At the Berlin Mental Health Labs, our mission is to create a space where individuals can reclaim their agency and consciously choose to be the predominant creative force in their own lives. We believe that empowerment begins with the realization that every moment is an opportunity to create…not just art, but one’s own life. This June, we are honored to enrich this immersive experience with artworks born from a unique European collaboration: the Empowering Creative Minds project (funded by the European Commission).
Meet the Leaders in Action:
In a recent interview, we spoke with the team bringing this project to life in Berlin: Maxine Salmon Cottreau and Anja Söyünmez.
Maxine Salmon Cottreau is the Project Manager. They handle the complex administrative web of this four-country initiative, which includes partners in Luxembourg, Poland, and Ukraine. For Maxine, the project is a “bottom-up” effort to “offer this opportunity to people to go to places” and “explore their own difficulties and trauma” through art.
Anja Söyünmez is an artist and researcher with a background in sound installations and postcolonial studies. She coordinates the local workshops on the ground in Berlin. She sees her role as building a bridge between the project’s structure and the participants, focusing on how “trauma can inform art and art can inform trauma”.
The Project: Art as a Substitute for Words
Empowering Creative Minds is a two-year project that is publicly funded by the European Commission. It specifically focuses on “vulnerable creatives”…artists and individuals who have faced acute trauma, war, or social invisibility.
As Anja explains, for many participants, traditional language fails to capture their experiences:
“They don’t really know how to phrase their trauma or how to understand their trauma… but they know that they are in this process of trying to figure it out by themselves… within the creation phase of whatever they do.”
Through artistic practices like collage and sculpting, these individuals redirect their energy into something physical and progressive, transforming a “painful source” into a product they can stand in front of with pride.
Why This Art Belongs in the Labs
The Berlin Mental Health Labs are designed to help people move away from “animalistic” states of safety and protection and back into their “true nature” of authentic expression.
The artworks from Empowering Creative Minds—primarily collages and sculptures—are the physical evidence of this transition.
Maxine notes that these techniques serve as an entry point for those who might be scared by the word “artist”:
“Artist is sometimes a scary word or people won’t dare to do something because they don’t consider themselves as artists. So it was important… to frame it as creative so that everyone that feels creative can actually come… they have this moment where they’re free to explore their own thoughts, trauma, and work with it.”
Anja describes the atmosphere of these workshops as a space where “walls come down” through the simple act of manual work:
“It’s something so harmless and simple and the process itself being doing something with your hands… allows for fruitful conversations which all of a sudden become very personal and deep… even just telling your story or even listening to someone’s story builds that strong connection and creates empathy.”
By exhibiting these works, we demonstrate that art isn’t reserved for special types of humans, but is a vital tool for mental space and thriving.
Join the Creative Force:
The Labs are about understanding that you don’t have to give the power away to the state or the rules or the norms.
We are all consumers of art, but we often forget the human struggle behind it. This exhibition brings that humanity back to the center.
When you walk through the gallery-like format in June, you aren’t just looking at objects; you are witnessing acts of reclamation.
We hope these works inspire you to:
- Recognize your own potential: Just as these vulnerable creatives found space to bloom, so can you.
- Abstract your own challenges: Use art as a way to put a distance between yourself and your pain by abstracting it.
- Reconnect with others: Shift from watching and seeing to truly listening and feeling empathy for the person next to you.
As Maxine says, “I want participants to be able to freely… explore… and also to not hesitate to get in touch because you never know what can come out of just meeting someone somewhere.”
Whether it is an outfit you want to wear tomorrow or a major life project, come learn to see your life as a creative act together with others.
If you’d like to take part in the final workshop, check out the below poster and join one of the Empowering Creative Minds Berlin workshops coming up on May 22nd and 24th at Spore Initiative!
Reach out to Maxine or Anja to join. Or Sign-up, here.
