Amelie Baier
Spending four weeks in Avelan was a truly special gift. Oliver’s hospitality, the efforts of the entire team, and the breathtaking location provided the perfect environment for a creative deep dive. My projects and ideas had literal room to breathe and unfold there. Furthermore, I met wonderful people among the other participants, leading to valuable exchanges and a relaxed time together. All in all, it was a deeply enriching experience.
Amelie Baier is a singer who works across classical opera and concert stages as well as in experimental and interdisciplinary performance and sound art. She studied voice at the Berlin University of the Arts and cultural studies and musicology at Humboldt University Berlin. As a mezzo-soprano, she was a member of the Oper Bern ensemble and has appeared at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Philharmonie Berlin, and Konzerthaus Berlin.
Her research-driven practice explores the expressive potential of the voice, its structures, timbres, and improvisational possibilities. In performative formats and sound works, she blends classical technique with experimental approaches, often within collaborative contexts. Her work has been shown at Haus der Kunst Munich, the Academy of Arts Berlin, and in exhibitions and performance settings in the independent art scene.
During the LOA Residency, she is developing a new concert format inspired by the texts and compositions of medieval women mystics and composers.
Her research-driven practice explores the expressive potential of the voice, its structures, timbres, and improvisational possibilities. In performative formats and sound works, she blends classical technique with experimental approaches, often within collaborative contexts. Her work has been shown at Haus der Kunst Munich, the Academy of Arts Berlin, and in exhibitions and performance settings in the independent art scene.
During the LOA Residency, she is developing a new concert format inspired by the texts and compositions of medieval women mystics and composers.
Hengameh Yaghoobifarah
Walks in nature, fresh vegetables from the small organic grocery store, time to bake, the sounds of nature, endless games of pool, and new connections with other artists have given me the inspiration I needed to develop new ideas for my own writing. I am very grateful to the LOA Residency for allowing me to start my spring with this experience and for helping me tap into my creativity on so many different levels.
Hengameh Yaghoobifarah is a writer, editor and DJ. Their work is informed by queer feminist analysis, pop culture, and humor as a resistance strategy. They studied Media & Cultural studies and Scandinavian studies in Freiburg and Linköping. Since 2014 they live in Berlin and work as an editor for Missy Magazine and co-founded the literary magazine Delfi in 2023. Together with Fatma Aydemir, they published the essay collection Your Homeland Is Our Nightmare (2019).
Blumenbar published their two novels Ministerium der Träume (2021) and Schwindel (2024) as well as their column volume Habibitus (2023) – a collection of the columns they wrote for the daily newspaper taz between 2016 and 2022.
In 2023, WDR also published Hengameh's first radio play, Unverpackt. Hengameh hosts the bi-weekly conversational podcast Auf eine Tüte.
They will dedicate their time during the LOA residency to working on their next novel, an episodical piece about the end of the world.
Blumenbar published their two novels Ministerium der Träume (2021) and Schwindel (2024) as well as their column volume Habibitus (2023) – a collection of the columns they wrote for the daily newspaper taz between 2016 and 2022.
In 2023, WDR also published Hengameh's first radio play, Unverpackt. Hengameh hosts the bi-weekly conversational podcast Auf eine Tüte.
They will dedicate their time during the LOA residency to working on their next novel, an episodical piece about the end of the world.
Jördis Triebel
Three weeks of calm, inspiration, and focus — this artist residency in France has been a true gift to me. A beautiful house, surrounded by nature that quietly supports the creative process.
Time to fully immerse myself in my work, while also discovering new perspectives through exchanges with other artists. I leave feeling grateful, inspired, and enriched. Thank you for this special place.
Jördis Triebel is one of the most renowned German actresses of her generation. After studying acting at the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts Berlin, she began her career at the Bremen Theater.
Her versatility and strong presence quickly made her a sought-after actress on stage and screen. To date, she has appeared in over 75 cinema and TV productions and has received numerous awards, including the German Film Award for "Westen" (dir: Christian Schwochow) and "In einem Land, das es nicht mehr gibt" (dir: Aelrun Goette). In addition to her impressive film roles, she has also shone in outstanding series such as "Babylon Berlin" (dir: Achim v. Borries, Henk Handloegten, Tom Tykwer), "Dark" (dir: Baranbo Odar) and "Die Kaiserin" (dir: Florian Cossen, Katrin Gebbe, Maximilian Erlenwein, Barbara Ott, Katharina Eyssen), which were internationally acclaimed. In 2025, she appeared as the lead actress in the miniseries Marzahn Mon Amour (directed by Clara Zoë My-Linh von Arnim). In 2026, the series "Kacken an der Havel" will be released on Netflix and "City of blood" on Disney, both featuring her in continuous leading roles alongside.
