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coculture is a cultural organisation dedicated to building civic, artistic, and ethical infrastructures in contexts shaped by displacement, conflict, and systemic inequality. We work at the intersection of contemporary art, community practice, and cultural governance, using artistic processes as tools for collective imagination and social repair.
Our mission is to support artists, cultural workers, and communities—particularly those affected by war, exile, and political violence—by creating platforms, institutions, and shared spaces that enable long-term cultural participation, professional agency, and mutual care. We believe culture is not a service to be delivered, but a collective practice through which societies negotiate memory, justice, and the future.
Through exhibitions, research, education, public programmes, and community-led initiatives, coculture fosters translocal dialogue and builds bridges between local and diasporic contexts. We commit to ethical governance, artistic autonomy, and independence from political or donor-driven agendas, ensuring our work remains accountable to the communities we serve.
coculture understands art as a civic act: a means to confront erasure, resist simplification, and rehearse more just ways of living together.
All our activities and projects reflect the following beliefs:
Inclusivity: The organization values and actively promotes inclusivity, ensuring that diverse voices and perspectives are represented and valued.
Equity: It recognizes and actively addresses historical and systemic inequalities, ensuring all individuals and communities have equal access to resources and opportunities.
Creativity: The organization values and fosters creativity, pushing boundaries and encouraging innovative thinking.
Collaboration: It believes in the power of collective action and works cooperatively with artists, other cultural organizations, and the wider community to achieve shared goals.
Integrity: The organization commits to acting ethically and responsibly, maintaining transparency and accountability in all its actions.
Respect: It respects all cultures, viewpoints, and expressions, treating all individuals with dignity and respect.
Sustainability: The organization is committed to sustainable practices and promoting environmental consciousness through its work.
Empowerment: It aims to empower artists, communities, and individuals, providing opportunities for growth, expression, and realizing their potential.
Courage: It is unafraid to challenge the status quo, confront injustice, and take risks in pursuing a more equitable and inclusive world.
Global Awareness: The organization appreciates and seeks to understand the interconnections and interdependencies of the world’s cultures and societies.
Passing the learning curve and establishing the organisation
From Necessity to Structure: The First Chapter of coculture
coculture emerged in 2015 from a moment of urgency. As large numbers of Syrians arrived in Germany following the escalation of the war, many artists found themselves abruptly displaced from their social, professional, and institutional ecosystems. In response, conceptual artist Khaled Barakeh initiated what began as a simple gesture: an attempt to reconnect artists in exile by mapping their presence and rebuilding networks that had been fractured by displacement.
What started as an informal mailing list soon revealed a deeper need. Through a series of encounters—missed deadlines, improvised proposals, and unexpected alliances—the initiative attracted the attention of international cultural funders. This process led to the formal establishment of an organisation in Berlin, initially under the name Syria Cultural Index, conceived as both a platform and an infrastructure for Syrian cultural practitioners navigating exile.
The path toward institutionalisation, however, was neither linear nor uncomplicated. The formation of a registered association (Verein) brought coculture into direct contact with the structural constraints of the German legal, financial, and bureaucratic system. Administrative delays, banking restrictions linked to the organisation’s name and membership, and systemic discrimination significantly hindered operations. These obstacles ultimately prompted a decisive shift: the organisation redefined itself under a new name—coculture—articulating a broader vision rooted in collective practice, shared authorship, and cultural solidarity across borders.
Operating initially from private spaces, coculture gradually expanded its activities and community. In 2018, the organisation secured a physical base in Berlin, envisioning it as an open civic and cultural space shaped by those who inhabited it. This period marked a transition from a project-based initiative to a living ecosystem: exhibitions, workshops, residencies, performances, film screenings, and public conversations unfolded alongside informal gatherings and collective care.
Just as this spatial and communal infrastructure began to stabilise, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced new constraints. Yet even under conditions of uncertainty, coculture remained committed to its core principles: openness, mutual support, and the belief that cultural spaces can function as sites of resilience. The organisation continued to host and support artistic and intellectual exchange, responding adaptively to shifting realities.
Over time, coculture grew into more than its founding ambition. What began as a response to displacement evolved into a durable institutional framework: a trusted non-profit organisation embedded in Berlin’s cultural landscape, connected to international partners, and sustained by a community of artists, researchers, and cultural workers. The Syrian Cultural Index, now situated within coculture, entered a new phase—supported by a structure capable of holding long-term responsibility, accountability, and growth.
The conclusion of this first chapter marks a transition rather than an endpoint. Phase One was defined by necessity, experimentation, and survival. Its completion signifies coculture’s passage from improvisation to structure—from an urgent response to a sustained institutional practice. The foundations laid during these years now enable the organisation to move forward with clarity, care, and a renewed commitment to cultural work as a collective, civic, and transformative act.
