Ruhezeit
Mara Borchardt, Mariano Ravenna
A multimedia installation by Ravenna/Borchardt that takes the rest of construction workers as a metaphor for life beyond labour.
Ruhezeit explores the notion of rest among construction workers as a central metaphor to reflect on life beyond labour. Through sound, visual, and performative elements, the audience is invited into the intimacy of a building site — making visible the personal stories, family ties, and everyday struggles often hidden from view.
At the heart of the installation lies the Siestario, a “box within a box” that reproduces the protective architecture of construction sites. Conceived as a refuge, it challenges the logic of productivity and reclaims rest as a poetic, aesthetic, and political gesture. By foregrounding those who build cities but remain absent from their cultural imagination, the work insists on the urgency of pausing to consider exhaustion, resilience, and collective organisation.
I tell him to study because this is tough work. It’s exhausting. A pencil is lighter than a mason’s spoon or a shovel.
— Claudio Ortellado, Argentine construction worker
Through artistic interventions, collaborations with unions, and local participation, Ruhezeit becomes a platform for dialogue around labour rights, the role of women and queer communities in the sector, and the possibility of reclaiming time as common ground. It raises questions about the value of rest, the ownership of time, and trust in the collective.
The installation is by the duo Mara Borchardt and Mariano Ravenna . It was previously presented as Siesta at the Centro Cultural Terminal Goes (Montevideo, Uruguay, September 2025) and Amigos del Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires, October 2025), and arrived in Berlin as a co-production between Ravenna/Borchardt and Karne Kunst.
Public programme
- Tuesday 11 November 2025, 18:00 — Opening.
- Wednesday 12 November, 15:00–20:00 — Pre-launch of Welcome to My Table: materials, projections, and a collective dinner.
- Thursday 13 November, 18:00–19:30 — Your Noise Is My Silence, experimental concert by Ligia Liberatori and Gustavo Obligado.
- Friday 14 November, 15:00–18:00 — Pause: Reimagining a City, workshop led by Beatriz Silva.
- Saturday 15 November, 15:00–17:00 — Conversation with Mara Borchardt and Mariano Ravenna.
- Thursday 20 November, 17:00–18:30 — Talk: Rest & Regeneration in the Performing Arts, with guest curators from the Dancetopia Art Symposium.
- Friday 21 November, 15:00–18:00 — Pause: Reimagining a City, Laboratory II.
- Saturday 22 November, 16:00 and 17:00 — Yapping While Napping, performance by Tereza Holubová.
- Thursday 27 November, 15:00–17:00 — The Sensitive Collage Project, workshop with Vanessa Neuber.
- Thursday 27 November, 18:00–19:00 — Vozes, performance by Mayara Baptista.
- Friday 28 November, 14:00–15:30 — Escucha Precaria / Precarious Listening, sound activation and conversation with Alejandra Borea.
- Saturday 29 November, 14:00–16:00 — From Cleaning to Cooking to Revolution, a walking tour by Parallel Berlin from Karl-Marx-Allee.
Credits
Idea: Ravenna/Borchardt
Photos, videos, and installation design: Mariano Ravenna
Texts and interviews: Mara Borchardt
“Music to Watch”: Hugo de Bernardi
Audiovisual production: Facundo Manini
Graphic design: Jacqueline Schaab
General production: Luz Miraldi
Press: Tidea
Local team at Bardo Projektraum — Curator: Marcela Villanueva. Mediation: Beatriz Silva Aranda. Production: Elisa Basilissi. Communication: Myriam Martínez.
Ruhezeit was a co-production between Ravenna/Borchardt and Karne Kunst gUG, under the artistic direction of Marcela Villanueva , with the support of the Berlin architectural studio Sauerbruch Hutton, and was presented at Bardo Projektraum, Berlin.