kg of honey calcite and chevron amethyst crystals. It is designed by the artist to create a free energy vortex which is amplified by the alignment of surrounding works.
Fine art, architecture, and music converge, as Bradley’s installation is elevated by a soundscape by his frequent collaborator, award winning pianist and composer Dustin O’Halloran. It features the Cristal Baschet, a rare glass instrument, and is inspired by Russian mystic Scriabin’s Prometheus chord, believed to unlock cosmic forces.
On Sundays, carillonist Anna Kasprzycka will create an improvisational performance guided by O’Halloran’s soundscape, utilizing the full range of the church tower’s fifty-two bells, extending DRAGONSLAYER’s radiance beyond the church walls into the heart of the city.
DRAGONSLAYER is Slater Bradley's third solo show in Berlin following Arndt & Partner (2002) and PSM Galerie (2010). Bradley’s prophetic, pre-social media video installation The Doppelganger Trilogy, conjured up the cults of dead rock stars and fallen heroes, and thrust him into the spotlight as the youngest male artist to receive a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York in 2005. In a disappearing act, he relocated to Berlin just over a decade ago, delving into the intersection of art, mysticism, and consciousness.
Slater Bradley was born in 1975 in San Francisco. Recent solo gallery exhibitions include Martin Asbaek Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2023), Melissa Morgan Fine Art, Palm Desert, California (2021) and the group institutional exhibition Memory Palace in Ruins, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, Taiwan (2023).
Curated by Almut Hüfler.
Tickets: 12 EUR / 7 EUR.
Exhibition supported by, Frontviews e.V., Berlin, Germany / GOODROOM, Berlin, Germany / Martin Asbaek Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark / Melissa Morgan Fine Art, Palm Desert, California.