Photo credit: Linda Rosa Saal
Her versatility and strong presence quickly made her a sought-after actress on stage and screen. To date, she has appeared in over 75 cinema and TV productions and has received numerous awards, including the German Film Award for "Westen" (dir: Christian Schwochow) and "In einem Land, das es nicht mehr gibt" (dir: Aelrun Goette). In addition to her impressive film roles, she has also shone in outstanding series such as "Babylon Berlin" (dir: Achim v. Borries, Henk Handloegten, Tom Tykwer), "Dark" (dir: Baranbo Odar) and "Die Kaiserin" (dir: Florian Cossen, Katrin Gebbe, Maximilian Erlenwein, Barbara Ott, Katharina Eyssen), which were internationally acclaimed. In 2025, she appeared as the lead actress in the miniseries Marzahn Mon Amour (directed by Clara Zoë My-Linh von Arnim). In 2026, the series "Kacken an der Havel" will be released on Netflix and "City of blood" on Disney, both featuring her in continuous leading roles alongside.
Photo credit: Linda Rosa Saal
Julius Heinemann
“My time in Avelan felt both deeply intense and quietly serene. The morning view through the window, looking up the hill toward Lacoste, still lingers vividly in my mind. It has come to represent that period – one defined by having time and space to read and write, to paint, and to reflect, without the limitations and distractions of daily routines. There were long and short walks, new friendships, deep conversations, shared meals, and an abundance of impressions in endless shades of green, beige, yellow, brown, white, and blue.“
Julius Heinemann investigates the physical, neurological and cultural structures upon which the perception of the world is traditionally based. The relationship between how the eye sees and how the body moves and behaves exposes the issue of subjective individual perception, the construction of reality, and interactions with others (subjects and objects).
Based on the study of time and space, and through the experience of colour, light, shape or line, Heinemann constantly explores how to create new abstract tools to understand perception in its flow of now-ness. The artist structures these elements like vocabulary and uses it in his paintings, drawings, installations, books and every other type of media he experiments with. This process serves as a starting point for new ways of understanding the human condition – a social, subjective, individual reality.
Julius Heinemann studied Photography at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and at the HGB in Leipzig before earning an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London. He won several scholarships and was invited for artist residencies in Brazil, Mexico, Italy and at the Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Heinemann has exhibited his work internationally in places such as London, Madrid, São Paulo, Zürich, Mexico City and Antwerp.
During the residency, he intends to work on watercolours and to further develop an interview project exploring the perception of the present.
Photo credit: Doro Zinn
Based on the study of time and space, and through the experience of colour, light, shape or line, Heinemann constantly explores how to create new abstract tools to understand perception in its flow of now-ness. The artist structures these elements like vocabulary and uses it in his paintings, drawings, installations, books and every other type of media he experiments with. This process serves as a starting point for new ways of understanding the human condition – a social, subjective, individual reality.
Julius Heinemann studied Photography at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and at the HGB in Leipzig before earning an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London. He won several scholarships and was invited for artist residencies in Brazil, Mexico, Italy and at the Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Heinemann has exhibited his work internationally in places such as London, Madrid, São Paulo, Zürich, Mexico City and Antwerp.
During the residency, he intends to work on watercolours and to further develop an interview project exploring the perception of the present.
Photo credit: Doro Zinn
Necati Öziri
To write and work, I need silence. In Avelan, there is one of the most beautiful forms of silence: long walks where you mostly encounter sheep, a quiet garden where you can literally watch plants bloom, and a huge house with enough space for all the thoughts one needs to pursue while writing. I am very grateful for this special time, for the hospitality, for the meaningful encounters with the other artists, and for the shared memories I will take back with me to Berlin.
Photo credit: SebnurTansu Kayaalp
Paulina Czienskowski
"It was probably no coincidence that May Sarton’s book Plant Dreaming Deep found its way into my hands during my stay at Avelan: “I first close myself away, and then, and only then, open to that other tide, the inner life, the life of solitude, which rises very slowly until […] I am open to receive whatever it may bring. […] Solitude itself is a way of waiting for the inaudible and the invisible to make itself felt. And that is why solitude is never static and never hopeless.” I am deeply grateful for the generosity I was able to experience in this place — the house, the nature, and its sounds — a magical time full of connection. Connection with myself, and with the other fellows, who gave solitude a beauty entirely of its own."
Paulina Czienskowski is a freelance writer based in Berlin, where she was born and raised. In 2018 she published the story collection „Manifest gegen die emotionale Verkümmerung“ (Korbinian Verlag), followed by her debut novel „Taubenleben“ in 2020 (Blumenbar), which was shortlisted for the EU Prize for Literature. Alongside her prose work, she also writes radio plays and essays for Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Her second novel, „Dem Mond geht es gut“, was published in 2025. During her residency, she will be working on a long poem.
Photo credit: Valentin Hansen
Photo credit: Valentin Hansen