Electricity
September 12, 2026–April 25, 2027
Luckenwalde 14943
Germany
Long before electricity was generated, it was conducted. The Earth is continually traversed by currents that precede and exceed electrical systems. Solar radiation, atmospheric charge, flowing water, roots, nerves and power grids each transmit transformations from one body to another. Conductivity is not confined to metals or machines; it describes a more general capacity to receive, transform and pass something onward. A conductor is never simply an object. It exists through what moves across it.
For Electricity, Asad Raza responds directly to the context of E-WERK Luckenwalde as a reactivated power station by artist Pablo Wendel, and approaches electricity not as an invisible utility or technological achievement, but as something earthly, ontological and sublime.
Visitors move through the site in small groups led by a Conductor, whose role is less to explain than to guide attention through a sequence of encounters. Electrostatic machines, moving image, sound, vibration, saltwater, amber, charcoal, ash, timber, plants and live actions appear as temporary conductors, each receiving and transmitting forces according to its own material properties. Rather than illustrating electricity, the exhibition attends to the media through which it becomes perceptible.
Conceived as a single dramaturgy rather than a collection of discrete installations, the exhibition incorporates works by Tino Sehgal and Sung Tieu. Their contributions enter into the exhibition's evolving network of transmissions, extending its exploration of how movement, attention and exchange circulate between bodies. At E-WERK Luckenwalde, where electricity continues to be generated throughout the exhibition, the power station becomes more than a site of production. It becomes a place in which the invisible passages that continually compose our reality become sensible.
The exhibition opens on Saturday, September 12 between 4pm and 10pm with a programme featuring several conductor-led tours and performances by multi-disciplinary artist Tati au Miel and composer Rafay Rashid. Book a tour here.
Electricity will also be accompanied by a seven-month public programme featuring Smoke and Fire and Electricity: a David Lynch film and musik marathon at the Bauhaus Stadttheater Luckenwalde (October 16, 2026) featuring a performative interludes by Olga Hohmann and Sainkho Namtchylak.
A symposium featuring performances by Raven Chacon and Abbas Zahedi, with a key note by historian of science Simon Schaffer (April 24, 2027).
A rotating film exhibition featuring work by Ana Mendieta, Cecilia Bengolea, Doug Aitken, Harun Farocki, P. Staff, Rachel Rose, Raven Chacon, Saodat Ismailova, from September 12 until April 25, 2026—see website for further details.
Asad Raza lives and works in Berlin and in the USA. He is known for immersing audiences in multi-sensory, participatory experiences. His works often intervene in their surrounding environments, encouraging audiences to engage more deeply with the spaces around them and reflect on the relationship between humans and the natural world. Incorporating elements from nature into site-specific installations, he challenges the conventions of gallery settings by transforming them into active, experiential environments.
E-WERK Luckenwalde is a not-for-profit regenerative power station, contemporary art centre and Kunststrom research laboratory, based in Brandenburg, established to pioneer alternative economic and ecological models for the cultural sector. E-WERK is based in a 1913 former coal power station, which has been reactivated as a regenerative power station by artist Pablo Wendel and Curator Helen Turner. This power is then distributed to E-WERK’s clients throughout Germany, who have switched their energy supplier to Kunststrom, which in turn part-finances the contemporary art programme.
Electricity is curated by Helen Turner, Director and Chief Curator, E-WERK; Florine Lindner, Producer, E-WERK; and Domenico Roberti, Programme Coordinator, E-WERK in close collaboration with Asad Raza.
Electricity is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), funded by the Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media), and with additional funding from the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg (MWFK), Teltow-Fläming Landkreis and BJKS Teltow-Fläming der Mittelbrandenburgischen Sparkasse.
Media information: nj@nicolajeffs.com
