Berlin Sprouting Lab
Making something together · Berlin, 28–30 August 2026
From the manifesto to a shared action
The Baci Sospesi Sprouting Lab took place in Berlin from 28 to 30 August 2026. Barbara Sbrocca and Lorena Terzi led the lab.
The lab began with a shared reading of the manifesto. From there, the group talked about current events, the growing isolation of people and what they could do together. They wanted to create something simple and physical that would enter public space and invite other people to interact with it.
The time available was short. Several ideas needed more hours than the group had, so they looked for a form they could make within the lab and carry into the city. They chose small flyers with tear-off tabs, borrowing the familiar format of notices offering lessons or work.
Collaborations
Blu Shabaka APS is the organisation founded by Barbara Sbrocca through which she now carries out the non-profit actions of Baci Sospesi. The Berlin lab was organised through Blu Shabaka APS in collaboration with KulturNest Berlin. KulturLabor Trial & Error hosted the group during the three days of shared work.
The original poster announced a free, intensive lab in artivism and linocut. Its invitation was to create with others and give concern for humanity a shared, physical form.
Five invitations
The flyers had five subjects: “Wanted hugs”, “Wanted hope”, “Wanted courage”, “Wanted empathy” and “Wanted love”. On the tabs, the group wrote short phrases translated into many languages. One was “Resistance is never futile”. Across the flyers, the messages appeared in six, seven or eight languages.
The group carved the red kisses in lino and printed them by hand, arranging them differently each time. Every flyer was different. The movement of the forms, the placement of the kisses and the marks of hand printing made each sheet an individual piece.
Anyone passing could detach a small phrase and take it away. The invitation offered a physical gesture: choose, reach out, tear off a tab, carry a message with you. A few words made together became available to someone their authors might never meet.
Together, beyond the room
The flyers were put up in Berlin and travelled further, to Poland, Turkey and Italy, including Rome. What the group made during those few hours began to enter other streets and other people’s daily lives.
For Barbara, the essential part of the lab is doing something together. Even two people can begin: meet, talk, make something physical and bring it into public space. The making itself creates an occasion to be with another person; placing the work outside opens that encounter to others.
The work carries a simple invitation: “We are not alone. You are not alone. Let us take part together.” The flyers gave that intention a physical form, one that could leave the workshop and invite a stranger to respond.
Presence and commitment
The lab also brought Barbara back to a question at the heart of participatory work: what does it mean to arrive, remain present and follow through? Visibility and numbers can help a project travel, but they say little about the depth of an encounter.
Presence is made through ordinary actions: arriving, listening, keeping an agreement, answering, giving time and accepting responsibility. A small group can create a meaningful encounter through the attention its members give one another and the work they make together.
Open another encounter
If you want to bring a Baci Sospesi lab to a community, begin with the people who could come together, the place and the time available. Read the manifesto, share what it raises for you and explore what you could make together. Each lab can find its own form in conversation with the project.
Begin a new lab
A future lab can begin with a group, a place and a reason to come together. Write to Barbara about who you would like to involve, where you are and what practices or resources you can bring. The conversation can establish the relationship to the manifesto, the way the group will work and how its contributions will reach other people.