Holding My Drink in the Corner
June 13–August 16, 2026
Berlin 10785
Germany
Holding My Drink in the Corner is an interdisciplinary art project by Berlin-based artist Umut Azad Akkel and Istanbul-based curator Ozan Ünlükoç, developed over an extended period to engage with social dynamics and experiences of migration. It comprises a solo exhibition at Haus am Lützowplatz featuring several works, some of which were conceived specifically for the site, as well as the installation of the large outdoor scaffold sculpture The Path in the immediate vicinity.
Holding My Drink in the Corner is an exhibition critically engaging with notions of navigation, belonging, and inclusion within queer experience. Drawing on the framework of the Cretan Labyrinth, the exhibition approaches the difference between those who have access to knowledge and rules and those who do not; it exposes how even spaces presumed to be inclusive can produce exclusionary codes.
As the space transforms into a labyrinth of corners, the “corner” emerges as both a refuge and a space of invisibility. The exhibition invites viewers not only to confront experiences of exclusion, but also to reflect on how these experiences are reproduced. It also opens up a space to reconsider the individual’s position within these structures through the fluid interplay between passivity and forms of agency. Following its initial presentation in Istanbul in 2024, supported by the Goethe-Institut, Holding My Drink in the Corner returns as a continuation of It/Ortada, now reinstalled in Berlin, at the heart of a city that is itself a labyrinth.
At the intersection of migration, exclusion, and transformation, Holding My Drink in the Corner, accompanied by an extensive public program, positions itself as a space for collective reflection.
Realized with funds from LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin
Supported by SAHA Association, Istanbul
With the kind support of Gerüstbau Tisch GmbH and ICT AG
Partner: Hotel Berlin, Berlin
Events
Opening: June 12, 7–9pm
Speeches by Elke Neumann, Marc Wellmann and Ozan Ünlükoç; Live-DJ-Set by Banu Çiçek Tülü
Exhibition tour: June 16, 6:30–9:30pm
With artist Umut Azad Akkel and curator Ozan Ünlükoç
Talk, "On Getting Lost: Queer Migration and the Promise of Disorientation": July 2, 6:30–8:30pm
With Tunay Altay and Berkant Çağlar
Online talk, "The Desire of Power": July 9, 6:30–8:30pm
With Evren Savcı and Berkant Çağlar
Performance, "Fallin'": July 10, 6:30–8:30pm
By İrem Aydın and Elvan Tekin
Gathering with the Path Collective: July 30, 6:30–8:30pm
With Şehnaz Layıkel Prange and Sophia Schmidt
Online talk, "Spaces of Migration – Spaces of Artists: Homing as Artistic and Social Practice": August 6, 6:30–8:30pm
Thesis presentation by Persefoni Myrtsou
