In Between Skin and Surface
Application Details
Art Discipline
Performance Art
Visual Art
Interdisciplinary Project
Application text
My project navigates the boundaries that define what is recognized as art—and who has the authority to draw these borders. As both a painter and a tattoo artist, I was confronted with a clear institutional line when designs created for tattooing were not accepted as art in my application to the Künstlersozialkasse. This moment became the starting point of a deeper inquiry: when does an artistic vision lose its status as art, and why?
Since beginning tattooing in 2014, my intention was never decorative reproduction, but the realization of my own paintings on a “living canvas.” I work only from stories, emotions, and personal narratives, translating them into unique visual languages. The skin becomes a porous boundary—intimate, social, and political—where inside and outside collapse into one surface.
Now primarily focused on painting, this question has intensified. Are artistic boundaries truly fixed, or continuously negotiated?
The project takes place in my atelier and presents multidisciplinary paintings reflecting experiences of migration, adaptation, and shifting identity. These works function not only as images, but as proposals. Visitors are invited to select one painting they would want to carry on their own body. At the end of the exhibition, one work will be translated into a tattoo through a raffle.
Rather than crossing boundaries, the project rethinks them as sites of negotiation—spaces where identity, authorship, and belonging remain open and constantly reshaped.
Since beginning tattooing in 2014, my intention was never decorative reproduction, but the realization of my own paintings on a “living canvas.” I work only from stories, emotions, and personal narratives, translating them into unique visual languages. The skin becomes a porous boundary—intimate, social, and political—where inside and outside collapse into one surface.
Now primarily focused on painting, this question has intensified. Are artistic boundaries truly fixed, or continuously negotiated?
The project takes place in my atelier and presents multidisciplinary paintings reflecting experiences of migration, adaptation, and shifting identity. These works function not only as images, but as proposals. Visitors are invited to select one painting they would want to carry on their own body. At the end of the exhibition, one work will be translated into a tattoo through a raffle.
Rather than crossing boundaries, the project rethinks them as sites of negotiation—spaces where identity, authorship, and belonging remain open and constantly reshaped.
I have a venue
Yes
Cooperation Agreement
I accept the cooperation agreement
Yes
Permits
Noise: Permit required
No
Lights/Projections: Permit required
No
Public Parks and Greenspaces: Permit required
No
Use of public streets and plazas: Permit required
No
Venue & Date
Date and Time(s)
-
-
Editorial Details
Title (in English)
In Between Skin and Surface
Programme text
Ab wann ist eine Linie Kunst? Warum wird ein Entwurf auf Leinwand gefeiert, auf der Haut aber abgetan? In Between Skin and Surface hinterfragt die willkürlichen Grenzen, die Kunst definieren.
Auslöser ist die Ablehnung der Künstlerin* durch die KSK, da Tätowieren nicht als Kunst anerkannt wird. Die Arbeiten schaffen einen Dialog zweier naturinspirierter Praktiken: Tattoo-Entwürfe, von Kund*innen-Erzählungen geprägt, feiern den Körper als „lebendige Leinwand“. Parallel dazu kartieren persönliche Malereien mit biologischen Bildern innere Landschaften von Migration, Anpassung und Identität. Das Studio wird zur Membran, wo Persönliches und Öffentliches verschmelzen.
Höhepunkt ist eine Live-Tattoo-Session: ein performativer Akt, der die Transformation von Oberfläche zu Haut zeigt. Ein lebendiges Kunstwerk entsteht und stellt die Definitionen in Frage, die Anlass der Ausstellung sind. Der Prozess und die Dialoge mit Besucher*innen werden dokumentiert. Der Film fängt die Debatte um Urheberschaft, Zugehörigkeit und Bedeutung ein.
In Between Skin and Surface lädt ein, zu sehen und zu hinterfragen. Ein Raum, um zu bedenken, wie Grenzen funktionieren: nicht als starre Linien, sondern als fließende Zonen der Aushandlung.
Ausstellung: Während des gesamten Festivals
Live-Tattoo-Session: Erleben Sie, wie ein Entwurf auf die Haut übertragen wird.
Freitag, 03.07: 19:00 – 20:30
Samstag, 04.07: 11:00 – 15:00
Videoinstallation: Sonntags zeigt ein Video die Dokumentation der Live-Session und die Reise des Kunstwerks über die Medien hinweg.
Auslöser ist die Ablehnung der Künstlerin* durch die KSK, da Tätowieren nicht als Kunst anerkannt wird. Die Arbeiten schaffen einen Dialog zweier naturinspirierter Praktiken: Tattoo-Entwürfe, von Kund*innen-Erzählungen geprägt, feiern den Körper als „lebendige Leinwand“. Parallel dazu kartieren persönliche Malereien mit biologischen Bildern innere Landschaften von Migration, Anpassung und Identität. Das Studio wird zur Membran, wo Persönliches und Öffentliches verschmelzen.
Höhepunkt ist eine Live-Tattoo-Session: ein performativer Akt, der die Transformation von Oberfläche zu Haut zeigt. Ein lebendiges Kunstwerk entsteht und stellt die Definitionen in Frage, die Anlass der Ausstellung sind. Der Prozess und die Dialoge mit Besucher*innen werden dokumentiert. Der Film fängt die Debatte um Urheberschaft, Zugehörigkeit und Bedeutung ein.
