Nebula Art Space

Media Art in the Historic Bathhouse of Beelitz-Heilstätten

The Nebula Art Space is located southwest of Berlin, in close proximity to Potsdam, in the expansive area of Beelitz-Heilstätten. Between 1898 and 1930, a sanatorium complex was built here, which initially served as a pulmonary hospital and later as a military hospital. After the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1994, the grounds were largely left to themselves. The morbid character of the vacant houses attracted parties, art events, and international film productions, making Beelitz one of the region’s most famous backdrops. The bathhouse itself has been extensively restored since 2016 and has received modern exhibition technology. The high arched windows, the patterned tile floors, the wrought-iron stair railing, the elaborate ceiling beams in the shape of dragon heads, and the large domed hall, where a therapy pool once lay, have all been preserved.

Ten Light and Sound Installations Between Nature and Technology

Inside, the artists work with precisely the material that once belonged to therapy in this house: light. The majority of the ten installations were developed by the Potsdam studio Xenorama. In Dioptricon, light sources, lenses, and fog form a walk-through body of parallel rays that changes with every step. In the domed hall, the site-specific projection Firmament abstractly tells the history of the building until the ceiling appears to break open, revealing a view into a cosmic interspace. Liquid Lens by Italian artist Alessandro Lupi transforms a water surface into a liquid lens; Radix brings a wooden root to life through projection and sound; and Dreaming Architecture guides an entire room through several dream phases in a 360-degree projection. The tour concludes at the bar in the heart of the exhibition. Photography is expressly permitted, but without flash or tripod. Because the Nebula Art Space gradually replaces its installations, a trip to Beelitz is worthwhile a second time.