Performative Renovations are a series of video works created at the Aquarium Youth Centre in Munich and the Kunstverein Muenhcen through a group residency program entitled “Group Affinity”. The performances at the Aquarium capture the resident artists playing out their criticisms of the facility by pretending as if the changes they recommended have been made to the site. The artists walk through walls, sit on imaginary benches, paint over murals, interact through concrete walls, and play imaginary soccer matches.

The performative actions at the youth centre were reflected within the gallery space of the Kunstverein Muenchen, where the residents were free to play, create, and provided modular furniture specifically for the project. The artists were recorded while going about activities that paralleled the ones performed at the Aquarium.

The work compares the two spaces, one a rugged play space for marginalized youth, and the other a conceptual and physical playpen for artists, by showing the possibilities and restrictions of the respective institutions.