Octavia Bürgel enters into dialogue with the work Queen B by Carrie Mae Weems, on view from March 11 to August 27, 2023, as part of the n.b.k. Billboard series at the intersection of Friedrichstrasse / Torstrasse in Berlin. The opulent set that Carrie Mae Weems designed for Queen B addresses colonial power structures while raising questions about the accumulation of cultural value as well as beauty, aesthetics, and representation. The billboard echoes Weems’s earlier works Slow Fade to Black – a series from 2010 that pays homage to Black female musicians and cultural figures of the 20th century – as well as Kitchen Table Series (1990).

Bürgel produced a new text and video responding to the work Queen B (Mary J. Blige), which, based on her own artistic practice, expand and deepen the discourse at the intersection of representation, identity, gender, and body politics.

With the n.b.k. Billboard format, the activities of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) expand into the urban space. Since September 2021, works developed by international contemporary artists for the site have been presented at the intersection of Friedrichstrase / Torstrasse in Berlin. Featured artists to date: Rosemarie Trockel, Nan Goldin, Gülsun Karamustafa, and Carrie Mae Weems.

Free admission

Venue: n.b.k., Chausseestrasse 128/129

Octavia Bürgel (b. 1997 in New York, lives in Berlin) is a writer, editor, and photographer. Her writing has been published in Flash Art and Frieze, among others, and her photographs have appeared numerous publications, in addition to many self-published zines. Currently she also works with PAN – a multi-disciplinary publishing platform for artists.