In Between Skin and Surface lädt ein, zu sehen und zu hinterfragen. Ein Raum, um zu bedenken, wie Grenzen funktionieren: nicht als starre Linien, sondern als fließende Zonen der Aushandlung.
Ausstellung: Während des gesamten Festivals
Live-Tattoo-Session: Erleben Sie, wie ein Entwurf auf die Haut übertragen wird.
Freitag, 03.07: 19:00 – 20:30
Samstag, 04.07: 11:00 – 15:00
Videoinstallation: Sonntags zeigt ein Video die Dokumentation der Live-Session und die Reise des Kunstwerks über die Medien hinweg.
English text
At what point does a line become art? And why is a design celebrated on canvas yet dismissed on skin? In Between Skin and Surface interrogates the arbitrary boundaries that define and confine artistic practice.
The project’s catalyst is a personal confrontation with institutional gatekeeping: the artist's rejection by the Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) on the grounds that tattooing does not qualify as a legitimate artistic practice. The works on display create a dialogue between two practices, both inspired by nature. The artist’s tattoo designs, shaped by client narratives, celebrate the body as a “living canvas.” In parallel, the artist’s personal paintings draw on biological imagery to map an internal landscape of migration, adaptation, and shifting identity. The studio itself becomes a permeable membrane where the internal and external, the personal and public, are invited to meet.
The exhibition culminates in a live tattoo session, a performative act where the transformation from surface to skin becomes visible. This is the argument made manifest: a living artwork is created, challenging the very definitions that prompted the exhibition. The entire process, including dialogues with visitors and fellow artists, will be documented. The film will capture the evolving conversation around authorship, belonging, and the dynamic space where meaning is made.
In Between Skin and Surface invites you not just to see, but to question. It is a space to consider how borders operate, not as fixed lines, but as fluid territories of constant negotiation.
________________________________________
• Exhibition: Throughout the whole festival
• Live Tattoo Session: Witness the artistic process as a design is translated onto skin.
Friday, 03.07: 19:00 – 20:30
Saturday, 04.07: 11:00 – 15:00
• Video Installation: On Sunday, a video documenting the live tattoo session will be on display, offering a reflective look at the artwork's journey across mediums
The project’s catalyst is a personal confrontation with institutional gatekeeping: the artist's rejection by the Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) on the grounds that tattooing does not qualify as a legitimate artistic practice. The works on display create a dialogue between two practices, both inspired by nature. The artist’s tattoo designs, shaped by client narratives, celebrate the body as a “living canvas.” In parallel, the artist’s personal paintings draw on biological imagery to map an internal landscape of migration, adaptation, and shifting identity. The studio itself becomes a permeable membrane where the internal and external, the personal and public, are invited to meet.
The exhibition culminates in a live tattoo session, a performative act where the transformation from surface to skin becomes visible. This is the argument made manifest: a living artwork is created, challenging the very definitions that prompted the exhibition. The entire process, including dialogues with visitors and fellow artists, will be documented. The film will capture the evolving conversation around authorship, belonging, and the dynamic space where meaning is made.
In Between Skin and Surface invites you not just to see, but to question. It is a space to consider how borders operate, not as fixed lines, but as fluid territories of constant negotiation.
________________________________________
• Exhibition: Throughout the whole festival
• Live Tattoo Session: Witness the artistic process as a design is translated onto skin.
Friday, 03.07: 19:00 – 20:30
Saturday, 04.07: 11:00 – 15:00
• Video Installation: On Sunday, a video documenting the live tattoo session will be on display, offering a reflective look at the artwork's journey across mediums
Name of artist(s)
Gulsah Karaca
About the artist/s (in German)
Gülşah Karaca (*1989, Istanbul) ist eine in Berlin lebende multidisziplinäre Künstlerin, die zwischen Biologie, Fineline-Tattoo und Malerei arbeitet. Ihr Hintergrund in der Biologie prägte eine Bildsprache, die in Präzision und organischer Komplexität verwurzelt ist. Anfangs erkundete sie den Körper als „lebendige Leinwand“ und entwickelte Tattoo-Arbeiten, die natürliche Formen mit Abstraktion verbanden. Seit 2022 liegt ihr Hauptfokus auf der Malerei, was ihr eine intensivere Auseinandersetzung mit Maßstab, Textur und Konzept ermöglicht. Ihre Werke spiegeln migrationsgeprägte Themen wie Anpassung und Identität wider. Mittels vielschichtiger Kompositionen und nuancierter Farben erforscht sie Verletzlichkeit, Resilienz und Transformation.
About the artist(s) (in English)
Gülşah Karaca (b. 1989, Istanbul) is a Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist working between biology, fineline tattoo, and painting. Her background in Biology shaped a visual language rooted in precision and organic complexity. Initially exploring the body as a “living canvas,” she developed tattoo works merging natural forms with abstraction. Since 2022, painting has become her primary focus, allowing greater exploration of scale, texture, and concept. Her work reflects themes of adaptation and identity shaped by migration, using layered compositions and nuanced color to explore vulnerability, resilience, and transformation.
How many artist are involved in total
1
Images
