MARIA & NATALIA PETSCHATNIKOV: BERLIN, A ROUGH CUT

In their exhibition 'Berlin, A Rough Cut', artist duo Maria and Natalia Petschatnikov transform BBA Gallery into a cinematic storyboard of urban life. The title refers to the filmmaking process: like a first edit, individual scenes and objects are juxtaposed to create a non-linear narrative. The twin sisters approach their practice as 'anthropologists of the ordinary', treating the city’s streets as an ongoing site of field research.

The neighbourhood around Heinrich-Heine-Straße, home to both their studio and the gallery, serves as a central stage for their exploration of urban change. In 'Berlin, A Rough Cut', the insignificant becomes profound: large-scale paintings of discarded furniture are rendered as poignant portraits of the people who once owned them, while calendar drawings dated 2032 treat the future as a discarded relic of the past. These works are paired with sculptural objects made of 'liquid wood' that mimic precious porcelain, questioning our ideas of value and authenticity. With wit and precision, the artists capture the fleeting moment before or after an action, like a film still held for a second before it disappears. The exhibition is an invitation to view Berlin as a living, unfinished archive and to find beauty in its imperfect traces.

About the Artists

Maria and Natalia Petschatnikov can look back on a distinguished education, including Hunter College in New York, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the prestigious studio of Annette Messager at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. For over 15 years, Berlin has been the centre of their lives. In their work, they focus on seemingly insignificant everyday phenomena. With wit and a profound gift for observation, they succeed in extracting an extraordinary and often surreal perspective from the ordinary.