What does connection mean and what does connection require? How are we all connected to each other as human beings, how do we connect to the non-human world around us, and what happens when we dis-connect?

The Space Between brings together the work of six artists seeking to answer these questions. The exhibition is the result of Germany’s first accessible multi-disciplinary artist residency program. The exhibition thus takes its departure from the central concept of the Special Olympics itself: connection. The spirit of the games lies in the act of bringing together athletes with learning disabilities based on their individual sporting talents, yet forges a connection between them as a team of collaborators. This solidarity is necessary for winning medals, just as solidarity between disabled and nondisabled people is necessary for resisting everyday ableism.

Our 6 artists are diverse in gender, (dis)ability, age, and ethnicity and produce work in a variety of formats including painting, sculpture, photography, sound, performance, installation and poetry. Each of them has developed a new work in response to the theme of connection from their diverse perspectives. For example, Macks Querfeldt through his multi-media collages, explores how we are all inherently connected to war, such as the current conflict in the Ukraine and it’s impact on chains of supply and demand, and the need to forge solidarity with others for survival. Similarly, with her socially engaged practice, Heike Bollig explores the role of connecting to one another through the human processes of healing and repairing. Catherine Rose Evans on the other hand, explores the science of connection by investigating gravity and tension through manipulating every day found objects. And finally, how we are (dis)connected to one another by language and communication is considered by Rita Mazza through visual sign performance, Dennis Meier via a poetic wall drawing utilizing Braille text, and Asako Shiroki whose sculptural installations explore perception by acting as translators between humans and the natural word.