DIE BALKONE
Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg windows
and balconies
THE SWING
an installation by Antje Stahl and Felix-Emeric Tota, 2020
A writer couple, Antje Stahl and Felix Emeric Tota, built a precarious swing under their balcony to re-imagine and re-cherish our little and precious freedoms. Kids couldn’t resist, but neither could grown-ups. This simple and powerful gesture carved out a dreamy space in a time when even Prenzlauer Berg playgrounds remained closed.
Antje Stahl studied art history, philosophy, and literature in Berlin, Paris, and New York, and is currently working as a writer and editor for the Swiss magazine Republik, as well as a lecturer at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture at ETH Zürich. For her art and architecture criticism she has been awarded with the Michael Althen Prize and the ADKV – Art Cologne Prize. Since her and Felix-Emeric Tota’s son was born in April 2020 she also has been granted with eternal love.
FELIX-EMERIC TOTA
Felix-Emeric Tota works as an editor for the German public radio station Deutschlandfunk and as a writer for newspapers such as F.A.Z. He studied creative writing in Hildesheim. His debut novel – partly set in Romania, where he was born, and traveling to the hinterland of West Germany, where he grew up – is in the making. His son Cosmin is certainly making sure to keep Tota from the desk.