<h2>Meridian | Urban. Curatorial Projects on Health (September 6–17, 2011) in the framework of the Asia-Pacific Weeks Berlin 2011</h2>
Meridian I Urban. Curatorial Projects on Health presents five projects by international up-and-coming curators on the subject of “Health.” Meridians – imaginary lines running from pole to pole, connecting one region with another – help us map the world. In traditional Asian medicine, the meridian system is an invisible network that provides the body with vital energy. Although Western science has not yet acknowledged its existence, the meridian is our starting point for targeting questions of balance and imbalance.

42 curators, mostly European and Asian, from 29 countries responded to our open call in 2010 and submitted proposals for site-specific projects in central Berlin. An international jury selected five projects for Haus der Kulturen der Welt, which will be shown in public spaces in Berlin during the <a title="Asia Pacific Weeks" href="http://www.berlin.de/apforum/english/apw/index.html" target="_blank">Asia-Pacific Weeks 2011</a>.

The jury
<ul>
<li><strong>Katja Blomberg</strong> (director, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin)</li>
<li><strong>Yu Yeon Kim</strong> (independent curator, NYC and Seoul)</li>
<li><strong>Osvaldo Sánchez</strong> (curator/director, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City)</li>
<li><strong>Adele Tan</strong> (art historian and critic, Singapore)</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;

With kind support of

<img class="size-full wp-image-674 alignnone" title="aedes" src="http://www.synapse.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/aedes2.bmp" alt="" width="61" height="30" /> <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-677" title="culture.org" src="http://www.synapse.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/culture.org_4.bmp" alt="" />

Berlin Laughter Project

Laughter is an essential element to generate health and well-being. It is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain, helping humans to clarify their intentions in social interaction and providing an emotional context to conversations. Laughter is sometimes contagious; the laughter of one person can itself provoke laughter from others as a positive feedback. Modern neurophysiology states that laughter is linked to the activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which produces endorphins after a rewarding activity. There is a positive link between laughter and healthy function of blood … Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress.

An Elixir Realigning

A human body like the body of a town is commonly seen as always being well. Wishful thinking wants to place it far from any sickness, not bringing to mind the irritations that accompany our daily life and energetic balance, which needs support also from the outside. Urban planners of yore consciously conceived the layout of towns and cities as analogous with the human body thus keeping in mind the inner and outer flow of spaces we inhabit.

METROTOPIE

Meridians are geological and geo-biological terms in Europe. In Latin it is known as the “ciruculus meridianus” or midday circle and is a geographic description for the Earth’s surface, simultaneously linking all the places with the sun. In Geo-biology it is described as the earth’s energy path revealing the metaphysical power. Taken from the Chinese medicine or European geography, the meridian gives us primeval energy which flows through the human body and the Earth. In Chinese this primeval energy is known as “Qi”.

InnerScapes

The Chinese notion of health is largely rooted in their distinct notion of the human body as an organic whole that mirrors the intimate connection between the outer world of nature and the inner world of the individual. Whether in biology, medicine or art, the body is regarded as an extension of the natural system, regulated by the same rules and subject to the same phenomena.

Invisible twinning

Berlin is currently twinned with 17 cities, mostly other capitals, expressing Berlin’s perception of its alignments and what is sees as its equivalents. However, looking at the more unseen connections and “lines of energy,” this project focuses on unofficial twinnings, the countries and cities Berlin has a closer relationship to but prefers remain more invisible – the twinnings that reflect Berlin’s current immigrant population.